Rowland Wateridge

May I gently suggest that the justified indignation about pejorative remarks aimed at amateurs and reluctants (of which I am, or was, one) doesn’t warrant a counter-attack on professional organists as a breed. We are lucky to have some of the finest in our small country. I won’t name favourites, save to say that before the present lockdown it was possible to attend concerts and recitals around the country performed to the very highest standards to respectably-sized audiences. My experiences do not echo some of the pessimistic comments above. As an added bonus, in the last 12 months I had the good fortune to hear, and briefly meet, Thomas Ospital and Philippe Lefebrve from Paris (including a sensational improvisation by PL), and Richard Elliott from Salt Lake City. Three outstanding performances by gifted and charming people. I have encountered several ‘hiccups’ in professional recitals - but no more than three or four times in 50 or more years! - and they were not all the organist’s fault. A couple of ciphers, and one memorable occasion at the RFH with Ralph Downes, no less. He started the Franck second Choral, and after a few bars there was a marked pause; he continued briefly and there was a second more pregnant pause. He then turned to the audience and said “I’m terribly sorry, ladies and gentlemen, I will start again”, which he did, and gave a faultless performance. Yet again, I strongly commend www.organrecitals.com both for advertising events and for planning to attend recitals. It’s an amazing and valuable resource. Before present circumstances there can never have been such a wealth of live-performed organ music available. Let’s hope that normal conditions will return soon.

In defence of Widor Well, we discussed this on an earlier thread, principally about Widor’s much slower tempo in his recording of the Toccata at St Sulpice when he was well into his 80s. Some of us here (maybe a minority) felt that Widor’s interpretation (of his own music!) imparted a dignified grandeur which other performances simply don’t achieve or come near. Although he didn’t observe the rule at Selby, Fernando Germani was on record as saying that individual movements from the organ symphonies should not be played alone; they were part of the whole and to be heard in the context of the other movements. BWV 565 and the Toccata from Symphonie 5 (on its own) have undoubtedly become the most hackneyed. Where organists, and the likes of Classic FM, aren’t succeeding is shown by the fact that the public at large knows little, if any, of the rest of the organ repertoire. I’m afraid I couldn’t pull the lever on Widor! A fascinating man and life; lived through the Franco-Prussian War with dreadful privations, was effectively Minister of Beaux Arts with responsibility for evacuating the Louvre in WW I, Knight of the Legion of Honour, organist of St Sulpice for almost 64 years, etc., etc. Now if you had nominated Léfebure-Wély ... ... I can’t bring myself to nominate a replacement for Widor V, but highly recommended would be Vierne’s Symphonie III, with its haunting Adagio and simply stunning Finale.

My goodness, such heresy on an organists’ website! I will concede that the former organist of the famous public school near my home made an error of judgement some years ago when we had an ‘open day’, not just for the arts but for all local activities of every kind. People were encouraged to circulate round the city and sample everything on offer. For some of them this particular performance may well have been their first (maybe only) encounter with the organ. The programme was ‘The Art of Fugue’ complete (or as complete as it gets). My heart sank as this was an obvious opportunity to evangelise on behalf of the organ. I heard the late Anthony Caesar, former Precentor of Winchester Cathedral, assert that J S Bach was “God’s Messenger”. It was not a matter of any doubt for him. But, of course, the interpretation and playing had to be totally committed. (Incidentally, he proudly claimed that as a boy in the 1930s he had crawled through the bottom C pipe of the Winchester Father Willis 32’ open wood!) As for “dreadful dull, slow, soul-less playing of hymn tunes”, this is down to the organist. Some of us here have to grapple with small, ancient and basic, sometimes intractable, instruments. It’s the organist’s job to overcome the negatives, and to provide at the very least reliable rhythmic playing, enhanced as best he or she can by the resources of the instrument - and with commitment to this very important element of parish liturgy. At parish level, this is arguably the organist’s number one job. Apologies for the apparent sermon. Piet Kee’s CD performances of Bach and Buxtehude at Haarlem and Alkmaar are to be treasured. I haven’t heard the Roskilde recording.

