A Caskie
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Posts posted by A Caskie
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On 16/01/2024 at 13:05, SomeChap said:
I'm no expert and haven't heard the instrument in person (one day...) but there is definitely something idiosyncratic about the action at St Eustache: just watch the first thirty seconds or so of this video and you'll see that the detached console is just a relay, pulling down the actual mechanical keys of the tribune console! If you watch the end of the video you'll see that this even extends to the mechanical octave couplers; as one wag puts it in the comments "Man, that ghost sure has a lot of fingers!".
So to Keitha's point, it's not the same solution as the dual actions used at Symphony Hall / Bridgewater Hall / Manchester Cathedral et al. According to one comment I read, there's a computer in there somewhere at St Eustache, and if it's a 90s computer it will definitely be at the end of its life!
Replacing it with a more conventional EP action could well be a sensible route to take. We were very wedded to mechanical action in the 90s weren't we!
Side query - why do so few French cathedral organs have detached consoles? Putting one in Notre Dame would be an absolute sensation!
SC
I have not visited St Eustache, but it is most unlikely that anything is pulling down the mechanical keys. More likely is that there are magnets pulling on the trackers at some stage, and thus all the mechanical action BEFORE that point falls slack, so the attached keys simply fall down as an incidental side-effect. This can be overcome, if desired, by fitting springs to the keys to keep them up, though this extra spring force then has to be allowed for elsewhere in the action.
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It's the Finale / Grand Choeur from Book 10 of Guilmant's Pièces dans differents styles, Op. 40. Available on IMSLP at https://imslp.org/wiki/Pièces_dans_différents_styles_(Guilmant,_Alexandre).
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5 hours ago, Nathan said:
Is it usual for divisional pistons to also include couplers such as Gt to Swell octave.
The organ I mostly play does, but I wonder if this is usual or not. It's frustrating that I may manually want Gt to Sw Octave, then press a divisional and it goes in, or out. It can probably be adjusted with the software. I don't want to ask the organ tuner to adjust it if it is the norm.I believe this is more common on the continent but it's certainly unusual here in the UK. If the piston capture system is by SSOS, it may have a 'Scope' function that allows the organ builder to define, quite literally, the scope of the piston i.e. which drawstops it affects. Ask your organ tuner and they should be able to advise whether the change is possible.
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It might be helpful to clarify the pedal flue provision at Manchester Town Hall. From 1877 to 1893 there was no 32' flue tone at all. The 'real' Pédale stops were simply two 42-note ranks: a Contrebasse 16' extended to a Flûte basse 8', and a Bombarde 16' extended to a Trompette 8'. These were augmented by no less than three of the Grand Orgue stops being duplexed onto the Pédale as well: the GO Bourdon 16' was available on the Pédale as a Soubasse 16', the GO Bourdon 8' (wholly independent from the Bourdon 16') was available on the Pédale as a Bourdon Doux 8', and the GO Violoncelle 8' was available on the Pédale as a Violoncelle 8'. Thus the original Pédale division was
Contrebasse 16' A (open metal and wood)
Soubasse 16' (the GO Bourdon 16', stopped wood)
Flûte basse 8' A (open metal and wood)
Bourdon Doux 8' (the GO Bourdon 8', stopped wood)
Violoncelle 8 8' (the GO Violoncelle 8', open metal)
Bombarde 16' B (open metal)
Trompette 8' B (open metal)
In 1893, Cavaillé-Coll added a Solo division, but also added a third 42-note rank to the Pédale. This was of stopped wood construction and was available as a Soubasse 32' and Bourdon 16', givingSoubasse 32' C (stopped wood)
Contrebasse 16' A (open metal and wood)
Bourdon 16' C (stopped wood)
Soubasse 16' (the GO Bourdon 16', stopped wood)
Flûte basse 8' A (open metal and wood)
Bourdon Doux 8' (the GO Bourdon 8', stopped wood)
Violoncelle 8 8' (the GO Violoncelle 8', open metal)
Bombarde 16' B (open metal)
Trompette 8' B (open metal)
In 1913, Lewis & Co. made some further alterations:
- the GO Principal 16' was made available on the Pedal
- the stoppers were removed from the Cavaillé-Coll 1893 Soubasse 32' / Bourdon 16' rank, turning it into a Great Bass 16' and Octave 8'.
