Pierre Lauwers

I share your interest with Schoenstein; this is another builder I would like to see building some organs in continental Europe. Best wishes, Pierre Lauwers.

Well, I believe it would be fair not implying Mr Thickell in this matter. If I was in his clothes, with the responsibility to have a business running, what would I do myself? It's easyer for a foreigner to criticize! Anyway, whatever happens, I wish Mr Thickell full success and won't blame him. This thread is yes worn-out, like no organ never was ( or we'd have put Alkmaar to the bin when this one was considered obsolete). For our grand-children, we can still print and file this: http://www.walckerorgel.de/gewalcker.de/PD.../Worcesterl.pdf Best wishes, Pierre Lauwers.

Another top-class organ, particularly appreciated by the french, strange as it may seem for an instrument built by an english builder inflenced by a german one! I heard it in 1978, so many years before the last restoration which seems to have been very successfull -as far as a CD can tell-. Best wishes, Pierre Lauwers.

I believe enough has been said about Worcester for everyone being convinced of at least this: No one will ever say: "We didn't know, what we did", so many arguments having been exchanged. Now is the time for other means of possible influence there, but there are already more than enough pages about this peculiar case on the forums. Back to Trombas and Trompettes; it seems there has been, during the romantic period,a sheer diversity of reed voicing in Britain, while in comparison a french Trompette is still a Trompette -rather loud and free-toned-. I could hear some Hill's (far too few of them), Willis's, H&H, Lewis, all very different. There must be even others? Best wishes, Pierre Lauwers.

Our friend Yannick Merlin just commenced the english version of his website. These pages are dedicated to the actuality of the organ in Alsace such as restaurations, recitals, articles etc. Hope this might be interesting, Best wishes, Pierre Lauwers. http://perso.wanadoo.fr/als-orgue/site%20a...s/indexangl.htm

Nobody is going to hear the difference between a pneumatic and electro-pneumatic action and music is about what you hear, not the mechanics of how you make the sound. It might be interesting to preserve a few pneumatic action instruments as museum pieces (and they are certainly a different sort of playing experience) but to waste church money on pneumatic actions runs against common sense - a quality sometimes in rather short supply amongst organ 'experts'. (citation) If you come to Belgium, let me know. I'll show you a pneumatic organ that nears its 100 years anniversary without a hint. In Britain there were excellent systems too, ditto in Germany. So why judge? There are the experts , then the builders, and the organists. Three quite different point of view, no doubt . Three kind of people that could -should?- work togheter for "best results". Common sense is something that can vary widely so that it may sometimes be interesting to "re-invent the wheel". So far as it's done like a "brain-storming" between the three parts, and of course not under the form of "experiments" in existing instruments. Best wishes, Pierre Lauwers.

May we have the disposition of this 1844 Willis organ with 13 reeds among 20 stops? Churches promoted into dancings, we had that in Belgium in the 70's. By now it's a thing of the past (the longer it will be, the better). I know of a "Prière à Notre Dame", but it's not Widor's. Best wishes, Pierre Lauwers.

And what would you say of this: -1960 sandwich on a soundboard....Sandwiched between two pipes -A 1907 original stop (extremely rare) piled at the back of the organ on a floor with some inches of stone-dried black dust -1962 cardboard boxes (from Laukhuff?) at random -About 200 (two hundred!) old nails treathening the feet under the Pedalboard. Could win an european award...

To reconstitute an Hill organ? I begin to think this could happen on the continent first. (maybe, afterwards, in the UK, if it becomes a craze here). Has any alternative relocation solution for the "canticle's bin" (as people used to say for such organs in Belgium 20 years ago) be searched for? Best wishes, Pierre Lauwers.