Firstly, NPOR N04090 gives as the reason for the appearance of the organ's east (?) front "Plain rear to hide tuner's passage boards". But these pictures are puzzling. The 1991 IAO Congress was held in Durham, and included a coach visit to Hexham for a recital by Nicolas Kynaston (as I recall). One front of the organ, and I assumed it to be the back, was almost entirely vertical swell shades, and it was very noticeable at the time how much the swell pedal was being used, and, unless I am mistaken, the shades opened slightly sequentially and their action was very 'fluid'. We understood that it was wholly mechanical. I can't reconcile that memory with the 'Google' photographs. Moreover there is mention on NPOR of 'East swell shutters with indicator'. Létourneau worked on the organ subsequently in 1998. Did they make changes to the original Phelps east front, and does it incorporate the vertical swell shades? Someone with local knowledge can surely tell us. Curtains around the console were standard at practically every English cathedral and some major churches, and still are in quite a few. On my last visits to York and Lincoln, they were still there.

I don’t want to hijack the thread, but here are John Scott and others talking about the Merton organ when it was new.

The Merton organ is magnificent both aurally and visually, but it’s a large instrument and the Chapel east of the screen doesn’t have anywhere to accommodate it. It’s not unique, nor particularly uncommon, to find a west end organ in a college chapel. Without knowing, I suspect that there could be a CCTV monitor (possibly behind a concealed panel - this is only a vague recollection, and could be wrong) in addition to mirrors above both jambs. There’s also a chamber organ just to the east of the choir stalls. The Dobson organ case is brilliantly-designed so that when viewed from the east the towers and flats are perfectly framed by the arches of the screen.

I could write at considerable length about the acoustic complexity at Winchester Cathedral, but won't save to say that when the Father Willis organ was installed in 1854 it was expected to accompany services in the quire which was then very much more enclosed than it is now. The introduction of nave services in all cathedrals created a new situation - and a harder job for the organ - particularly one badly-positioned like Winchester's in an enormous building. There the vaulting of the tower, quire and presbytery, and the flat-roofed transepts are of wood. Everything else, nave, retrochoir, eastern chapels and all aisles are stone vaulted - limestone from the Isle of Wight and Caen. Incidentally, the non-reverberant acoustic at Lichfield Cathedral (also discussed on an earlier thread) is due to much of the vaulting there being of plaster - not stone - used in the cathedral's extensive 18th/19th centuries restorations. Stanley specifically asked where the sound comes from when flue pipes and reeds are played. I expected a reply from one of our organbuilder or tuner members but Colin Pykett confirms my largely amateur thoughts that sound is created internally in the pipe at the mouth of a flue (whether open or stopped) by waves and vibration, and by the vibrating tongue of a reed and in its resonator. We all know the effect of putting a stopper in the top of a pipe or drilling a small hole at the centre point of the back of a pipe or resonator. Sound cannot emerge from the top of a stopped pipe. Can someone more expert expand on this (or provide corrections!)? A close friend, Professor James Wilkes of the University of Michigan (an Englishman by birth and an organist) gave an illustrated lecture on "Sound-production in Organ Pipes" to my local organists' association back in 1998, and I vividly remember his holding a lighted candle at the mouth of an open flue pipe. When the note was played, the candle extinguished. He then repeated this with the candle directly above the top of the pipe. The candle stayed alight. Over to others more expert to clarify, correct or expand on the above.

I realise this was intended to lighten the situation - and presumably internal consumption was the idea for the vodka? - but emphatically do not apply any liquid to keys which could filter down between them to the key beds, or on tab stops with electric contacts. I think hygiene of the organist’s hands is the way to tackle this. This homily was written before seeing handsoff’s reply above. We must both have hit the ‘save’ button at more or less the same time. But the ‘do not use liquid’ message was for general circulation. From handsoff’s description it seems unlikely that there are any electric contacts on his organ, except the blower switch, perhaps?