- to compensate for the loss of 32' flue tone, a resultant Soubasse 32' was created: from notes C1–B12 it played the Great Bass 16' at pitch with a quint from new dedicated stopped wood quint pipes, added by Lewis & Co., while from notes C13 upwards it simply played the Great Bass 16' -8ve.
- the Bombarde 16' / Trompette 8' rank was revoiced on much higher pressure and extended downwards with 12 new pipes to form a Contra Bombarde 32'
This gave:
Sub Bass 32' C+D (C1–B12 played Great Bass at 16' with dedicated stopped wood quint; C13+ played Great Bass 16' -8ve)
Great Bass 16' C (the 1893 Cavaillé-Coll Soubasse 32' with stoppers removed, so now open wood)
Contre Bass 16' A (1877 CC, open wood and metal)
Principal 16' (newly available from the Gt Principal 16', stopped wood and open metal bottom 5, remainder open metal)
Bourdon 16' (the Gt Bourdon 16', stopped wood)
Octave 8' C (the 1893 CC Bourdon 16' with stoppers removed, so now open wood)
Flute Bass 8' A (1877 CC, open wood and metal)
Bourdon 8' (the Gt Bourdon 8', stopped wood)
Diapason 8' (the Gt Diapason II 8' which was the 1877 Violoncelle 8' revoiced, open metal)
Contre Bombarde 32' B (1913 L&Co extension, open wood)
Bombarde 16' B (1877 CC revoiced on higher pressure, open metal)
Trompette 8' B (1877 CC revoiced on higher pressure, open metal)
In 1970, Jardine & Co. added two top notes to each rank to extend the pedal compass to G32 rather than F30, but the Pedal spec remained otherwise as per Lewis & Co. of 1913.
In the forthcoming project, the division is to be returned to its 1893 form.
Clavecin is quite right to highlight the modest space in the organ. Within only a few months of the organ's opening in 1877, there were comments made in the press about the organ's many qualities being overshadowed by a perceived lack of bass tone. The 1893 additions by Cavaillé-Coll were much praised by Alexandre Guilmant and by Kendrick Pyne, the then city organist, for the extra foundation that they gave the instrument.
Hope that this is of interest.Andrew Caskie
Managing Director
Nicholson & Co. Ltd -
3 hours ago, Colin Pykett said:
And I haven't even mentioned the rather fluty mixtures with their somewhat unusual 19th century-style compositions (which I am grateful to Andrew Caskie at Nicholson's for helping me to unravel - quite difficult when all you have are audio recordings to go on!). And the range of beautiful quiet strings and colour reeds - I could go on boring you all for ever ...
Lovely to read all this Colin! For anyone interested, the full spec of this organ, including mixture compositions, may be downloaded from http://www.nicholsonorgans.co.uk/pf/great-malvern-priory/.
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I hope I can help clarify the recent history of this instrument. When the organ was built in 1936 (not 1937 as is stated on the RBC advert), the pipework was all made and voiced by Hermann Eule of Germany but everything else was made by Hill, Norman & Beard. The organ has mechanical action for the manuals, pedals and all couplers, but charge pneumatic slider actions and stop actions. It was a wedding gift to Lady Susi Jeans from her husband, the eminent physicist Sir James Jeans and was installed in their home (Cleveland Lodge) in Dorking.
As is well-known, the Jeans' home eventually became home to the RSCM in 1996, and it was during this era that Harrison & Harrison undertook some restoration work in 1999. Our friends in Durham will be able to confirm the precise scope of work, but my recollection was that it was not a total restoration but a thorough cleaning, repairs to pipework, and releathering of all pneumatic actions.
In 2006, Nicholson & Co. was commissioned by Birmingham Conservatoire to move the organ from Cleveland Lodge to the Birmingham Conservatoire building. As well as the relocation, completed that year, this work included provision of a new blower, provision of a platform and side facades to the instrument (it had been in a chamber in Cleveland Lodge), re-leathering of the main reservoir (not done in 1999), repairs to the soundboards (not restored in 1999 or 2006; just splits repaired). The keys were re-covered (not sure what they were originally, but by 2006 they had black wooden naturals and white plastic-capped sharps) in white cow bone for the naturals and ebony sharps.
