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Stephen Dutfield

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Posts posted by Stephen Dutfield

  1. Indeed - H&H supplied similar pistons at Exeter and Coventry cathedrals (and on one or two other instruments). In the specifications of these two organs, they are listed as 'Two general pistons for couplers'. As originally supplied, these pistons were adjustable, making them even more useful.

     

    If I remember correctly, Hereford has two such coupler pistons.

  2. There used to be a restaurant in Worcester (in The Tything to be more precise for locals) that had a cinema organ installed in an upstairs room, with grills (no pun intended) in the floor/ceiling to allow the sound into the main room downstairs.

     

    I've no idea whether its still there.

     

    It was in the Cygnet restaurant. The organ was removed c1980 to Ventnor on the Isle of Wight (into a private basement theatre below a jewellers' shop) when its owners relocated. It was sold some years ago now and I believe resides in Australia.

     

    When in Worcester the organ (a Compton ex Pavilion, Reading for those who might actually want to know) somehow acquired the nickname "The Countess" and Nigel Ogden did actually compose "The Countess of Worcester Waltz" for it, although I've only ever heard it once, and suspect that not even Nigel now has a copy!

     

    Not to mention a certain store in Philadelphia, of course...

     

    And the Mitsukoshi store in Tokyo which has a three manual Wurlitzer. Apparently because of the temperature/humidity all the ivories are attached to the keys with tiny brass screws rather than glue.

  3. I've done 'Whiter shade of pale' and 'Bridge over troubled water' in the past, though not recently, and have had couples exit to the Liberty Bell on several occasions.

     

    I once played what I hope was a stately rendition of John Williams' theme from 'E.T.' for the happy couple's exit!

  4. =========================================

    Ah yes! I recall a "Tuning Book" back in the days when I held keys for the organ-tuner.

     

    In the book, in large red letters, was written by (presumably) a visiting organist:-

     

    "This organ is the biggest load of ***** I have ever played upon"

     

    I showed this to the tuner, who wrote underneath in blue:-

     

    "Think yourself lucky; you don't have to crawl around in it!"

     

    B)

     

    MM

     

     

    Reginald Foort FRCO once left a note in a tuning book which simply read, "Wot a bleeder!" :)

  5. Back to the DVDs though, I think they are essential viewing for all organists, not only because they are excellent (yes, they are), but nothing like this has been done before, and it is excellent that the BBC have backed this idea, even though they are yet to sell them on the high-street - they are only available online.

     

    They ARE available in the High Street as I bought my copies in the Cardiff HMV store. Although produced by Victor Lewis-Smith's Associated-Rediffusion company (not the original for those old enough to remember - he bought the name and trade mark!) I'm pleased to say the series - like the 48 Preludes programmes - is a BBC Wales commission. I'm so used to people criticising my employer it's nice to hear some appreciation :rolleyes:

  6. Actually, in that particular building, a good Victorian design is possibly the best option.....

     

    I agree - I'll see if I can find out more.

     

     

    ....and it's the sort of thing you really NEED for those miserable Welsh hymns.

     

    Ah, but we Welsh do misery so very well :)

     

     

    S

  7. =========================

    Realising that this could be hideously misunderstood, I would just point out that it was a game of "charades" and I chose "The lamb of God"

     

    :lol:

     

    MM

     

    Seriously, have you ever thought of writing a book? I thought Gordon Reynolds' "Full Swell" was good for a laugh, but YOUR postings have a habit of reducing me to tearful gales of laughter - which is a bit embarrassing in the office.... but then I shouldn't really be doing this in the office ;)

  8. That is interesting; there is a Greek Orthodox church here in Cardiff and as far as I know there is no organ in this nor indeed in about 98% of Gk Orthodox churches; Orthodox liturgies are usually unacompanied chanting by the priests and choir. Does this mean that some Orthodox liturgical customs are becoming "westernised"?

     

    Peter

     

     

    Hello Peter,

     

    I know someone who is a member of the congregation at St. Nicholas, and they don't have an organ or any use for one. I think it likely that the only organs in Orthodox churches are those 'inherited' from previous congregations of different denominations.

     

    I did once go to the Anglican mass at the church of St. Paul in Paphos, where the Orthodox Bishop had granted use of the redundant (and ancient) church to the Roman Catholic congregation, who then invited the Anglicans to share. There were three Sunday masses - R.C. in English, R.C. Latin and Anglican - all accompanied on an Allen electronic which just looks SO out of place against the backdrop of Orthodox icons!

  9. I am acquainted with the priest who runs the Orthodox community there, as well as a few of the congregants. They are doing what they can adequately to maintain a large building, including, as far as I can see, the organ.

     

    I am mystified by the whole business of St. Osmunds because, as I seem to remember it, the reason given by the Anglican parish for abandoning the building was degredation in the re-inforced concrete. I believe they quoted a cost of millions for restoration of what was deemed a building unsafe to worship in.

