John Furse

Brilliant, Paul ! I guffawed. In remembrance of the fabled behaviour of a recently retired manager of a soccer team, could a part of this be called the ‘wigdrier’ treatment ?

Not sure. But the Graphit may be (!). I trust it was constructed after suitable, Baroque German models.

Stephen Layton seems to be conducting with a red pencil (point forward), instead of a baton ! I believe it to be a Staedtler and, thus, authentic for the performance of Bach.

I remember attending a recital by Marie-Claire in the Paris Conservatoire in 1998; a rare opportunity to hear one of the all-time greats. I recall thinking that her recordings had far more atmosphere- the performances not benefitting from this dry acoustic. This was particularly the case with the music of her brother, Jehan. They both grew up playing the unique organ that their father, Albert, constructed in the family salon: http://www.jehanalain.ch/ This is now in Switzerland: http://www.romainmot...gue_Jehan_Alain Marie-Claire’s CDs (three complete cycles of Bach) and students are her enduring legacy.

Thanks to Karl for alerting us to this. I furnish a link to the Sequentia website, where what seems to be the complete article is given. It makes for fascinating reading and, as ‘MM’ says, might send us back to our Grouts/Taruskins/Hoppins/Everists/ . . . : http://www.sequentia...c_acoustic.html

Following an enquiry to the Archivist at King’s, I learn that The Duruflé was played at the end of their Nine Lessons & Carols in 1969, 1980, 1990, 1992 and 1997- then last month. The voluntaries, it seems, began to be listed in 1962.

[i’ve just ‘found’ this, which I wrote at the time: my log-in went awry for a while, around the festivities.] I, too, did a ‘double-take’, when The Bach was begun. I can’t help feeling that this was not quite the right approach at that speed for the King’s organ and acoustic; or, possibly, it was the placing of the mikes. Or, perhaps, it was that I was anticipating the usual and got the unexpected. It was, nonetheless, a most interesting interpretation. I’m sure Ton Koopman would have approved. Has Mr Ramsay been seen on KLM, of late? I was astonished to find that the last time the Duruflé was played after this service was 2007 (15 years ago!).

I was hoping that pcnd5584, with his obvious and intimate knowledge of the Exeter instrument, would respond in elucidation. It is a long time since I heard it live; and even longer since I last played it. As with the organ, Choral Evensong was also always a wholly ‘satisfying’ experience, under both Lionel and Lucian (even if I could never make out the latter’s beating)- particularly since one of my confrères from undergrad days was a lay clerk and would furnish the latest gossip. I can now understand the rationale about the seemingly perverse positioning of Choir and Solo divisions. Thank you. I suppose it depends how far you go back in time. The traditional Chair is something that many English builders have preserved- with very good musical reasons- as is stated in the latter half of the quote above. Not that they now inhabit the majority of English cathedrals, of course. In some ways, the ‘rot’ started with the introduction of electricity: organs, and bits of them, could be put in all sorts of convenient (and inconvenient) places, with often disastrous musical consequences. [Astonishingly, I find that the Choir division at King’s College, Cambridge, is not, apparently, in its homonymous case. Is this correct?] As to the ‘enormity’ of the Ophicleide at Truro: surely the answer would be to have it ‘tamed’, so that a 32’ could be provided that is in balance with it. “Firmly I believe and truly” such a magnificent acoustic cries out for such a stop.

I may well be missing something, here, but the Exeter instrument is fundamentally good. Does not some of it date back to the 17th century- or even earlier? Yes, it desperately needs cleaning and ‘sorting out’- as do several other famous instruments (see AJJ above). Fortunately, it seems it won’t be subject to the radical change ‘suffered’ (in the opinion of many) by Gloucester- even if that does sound magnificent. I’m sure that far better minds than mine will already have decided to enable Great and Swell to speak clearly to west and/or east, for the first time in decades (?). (When were they turned though 90 degrees?) I also wonder why the Choir division should not be in the Choir case- which is the traditional location in an English organ? The majority of occasions such an instrument is used is surely in choral evensong and the Sunday services, when its accompanimental function, speaking into the Quire, is surely desirable- if not necessary. That is, of course, unless the Choir always now sings from west of the case. Again, I must respectfully disagree. Having taken my choir there to sing choral evensong in the 1980s, I can only lament, in a half-hearted way, the lack of thunderous rumblings at the end of the Stanford in C Glorias. (And not just underpinning the last chord, either.) But, what a superb instrument in a marvellous acoustic, nonetheless!

