Choir Man

Nicolson's have some photos of the work on their "smaller projects" page: http://www.nicholsonorgans.co.uk/pf/smaller-projects-2022/ It looks like the organ has escaped significant physical damage, however it looks like all the pipework has been removed from the north side for cleaning. I wonder if they are taking the opportunity to fix the other problems that have been mentioned?

The Albert Hall's new organist in residence has been busy in the last week. Most unusually working with Electronica artist Bonobo following a chance late night encounter whilst rehearsing. In her own words and the view from the organ console: And here is the view from the audience: https://youtu.be/xMEdqx3MdZA

Jonathan Scott's latest concert is from the Orgelpark in Amsterdam. Demonstrating the variety of some of the instruments in this unique venue.

Returning to Jurmala, I managed to find this info with the help of Google Translate: In 2001, it was found in the Haggate Baptist Church in England, which is scheduled to be demolished. The organ of this church perfectly met both the sonic and visual requirements of Dubulti Church. They were built by DRIVER & Co in Burnley, Lancashire, in 1925. The organ has a mechanical structure, three manuals, 30 registers. Thanks to the support of donors covered the costs of dismantling and transporting the organ, including installation work, during which many details were taken into account, taking into account the age of the organ, had to be restored or even replaced with new ones equivalent to the original. Organ installation and restoration works prof. Organ masters Roberts Hansons, Arnolds Dimants and Aivars Vīksna perform under the direction of Tālivalža Dekšnis. For the first time, all the organ records that have been in England for this instrument will be celebrated at the centenary. In the future, it is planned to add some new organ voices to the organ. The names referenced above all appear to be organists and I've been unable to find any reference to the builder that transplanted the instrument. NPOR has no reference to Haggate Baptist church, which stood in the Briercliffe area of Burnley and was demolished in 2001 because of structural issues. The present day Haggate Baptist Church was formerly the church's school building.

A local news story from the southwest has highlighted an organ that will be given away free to anyone who can give it a new home.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-60769668 . The organ can be heard playing in this radio interview: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0bvyyvg According the news article, this chapel organ was built by Alfred Moss of London and installed in The Old Chapel, Sand Lane, Calstock in 1910. It was moved a barn in Callington 30 years ago. There's some further information from the auction house that's clearing the estate of the former owner: https://beechauctions.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/March-Newsletter-The-Beech-Herald-1.pdf I can't find any reference to the instrument or its builder on NPOR - can anyone shed any further light?

Anna Lapwood has shared the score of A Prayer For Ukraine.

The following text is found in the NPOR entry for Norwich Central Baptist church https://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N06528 1953, Hill, Norman & Beard New organ incorporating the Echo organ from Norwich Cathedral.

Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume, France Unfortunately the navigation arrows don't work very well so a number of links are below. Steps within the west wall going up to the organ: https://goo.gl/maps/WCRCPLTXpvfSkmSn6 Console: https://goo.gl/maps/9uJiu6BLgapKj5PV7 Interior (showing wall paintings hidden by the organ): https://goo.gl/maps/dTbT52RsmVFLuKPT8 Back of the console: https://goo.gl/maps/789y6LmjSawhNG2G8

The organ loft at the Martinkirk in Doesburg, NL: https://goo.gl/maps/yisakRq7T1yfS3t5A

The choir of York Minster sang his evening service in G last month. Here is the Nunc Dimittis - a fitting tribute.

Congratulations to Andrew Carwood, DOM of St Paul's Cathedral, on his MBE for services to choral music.

Coventry Cathedral have announced the start of fundraising to restore the organ which is now approaching its 60th birthday. More details at: https://www.coventrycathedral.org.uk/wpsite/blog/2021/11/30/launch-of-the-organ-restoration-appeal-with-david-briggs/ The page also links to the recent concert by David Briggs that was broadcast on Radio 3

There's also a play list of all the pieces on Spotify:

