DHM

There was a very interesting post on the "Slipped Disc" website a couple days ago. It will tell you all you need to know... 😆

Many thanks to all of you who responded. We now have the full story. As Keitha said above, the restoration was completed earlier this year by Michael Farley.The consultant was Paul Hale. Paul wrote an article on it for Organists’ Review, a PDF copy of which can be found on Paul’s website.

Does anyone have information (e.g. builder, specification) on the organ of All Saints Cathedral, Nairobi (Kenya)? It is said to be one of the largest in Africa, installed in 1934 and enlarged in 1955. That is all I know. Thanks in advance.

I just noticed that the original Walker console from Buckfast Abbey is currently up for sale on eBay.

The "virtual" version of this organ has now been released and is available for sale.

I was very sorry to hear of Francis' passing. He had been an occasional customer of mine over many years, and shared with me a number of sample-sets that he had recorded himself (for HW) of organs by J.E. Gerhard and family in Thuringia.

Thanks, SJF. That's really interesting and helpful. I've just learnt a lot of stuff that I have never been aware of (e.g. recent editions). I bought my copy as a teenager in 1967. It's Leduc, but says copyright 1939, 1943 and 1952. Are there many (or any) significant differences in later editions?

Are there other places in this piece where cuts have been made, and if so, is there any authority for them?

The Rector is herself a professionally-trained singer (RCM) and a former Canon Precentor of St Paul's.

It was announced yesterday that the Cavaillé-Coll organ in Parr Hall, Warrington has been sampled for a well-known "virtual pipe organ" software program. I hope this might raise the profile of this apparently neglected organ and re-awaken interest in it. The sample-set producer said: "The organ has 3 manuals and some 45 speaking stops, including a 32' in pedal, but it is still a chamber organ, voiced originally to fit a small private room. I must confess that I have never heard such tender and refined voicing before. This sample set will be a true revelation, because it is so special among other Cavaillé-Coll's production, and also because the organ is today somewhat forgotten, almost unused for any public performance. The sample-set is due for release in about two months."

Kings Cambridge is advertising for Lay Clerks to join the Chapel choir. Salary is just under £12k.

St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol is looking for a new DoM (full-time post). https://www.stmaryredcliffe.co.uk/vacancies?fbclid=IwAR0PU3Bh7XDqVR7A4m9qNYp2MzBaegCOL6_Bdo38HJHc3rSK23z1iuqGtPY

UPDATE: It's working again now.

Is NPOR down? I can't get it to respond to any kind of search (address, builder.... no response).

Roger Sayer announced on his Twitter feed earlier today that from early 2023 he "will be handing over direction of the Temple Church Choir to focus on a freelance career as a choral director and organist".

I’m fairly sure there is another version of this with much more divisi. i think Canterbury used to use it (maybe still do?) for Ps.150. In the version quoted above, is the Treble G# in the last quarter correct? Should it be a B?

Martin Cooke said: "I wonder, too, if the time has come for a replacement for the ubiquitous Gordon Jacob fanfare". I have often used Bliss' fanfare "Dignified Occasion" - a short piece for military brass - but transposed so that it ends in D major, linking seamlessly into D, E , F#,"God save the Queen/King".

Nasenflöte literally would be a nose flute.

Do we know where the current post-holder is going?

Then I must have been there (since I worked there at the time), but don’t remember the occasion (though I do of course remember the rebuild).

Good news for Rochester. This will be Adrian's 3rd job here, having worked at the Cathedral as Organist 2013-2015 and Interim Director of Music 2018-2019. The job title for the last few years has been "Director of Music and Organist" (since the DoM appointed in 2008 was not required to be an organist).

James O’Donnell to leave Westminster Abbey at Christmas after nearly 23 years, to take up a Professorship at Yale.

The organ as I have known it for 50 years is believed to be a cut-down version of this: https://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N17828 When, why, or by whom it was cut down is not known. It was in regular use until the early 1970s, but gradually became less used from then on, and virtually never for the last few years. But it appeared to be in reasonably good working order until the church hall was demolished last autumn, when we salvaged as much as we could that we thought might be re-usable.

We have some redundant ranks of pipes from a dismantled 1930s 1-manual organ (church mission hall now demolished). Open Diapason 8; Stopped Diapason 8; Gamba 8; Principal 4. All three 8s share a common stopped bass octave. The Principal goes down to Tenor C. Their wooden soundboards are also available. Who knows anyone who might be interested in any of this? Located in Maidstone.

I’m not sure that Liverpool Met counts as “Conclusion imminent”. The temporary organ that went in last July was meant to be in use for at least two years.