David: I think you’ll find that the 1861 Gray & Davison went to Usk in 1900. The NPOR blurb for 1958 says “rebuilt, incorporating parts of the organ damaged by a land mine in WW2”. If you compare the 1900, 1928, 1938 and 1958 incarnations, you can clearly see upperwork ‘growing’ above the Hope-Jones originals. Not so much that the Positive was closer to the congregation (not really any closer than many Choirs, or Rückpositivs), but that the rest of the organ was too far away. Cornet voluntaries, for example, were very successful- if you stood at the back of the nave !

Yes. The instrument in Llandaff Cathedral never recovered from the tender ministrations (!) of Hope-Jones. The specifications themselves (1900: http://www.npor.org....ec_index=N11801, etc) constitute almost a whole series of Loony Tunes. It’s a pity the World War II land mine didn’t do a more thorough job, as then HNB would have had to have started from scratch. They were on a hiding to nothing, with the 1958 rebuild- especially since most of the organ was sited one bay too far east. In addition, a tendency to somewhat smooth voicing made the organ seem strangely underwhelming. This has, of course, now been corrected (http://www.npor.org....ec_index=E01476). With the organ split, as now, between north and south aisles, Epstein’s Majestas, which housed the Positive, then may have been much more effective as a de facto Rückpositiv.

Was this really added in 1955 ? I suppose it must have been before 1961, as The Magnificat (Tippett) was composed for that year's 450th anniversary.

I recall sitting in (‘upstairs’) on a Choral Evensong, probably around 1970, with Lionel Dakers presiding at the console. I believe I noticed with incredulity that he only used one leg to play the pedals and operate the swell-pedal, even in the Psalms; was it gout, or had he been injured ? After the voluntary, he asked if I’d like a tootle, to which, of course, I made an affirmative answer, and left the loft, after ascertaining I that I wouldn’t cook up a dog’s breakfast. Five or ten minutes of improvising later, I was emboldened enough to risk the higher pistons. The Tuba was, as has been said, most satisfying. I couldn’t make head nor tail of the Trompette Militaire- and was, in fact disappointed. I thought it sounded more like an Orchestral Oboe. But Lionel returned, breathless, having almost pounded up the stairs, saying I was ‘driving people out of the cathedral’, because it was so loud- I’d never heard it from the nave. He offered to demonstrate and I descended. It was so ! An incredible, air-splitting noise. This was, of course, before that at St John’s, Cambridge.

Yes, Martin, I should persevere: in addition to your batallas, you might try some Correa de Arauxo (1584-1654). He composed highly idiosyncratic pieces (the tientos)- particularly the solos and duets, in treble or bass, for various stops (e.g. loud or soft reed, corneta). They are marked by their intensity and rambling interludes on the accompanimental stops, with intricate and unusual triplet figuration. Three free scores are available here: http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Correa_de_Arauxo,_Francisco He takes a little bit of getting into, and, to my ears, they sound best reverberating around a huge, gloomy Gothic cathedral, hung with incense and bloodily realistic statuary- perhaps, after a glass of Rioja.

You are right, handsoff: http://www.howardgoo...orks-music-list . . . but it was on Channel 4.