The organ remained in Birmingham Conservatoire for 11 years, until Nicholson & Co. was again commissioned to move the organ, this time to the Conservatoire's new home (now the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire). This was completed in 2017. The 2017 relocation work included a cleaning of all pipework and further repairs (but still not restoration) to the soundboards which had developed new splits. New leather buttons were fitted throughout the action. Some pictures can be found at http://www.nicholsonorgans.co.uk/pf/birmingham-conservatoire/The leatherwork is all fine, none of it being older than 20. Anyone considering the organ should plan for the soundboards to be thoroughly restored, as they have had numerous partial repairs to splits, but otherwise the organ should quite happily be dismantled and re-erected without the need for other restoration work.
My personal observation, which I think is shared by many, is that the organ is of greater historical significance than musical value; interesting but not altogether beautiful. It is voiced for a small room and would struggle to fill a large space. Some minor tonal changes appear to have been made at some stage in the organ's life e.g.. there is a Quinte [sic] 2 2/3 that is actually a Larigot. I hope our benevolent hosts won't mind me joking that we are getting quite good at moving it now, so if anyone is interested....
Andrew Caskie
Managing Director, Nicholson & Co. -
The website had sustained a mobile redirection hack - it was working fine for desktop browsers, but mobile and tablet browsers were being redirected. Perhaps someone hoping to inspire us to to leave the country!
Hopefully fixed now.
Andrew Caskie
Nicholson & Co. Ltd
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Two forthcoming performances of Messiaen - La Nativité du Seigneur, by Andrew Caskie (Palmerston Place Church, Edinburgh). Both with free admission and with readings. All welcome!
Saturday 28 November, 7.30pm - Dunfermline Abbey (http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=C01096)
Saturday 5 December, 7.30pm - Palmerston Place Church, Edinburgh (http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=D03129)
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The St John's Keswick organ is indeed lovely, but it isn't a patch on the glorious 1906 II/18 H&H in Whitehaven URC, 30 miles away on the Cumbrian west coast. Not being in such a tourist spot it isn't so widely known, but it's the finest small Romantic organ I've ever played. Every stop on it is voiced to perfection, and playing it feels like driving a vintage Bentley. Specification was designed by both Lt Col Dixon and Alfred Hollins - see spec and pics at http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N03535.
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St. Bees Priory has an odd type of swell pedal, but I can't remember how it works!
St Bees ('Father' Willis) has what might best be described as pneumatic ratchet expression pedals for both Swell and Solo boxes. They are off to the RH side. Like a ratchet swell they are weighted to return to the top (closed) position, and one depresses the pedal to open the box. To get it to remain at any position other than closed, you have to remove your foot from the pedal very quickly: the idea is that a pneumatic 'ratchet' then 'catches' the pedal and holds it at that position. To release it, you depress v slightly and then control its inherent return upwards, just like with a mechanical ratchet. They, and the whole St Bees organ, are in a poor state of repair at present, so they sometimes fall a good bit closed before catching!
Rothwell used the same devices: you can see a picture of these pedals on the NPOR survey for the organ formerly in Craigiebank Church, Dundee, at http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=E00085.
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All three Infinite Speed and Gradation pedals have been restored and retained at the McEwan Hall, Edinburgh (1897 Hope-Jones; 1953 Willis; 1980 Rushworth & Dreaper; 2014 Forth Pipe Organs) during the major restoration of that instrument last year - http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=C01272. Prior to the restoration, the shutter positions were indicated by Smith fuel gauges (complete with E and F!) but these have been replaced by horizontal white LED strips.
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There are two such organs around Edinburgh, one of which has the cancel feature Colin Pykett mentions. The Portobello instrument is at present available for rehoming - PM if interested.
St James', Portobello (1934) - http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=C01253
Granton Parish Church (1936) - http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N11946
Both NPOR surveys have lots of photos.