Unfortunately it's hidden behind their pay wall, but here is the text of the article from the New York Times website: Credit...Angie Wang Dec. 3, 2021 In the past we’ve chosen the five minutes or so we would play to make our friends fall in love with classical music, piano, opera, cello, Mozart, 21st-century composers, violin, Baroque music, sopranos, Beethoven, flute, string quartets, tenors, Brahms, choral music, percussion, symphonies, Stravinsky, trumpet, Maria Callas and Bach. Now we want to convince those curious friends to love the grandeur and colors of the organ — a full orchestra in a single instrument. We hope you find lots here to discover and enjoy; leave your favorites in the comments. ◆ ◆ ◆ James McVinnie, organist Bach’s “Wir danken dir, Gott” If I had a time machine, I would go back to 1740 to hear Johann Sebastian Bach play the organ in Leipzig, Germany. Bach is the ultimate composer for this extraordinary, timeless instrument. Much of his organ music is intense, revealing its multilayered, life-affirming majesty slowly, through repeated listening. The opening to his 29th cantata, however, leaps and bounds with immediate joy. There is something visceral about hearing this music played live, on a great organ, in a vast cathedral space: The building shakes, the air shimmers and the music is as much felt as heard. ◆ ◆ ◆ Joy-Leilani Garbutt, organist and Boulanger Initiative co-founder Jeanne Demessieux’s “Te Deum” This piece stops me in my tracks every time I hear it, conjuring the phrases “tour de force” and “pièce de résistance.” In an incredible display of badassery, Demessieux unleashes the full spectrum of the organ’s capabilities, with all its sounds, timbres, colors and contrasts. Too often people associate this instrument with dirges or spooky music; this piece is energetic and exuberant. The middle section is like a slow jazz waltz sound bath, filled with luscious chords and featuring an inverted texture that places the solo in the pedals and the bass line on the keyboards. As a performer, it’s always a great adventure to tackle music written by a virtuoso composer to showcase her own instrument. Demessieux knows exactly what the organ can do, and she uses all of it. ◆ ◆ ◆ Zachary Woolfe, Times classical music editor Saint-Saëns’s Third Symphony It hardly gets grander than Saint-Saëns’s Third Symphony, which he titled “with organ.” And yet, with the right musicians, this gigantic Romantic wedding cake of a piece is shining elegance, not overkill. After its first C-major blast in the finale, the organ is woven into the orchestra so lovingly that it never seems to be used for mere effect; the instrument is treated like a jewel, to be placed in one of the repertory’s most sumptuous, stirring settings. A delightful bonus in this finely detailed recording: a father-and-son pair of eminences as organist and conductor. ◆ ◆ ◆ Sarah Kirkland Snider, composer Claire M. Singer’s “The Molendinar” One remarkable thing about the organ is its ability to generate acoustic sounds that seem electronic. The Scottish composer Claire M. Singer explores this to rapturous effect in “The Molendinar,” a slowly morphing, 25-minute journey that intricately builds beautiful, bending overtones over a simple ground bass through her manipulation of the organ’s mechanical stop action. The Molendinar is a hidden watercourse above which the city of Glasgow was founded in the sixth century, but the music’s grand, glacial build, and ghostly evanescence, remind me of the Breton legend of Ys, its mythological cathedral rising and then sinking back into the ocean. ◆ ◆ ◆ Cameron Carpenter, organist Howard Hanson’s “Romantic” Symphony If I’m introducing someone, I can only submit my most recent recording, since it is played on an instrument I designed whose very point is to demonstrate the possibilities of the modern organ. The transition of the instrument to the digital realm gives us a glimpse of the part of it that transcends moving parts. In pairing Bach’s “Goldberg” Variations with Howard Hanson‘s 1930 Symphony No. 2, “Romantic,” I wanted to contrast two masterpieces from outside the organ repertoire. I didn’t intrude on any organ works in which others are better versed, and the instrument’s clarity and color helps us to understand these well-loved pieces anew. ◆ ◆ ◆ David Allen, Times writer Franck’s Chorale No. 2 in B minor Although César Franck wrote relatively few works for the organ, he was still arguably the greatest composer for the instrument since Bach, and it was in Bach’s shadow that he composed three chorales in 1890, the year he died. What Franck called a chorale, though, bears little resemblance to Bach’s settings of hymn tunes; the three are vast, 15-minute ruminations on belief, none more spiritual than the second, a passacaglia that hypnotically winds its way to what the ear thinks is going to be an imposing declaration of faith, before it falls away to a quieter, more personal hope. ◆ ◆ ◆ Paul Jacobs, organist Lou Harrison’s Concerto for Organ with Percussion Orchestra Beethoven considered organists “the greatest of all virtuosi.” But if making music with all four limbs isn’t hard enough, Lou Harrison also expects the soloist in his Concerto for Organ and Percussion to play clamorous clusters of keys with felt padded slabs — to match a full battery of percussion that includes Chinese crash cymbals, oxygen tank bells and gongs galore. While I’ve always prized the organ’s uncanny ability to arouse our numinous instincts, sometimes we just want to let our hair down. The irrepressible joy of the final movement will wake the dead and make them dance. ◆ ◆ ◆ Anthony Tommasini, Times