The risk assessment is to be made by the 'employer' which I suspect could be either the incumbent or a churchwarden. Note the mention of "5 or more employees". The same risk assessment would apply to any other person also authorised to visit the church. The answers to those questions (they emanate from Ecclesiastical Insurance Group) aren't too difficult, some simply being "not applicable". I guess most organists carry a mobile 'phone. It's up to the church - not the organist - to co-ordinate visits and to permit who may be in the church and at what times, again all simply done by telephone. The safeguarding questions are easily overcome if the organist is to be alone in the building. It's already established that he/ she cannot have a page-turner or assistant - there is no safeguarding issue! So don't be deterred. If you have a key, and someone coordinates and keeps a record of your visits I don't see any problem. The guidance quoted above from my church is sensible and sufficient.

I received this email from the organists’ coordinator at one of my churches last week. “I concluded that if we wanted to go in to play the organ, we should wear gloves to open any door/ locks, and be aware of hand-sanitiser available in the church and of advice about limited moving about the church; we can play the organ, but at 72 hour intervals in case of keyboard contamination. So perhaps if you would like to get back to the console, let me know so we don't all go at once!“ Obviously someone needs to co-ordinate players’ visiting times. I strongly doubt that liquid cleansers should be used on any part of the console or that this should be necessary, but our organ builder/ tuner members are doubtless best placed to advise on that. Probably simplest, and should be adequate, if using hand sanitiser both before and after playing.

We are very much straying from York. Hereford is a model of how we would like things to be in all of our cathedrals, but they aren’t on equal footings financially and the sheer scale of the buildings and upkeep of the larger ones is simply daunting. Lincoln and Salisbury both have original copies of Magna Carta. Canterbury’s stained glass is of international importance. Durham is, itself, a World Heritage Site - and the list could go on and on. How lucky we are to have these treasures, and how tragic would be their loss. What is the answer to the problem of admission charges? - I don’t know. The French model has been mentioned, but it isn’t all that clear how well it works in practice.

I am sure I have accessed the music list from choralevensong.org, and, having just checked, the link there is directly to the Abbey website. In present circumstances the result is a notice that the Abbey is closed due to Coronavirus. I don’t remember the format of the list I have seen, although you specifically mention a weekly one. They vary considerably among the cathedrals: some only the current week, commonly the current month, but in the case of Liverpool Anglican Cathedral a whole term. For Westminster, choralevensong.org helpfully provides daily details of services. Doubtless all will be revealed at Westminster when services resume. I read to today that churches are to reopen, but initially only for private worship.

In case I didn’t make it clear, the recital I sponsored was not at Coventry. I have no idea what cathedrals or concert halls (like the Bridgwater Hall) might charge for the use of their organ for a commercial recording - presumably a one-off payment in lieu of royalties? We must not stray too far from York, which was the subject here leading to discussion of admission charges, but it does highlight a problem for other cathedrals as well.

I once had the experience of turning up for a recital which I had sponsored and being asked to pay for admission and the programme! It wasn’t the fault of the lady on duty at the door - she wouldn’t have known. The surprise, for me, when I received the programme was that it contained no reference at all to the sponsorship which was my personal donation on behalf of my organists’ association, equally unmentioned. The degree of professionalism in promoting and advertising recitals varies enormously, as discussed recently on another thread. In ‘defence’ of Coventry, my good fortune there has always been to receive the warmest of welcomes. My admiration of its splendid H&H organ knows no bounds - but I believe that also needs a lot of money spent on it.

