John Robinson
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Posts posted by John Robinson
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I might be displaying gross ignorance here but when Mozart wrote for "glass harmonica" wasn't that effectively the same principle?
No, that was a series of rotating glass bowls, working on the same principle as stroking the rim of a wine glass with a damp finger!
A shame that this instrument is not used any more - it is a very haunting, yet pleasing sound.
John
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Are you sure York has a Cymbelstern??!!
I hadn't heard of this either. However, at a recital at York a few years ago, Carlo Curley brought along his own 'Nachtigall'. This was a twittering mechanical bird in a cage which he placed on the choir console to accompany parts of his recital. It was surprisingly effective heard from the choir stalls, I seem to remember.
John
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My experience is that this instrument is much more successful in the choir than it is in the nave. Firstly, of course, the choir organ is in the choir, not the nave. If the audience were in the nave, the choir organ would be virtually useless. But more importantly, the organ's sound becomes very distant once the listener is west of the tower. It is completely incapable of giving a lead to a large congregation, notwithstanding the tuba mirabilis. It seems to me the only solution is to put some pipework in the nave. Perhaps a set of Klais tubas, as at the west end of Cologne Cathedral would do the job
At the last rebuild a nave organ was mooted, subject to available funds. Nothing yet, however.
There is a narrow gallery under the west window which is crying out for some Mander Royal Trumpets!
John
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How strange - I remewed successfully on-line a few weeks ago.
It is possible that their server was experiencing problems and that the correct box/button/whatever simply failed to materialise out of the ether - this has happened to me on a number of occasions. It may be worth trying again on another occasion.
Sorry, just been on holiday in spain over the last week - Granada, Cordoba, Seville - impressive cases but, sadly, no recitals!
Possibly this is what might have happened, but it doesn't explain their ignoring my two e-mails.
No, I don't think they deserve my continued patronage!
John
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I DO teach them the correct use of apostrophes, I really do!
Unfortunately, parental and peer influences seem to be more powerful these days.
It's also a sad fact that many teachers cannot punctuate or spell correctly, naming no names of course.
John
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One wonders how convenient these six manual consoles are to play.
Presumably, the more manuals, the more difficult it is to reach the top one.
I would be interested to know some key dimensions, overhangs, etc., and how these differ between three and four manual consoles and those of five or six manuals.
Can anyone oblige?
John
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As for The Organ, I would love to have the opportunity to get my hands on this magazine and kick it into shape.
I believe all 3 magazines are still worth subscribing to, as there are always some interesting articles worth reading. But The Organ really does need to get its act together. It seems rather amateurish and focused on "The Editor", and this isn't helped by the fact that each issue is always published 3 weeks late, eg the current May-July issue arrived the other day, and it it has always been like this!
I recently received a reminder to renew my subscription to 'The Organ'. I followed their instructions to renew online and attempted to include my membership number, only to find there were no facilities to do so.
Despite two e-mails querying this, I have received no reply.
I think this is an opportune time to allow my subscription to lapse unless, of course, they can get their act together!
John
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The forum software appears to be capable of handling time correctly (you can select your timezone, and whether summer time is in effect, and these make the expected changes). However, it would also appear that the server's time is an hour out...
No you don't. Just click "View New Posts" and you get the threads that have changed since your last visit. Then click the little red box in front of the thread title and it takes you to the first unread post in the thread. It's a little odd that it gives you a few extra threads whose latest message is a little earlier, but these have no red box to click, so there's no confusion. Finally, if there are no new messages it slightly alarmingly gives an error message instead of just saying so.
Paul
Yes. Quite correct on both counts. However, I often don't bother to log in when I just want to keep up to date. Obviously, to post/reply I have to. I must not be lazy... I must not be lazy... I must not be lazy.
Thanks
John
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Only a minor point, I know, but why is the forum clock (see RH side of page at the very bottom) STILL one hour behind? We 'sprang forward' in March.
This is a little confusing when I visit the site each day. I have to remember the time on the previous day when I last visited - minus one hour - when I want to pick up from where I left off. With my ageing mind, this is not as easy as you might think!
John
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I would be grateful if anyone could enlighten me as to how the two stops differ in sound. I am dying to know Klais's perceptions of how to represent the Archbishop and the Cathedral Chapter using tubas. As someone said earlier on this thread, I wonder which one is the fatter! (No disrespect intended, of course).
As no-one here seemed to know, I contacted Klais. Their response:
"The two Tubas in Cologne are different in tone color. One is rather on the dark side like an English Tuba - in the direction of a dark Willis. The other one is much brighter, rather like a bright Skinner. The two high pressure reeds in the transept organ are again brighter than the two new horizontal ones. So we have four Tubas in the entire instrument ranging from very dark to very bright."
So far, so good. Now, what does a 'bright Skinner' (tuba) sound like - compared to English tubas? The only American sounds I am familiar with are what I hear on The Simpsons!
John
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By 'resultant', they may mean half-length, in the same way that Cavaillé-Coll used to refer to half-length basses as 'basses acoustiques' (c.f. Nôtre-Dame de Paris, Récit Bombarde 16p; the lowest octave or so of this rank was originally half-length).
No, they were quite specific: 32' + 21 1/3' from the 32' reed. The word 'resultant' was my inclusion.
John
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I have just discovered that it is intended to insert a stop by the name of 'Donner 64' at Altenberg Cathedral, Germany.
I have been informed by the builders (Klais) that this is to be a resultant derived from the (also prepared for) Contraposaune 32'.