chief classical music critic Copland’s Organ Symphony The young Aaron Copland wrote his Symphony for Organ and Orchestra at the behest of his teacher, Nadia Boulanger, who played the solo part at the premiere, in 1925. Copland’s friend and colleague Virgil Thomson later described the symphony as “the voice of America in our generation.” He was right. While looking back at the European symphonic heritage, Copland’s ambitious piece is fresh, direct, unsentimental and sassy in a way that seems somehow American, especially the feisty, unabashedly dissonant finale. And I love the ruminative opening Andante, which glows and sighs in this live recording. ◆ ◆ ◆ Javier C. Hernández, Times classical music and dance reporter Handel’s Organ Concerto No. 13 Handel is best known for his operas and oratorios. But his organ concertos contain some of his most lively and playful music. A gifted virtuoso on the instrument, he performed several of these pieces as entertainment for audiences between acts of his oratorios. The Organ Concerto in F, which premiered in 1739, goes by the nickname “The Cuckoo and the Nightingale” for its chirpy motifs. Marie-Claire Alain plays with precision and zeal, gliding through the many improvisatory sections. ◆ ◆ ◆ Nico Muhly, composer Herbert Howells’s “Jubilate” The organ in church can be like a piece of beautiful architecture, or a wonderful sermon: It is sometimes taken for granted. And there is a subtle art to playing with a choir; the organist must wrestle with the acoustics of the space to make sure everything aligns, as the player is oftentimes quite far from the singers, and the pipes can be practically miles away. One beautiful challenge is the “Jubilate” from Herbert Howells’s morning service for the choir of King’s College, Cambridge, and the extraordinary and specific acoustics of the chapel there. Even when the organ is under the choir, Howells is masterly at doubling the voices and weaving in and out of them, foretelling little themes or echoing them after. The acoustics of the space turn the simple counterpoint into something intentionally blurry but somehow precise, like a house at night lit from within but seen from outside, with shapes flickering in and out of view. The beginning of the piece starts with the organ in its simplest incarnation, just holding an E-flat minor chord. In the last phrase, on the text “world without end, amen,” the choir sings in unison, and the organ, here the primary voice, unspools a long melody, crabwise but ultimately pointing downward toward a resolution in E-flat major. ◆ ◆ ◆ Joshua Barone, Times editor Barber’s “Toccata Festiva” You can’t help but appreciate the too-muchness of the organ. Its extremity goes both ways: It can whisper, or shake the ground you stand on with the awe-inspiring sound of a full-voiced choir. Both ends of the spectrum coexist in Samuel Barber’s 1960 “Toccata Festiva.” About two-thirds into the piece, after an opening of Romantic excess and concerto-like flair, comes a cadenza that rises from foreboding depths to episodes that are by turns agile, luminous and borderline outrageous — but arriving at a mysterious peace. When the orchestra returns in a crowded dash to the ending, all of its might is necessary to meet the grandeur of what may be our most extravagant instrument. ◆ ◆ ◆ Anna Lapwood, organist Fauré’s “Sicilienne” It’s hard not to be impressed by the sheer power a pipe organ can produce, but it is also an instrument with an amazing capacity for beauty and sensitivity, characteristics that are often overlooked when talking about it. We hear this more subtle side in Robilliard’s transcription of Fauré’s “Sicilienne,” performed here by Thomas Ospital in the Church of St. Eustache in Paris. It’s in this kind of music that the building becomes integral to the success of a performance; as we hear the individual flute stops dancing around the space, the acoustic bloom becomes an architectural sustaining pedal. ◆ ◆ ◆ Seth Colter Walls, Times writer Terry Riley’s “At the Royal Majestic” When the Los Angeles Philharmonic wanted to commission organ music from Terry Riley, they let him hang out all night playing on Hurricane Mama, the potent pipe instrument inside Walt Disney Concert Hall. Some of the material Riley improvised there made its way into his 2013 concerto “At the Royal Majestic.” One of his grandest late-career works, it’s punchy, mystical and gorgeous. (It’s also a reminder that his artistic development did not stop with the early Minimalist touchstone “In C.”) The close of the first movement — called “Negro Hall,” after a drawing by the fin-de-siècle Swiss artist Adolf Wölfli — occasionally seesaws between sugar-sweet orchestral motifs and gloomier exhalations from the organ. Riley presents such contrasts not with postmodern irony, but with tangible, genuine delight. Even after a climactic turn toward frenzied rhythmic patterns, his joyous sensibility is always perceptible, and the final chords are exhilarating. ◆ ◆ ◆ Olivier Latry, an organist at Notre-Dame Bach’s Fugue in G minor, BWV 578 April 15, 2019: The whole world was horrified to discover the images of Notre-Dame on fire. A few weeks earlier, I was in the cathedral recording this “Little” Fugue in G minor for an album called “Bach to the Future.” “Little” — but it is nevertheless great Bach! In a few minutes, the cantor of Leipzig tells us such a story. I love the fragility that shines throughout this work, a fragility that brings us back to our human condition in front of current events: the fire of Notre-Dame, the health situation, climate change. May this music make us aware of our determining role in humanity.