     

    I assume that the building hasn't been subject to a massive re-building programme, therefore do the Orthodox community worship in hard hats? :rolleyes:

     

    It is, I suppose, a possibility that the organ could be sold. However, it does hold a Historic Organ Certificate, and given its history and the association with Percy Whitlock and his broadcasts, I am very happy indeed that the organ remains in situ. That the current arrangements at the church allow for its occasional use is an added bonus.

  10. It would be like Blue Peter......."Now, here's one I played earlier"

     

     

    Another board member will know which London-area organ I'm referring to (not strictly within the remit of this site, but one which he used to tune) where - as originally installed - the console was 101 feet from the nearest pipe!

     

    A former organist at that establishment once told me that he could play his programme, walk across the road to a little cafe, have a nice cup of tea, read the paper, then return to the building to listen to what he'd played :D

  11. If the organ builder attempted to compensate in the quire by making the transept organ speak early this would only have made matters worse in the nave.

     

    And indeed it would be both a clever builder and a clever action that could anticipate a key press before it happened :D

  12. On a tangential subject, I seem to recall that when David Goode won the Calgary prize for best encore, he played his own transcription of Stars and Stripes forever, with the tune in the right foot, the bass in the left foot, the middle parts in the left hand, and the piccolo obligato in the right hand.

     

    I still have on video part of a programme with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales recorded at the (now demolished) Astra theatre in Llandudno. It included an appearance by the American theatre organist, the late Rob Calcaterra who always did 'Stars and Stripes' as a party-piece. He kept the bass to the pedal, played accompaniment with left-hand, with the melody of the middle section on second touch using the bottom couple of fingers of his left hand, leaving his right hand free for the obligato. Damned impressive it was too. I saw him perform it live once on a clapped out Compton, which while impressive lacked the sheer sonic impact of the Llandudno Christie!

  13. I tend not to get spooked easily, and people who are more sensitive to these things than I am tell me the church is "quiet". Nevertheless, it can be slightly wierd. Often, I think I have heard either footsteps or a voice behind me whilst playing or (more usually) as I stopped playing. I have put this down to the clacking of pneumatic motors, the wheezing of reservoirs and the graunching of swell shutters. In a high wind, the church is full of knocks and bangs; sometimes you will hear one from the pews you are walking past, which is a bit creepy.

     

    For whatever reason I don't know, but I seem to be one of those who is quite sensitive to 'atmospheres' in buildings. There was a time when I managed a couple of cinemas, and I frequently walked down and back through the empty and dark 600 seat auditorium of our oldest building last thing at night to chain the exits without feeling anything untoward, however one auditorium in our new building certainly used to give me the creeps. I wasn't the only one to have seen people at the back who later turned out not to be there!

     

    However, on the organ front I can remember feeling decidedly chilled by the atmosphere at Holcombe Rogus P.C just on the Somerset/Devon border while holding notes many years ago. I also assisted a friend in removing the organ from Llanelli parish church back a few years ago. We did the removal during the evenings after work, across the December/January period. The light switches are in the vestry which is in the south-east corner of the building, but our access was the main South door, so a torchlight procession was required after the lights were extinguished to get out through the south transept and the nave. One night we worked particularly late, and for whatever reason the torch had packed up. My cohort assured me that we'd be fine getting out because the church was brightly floodlit outside, and this also did a good job of lighting up the interior - he'd got out using this light a few days before. Unfortunately we hadn't realised quite how late it was, and as we were washing in the vestry sink there was a loud 'clunk' as the time-switch did its thing and the lighting contactor dropped out, plunging the outside into darkness!

     

    That was about the longest walk I've ever taken - feeling my way through absolute pitch darkness and bumping into pews along the way.... but I'd swear I could hear more noises than the two of us were generating, so I wasn't best pleased when we realised we'd left the heating on and had to feel our way back in and find the switches concealed in the corner of the north-east chapel. I'm convinced we were not alone.....

     

    When the organ was finally out I discovered two tomb slabs embedded in the floor of what had been the lower organ chamber, which had previously been covered by the regulators and main trunking. I brushed, cleaned and polished them before we finally left - perhaps they were just grateful to have some peace and quiet after 45 years of very loud Compton above them!

  14. She's the only celebrity/organist of whom I am aware, since the demise of the great Dudley Moor.

     

    Are there others, I wonder?

     

    Well Huw Edwards has shown his prowess on Songs of Praise, and also several times on programmes he's fronted for BBC Wales. The last one a few weeks ago saw him playing the Compton in the Jewins Welsh Church, London. In the 70s he played in churches in and around Llanelli.

     

    If you're prepared to accept minor regional celebrities then BBC Wales itself has a news presenter - Jamie Owen - who has also been seen playing the occasional hymn.

     

    The most famous person I can think of is David Hyde-Pierce who played Niles Crane in 'Frasier'. He is apparently an organist and - if Hector Olivera's website is anything to go by - a big fan of Mr. Olivera.