I don’t think it’s your Yorkshire heritage, Tony. Doubtless all of us would like to see an end to admission charges in all cathedrals and churches. But no one has yet come up with a solution to the problem of cathedral Deans and Chapters remaining solvent under the existing arrangements without occasional public appeals for major restoration work (not to mention re-building organs), voluntary donations and, in the case of the largest cathedrals like York, an admission charge for visitors who are not attending services. Cathedral gift aid envelopes often carry a reminder that they receive no government funding other than the tax element of the gift aid donation. There might be an occasional grant from a body like English Heritage, or a generous private donor, for a specific project, but the day to day running and structural maintenance costs are a huge financial burden. York’s experience shows how unsatisfactory this is - made worse in present circumstances.

In one of the Trollope novels (Barchester Towers?) Mr Harding has to go to London and, finding he has time on his hands, visits Westminster Abbey, paying one penny “to view the aisles” (my best recollection, probably almost sixty years since I read this). There were modest admission charges in some cathedrals in the 19th century, sometimes, as you say, to view particular parts of the building. In the current debates I have never seen people objecting to paying to visit crypts or towers, for example.

Doesn’t this emphasise the fragility of many cathedrals’ finances? There must be others in the same boat as York. I only know of one cathedral where it is said that money isn't a problem, although I suspect that their usually substantial income from investments and landholdings will have suffered in the present economic recession. The subject of cathedral admission charges is hotly debated and vigorously opposed by some people, and York Minster was singled out on that account by a hostile correspondent on the ‘Thinking Anglicans’ site a year or so ago. There’s no easy answer, especially in present times. The French system of State maintenance of the structures of greater cathedrals seems an attractive idea, but I suspect it will never happen here. Sadly, the example of how it works (or should work) hasn’t been inspiring in relation to Notre Dame, Paris - but I will defer to S_L with his local knowledge, if he cares to comment.

MUSIC FOR WHITSUNTIDE - Graham Barber’s “Organcast“ from St Bartholomew, Armley Bach, Reger, Dupré and Demessieux

Sorry to be pedantic. Relying on the Nicholson description, the case is by George Gilbert Scott Junior (not Giles), son of the famous supreme Victorian architect of the same name, but always known as Sir Gilbert Scott. The Scott family interchanged their Christian names freely, and their denominational affiliation as well. I believe George Gilbert Scott Junior converted to Roman Catholicism, and his son Giles Gilbert Scott (grandson of Sir Gilbert) was a born Catholic. Giles Gilbert Scott was, of course, the architect of Liverpool Anglican Cathedral and is buried there. A truly talented and ecumenical dynasty. Agreed that it looks to be a very beautiful church and organ.

I don't think that is a fair comparison to make. I don't want to hi-jack the York thread. Maybe we should start a new thread if any of this is considered contentious. Do you feel similarly about York, Canterbury and the other recent major cathedrals that I mentioned? I took a number of photographs 30 years ago when the interior of the Winchester organ was pristine. (It is, incidentally, a 'special' organ as the first one in its original form wholly by Father Willis, and in 1854 the first to have a Father Willis "full swell" and what were then the unique features of thumb pistons and a radiating and concave pedal board.) It gets enormous use - daily choral services (three on Sundays), choral festivals, concerts with orchestras, recitals and, of course, practice. Why does any of this need to be contentious? It is a huge building and the organ has the misfortune to be under the tower's stone arches more than 900 years old, supporting a ring of 13 bells. Imagine what that vibration can do in terms of dust! It seems a fairly conservative and necessary restoration. Comparing my photographs taken 30 years ago with the present ones in the cathedral leaflet confirms the need for the work to be done. Just so that there is no misunderstanding, I know that the Hull organ is an important one. I also know Hull, and only the present pandemic prevented a planned visit to Hull City Hall last month.

