Colin Harvey

It's wonderful. I came across this: a fugue by Glenn Gould http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1ain4qftoM There's also a Japanese version, which is quite worrying, really...

"Holly" has a short o, which is not a pure vowel for singing and needs to be modified to be sustained for a full beat. I end up with something like "Arrh" if I try to sustain it but that might just be my dialect. The vowel sound in the second syllabe is an "ee", which is a pure vowel and so can be sustained. So what on earth do you really end up with if you sing "holly" but shade off the "ley"? "eee" is one of the most resonant vowels to sing - that's probably why it might stick out in your ear, especially when a long "o" is not as easy to get as much resonance. I suspect they're not pulling their lips tight over their teeth to produce that vowel as they sound like they've had some proper singing lessons. Also, David's right, they don't take a breath before morning. Where's the musical crux of that line?

I get annoyed by morons who leave the swell box shut or stops 1/2 out when they leave after a practice session - or, even worse, (and what had me really spitting this evening when I arrived at the church), leaving the (new maroon felt) dust cover suspended from 2 music desk hooks. I ended up writing a suitably snotty note at the console to visiting organists telling them exactly how I expected them to leave the organ when they left. If they want to use the organ for practice, the very least they can do is treat the thing with respect.

Ah, yes I had twigged it wasn't a church job. Public school in Shropshire by any chance?

I was in touch recently with somebody who went. I heard it was fairly OK but there was a persistent cipher which rather marred SP's performance. I think it was a brave time of year to have an inaugural recital for an organ that was installed last summer: it will only just be settling in and the temperature and humidity will be all over the place...

Yes, absolutely. I totally agree: a sw trumpet comes far higher up the list than a 4' sw flute any day of the week and in my opinion is worth every penny of £10k in an organ of this size. Re. cost of trumpet in the US... well Fisk tendered for a job in the UK. It was nearly twice as much as the next most expensive quote. But I'm sure Bore-in-arse organbuilders of the back of beyond, Alabama could be a bit cheaper...

I agree with all you say and suggest and this looks very fine on paper (as, of course a paper exercise). I totally agree with you about the swell trumpet (budget 10k for it...) but feel on an organ of this size a sw 4' flute would be very useful. Perhaps the old choir flute could be retained?

I think this all seems sensible. Yes, the soundboards were probably the thing that needed doing and 90-100k sounds about right - actually quite good value for money. (I know a few people will draw gasps of breath here). Get the basics right.. and you did! Yes, re-siting it could have cost significantly more and perhaps would have created an uneasy compromise between organ, choir and building. I did a bit of hunting and worked out which organ it was - would I be right to assume it started life as a Bevington, heavily rebuilt by R&D in 1937? I can well imagine it is quite a "shouty" organ, especially in the choir and read your comment on the re-balenced Gt mixture sounding "like new" with a wry smile (and not only because I wondering what an "old" mixture sounds like either): Bevington were amongst the first to really push fluework hard, R&Ds also pushed flue work hard while I know that Nicholsons today in their new organs tend to rely on Mixtures to produce power while the foundations are really quite gentle, still in the neo-classical manner*. So put all that together and I was interested to read your comments on the Gt OD 1 and I can guess it is rather loud but needs to be to get into the nave to encourage lusty singing! * Footnote: I will be interested to see and hear whether Llandaff really turns out in "Victorian" style - modern all-new Nicholsons tend to be unashamedly modern (post neo-classical, if you like) in all areas.

Another thing you could consider is getting 2nd hand pipework, so long as it is suitable provanance and scaling to go with the rest of the organ. It's rather looked down upon in this country but done well, it can work very well tonally and will help to save money but you need to know what you're doing. The Redundant Organ rehousing company, www.rorcl.org.uk , Derrick Carrington is your man nd a good palce to start but many local builders will have a stock...

I wish JSW would talk about the pieces he was playing, about how he was interpreting the pieces (and why) and about the organs he was playing, rather like they did with the 48 preludes and fugues. It would make the series so much more interesting and accessible. Currently, I find it all a bit too esoteric and strange and rather a missed opportunity...

