Rcamp

Received and appreciated! Sorry things have been so chaotic for you. I'm forever glad I didn't go into teaching!! As mentioned elsewhere on here some time ago I know someone who voiced much of this organ and has written about it. The work remains unpublished and I have yet to read it but I must chase him up again as he did say I was welcome to read it. WIll keep you updated if I do manage to get my hands on it.

I spent a fair bit of time on the rebuilt St Albans instrument a couple of years ago and found it very good indeed. A local organ builder was with me and was also very impressed. However, we moved on to St Georges, Windsor a couple of days later for 2 Sunday services and realised that we had been fooling ourselves!! It simply blew St Albans out of the water. The fact that it speaks down the nave meant for a very exciting couple of services in the quire with lots of party horn and roar!!

Fair enough! Thanks for the response

I am surprised by this I have to say! Is it policy to censor anything that has a complaint raised against it?

. Am I too sensitive? I think so SL but let the mod decide and then we'll know. Accept and move on. We all have different standards and CB only implied words - the level of offense depends on what letters you replaced the **** with!

I well remember you telling me about someone standing beside the pedal reed at Down Cathedral describing it as "bullfrogs from hell"!!

it never arrived

Look forward to it!

Please do share!

Oh dear! Not what it was under Scotty and certainly nowhere near St Barry's high standards!

USOC (Ulster Society of Organists & Choirmasters for those of you not from these parts!) did a trip to Paris in 2006. I also found ST-Eustache quite memorable for the NEW organ and Yanka's playing although it was obvious who her teacher was seeing her there and play in his style on his organ! Luckily the old man wasnt about and we got to play it!

It is an amazing recording! Its a pity its recorded a bit close IMO. Much better than anything I have heard since although I need to catch up on the recordings mentioned above. I referenced this recording when learning the Sonata - I'm still learning it! It should be remembered that people who lived in the era and knew the composer are likely to interpret the music as it should be rather than someone who was born much later and has no direct link. I imagine the best person to interpret the music of Bairstow is FJ for example. Its amazing that this organ was dumped in favour of its successor and at least it wouldn't happen now - I hope! Perhaps I am missing something but what exactly was wrong with the Harrison?? I'm not surprised Sumsion never set foot in the place again after they put in the squeak box!

I played Darke in F, Stanford in C and other such repertoire in Ch Ch in 2006 with a visiting choir and I agree with Hecklephone that you simply have to accept what it is and play it like a musical instrument and not try to make it sound like a Harrison or Willis! I found it a good instrument and while it wasnt my cup of tea I enjoyed what it had to offer and really brought Bach alive for me in a way that other instruments never had. Warning though if accompanying a choir; it is very easy to swamp them - it really is a case of less is more! I also played Magdalen at the same time for one service and hated it - I would set fire to it in a heartbeat. I had expected it to be the other way around and was pleasantly surprised to end up playing extended practice sessions on the Rieger as I enjoyed it so much!!

Thought this news might be of interest from Philip Prosser............... "After thirty-three years tuning the Cathedral Organ I heard today that my services are no longer required." A great shame that Philip should be treated this way after all that has gone on over the last 10 years never mind his many years of service that have gone before.

Interesting! I was unaware of the new scheme being as far reaching tonally. I always use your French registrations as St Annes and the instrument really works for this sort of stuff if you couple everything and select carefully!! I nearly always use the 32' reed on its own as the 16' is a bit too foghorn like for most things IMO. It may well have been me in the Bairstow - I always aimed to get at least one "blow" in during every service and often managed a few more I suppose - still do!!! It may not take 20 years so get the instrument sorted but it will take quite a while. H&H looked at it, by invitation of the cathedral, a couple of years ago. I was not told what they said about it or suggested, even though I did ask. Who knew such things were so top secret??

David, I agree with your view of the instrument above but I do have a few reservations! I really think the Great chorus should mostly be scrapped. In my opinion (and of others who know the instrument well) it needs replaced with pipework that actually has some musical value and works in the building. David Briggs said it sounded like a Copeman Hart............... In my view the instruments biggest problem is that H&H simply took the old organ and moved it back into a building that had grown by about 30-40% and did not re-voice a lot of it to suit. The regrettable losses you mention did make a big difference and the lack of weight in the pedal is a problem that still needs addressed. The tuba doesn't cut it at all and is easily swamped by the rest of the instrument, the trombas being much finer reeds of the type. At the time of installation the troubles where at a peak so it is understandable why H&H didn't want to hang around but they did not leave an instrument that does them any credit now. The 32 DOW never worked in the new chamber despite the fact that it worked very well in its old position (I am told!) and H&H certainly didn't have to worry about any issues with lack of space, St Anne's having one of the biggest chambers around.t;;; For my money 2 of the best stops on it (that you don't mention) are the solo orch oboe, which is simply one of the finest examples of such a stop anywhere in Northern Ireland, and the the choir Cimbel which works so much better in chorus than the new swell sharp mixture. I generally avoid the new swell mixture and feel it really needs to go on the main soundboard. (The vox humana would have been better on a chest of its own). The wind supply to it isn't terribly good on its little chest and the (very smooth) swell reeds make it sound flat. On the subject of the swell reeds, I always wondered if they would work better on the great organ with new reeds for the swell? I would welcome your thoughts on this. When David Briggs played a few years ago he avoided the swell reeds like the plague and concocted all sorts of reedy sounds using the solo reeds with the sub and super couplers. He did use the trumpet & clarion for bigger moments but I don't think he used the swell double trumpet at all! Of particularly special mention should be the 12 note extension of the pedal Ophicleide which is one of the most bombastic and dirty 32 reeds in existence!! Details of the spec from 1976 - c. 2001 here http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi...ec_index=D01440