As Rowland has already said the damage is in the bay immediately next to the north organ case which contains great, choir & solo divisions. Even if there is no direct damage to the organ, it is likely that any equipment outside of the case (e.g. blowing plant, wind trunking & electrics) could be affected. I would also imagine that, until the damaged vault has been assessed and stabilised, engineers will probably ask for the organ to remain silent for fear of vibration making the damage worse.

If you don't follow Richard McVeigh on YouTube, you will have missed this fascinating video of a stop knob being made:

BBC news article about the start of work: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-59353998

Bravo to the cathedral for letting the youngsters showcase their skills, it's great that players of all abilities can have the opportunity to play in a major service. Here's a clip of a young lad in Coventry - a few years older but, altogether more accomplished.

Bravo Jonathan, a fantastic performance in every respect. Also much respect to Richard for the recording - the fantastic, but enormous, acoustic of Gloucester can be difficult to work with. I'm a big fan of Richard's and look forward to his 'Virtual Church' later today which was also recorded at Gloucester. He's a real ambassador for the organ and has done much to share his art (as well as his family) with the whole world.

I don't think anyone will disagree that being a chorister or choral scholar in a cathedral or college chapel is a wonderful experience which develops a level of musical excellence that can lead to many fantastic future opportunities. Is it right in this day and age that this should be limited to boys and men only? Or that girls and woman can participate so long as they are kept separate from the boys and men? I write as a father of two daughters with wonderful voices who never had opportunities that would have been available to them if they had been born male. I agree that a well trained boys voice is a beautiful thing to listen to, but so is a well trained girls voice or woman's voice, as well as man's voice. We should remember that, even without girls and women, the sound of choir now is very different from what it was 100, 200, 300 and more years ago. Repertoire, organs, music and singing styles as well as the liturgy are continually evolving and choirs have and will evolve as well. I welcome the inclusion of girls and women at St John's and I think the decision to form a mixed choir is bold and forward looking. For those that haven't read it, St John's press release can be found here: https://www.sjcchoir.co.uk/news/girls-and-women-sing-members-choir-st-john’s

Does anyone know who is building the replacement? Apparently the previous organ was free to anyone who could come to collect it: https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/17418488.remember-magdalen-college-gave-organ-away-free/

Most of the work will be well away from the organ and its consoles. However in the appendices it makes it quite clear that works in these areas will be done by "organ specialist's electricians." (presumably H&H). I don't think the organist team at St Paul's will have too much to worry about...

