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Andrew Butler

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    Tewkesbury Abbey - Grove Organ

    in The Organ

    Posted

    Apologies if this has been discussed recently, but if so I missed it...

     

    Mention has been made in a private discussiob on Facebook, that the Grove organ is in "poor condition and looks unused" Can anyone comment please? There is no indication that I can see on the Abbey website that the organ is not in use...

    Most bizarre specifications?

    in General discussion

    Posted

    The oddity in the organ Andrew mentions at Clifford, Yorkshire, arises, I think, from it having been a residence organ. Originally, the secondary manual was designated "Solo" and had just one stop, called "Solo Open Diapason", which would have worked quite well in the style of registration then in use. Today, with the added 8' flute, it would be very suitable for the responsorial type of Roman liturgy, provided that the cantor isn't a Mr. Caruso type who bellows into a mike and snuffs out any disposition the rest of the congregation might have had to join in.

     

    Gwas Bach's example in Gloucestershire is not quite as unusual as might be thought. The Revd. F.H. Sutton, a member of the ecclesiological Sutton family which included Sir John (of Jesus College) and Augustus (of West Tofts), was quite keen on the idea of a Choir Organ instead of a Great, relying on a big Swell for the major effects. It makes sense if you've got a chancel choir to accompany. The Wordsworth & Maskell at Brant Broughton, Lincolnshire, where Suttons (including F.H.) were incumbents for many years is another example. The Choir Organ was apparently preferred to a Great because F.H. liked plainsong. W&M were popular with ecclesiologically-minded clergy (as was Miller of Cambridge) and the organ has a fine Bodley case.

     

    Thanks David - I hadn't taken on board that it had been a residence organ.

     

    Another with a Choir and no Great is http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N08486

    Nave Booster Organs

    in General discussion

    Posted

    The 1904 rebuild, when T. Tertius Noble was organist, probably resulted in something like we hear at Bristol Cathedral today - fitting the building like a glove but not especially assertive in the nave. When Bairstow took over, he apparently said something along the lines of, 'This organ is a woman. I'm going to change it into a man!'. Hence, the big Tuba, thorough-going revoicing and substitution. To continue the Bristol simile, Harrisons' turned the Cathedral into Redcliffe. When Walkers' rebuilt the organ in 1960 for Francis Jackson, there were some who thought that it had been quietened down too much. I didn't know what it was like before 1960, but I remember being vastly impressed with it when Francis let me play it c.1970, and again when I took Belfast Cathedral Choir there in 1990. Subsequent work has, in effect, addressed some aspects of the 1960 rebuild which weren't entirely happy (such as the reaction of the Great reeds to a drop in pressure) and have generally aimed to improve what was there in the style which was established.

     

    Bristol.... Just found this by accident and had to share it. Organ duly fitting the building!!

    Most bizarre specifications?

    in General discussion

    Posted

    St Peter's, Eaton Sq, London:

     

    Viola Felix

     

    I have a lurking memory that this is something to do with somone's cat, though I did play this instrument shortly after its inauguration and it didn't sound particularly feline as I recall. Maybe it had been doctored.

     

    St Anne's, Moseley, Birmingham:

     

    Flauto Magico

     

    CEP

    Stephen Ridgeley-Whitehouse's cat?

    Most bizarre specifications?

    in General discussion

    Posted

    I was looking at this [http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N16628] for another reason (found mention of it in a railway book of all places!) and was struck by the Vox Angelica on the Great - presumably a quiet flue and not undulating.

     

    I have come across this [http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N00393] with both a Voix Celeste and Vox Angelica on the Swell Only one of the two was an undulant - can't remember which. .

     

    Also this http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N15469] where the Vox Angelica is not an undulant

    RCO Test Equivalencies

    in General discussion

    Posted

    I was once taking a choir rehearsal, and decided that the psalm chant (in E) was probably too high for the Matins congregation, so I played it in D. A know-it-all tenor asked whether we could "possibly have it in the correct key?" I listened to him and said "What key did you want? E?" And duly played it again in D. He said "Ah! Thank you! Much better!!"

    Background noise at recitals

    in General discussion

    Posted

    It wasn't a recital as such, but a few years ago, I put on a sponsered 24 hour music marathon at my church to raise funds to send a parishioner's son to America for treatment. There was an audience of some sort all the time. One participant was an organist from nearby, who brought his daughters, who played various instruments, and he accompanied on the piano - with a fairly big, attentive audience. Their programme finished early and he announced "I've still got 1/4 of an hour, so I'll go upstairs and play the organ" Whereupon the entire audience started chatting and continued to do so while he played!! He's a fine player too!

    Diapasons and Flutes

    in Nuts and bolts

    Posted

    Irritatingly, on the instrument in my own church (sadly not in use at the moment), there is only the "Large Open Diapason". It would be so much more useful if there were a Small Open Diapason that fitted better with the Principal and Fifteenth.

     

    From my knowledge of Conachers, this must be a splendid instrument. I do hope that it will be restored to use!

    Canterbury Cathedral & Manchester Cathedral, New organs

    in General discussion

    Posted

    Interesting you have homed in on aspects of the console Neil as it has now assumed even greater importance in the UK now it is described as 'the office'. I would have thought that with the organ now to be split between north and south, design work might have been directed to the two organ cases, if this has not already been done, or are the two haves to be just positioned at the front of the triforia? I realise you have just relayed the information as released but surely all those goodly bodies who vet such things after much committee consideration will be more focused on the cases and the ensuing discussions, which must also have gone on at Worcester and Llandaff, rather than a structure to support a console (which we know H&H are very good at making)!

     

    I wonder what the cases will look like?

     

    Are there now going to be cases?

    Canterbury Cathedral & Manchester Cathedral, New organs

    in General discussion

    Posted

    Canterbury Cathedral Organ , Project Confirmed awarded to H&H.

     

    Chapter have appointed an organ builder, Harrisons & Harrisons of Durham, to design the reconstruction of the Willis Organ in the Quire triforium as a four manual. The plan is to divide the organ’s pipework between the north and south triforia of the Quire so that a better musical balance is struck as well as restoring the organ to its full 19th Century capacity. Moving forward depends on finding an acceptable design for a new organ console which is to be positioned in the North Quire Aisle, above and behind the choir stalls. Once the console issue has been resolved, the Organ rebuild can move ahead, but it will take up to 2 years to reconstruct the organ and we still have to achieve full funding for the project.

     

     

    Is the Nave organ remaining as it is? Having the console above the north stalls would make it very remote - visibility and hearing-wise - for nave services...

    Hand-operated Devices For Moving Swell Shades

    in Nuts and bolts

    Posted

    A propos of nothing in particular, the organ of St Mary's Abbey Oulton has 'enclosed nuns' according to NPOR. Not a stop I've come across, either enclosed or unenclosed.

     

    That is Oulton, Staffordshire. The NPOR survey is incomplete - just listing footages of stops on each division. They are an enclosed order of nuns!

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