DHM

Ladach (https://www.pipeorgans.eu/en/) is another German company specialising in buying up and re-homing unwanted British organs.

I was there, and still have the programme (I think VH may have been there too). But I didn't know there was a recording. Is it publicly available?

Rochester is advertising for a Director Music & Organist. Closing date is 18th February. https://www.rochestercathedral.org/job-vacancy-input/2019/1/25/director-of-music-vacancy

Is SC taking a sabbatical to prepare for his retirement?

Primarily on last month's Christmas Eve TV broadcast, but not entirely. This page http://www.kingsmencambridge.co.uk/member-profiles.html describes one of the men as "Dec Alto 3" (one of a section of five). That implies that there might perhaps be a "Can Tenor 3" to balance up the numbers.

Does anybody know when and why the back row at King’s grew to 8 per side?My understanding was that there were always 12 Choral Scholars + 2 Volunteers, making 4A, 4T, 2Bar, 4B.

Not specifically about Widor, but following the same argument: Some years ago I heard Jeremy Filsell play all six *Vierne* Symphonies in one day at St George's Windsor (1 & 2 in the morning, 3 & 4 after lunch, and 5 & 6 after Evensong (for which he sang as a Lay Clerk). And this was all *free of charge*. A very worthwhile day out.

Apologies - a “Senior Moment” on my part. It was indeed “Hear my Words”. And that, too, would make an excellent addition to the lists above (for the reason I erroneously quoted). 😀

Martin Cooke's first response (above) mentioned Parry's "Blest Pair of Sirens". This was written for a Diocesan Choirs' Festival (in Salisbury, if I remember correctly), and there is a substantial semi-chorus part (presumably written for the resident cathedral choir) which could be taken by a group of more competent choristers, or even a solo quartet.

A great piece, and as Richard said, "a wonderful bit of word-painting". As Vox Humana will recall, I have often said to choir tour concert audiences "If you don't feel sea-sick by the end of it, we haven't done our job well enough".😁

Slightly off the topic title, but an example of how the required standards seem to have changed over the years. I took A-Level Music in 1966. A prerequisite for being entered for A-Level was a Grade 6 practical, which, in turn, required at least Grade 5 Theory. In my first year at a well-regarded Russell Group university our keyboard tests class required the preparation of one Contrapunctus per week from The Art of Fugue (open score and 3 different C clefs) and orchestral score-reading (I particularly remember having to prepare a chunk of Liszt's "Les Preludes"). In my last teaching job in 2006 I had in my A-Level German set a student who was also embarking on A-Level Music. I asked him what they had been doing in the first week of the Lower 6th. He told me proudly "We were working through some Grade 1 (ONE!) theory papers, Sir". I rest my case.

I saw this elsewhere today: http://www.rhyljournal.co.uk/news/16417263.extremely-talented-organists-set-to-lose-their-jobs-amid-financial-woes-at-st-asaph-cathedral/

Anybody else having trouble accessing NPOR this morning?

Jeremy Lloyd, currently Assisting Organist at York Minster, to succeed Claire Innes-Hopkins as Assistant DoM and Sub-Organist at Rochester from September.

Jon Pilgrim to be Assistant at Brecon. https://www.breconcathedral.org.uk/news/jon-pilgrim-appointed-new-assistant-organist/

Thanks, Dave. Yes, that is indeed very interesting. This one was about 20+ years later and 6 stops larger than Krzeszow (formerly Grüßau in German), but has lots of similarities.

Without ploughing through all the Polish-language documents, is there a stoplist anywhere online for this? How might it compare with this other Engler organ? http://www.sonusparadisi.cz/en/organs/germany/krzeszow-poland.html

From Rochester Cathedral's website today: https://www.rochestercathedral.org/job-vacancy-input/2018/5/24/assistant-director-of-music-and-sub-organist

Yes, I saw that. They had been talking for 2-3 years about getting a temporary "virtual organ" solution, but that conversation had gone quietly recently, and they obviously decided to go down a different route.

See my post above (25 Jan). Apparently one will soon be able to play this one at home using a software program.

JW Walker's Opus 1299 at St Cyprian's Cathedral, Kimberley lists a 32ft Sub-Bourdon.

A couple of quick questions for the experts: Is there a standard, or recommended, spacing distance between thumb pistons? And should divisional pistons be placed centrally (i.e. should pistons 1 and 8 be equidistant from the left and right-hand ends of the keyboard)? If you wanted extra thumb pistons for "Appel Anches" ventils (Ped, GO, Pos, Rec), where would you put them? Thanks in advance for advice.

Anybody who knows better please correct me if I'm mistaken, but I believe Carlo's former organ (or one of them) is now at Sutton Valence School in Kent.

The answer is here: http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N15859.

You can also get them at Fletcher & Newman in Borough Green (Kent): http://www.cylex-uk.co.uk/reviews/viewcompanywebsite.aspx?firmaName=h+j+fletcher+%26+newman+ltd&companyId=16193630