  15. Last night I played, "How much can you drink before you get a hangover?". B)

     

    Today I am playing, "What do you do with a drunken soldier....". :o

     

    Well at least your bride didn't disappear into thin air, as happened to poor Catherine Tate in the Christmas Dr Who.

    PS Anyone know which church was used? Since they film it in Cardiff, it was probably one of the city centre ones.

     

     

    It was indeed St. John the Baptist right in the centre of Cardiff. The organ is a three manual Willis recently restored by David Wells.

     

    http://www.cardiffcentralparish.org/

     

    Can't get a link directly to the organ pages but if you click here and follow the first link to St. John's pages you'll see a link to 'Willis Organ'

     

    Steve

  16. Morse - there was an org accompanied Faure Req from Exeter (the last episode, I think?)

     

    Yes, it was the final episode - 'The Remorseful Day' - and star-studded it was too. The choir was conducted by Barrington Phelong (composer of the Morse theme and incidentals) who called for a break because the organist was "...having trouble with her Diapasons!" The then Exeter organ scholar Richard Hills was in the choir too.

  17. In which case I refer you to the following:

     

    Vicar of Dibley

     

    between 3:00 and 3:15

     

    Although I've never compared stills from the two programmes, I have a sneaking suspicion that the church and organ seen in 'The Vicar of Dibley' are the same church and organ featured in John Thaw's greatest work - 'Goodnight Mr. Tom'. In the latter Thaw's character has a harmonium at home, and also plays the church organ.

     

    One that's slipped through the net is Dennis Potter's 'Lipstick on Your Collar' in which Roy Hudd played a cinema organist and part-time sex pest (they'd obviously done their research there...!) with the scenes shot at the State cinema, Grays, Essex which auditorium and organ also appeared fleetingly in 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit'. The music in the Potter play was dubbed by Nigel Ogden who also provided the hands and feet shots. For once they did match the vision and audio as the recordings were made at Grays, unlike 'The Smallest Show on Earth' where a Compton console is seen but a Hammond is heard.

     

    Anyone seen 'The Abominable Dr. Phibes'?

  18. Hope-Jones, vandal or genius? Depends what side of the fence you happen to be.

     

    B)

     

    You could easily start another thread on this one, but my best guess is - a bit of both. However I do honestly believe that HE believed in what he was doing, so vandalism it might have been in some situations, but done with the best intentions.

     

    You could pose the same question about John Compton, and to a degree the answer might be the same, but even in his sometimes drastic re-builds I believe he was far more sucessful far more often than H-J. Compton was though undoubtedly a genius!

     

    Stephen

  19. .......I simply cannot see any point in making an organist's job more difficult than it already is.

     

     

    You've just summed up the pros and cons perfectly!

     

    Most of our large and historic* instruments are the product of a process of evolution, and while I am - at heart - a preservationist when it comes to historic pipework (if it's any good, of course!), there HAS to be a measure of common sense in the treatment of the business end if the organ is to maintain its purpose in the accompaniment of worship, rather than be a highly valued but uncomfortable museum-piece.

     

    I can, for instance, see a case for preserving a hitch-down swell during a re-build if it's original, but for the life of me I can't see the point in reversing an earlier change to a balanced pedal. The result may be a re-creation of what was there originally, but it ISN'T original, therefore ISN'T historic, and will probably be a pain in the a*** for the organist.

     

    (*Historic in terms of their provenance and pedigree, rather than being in original condition)

  20. Or whether the policy is not a musical one at all?

     

    The whole point of stops being added to the West Point instrument is that they are given in memory of young men who have been killed in action. I rather like the thought that something would 'sound on' after a life has been lost.

     

    It is a pity that more people don't leave money to organ projects....though I freely agree that the absence of money is often the only thing that preserves an organ 'unspoiled' for later generations.

     

    Sorry Paul, I didn't mean to decry the purpose of the donations, and I absolutely agree with you that it would be nice if more people did remember the parish organ project in their wills. Indeed that has been the case in two neighbouring parishes here which in due course should benefit the instruments concerned.

     

    What I was suggesting (and I'm quite prepared to be shot down in flames for it) is that there must surely come a time when - however large the building - an organ has all it is ever likely to really need from the musical standpoint. Do we then question the wisdom of making additions, or keep on growing because we have the space and the money? It's not a situation we're likely to encounter in the UK - unless the RAH and Liverpool Anglican decide to play an advanced game of 'keeping up with the Joneses' but there are some positively enormous instruments in the USA that do sometimes leave me wondering.

     

    I like the big jobs as much as anyone - Liverpool, RAH, St. Sulpice (hoping to go there in the Spring!), but to be honest I was recently revelling in the glories of Hereford, and came away thinking "What more could you ever want from an organ?"

     

    Mind you - people do say I'm easily pleased..... mostly those who've heard me play :blink:

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