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Here’s a few
Grace, Harvey – Three Psalm-Tune Postludes
Harwood, Basil – Two Preludes on old English Psalm Tunes, Op. 52
Howells, Herbert – Psalm Preludes, two sets of three
Kee, Cor - Inleidingen tot de Psalmen (contains 20 preludes)
Leighton, Kenneth – Martyrs, Op. 73 (duet)
Maxwell Davies, Peter – first of ‘Three Organ Voluntaries’ is titled Psalm 124
Milner, Arthur – Meditation on Psalm 21
Milner, Arthur – Two Meditations on Psalms
Reubke, Julius – Sonata on Psalm 94
Sweelinck, Jan Pieterszoon – Psalms 116 and 140
Whitlock, Percy – Seven Sketches on Verses from the Psalms
Wood, Charles – Sixteen Preludes on Melodies from the English and Scottish Psalters
Wood, Charles – Three Preludes on Melodies from the Genevan Psalter
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Stirling is the absolute of embodiment of "Rushworth's could really do it when they wanted to". It is also fabled to be loud enough to make the worms jump out of their holes on the adjacent bowling green.
If you're driving south after your visit to Edinburgh, drop in at Haddington Collegiate Church and try their Lammermuir 3 manual. I think it's marvellous, despite its being completely unlike the sort of thing I usually go for!
The chorus mixtures at Stirling were mucked around with in the 1970s and to my mind really spoil the ff choruses, sticking out like sore thumbs. But if you keep it quiet there's lots of good stuff to explore. The R&D in the Reid Memorial Church, Edinburgh (http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N11959) has not been tweaked and is therefore, to my mind, more enjoyable to play. It doesn't have the Burmese Gong that Stirling does, however!
Anyone who wants to know more about the lovely organs in Edinburgh ought to buy the splendid 'Organs of Edinburgh' book published three years ago or so, which has lots of colour photos and four CDs of 22 different instruments around the city - see http://www.edinburghorganists.org/Pages/CDProject.aspx for more details including a complete track listing.
The McEwan organ is currently in bits, being comprehensively rebuilt by Forth Pipe Organs (new soundboards, Swell chorus reeds, etc.).
The NPOR entries for Edinburgh are unusually up-to-date and accurate so it's well worth a browse having searched for Edinburgh. There's lots of photographs too.
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A friend of mine is just preparing a recital and came across an interesting question concerning registration in Whitlock's Fantasie Choral No. 1.
Apparently, the piece starts with the following stops:
III: Vox angelica 8 + Sub octave
I: 8-foot Stopped Diapason + III/I
When Whitlock wrote the Fantasie Choral No. 1, he had just been appointed organist at St. Stephen, Bournemouth, with an 1898 Hill, and appears to have chosen the registrations with this instrument in mind. Now, in a Hill of this vintage, probably tubular pneumatic: Would the combination of couplers (III + sub octave, III/I) mean that the sub octave of the third manual would also sound while you play on the first manual?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance,
Friedrich
Apologies for resurrecting an old thread, but I've just come across it having recently learned this fine piece. Although the respondents are correct to say that the octave couplers would typically read through (unless there were separate octave/sub octave inter-manual couplers, in which case they wouldn't), the question is academic, as it's a misreading of the score were this to occur. The opening section is antiphonal between the Swell strings (with sub octave) and Choir diap/dulciana (no Sw to Ch). One is primed at the start to prepare an 8' flute on the Great, with Sw to Great drawn, but when one eventually plays on the Great for the first time (bottom of p.2) the Swell registration is changed to retire the sub octave coupler and strings, replacing them with a Geigen.