Iberian organs and their music- some random observations They have several features which, although present in other schools, are idiosyncratic, when put together. Split manuals: the music itself takes account of this and provides an initial indication of how to register. Batallas/batalhas, for example, can be played convincingly on one-manual instruments, using this capability. However, very quick stop changes were impossible- even with an assistant- the stops themselves often being hefty and slow. Fortunately, a batalla would usually be in sections (as Friedrich stated above) and marked by a pause in the music; this would allow for a change in registration. Unequal temperament is often of a non-standard variety, giving a marked difference in tonal perception. The music sounds so ‘right’, then, and endless pleasure can be had playing on just a Flautado. Multiple low-pressure reeds (battería, orlos)- some, not all, by any means, horizontal. There were horizontal, regal-type stops, too; the trumpets didn’t have a monopoly. The Spanish organ repertoire is fascinating- as are the organs. What I’ve found most useful is to absorb the various local and international specialists on CD, in addition to playing the organs themselves. I recall a wonderful week spent in Palencia, practising for a recital on an historic instrument and travelling around the Campo, trying out some of the other famous (and recorded) instruments there. Organ courses are available in the summer schools/festivals at Santiago de Compostela and Daroca- to name just two examples. There was a wonderful Auvidis Valois series (El Órgano Histórico Español) of CDs in the 1990s, documenting over a dozen instruments, played by both Spanish and international aficionados. Some are still available, albeit at vastly inflated prices. Many historic instruments have now been restored- with, obviously, varying degrees of success. Goetze & Gwynn have been responsible for a good example. Gerhard Grenzing, resident in Spain, has done dozens- as well as building completely new instruments, hence taking the style forward. There are still, though, many instruments languishing, unplayable, in famous edifices. Of course, this assists in their preservation. Access to instruments varies from impossible to the ludicrously easy. A modicum of Spanish is desirable. I remember a long, dusty drive from Zaragoza, to a remote village, followed by several hours playing a wonderful organ in a fabulous acoustic. The lady who was the custodian of the keys was only too pleased to help, despite my arriving on spec. There are ‘new’ organs in the Spanish style in France and the US; it is high time we had one in the UK. This would open up peoples’ perceptions of this repertoire and the highly individual nature of the music- in the same way that French-sounding stops and influence began to be introduced, in the second half of the 20th century.

Perhaps not. I was most fortunate to be able to practise on one (http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=A00698), in my youth. It benefitted from an appropriately extravagant acoustic, too, in a gorgeous building. I am glad to see it has been maintained, as I heard there was a distinct possibility of its ‘demise’.

John was both foolhardy enough to allow me to give one of the lunchtime recitals (this was on the ‘old’ HN&B, buried behind an arch) and allow my student choir to visit and perform choral evensong. He was a choir trainer who inspired the (Chelmsford) Cathedral Choir to achieve the seemingly impossible and hardly seemed to encounter anything like technical problems whilst playing. Did he ever practise ? Everything was done with such ease. I remember journeying to Cambridge, to hear him play a breathtaking recital at King’s, culminating in a Reger war-horse. Did he really play that without one slip ?

A grand piece- but where are you going to find the piercing cornetas, massed trompetería and variety of regal stops in your neck of the woods ? Plus, of course, the clanking action, to give verisimilitude to the performance ? As far as I’m aware, there is still not an instrument in the UK that can do real justice to this repertoire- although there were plans for one in London some time ago. I hope I’m wrong. (Stand by for rebuttal of contentious opinion!)

(I have only just noticed this thread.) I am not aware of any Iberian-style organs surviving (in Italy) from the period when the south was under Spanish rule- nor that any were, in fact, built. Similarly, for the Spanish Netherlands. I would be more than pleased to be corrected. Although much more familiar with the Spanish organ and some of its historical survivors, I do not see many correspondances with Italian instruments. Much of the repertoire is quite different, too: the loud (and soft) reed and ‘cornet’ solos and duets of Correa de Arauxo (with complex, contrapuntal accompaniment and interludes), for example. These would seem to have more of an affinity in colour with the French school which, however (as with the English trumpet voluntary), is much more vertical in its harmony. The battala, contrasting the (exterior) horizontal reeds with the (interior) vertical ones (and accompanied more homophonically) is another, almost uniquely Iberian form. Do not forget Jannequin and Biber, though. Many of the most important Spanish religious edifices possessed two organs (Epistle and Gospel), to the north and south of the (architectural) choir: e.g. Toledo, Santiago de Compostela, Segovia. The Spanish preferred, moreover, their organs to speak from these directions, rather than directly down the nave, as with many north European instruments. Goetze & Gwynn have restored an historic instrument in Spain and Gerhard Grenzing has long been the most active builder and restorer in the country.

I don't have the score to hand, so please make allowances for any lapse of memory. The keys of 17/18th century French organs were narrower than modern ones, enabling wider stretches. In this case, I seem to recall that the stretch is too far even for this- is it an octave and a 5th ? In a few places in the Couperin Masses, therefore, I have always wondered if the transcription/editing has been completely accurate. Manual to pedal coupler is, of course, a solution. As for the tremblement, one's sword would surely rattle against the bench (!). It would be wonderful to have informed comment from our French colleagues, some of whom will even have the privilege of playing regularly on historical instruments, on which this repertoire was conceived.