I thought this practice died out years ago. In reality, leaving stops "prepared for" doesn't save much in the way of money - you still need the space on the soundboard, sliders, stop action, etc "prepared for", which needs to be installed and paid for up front. The cost of pipes in the organ is small compared to the rest of the structure - especially if it's something like a larigot. There are also other problems - adding the pipes later on will mean extra work on the organ later, which in the long-run will be more expensive than setting them up in one hit. Also, will you really want extra work inside your new organ once it is complete? I certainly wouldn't. To be honest, it's a false economy and one that as FF and others will testify, rarely is completed. I would go back to the penny counters and ask for a few more 000s for those extra couple of stops. It seems silly to spoil the ship for a ha'ports worth of tar in this instance and I can't believe that they would be so tight-fisted to compromise the organ for a variance of a few % on the budget. Remember, the overriding factor for an organ project should be quality first, then followed by cost or timescale (depending upon the factors - usually cost is #2). It should never be about hitting the magic budget line. The money will come. Getting on to your bean counters and hitting your budget target, I assume there is no contingency budget? Also, have you allowed for other costs - e.g. redecorating the organ chamber while the organ is out, electricians, etc? We had to have nearly all the church re-wired during our organ project (all the wiring went through the old organ). These things always come out more than you'd expect and if you're trying to squeeze it all into a target budget, may I suggest there's a higher probability you don't make it? Our budget for extra costs above the organ builder's work was about 30% (which included VAT payments) - in practice, it should have been 35% but we're pretty happy that the final cost came in 2.6% above the budget. if you really do need to make savings, I would get rid of the solo division and have the tromba on the choir and/or great and pad out the other divisions a bit. I would rather have a 2 rank cornet and larigot on the choir rather than the proposed sesquialtera and 19th so they're all of the same "family" and blend better. The Sesquialtera could then go on the Great, where it could also have a optional role in the chorus.

Oh dear, it sounds like a bit of a 'mare. Without knowing anything more about the situation, I'm thinking: Are there options for having the organ sited elsewhere where it can project into the nave? if it's cramped in the chancel and the chancel arch is low, is it ever going to get out into the nave unless it sounds really uncouth in chancel? Also think through what is the organ is going to do - what's the priority on choral acompaniment - does it always work in collaboration with a good choir or does it have to accompany a congregation by itself on occasion? If you do think about moving it, think about what you'd do with the space vacated by the old organ. Was the space originally designed for the organ by the architect? So many factors... just make sure you go for quality and do everything to make sure the organ is beautiful musically and visually, is financially good value long term (which PCCs always like to hear), it is appropriate for its surroundings (no stieglitz Zymbels in village churches, please) and fit for purpose.

Guide me, O thou great Redeemer, anyone?

I can well believe this... these are good points. Your practice organ looks interesting and I'd be quite keen to get rid of my toaster at some stage for a real organ, even if it means making it myself. Yes - but who would you trust to do it well? I can think of very, very few people...

Definately NO to a tapered flute!! You can make a small scale OD which isn't overpowering - and besides, isn't a 4 principal found on many of these beasts in theory just as loud but pitched an octave up so it's more shrill? People have so many misconceptions about Open Diapasons... What's in a name anyway? Transmissions are OK but the problem is that you get problems with 2 pallets per pipe. I don't believe clack valves solve the problem adequately. So I'll just lump it and have couplers, thank you and just accept the lack of flexibility.

I've been thinking about this a bit. I much prefer to practice on an 8' Open Diapason - I find I can hear the pitches far more clearly than with a gedact. I can live with a stopped or helper bass octave if space is a problem. My spare bedroom has become my musicroom/study so the organ go in there. The spec I would go for, taking into account the size of the room would be: Manual I (Great) Open Diapason 8 (stopped or helper bass - prefer indepedant of Stopped diapason bass if space allows) Manual II Stopped Diapason 8 Flute 4 Pedal - no stops - couplers only II-I Having manual 2 enclosed would be good so I can practise use of the swell pedal Naturally, all mechanical action.

So true!!

Re. tempo of the middle section - it needs to move along as 2 in a bar. The tempo doesn't need to be pushed so it's brisk - a tempo of say mimum ~ 66-68 is about right. It needs to be spacious and grand but it does need a sense of forward movement so you hear 5 lines rather than chords but the spaciousness and majesty is lost if the tempo's pushed... The lines should generally be legato, with breaks as necessary to articulate the lines (as ajt points out) and accentuate the rhythm - work on getting your touch really consistent so you've got a good foundation for your articulation - shortening notes is not effective when the other notes are staccato and uneven! re. echo effects - so long as they don't get in the way of rhythm!! Personally, I find them annoying in Helmut Walcha at the Laurenskerk in the first section (or am I thinking of another recording - M.C. Alain?) as they get in the way of the rhythm for me as the sound and volume changes mid-beat and it just sounds lumpy. They can work but I think it's a bit gimmicky myself and only really necessary if you've got a horrible sounding organ which needs registration changes every other bar.