The owner of the carillon in Nicolo's latest video has an extensive website with lots of info about his instrument and other carillon related material: https://en.bellslab.net/over-ons

An obituary has been published in the Telegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2021/09/07/robert-pennells-celebrated-organ-builder-diversified-making/ Bob Pennells, who has died aged 85, was trained as an organ builder and became the owner of a famous organ-building firm. However, blessed with a business acumen unusual in the organ trade, he also ran a kitchen-making concern and founded Solid State Logic (now SSL), a leading provider of high-end recording studio mixing desks. Robert John Pennells was born at Ilford on March 4 1936. Orphaned in his first year, he and his sister were taken in by aunts and evacuated to the West Country during the war. Returning to Ilford, he joined the choir of St Margaret of Antioch, where he developed his appetite for church music and the organ. He left Ilford County High School in 1952 with an O-level in mathematics and started a five-year apprenticeship with Gray & Davison, an old established London firm of organ builders, then in its twilight. After National Service with the Essex Regiment, he returned briefly to Gray & Davison before moving to the well-regarded JW Walker & Sons. Here he detected the management malaise that would be their subsequent undoing and determined henceforth to be his own boss. Pennells therefore set up in business with Raymond Sharpe, a fellow Gray & Davison apprentice. The new business, Pennells & Sharpe, started in a rented stable in Billericay, nominally producing kitchen cabinets but soon moving on to wooden parts for organ builders. The quality was excellent, and their success came to the notice of Kimber-Allen of Swanley, a business making electrical and engineered parts for organ builders which took a majority holding in Pennells & Sharpe and moved the business to Swanley. Shortly after this, Pennells met Colin Sanders, an electronics engineer involved with a project to construct an efficient pipeless organ for which Kimber-Allen would make the console. Having observed the various electro-mechanical switches and relays that K-A were producing, Sanders remarked that solid state switching would be a simpler and less costly means of controlling an organ. Pennells immediately saw the potential of the method and proposed to K-A that they adopt it. When they declined, Pennells and Sharpe withdrew from the arrangement. With Sanders, Pennells set up Solid State Logic, and with Sharpe he resumed their woodworking business, now known as P&S. Both businesses did well, SSL particularly so after Sanders devised a method to computerise recording-studio mixing desks. By 1974, the failure of Walker’s that Pennells had foreseen was in progress and, as he was virtually the only person in the organ business who had any money the Walker directors turned to him for help. It was not an attractive proposition, but Pennells had a hunch. During his overseas sales visits for SSL he had noted the quality of work of the best German builders and their modern, purpose-built workshops. Seeing an opportunity to build new organs to the same high standards as found in Germany, Pennells acquired the name and the goodwill of Walker’s, reformed the business at a new workshop at Brandon in Suffolk and brought in new talent, including the architect David Graebe, who is credited with reviving the art of organ-case design in this country. It took the better part of four years to settle outstanding problems and stabilise the business, but from 1978 new Walker organs with mechanical key actions, such as at All Saints’, Northampton, Bolton Town Hall and University College School, Hampstead, began to attract attention, restoring the standing of the Walker brand and stirring interest among other British organ builders. More importantly, the success of the organ at Our Lady of the Angels in Worcester, Massachusetts (1985), opened the door to the American market, which eventually accounted for the majority of Walker’s output. At the age of 16, Pennells’ son Andrew had expressed a wish to become an organ builder, so Pennells arranged a four-year apprenticeship for him with Klais Orgelbau of Bonn. Andrew returned to Walker’s in 1981 and soon took over the drawing office and responsibility for the mechanical design of the Walker output, including the important instruments at Lancing College Chapel; Exeter College, Oxford; Adelaide Town Hall; and St Martin-in-the-Fields. In 1994 Andrew assumed the role of managing director of Walker’s and Bob Pennells retired to be chairman of the board. In 1999, however, Andrew, widely regarded as the great hope for a new generation of organ builders, was diagnosed with the cancer from which he died in October that year aged 37. Pennells came out of retirement and took the reins of the business again, but the vision that previously drove him was now dimmed by the loss of his son. He gradually relinquished his interests, made arrangements for the sale of Walker’s and P&S, and passed the administration of his remaining interests to his family. He is survived by his wife Wenda and by two daughters. Robert Pennells, born March 4 1936, died July 18 2021

Bath Abbey's inaugural organ scholar has just taken up his position: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-58281742