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Music for a Summer Evening
Organ recital by Andrew Caskie
Tuesday 4 June 2013, 7.30pm (free admission)
Palmerston Place Church, Edinburgh EH12 5AA
Veni Creator – Nicolas de Grigny (with plainchant sung alternatim by men from the choir)
Meditation: Love Unknown – Francis Jackson
Berceuse à la mémoire de Louis Vierne – Pierre Cochereau, transc. F. Blanc
Trio Sonata No. 6 in G major BWV 530 – Johann Sebastian Bach
Free Fantasia on O Zion, haste and How firm a foundation – William Bolcom
Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix (from Samson et Delilah, Op. 47) – Camille Saint-Saëns, transc. E.H. Lemare
Variations sur un Noël, Op. 20 - Marcel Dupré
Organ - 1992 IIP/29 Wells-Kennedy Partnership (details)
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David Patrick / Fitzjohn Music publishes Sonata nr 1 in G major - which is a fine sonata with a very attractive second movement. The others are out of print. Some years ago John Kitchen recorded the Sonata in Ab and if you were able to contact him (in Eddinburgh I recall) he may well be able to put you in the right direction. I have access to both so perhaps...
John Kitchen is playing Alan Gray's Sonata No. 2 in A flat this Saturday evening in Edinburgh - 7.30pm at Reid Memorial Church. Details at http://www.edinburghorganists.org/Documents/ESO%20recital%20diary.pdf
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Hi
Can anyone offer a definitive view on the articulation of the first two quaver chords in Henry Smart’s Postlude in D? I have the piece in three editions; one has the quavers slurred, one has them unmarked, and the other edition has them staccato. I prefer the latter (so that the emphasis is more definitely on the first crotchet chord), but in a couple of recordings I’ve heard, both performers have gone for the slurring.
Thanks for any thoughts.
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Always worth trying Google: searching for "Percy Whitlock" and "thumb" throws up all sorts of things, including the following found at http://www.stpaulscathedral.org.au/images/uploads/Newsletter%20May%202010.pdf
A deformity of his right hand gave Whitlock a thumb which was longer and thinner than his left hand thumb. He used this thumb to great advantage, as it was very easy for him to “thumb down” onto a lower manual, thus enabling him to readily play on three manuals at the one time. Some of his music exploits this technique.
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All four of Wood's topographical suites (Scenes in Kent, Op. 23; Scenes in Northumberland, Op. 25; Scenes on the Downs, Op. 29; and Scenes on the Wye) were published by Stainer & Bell. Wood died in 1963 so they're all still in copyright. Each suite has four movements. The middle two movements of 'Scenes on the Wye' are in print as an extract; the other two movements of this suite, and the entire first three suites, are available from S&B's archive service on 020 8343 2535.
Christopher Brayne has recorded the Kent and Downs suites at Bristol Cathedral (Priory PRCD380 - Great European Organs No. 47); David Liddle has recorded the Kent suite at St Ignatius Loyola in NY (Guild GMCD 7149); and Simon Nieminski has recorded the Wye suite at the First Baptist Church in Abilene, Texas (Pro Organo 7221). No-one has yet done the Northumberland I think!
They're definitely light music, but rather charming and well-constructed. The movements all have evocative titles - the Kent suite for example has Aylesford Bridge, Allington Lock, Orchard Blossom and Rochester Bells. They're not that easy to play though!
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There is a IIIP/29 Gern organ of 1888 in Paisley Museum and Art Gallery - see http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi...ec_index=D03318. Moved here from a private house in 1932, it's unplayable at present but unaltered.
AC
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Forum readers might like to know that a full track listing for the book has now been uploaded to the Edinburgh Society of Organists webpage
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I did have a passing interest in this book/CD set, but neither Delphian nor the Edinburgh association see fit to elaborate on the contents, beyond giving one list of instruments and another of players. There are also three different prices floating around - Delphian are advertising it for either £49.99 or £54.99 (both inc. P&P) depending on which bit of their website you look at. For this price, I think they could offer more information to tempt potential customers.
It's available for £44.49 inc p&p from the Edinburgh Society of Organists website - www.edinburghorganists.org
We'll get a track listing up on the site shortly - useful feedback, thanks.
Hope you enjoy!
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Final from Vierne 6 in the morning; Postlude in D by Henry Smart at night.
St Eustache, Paris
in The Organ
Posted
No, it won't be anything to do with the ventils, if indeed St Eustache has them: it may or may not; the specification suggests not. On Cavaillé-Coll organs, the ventils isolate the wind supply to the upperwork and reeds, but don't move any sliders. But, as above, I don't think St Eustache has ventils.