Dear Mr Lucas, Thank you very much for joining us and for your very interesting comments. I shall try to stay short with some comments: 1)-It is not an easy building. Of course it is not. It was an achievement to have realized what obtains now. 2)-Why shoudn't we today tackle the problems our predecessors did so beautifully? 3)-The organ is made to sound at a distance. True. And this is the case with every romantic organ. Mr Walcker demonstrated me the "Registerkanzelle" (with a common wind per stop, not per note) favorizes the blending far away from the organ. Such soundboards were expressly designed for that. So it was an aim (I know Worcester don't have such chests) 4)-Records. Of course I have some. I came back from Worcester with (on a moped when I was 16). But I heard it live as well -during days-. 5)-There are of course many technical problems, no doubt. As far as I know, this organ never had a torough rebuild. Incidentally, it was said (in a 1978 brochure) very little of Hill remains. But none of these problems cannot be fixed. 6)-Hundreds of thousands? The organ deserves it. Of course I see that from an historical, not practical point of view. But this instrument is something unique. "Errors of the past", well, this was said for Schnitger's, Cavaillé-Coll's organs. Now we regret on the continent to have destroyed far too many beautiful organs. Here arises a somewhat deeper question, that is: -Is an organ a piece of furniture or an art work? If the answer is it is a piece of furniture, then we may adapt it to our needs and/or wishes, update it to suit "today's requirements". (that will change tomorrow again) The classic revival -something I fought against during 25 years as a "romantic guy"- has teached us an organ is a piece of art we should keep and preserve as it is. But of course only the "correct" organs were meant (a handfull of german builders plus one or two french). Now I suggest maybe all builders from any period might deserve respect; including Green, England, Smith and Harris of course but also Willis, Hill, Lewis, Harrison(s), and yes Hope-Jones as well. The germans now agree Carl Weigle's organs should have been preserved. Weigle's ideas were not very far from Robert's (The difference lies for instance high pressures he tried with the flues not the reeds. His organs were dismissed as railways's features...A song yet heard elsewhere, isn'it?). The best compromise-wherever possible- is to build a new organ in one part of the building while leaving the old alone. Let's dream for a moment the romantic builders had done precisely that; we would have say a Harrison & Harrison 1925 plus a genuine Snetzler in the same place! Best wishes, Pierre Lauwers

Precisely: silence and near-clandestinity express weakness. People do "feel" they could not answer convincingly. It is a situation we had in Belgium 20 years ago, when a handfull people destroyed hundred of instruments to suit their peculiar taste. And now we have 90% "Neo-X" organs, while the young organists commence to dream of something else. And round and round... There are already some comments worth noting from France and Germany: -Germany is very poor in such organs. They destroyed them from about 1935 up to the 80'. It's likely if it was there today, Worcester's would be placed under "Denkmalschütz". This is an extremely severe protection, which means even a bolt you replace must be exactly the same as the previous one. -A comparison has been made with the Mirepoix's Link organ. A late-romantic 1891 organ, completely original and intact. The Link brothers were among the best pupils of Eberhard Friedrich Walcker. Their organs are well known for their longetivity -be they tracker or pneumatic- and superb voicing. Halas a vast majority has been destroyed. The "top three remaining" are Mirepoix, Giengen and Andernach/Koblenz. Best wishes, Pierre Lauwers.

An electronic organ to replace -even momentarily- an organ such as that? This looks like relegating a Rolls Royce to go for a Moped. Maybe it is time to realize this: If you ever wanted to see musicians and amateurs from abroad visiting your churches and Cathedrals, attending concerts; if you ever want english organs to be built in Europe, your best marketing tools may be illustrated with the files mentionned above. Scraping an organ like Worcester's would be to deprive yourselves of an asset. Just like with your rose gardens, that must fight everyday for one Penny after the other to maintain invaluable, unique collections the rest of the world envies. Don't deceive your friends!

Splendid! If there is money for a big Thickell - and I have nothing against such an organ, quite to the contrary- there must be just enough to restaure the historic one! Why cannot we have a direct link here? I found this: http://cdmnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/orgue-l No access to the topics without registration. Wâow! (I personally never accept that so I apologize I won't join. I don't speak of answers of course, just reading. Anyone can read my too many posts here... But I personally may not see what's happening there.) I have got some news from Germany. They found the link to the musical files too . It seems they have some questions. Best wishes, Pierre Lauwers.

I just found this while surfing at random on the web: http://plenum.free.fr/worcester/ (Might be slightly interesting) Best wishes,Pierre Lauwers.

Fine! At least they did not like in Brussels: to cut the cables....I shall be very interested with these cyphers -could be a feature of a new style-. Best wishes, Pierre Lauwers.

