Ian Ball

Hmm. Some questionable articulation there...and the Mixture clearly isn't for polyphonic music and needs a tierce.

Thanks. That's very interesting. Pity Silbermann was hailed as definitive for Bach for so many years in the 20th century (Bach disliked his Mixtures, I believe). Actually, you'll often find a tierce lurking in Hill choruses (if only in the bottom octave of the Sw mixture, or even in a Swell Cymbal as in his glorious Peterborough creation). Even John Nicholson included a principal scale tierce (and larigot) on separate sliders for those crazy guys...

With justifiably and audibly good results!

"But what about the long tradition (in the UK at least) of quint mixtures on Romantic organs - often topped by a Sharp Mixture too (mid-century Hill, Nicholson et al)? Was Schulze the only force behind this? And so what of he was? It sounds wonderful (and you can hear the inner parts)!"

This is all good stuff and has been aired before countless times on this forum. I for one love gritty Bach on low-pitched tierce choruses (tho I still hear echoes of my teachers' chagrin if I dare add reeds to fugues, so strong is the habit of not doing so). But what about the long tradition (in the UK at least) of quint mixtures on Romantic organs - often topped by a Sharp Mixture too (mid-century Hill, Nicholson et al)? Was Schulze the only force behind this? And so what of he was? It sounds wonderful (and you can hear the inner parts)! And what about the numerous baroque organs (especially in North Germany and the Netherlands) with (predominantly) quint choruses at high pitches? Are you saying the 'organo pleno' of manuals to quint mixture; pedals to mixture plus 16' reed is purely a Dupré/post Dupré fancy? Bach fugues with reeds can sound so tiresome; without Mixtures they can sound so dull.

She is an astonishingly fine musician. My abiding memory of that organ (apart from the life-changing experience of driving Vierne Messe Solennelle and Vierne VI Final on it) is hearing Bernard Haas playing his transcription of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring in concert. Afterwards, with quiet modesty, he explained how his first version of the work was too hard, so he had to redo it. It still sounded (at the very least) like a duet. Incredible.

But the boys are all so SHARP (apart from the final top B flat)! Perhaps because there was so hot air from the squeezebox three inches behind them...

Perhaps not the ideal time to launch an appeal... or am I just letting the media influence my confidence?

Wasn't that last year? Alas no Latry this year... Here's this year's link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/2009/whatson/

It definitely had one. Alas the spec has been taken off the Cathedral website so can't check.

I don't remember much unblending neo-baroquery there in my day (1990-91). Where's the Solo Cornet des Violes gone? It's listed as Cymbel on NPOR.

Is the glorious Schulze at St Peter's Hindley still homeless? Manchester could do FAR worse! Perhaps with the Parr Hall CC in the nave somewhere too...

I can't believe I'm quite such an organ anorak to contribute this nugget, but I believe the tuba he had in mind was that in Cork Cathedral. Some say Manchester's party horn could be heard from platform 12 of Victoria Station...

Much appreciated Sean, thank you, as I drafted yet another defence to a redundancy claim... Just missed the pedal mutations!

Actually DJB's not the advisor and there are plenty of organs pre-dating NDP that were built with pedal mutations. To my eyes the new scheme looks like an ideal and cost effective solution for what was probably a rather 'vanilla' organ.

I couldn't possibly comment

oh, and I'll leave Pierre to design the Mixtures! Bring back Norman Cocker's original design, I say...

Oh dear. Haven't played it so can't comment. Played some fabulous ones in the States tho. But let's have no more talk of aliens. A good (old?) British organ is what Manchester needs, with foundations like my Gran's fruit cake (rich, complex and comforting), strings like her Victoria sandwich (light and fluffy) and reeds like a strong cup of tea (Britain's favourite drink - it's official*) *Oz and James Drink to Britain

Fisk would be nice ~shhh~ sorry

The 80s proposal had a lovely David Graebe case on the screen. But thank goodness it wasn't built. Hope they keep the French Horns... ...and the two curtain shakers in the Jesus Chapel. Oh, and the Solo string chorus up to Cornet des Violes. And the clarinet. Oh and the lovely Swell reeds (both great and small). Come to think about it, can't they just replace the dreadful Great chorus and leave the rest alone? I believe some tweaking to the upperwork was done in the 90s but it still lacks character.

Here is that very performance, Paul (mine, not TT's): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRvnZgpPoWo

Bless you for that, Paul. Cheque's in the post. Actually, Thomas Trotter plays it - went down well at his Worcester recital. Mind you, only I swing the middle section (historically informed, you see, but probably not what the composer intended )

Well.. there's always Sometimes I feel like a motherless child from Bolcom's Gospel Preludes. It's dedicated to Marvin Gaye, a 'Motown classic' by any definition. Not sure the mood would match nuptials mind you

No David, I quite agree. As much as I admire van Oortmerssen (despite sweating blood over his studies as a postgrad student), I find this example rather mannered and, well simply too slow, and I've I tried really hard to find subtle life and energy within. And, yes, I have heard his lecture about tempo - nothing new there my old choirmaster didn't tell me about relating Palestrina to one's heartbeat, or reading Chopin or Brahms on rubato, but then his lecture it is aimed at young students. The many performances out there of the sixth trio using 2 violins (or vln and flute) and continuo provide perhaps more valuable lessons, whatever your action. Mind you, JvO's Brahms disc is among my desert island collection. Fabulous.

Crude? I'd like to hear a better orchestration from that contributor, or anybody else. Mental capacity is indeed in question here... I'm sure most of my orchestral musician friends (and certainly my clarinettist wife) would far rather wake up to that on a Sunday morning than 10 minutes of organo pleno (absolutely no double entendre intended). That particular performance was exquisite and highly detailed too; the phrasing/slurring as expressive as any period chamber ensemble. So what if there was slurring across upbeats - 100 years ago we would all be playing like that and regarding it as 'gospel'. Elgar's own interpretation (available on Naxos) is somewhat more restrained, actually, with a faster Fantasia and less rubato in the Fugue. IFB