I was rather astonished to hear this, as I thought it was not possible/effective to make a reed resultant. I think this must be a unique concept but, of course, I stand to be corrected.
John
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The Alkmaar Duyschot/Schnitger organ features a remarkable stop: the Principaal 22' on the pedals.
As far as I know it's a fourth below normal 16' - or in fact the second overtone of the not present 64' foot.
I've heard the stop at the console and found it to cause a lot of rumble but not more.
Does anybody here understand what it's good for other than just some sort of a late renaissance show of to neighbouring villages (until Haarlem came along)?
Could it possibly be a short-compass 32'? - (Insufficient space/money for full length?)
John
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Peter, why don't you try purchasing your CD's via the internet. I find that most record shops, e.g. Virgin, don't tend to stock much by way of organ CD's. You could try Amazon.
Barry
Or direct from Priory.
John
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*When I was appointed, only one note of the 32' octave would play - bottom F sharp. Not a terribly useful note - but it was worth hearing. A little poking and prying with the action has resulted in about half the bottom octave now being operative, though the regulation leaves a lot to be desired. I'm sure I would have been able to get more notes to work if only I had been able to lift one or two of the resonators off their boots, but they are of considerable weight and it's a truly perilous task.
This got me thinking. How DO you get to a 32' reed/shallot without lifting the resonator? Perhaps the boots should have little doors!
John
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You aren't thinking of B&Q by any chance? Only that I'm seriously fed up with them and have already given them fair chance to avoid my publicising the fact! Shame the beepers!
You got it! I found the only way to get them to respond was to write to Qualitas and my local Trading Standards Dept.
My apologies, everyone, for abusing this organ forum. I shall say no more!
John
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I had to chuckle when I read the following:-
There is a world of difference between saying that a directive does not apply and saying that it should not apply. Can the Minister clarify the Government's view, as the organ industry is waiting to hear a response?
Lord Sainsbury of Turville: My Lords, we both think that it does not apply and should not apply.
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I suppose it's the case the House of Lords is that, by whom, of whom, through whom and in whom, we must place our trust.
God help us.....they're doing a "Barker Review" as well, but whether or not this is coupled to lead organ-pipes, I cannot say.
Another fit of the giggles was caused by a belated reply to myself from a Lib/Dem MEP, which stated:-
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"Your e-mail dated 13th May has been forwarded to me.
It is unclear to me exactly what help it is that you may be in need of. Could you possibly clarify it for me, please ? You mention an organ being built in a German cathedral. Are you the builder perhaps ?
All good wishes
Bill Newton Dunn MEP"
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Where DO they find these people?
MM
Not an organ issue, but don't you find these days that no-one seems able to read what you write to them? Certainly I have found this with a well-known DIY store I have been having problems with.
John
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Many thanks to all who responded. This has been most enlightening.
From the information you have kindly supplied, I assume that 'steppers' move through the generals as set whereas 'sequencers' provide a series of combinations completely independent from the generals. I had previously thought that they were the same thing.
One question that remains, if you will excuse my persistence, is how do the Germans manage so well without (usually) the benefit of divisional pistons? From your responses, divisionals seem to be the most useful option on most occasions.
John
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As a non-playing member of this forum (my interests are mainly design and history), I would be grateful if anyone with practical experience could advise me of the comparative usefulness of different types of piston.
As I understand it, there are basically three methods of rapidly changing combinations of registers:
divisional pistons
general pistons
sequencers
I assume that sequencers have great value when preparing for a recital, where one can step through an entire programme of music using only one piston, but what are the merits of divisional pistons as opposed to generals?
The consoles of most English 'cathedral-sized' instruments always seem to include divisional pistons whereas the Germans appear often to avoid them, many consoles having general thumb pistons beneath the lowest manual only, presumably to allow the manuals to be placed closer together.
Can anyone explain this difference in approach to accessing combinations? What are your personal preferences? With the potential of programming thousands of general combinations (using modern digital systems), are divisional pistons redundant?
On a similar theme, what are your opinions of thumb pistons duplicating the stop controls for individual couplers?
John
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A picture
of the partyhorns (copyright Kölner StadtAnzeiger).
BTW. they seem to be a private donation.
Schön, na?
Most interesting. This clarifies the diagram on the Cologne Cathedral web site (which I quoted earlier).
I would be grateful if anyone could enlighten me as to how the two stops differ in sound. I am dying to know Klais's perceptions of how to represent the Archbishop and the Cathedral Chapter using tubas. As someone said earlier on this thread, I wonder which one is the fatter! (No disrespect intended, of course).
John
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For any who found it hard to believe:
http://www.dombau-koeln.de/index.php?rub=5.1&eintrag_id=102
Sorry, it is in German. (I used http://babelfish.altavista.com/)
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- Tuba Capitularis 8' (the meaning of which I have no idea!)
Maybe when drawn it causes the congregation to stop singing and surrender!
Excellent! All organs should have one!
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Thank you for this information, John.
The last part - are you serious?
If these are being supplied by Klais, they must be far and away the most powerful ranks which they have ever voiced!
I am amazed.... I, too, will be very interested to hear a recording of these stops.
Yes, I'm pretty sure they are not a figment of my imagination(!), and will be made by Klais.
I understand that they will rejoice in the names of:
- Tuba Episcopalis 8' (which I can make sense of), and
- Tuba Capitularis 8' (the meaning of which I have no idea!)
John
21st Century Barker Lever Replacement?
in Nuts and bolts
Posted
Hear, hear.
John