I too simply run through the divisionals, try and remember what most of them are, and then set some generals (if available!) for some stock registrations. For more complicated stuff I try and find a couple of levels of generals and set up major registration changes. I have almost stopped using the sequencer on instruments I dont know as I have been caught out too many times with over complicated systems I haven't had time to get my head round! I had to hunt for which general i required in the middle of the Cook Fanfare at St Albans a couple of years ago after I hit general cancel and the system turned off rather than just cancel and stay where it was in the sequence which is what I was used to on the 3 instruments I have played locally with sequencers. I also seem to remember giving up on the sequencer at CC Oxford a few years ago and doing it all on divisionals and my organ scholar & I doing a few bits of hand registration. I had to play at St G's Windsor a couple of years ago and we arrived 15 minutes before the service due to the coach driver getting lost and the choir having to run from a coach park to the castle! I arrived at the console dripping with sweat and had to launch more or less straight into the pre-service music. I couldn't get the camera to the conductor to zoom in and relied on texts from one of the tenors to give me an idea of balances - I got messages like " we cant hear you" and "more, more, more". I quickly realised that the whole thing speaks into the nave and you can really go to town when they are all in the quire!! By the end of Eucharist and through Matins & evensong I ended up having a ball after a very off putting start. I should mention that I had played at Windsor about 12 years before for a week but I had forgotten everything about balances etc that I had obviously discovered before. I had also forgotten what a superb instrument it really is - and coming straight from St Albans to it made St Albans seem a very poor cousin indeed!!!

Philip does indeed still look after "the beast" as I seem to remember you calling it years ago prior to letting me loose on it before a lesson or 2! He also looks after the other 2 big instruments in Belfast (Ulster Hall and St Peters Cathedral) but has scaled his work back to tuning only these days. I don't believe there is anyone else locally who can keep these big instruments in as fine a fettle as he does although St Anne's was in a reasonably poor state in December, when I played it last, which I believe is mostly due to the situation there and no one even thinking about getting the organ tuned! I have pointed Philip in the direction of this thread and hopefully he will read it and make some comment. I have also asked if I may read his unpublished work and if he would even consider having it published in some small way. David, I wouldn't hold your breath on the job being finished in any way soon. There is barely a choir and it will take a new Dean, with a new DoM, some considerable effort and time to sort that out before considering the organ. Maybe in 5-10 years! Hope all is well with you! Best regards R (double ophicleide)

I haven't heard the Ely chorus but if it is anything like the Durham one it is absolutely wonderful and adds a whole new range of colour particularly to the Psalms. I remember spending nearly a week in residence with a visiting choir in Durham a few years ago and used the string chorus a lot. You could use the orchestral reeds with it and really do all sorts of things. Sounded great with full swell too! Best DO

There is no doubt that any church musician is bringing the Christian message to the wider public - even if they either don't "believe" or don't wear their religion on their sleeves. However, I think that every single cathedral musician who is involved in the Opus Dei is doing more than Ms. Bish to promote the Christian message as she seems to play mostly concerts which happen to be in churches and she just happens to be a Christian! What I am sorry to read is the negative comments about Cathedral organists!! I am not one BTW, just a humble parish church organist who happens to play in Cathedrals a bit. Can Roffensis clarify what he thinks Cathedral organists should be doing more of? Bringing the organ into the modern world or the Christian message or both??? And could he suggest how they do these things and when/where?

And when would our Cathedral organists find time to do this??? I don't think Ms. Bish plays in a church that produces first class music on a daily basis!!

The newsletter states " ....the opportunity is being taken to provide a new alternative console which will be positioned on the church floor." So the original console remains; this being a new additional console I believe!

Exactly Douglas! Don't we all use the facts, whatever they may be, to our best advantage? If we are honest have we not all exaggerated slightly on our CV's or at least worded something to show it in a better light? Particularly those of us who are not in the same league as Cynic, PCND et al!!!

I find most Whitlock always puts a smile on peoples faces!