Thanks for the info! It's noted. That's precisely the kind of instruments we continentals are interested with, no matter their poor state. And of course, the Bach and de Grigny music sheets we shall left behind us... Just for the sake of it, I placed a link to the Crediton's website on a french forum. There are MP3s there. You should have seen the replies: incredibly enthousiast. http://forum.aceboard.net/18898-3215-17612...21-restaure.htm Best wishes, Pierre Lauwers

Thanks Brian, Well, it seems we are a little more than "a few nostalgics" to like this instrument. Normally we should have the possibility to convince even more people from the middle of next week. Best wishes, Pierre Lauwers.

It is interesting to note the center of gravity continues to move in the present-day trend: this organ seems inspired by southern german builders like Holzhay, Gabler... Georges Westenfelder in Luxembourg has done such kind of instruments too some years ago. Thanks for the info and let us know how it sounds! Best wishes, Pierre Lauwers.

Yes; octave couplers do really work only if the organ was designed with them from scratch. This has implications in the disposition and the scaling (halving rates). When added later on an existing instrument the results are never satisfying. I know of...One organ in which the octave couplers really work: a 1942 Delmotte, with an electro-pneumatic action copied on Johannes Klais's, and 73 pipes chests so that the super-octaves work really up to the 61th note on the keyboards. Even the mixtures's designs were adapted; there are no really high pitches, but fewer breaks. Without the super-octave coupler they are just deep, grave mixtures. With the coupler they sound a bit more "classic". The swell reeds are all 8' in pitch. But I do not believe any recitalist would want of such an organ today... Best wishes, Pierre Lauwers

Good idea. I shall ask him for MP3s. (Normally I should have visited them this May! halas the belgian job market decided otherwise...) What a pity Schoenstein does not have a website (yet)! Best wishes, Pierre Lauwers.

According to old LPs I have (recorded at Worcester), and of course with the limitations this implies (I visited Worcester long after the Diaphones were disabled), it seems to be somewhere between a reed and a flue stop, but rather with the power of a strong reed. Very impressive with the full organ and a full congregation singing (But does such a situation still obtain nowadays?).

So the problems could arise if one wishes, for instance, to have a Tuba on a complete Solo division. Or it needs a seperate chest within this division. I found this about the Diaphone. It's a paper by John Compton that might be interesting (he even cites Worcester): http://atos.stirlingprop.com/kbase/diaophonenotes.htm

Quite interesting! And how must such things be done? Are there some kinds of assistance? As far as I know, Hill did not use Barler levels at the time he introduced his firsts Tubas. But he did certainly not use 300mm wind pressure. Best wishes, Pierre Lauwers.

Thanks! And of course we are only custodians,not owners! In a previous post you spoke about "subtelity". I could write at lenght about that. I believe the german and english romantic buider did go a long way in this matter; they did indeed better than Cavaillé-Coll in this respect. Maybe this could be discussed later. As far as Hill's Tubas are concerned, we must keep in mind his organs had tracker action; therefore, heavy pressures were not possible. I believe Mendelssohn criticized the heavy touch of Hill's organs, so that he could have reached a kind of limit in size and wind pressure with his largest organs. Anyway, a Tuba that's possible with a tracker action deserves more than a little interest... Best wishes, Pierre Lauwers.

2a. If we're discussing the possible rescue and re-use of discarded H&H and H-J material from Worcester: when Hope Jones carried out his rebuild at Worcester it became widely known that there was some decent Hill stuff left over and Holst Senior (father of G) and his vicar from All Saints' Cheltenham went over and brought it back to Cheltenham on a cart. Several stops were soon incorporated into the Hill job there, (now rebuilt a few times). The ex-Worcester stuff is still there, mostly playable from the Choir organ. It's a bit overscaled, but pleasant so far as it goes. 2b. H-J stuff is worth saving. Whatever the shortcomings of the bloke himself, H-J employed some of the best voicers around, notably William Thynne. Anyone out there know St.Mary's Warwick? After ten minutes spent playing or listening to Nicholson/Denis Thurlow's west end organ treat yourself to the tone of the H-J stuff that was incorporated into the east section. It's not heard to tell which stuff was new at the last rebuild. Many thanks for these very interesting points! It seems William Thynne, together with Michell, did things very very different from H-J's afterwards -for instance some strange objects that happen to occupy a corner in a place like Tewkesbury- By H&H too there were former voicers from H-J. Maybe they did contribute to that "A.Harrison sound", so typical with these closed toned reeds that are sooo surprising to unaccustomed continental ears. Best wishes, Pierre Lauwers.