A very similar organ is my own, although it's based on a later period and is a bit bigger. I am, of course, wildly biased but I've found it very versatile, an excellent organ for choral accompaniment and can play Byrd, Brahms and Britten (and pretty much anything in between) with equal and quite remarkable conviction. While I'd hardly call it "Multum in Parvo", it's still not a large organ and there are certainly no passengers in the stop list. http://npor.emma.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch...ec_index=P00129 There will be an article in next month's Choir and Organ about it.

One cracking little organ in my neck of the woods is this, in Twyford School Chapel, just outside Winchester: http://npor.emma.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch...ec_index=R01000 Parry went to this school in the 1850s/1860s and the Chapel is remarkably fine, including a magnificent west window and 16th century swiss glass in places. I renewed my acquaintance with it this morning during choir practice after the morning service. The organ, despite being just 10 stops, is really a full-sized organ pared down to the bare minimum. Walkers restored it with no alterations last year and it has settled in well. It has come to life as an invigorating and energetic little organ. The tiny Swell organ is very versatile and despite its hybrid pedigree (the swell and Gt 15th being later additions by a local builder), it hangs together very well. I'm looking forward to playing it next Sunday when the Parish church holds their Sunday morning service there.

Hi David, I agree with all your points above, wide ranging that they are. I think that the EEOP organs probably are more "museum" pieces which are "on tour" and I think they are encouraging the musicians who use them to think creatively and outside the box about how they can be used. Modern day requirements are not so inflexible that they cannot be altered for the resources and instruments at one's disposal. I feel that to regard "Modern day requirements" as inflexible can be used as good justification to perpetuate some real atrocities when an organ is rebuilt. But, of course, some balence is required and my arguement can rapidly be reductio ad absurdum. I think that the best and most liked organs of our period should/ will survive to give a representative sample of our period, while the chaff will be consigned to the dustbin, as indeed they should and will. Rather like hymns, in a way.

Last summer, I was signed off for 2 months with RSI. No organ or piano playing during that time, either! It was a pretty miserable and painful experience. I put it down to using the computer with bad posture - a lot of time sitting on a sofa using a laptop on my lap and using the track pad really screwed up my right thumb, although everything was complaining. Eventually, I found a modest amount of playing seemed to help the RSI a bit - no more than 10-15 mins to beign with - and I've since made a pretty full recovery. I also found Gin with a modest amount of Tonic water also helped... I've since reformed the way I sit at my computer and the Health & Safety people at work were a great help. So I'd suggest you check out how you sit at your computer: everything should be at right-angles - rather like the "Baroque" organist seating arrangement in Peter Hurford's book, with horizonal forearms, flat wrists and the screen about an arm's distance from your eyes and at eye level. Reaching for the keyboard and mouse if they're too far away can put a lot of strain on your shoulders, which can lead to RSI. Latest research suggests leaning back a bit reduces wear on the spine.

I agree with David upto a point: yes, much of the organ is speculation and extrapolation and yes, I think it important not to unthinkingly accept the products of the project as authoratative examples of Tudor organs. I think it is important to manage people's expectations, as David suggests, otherwise the hype will get out of hand. However, I wouldn't go as far to say that the value of the project is unconvincing: they are the best examples we've got for this period of organ and I think that much can be learnt performing music from the period on them - even if it is not an authoratative experience, they still stimulate thought and discussion. I think they also serve to highlight and invigorate a period of music which shouldn't be overlooked. The project has also raised the profile of the organ in people's mind and captured the imagination of both musicians and the general public. I think the project has been very imaginative and interesting and has resulted in a couple of rather beautiful organs. I've had to go and buy that CD... it seems to be £12.95 including P&P.

Hi Sean I suggest you re-read Nigel's post again. I don't think the console design details has got very much to do with the individual preferences of the titulaire. The photos I've seen of Aberdeen show almost identical console details and design. However, you're quite welcome to your own preferences for consoles, that's fine by me. I think Nigel's sentance sums it up for me - the console should complement the casework, sounds and character of the organ. Of course, if I were titulaire of the church, I would insist absolutely on a combination action and sequencer, which it really needs - far more important than pearwood stops!! You could save a few bob in the process, too and it would make the organ so much more flexible. Why don't they make all consoles the same these days?? (btw, those with foreign or no sense of humour, I am taking the piss...)

What a charming personal touch. I remember reading about the use of chestnut to make the keys for a clavichord - a successful experiement, chestnut was just the right density for the keys, was found to be nice to work and very stable. It was very refreshing to see what is quite a small workshop make every part of the organ for a particular instrument by hand. Really, very little seems to have changed since the days of Dom Bedos making this organ. I assume that Bernard Aubertin doesn't use a computer to calculate pipe scales.