I’m sure there must be another more appropriate thread to mention this, and with apologies to York, I have just read that an appeal has been launched to restore Winchester Cathedral’s Father Willis/ Harrison organ, NPOR N00289, last rebuilt and substantially enlarged by H&H in 1986/88 (Cathedral website: www.winchester-cathedral.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Organ-Fundraising-Appeal-Leaflet-Website-BROCHURE.pdf). Andrew Lumsden refers to the need for an MOT after more than 30 years of daily use. There is an accumulation of dust, reed resonators are said to be collapsing (the photograph might be of the Father Willis Pedal Ophicleide from the 1851 Great Exhibition organ), there is wind leakage, some keys are chipped and will need repair (they are ivory) and a general overhaul by H&H is contemplated next year. The organ is expected to be out of action for one year, and a temporary substitute will be used. As to be expected, Harrison & Harrison are the chosen builder, adding this to their list of major rebuilds at Canterbury and York and restoration work at Lincoln and Salisbury. Only one tonal alteration is mentioned: the addition of a Vox Humana. To my knowledge that had been mooted long ago, and there is a certain irony in its return as H&H removed the Father Willis Vox Humana in their first rebuild of the organ in 1938. Paradoxically, only yesterday I was looking at photographs which I took 30 years ago with a very youthful-looking David Hill at the console, and Tim Byram-Wigfield inside the organ beside the pristine pipework of the Choir Organ and those Father Willis Pedal Ophicleide mitred resonators. Let’s hope that this will all go ahead when more normal conditions return.

When VH laid down his challenge, I have to admit that I scratched my head, and only one work immediately came to mind: Parry’s Fantasia and Fugue in G, very Bach-influenced, but definitely English, definitely organ and not orchestral. Of course there are others. Parry was a Bachian and almost contemporary with Max Reger who was clearly similarly influenced. Sadly, I think your two ‘provocative’ statements are correct, and true of both the parish church where I live (John Keble was Vicar, and has taken much of the blame for these things) and Winchester Cathedral six miles away where Samuel Sebastian Wesley was thwarted in his plans to place the organ on the stone pulpitum which formerly existed, and, to this day, the organ struggles to accompany a full nave congregation. As a postscript to VH, I remember Paul Hale writing in the OR an enthusiastic review of Tim Byram-Wigfield’s playing an organ transcription (TB-Ws own, I believe) of the Brahms Academic Overture, saying he thought it was better than the orchestral original!

Rather than divert people from enjoying the wonderful Dutch Bach organ videos on the YouTube thread, and as this was a special one-off concert by Jonathan Scott marking the 75th anniversary of VE Day, here is the video of his concert recorded on the 1895 T C Lewis organ at Albion Church, Ashton-under-Lyne. Jonathan has made other recordings here.

These comments puzzle me, and this has been said before. In normal circumstances (which don't exist at present) there can never have been so many organ recitals on offer around the country, and some do take place on Sunday afternoons, notably at St Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral in London. They also happen in some provincial and rural churches. Paul Carr, for example, regularly plays on Sunday afternoons. There are Sunday evenings at St Giles' Edinburgh, and one could go on. The London Cathedrals and Abbey feature visiting organists, some from abroad, as well as the home team. The provincial cathedrals mostly cannot compete as Evensong occurs in mid-afternoon on Sunday - usually the third choral service of the day with organ. But there are regular weekday recitals in some, notably Chester, Coventry, Worcester, Hereford and Liverpool (the last two including Saturdays) just to name a few at random, and evening series at many others. For those who can go, there are recitals every day in London. Audiences at the regular recitals at Birmingham, Huddersfield and Leeds Town Halls, St George's Hall, Liverpool and Hull City Hall are usually respectably in the hundreds. The size of audiences and the success of the event will be governed by the attraction of the programmes - and the ability to attend which in turn depends on adequate publicity. Some venues are, frankly, hopeless at doing this, and one sees recitals being announced shortly, sometimes only the day before they are to take place, and even sometimes on the day itself. Anyone who looks at the excellent website of organrecitals.com run by Steve Smith should be in no doubt about what is available and, equally, everyone organising recitals should advertise them there - it's free! - as far in advance as possible. Audiences won't come unless they know.

Thank you. It used to be a very prominent feature during “While shepherds watched” from King’s College, Cambridge.