P DeVile

Oh dear Paul, Andrew got there just before the event really and did a wonderful job with the choir but at the moment for that one occasion. Anna Lapwood has been seriously important in raising the organ/choral game to the general public. She has done more to get young people interested - particularly women. Peter

I was at the recital and it was wonderful. The HNB sound has been retained with the 1970s pipework replaced with new but in the original 1942 type of voicing. Having looked after the organ for the best part of 30 years I was hugely impressed with how the sound now properly speaks both ways from the screen. Well done H&H!

Or get a Mac.....!

This was taken by me in 1978 in Kingsway Hall

I can confirm this - he has retired as far as I know

If the organ has not been changed tonally, the Clarinet should be kept and restored. A competent reed voicer will be able to make it stable and milky as clarinets should be. PM me if you would like recommendations.... Reeds keep their pitch(ish) but the flues go with the flow temperature and pitchwise which is why at the moment with the weather as it is, it would be best to avoid any reeds at all! Peter

pm sent

Great Primary is in the North triforium, one bay westwards of the case so I assume it will go roughly in the same area. The Quint was not used much but actually a really lovely flute but I think you are correct that the Solo Flute will be exported. The Great secondary was a 1969 ish change and I always thought that it didn't match the rest of the organ. I hope that the case pipes remain as they are - tin would not work with that design. The solo french horn was the old Tuba from the N&B 5 manual and was not a happy bunny, collapsing etc. As far as I know - the floor level will be unenclosed choir organ chancel side with the enclosed solo west side but speaking both ways with a double-front. Upstairs will be double-decker Swell and Great but sideways on so can speak both ways. The pedal section I guess will again be on both sides of the triforia - I always wondered why the 16-8-4 pedal reed unit was put on the south side with the 32ft bottom octave directly behind the console! It was a lovely instrument to work on - I did it for nigh-on 30 years and look forward to its reincarnation. Peter

My predecessor Neville Newby started looking after the organ in 1949 and I remember him telling me that he couldn't remember much about the Echo department apart from having some gongs! so we should assume that it was removed at or before 1968. With regard to the forthcoming work, I gather that the pipes are being kept but everything else will be new. I personally hope that the console will be retained. The big problem there has always been that the sound is very west-facing with Primary and Secondary Great, Swell and Solo speaking that way. The chancel is served essentially by both Choir and Positive sections which can be split to be a two manual. Not much good for the big choral stuff! I think that the idea is to have the Great and Swell sections within the case but sideways on so the sound will go both ways.

They are certainly not there - I speak as one who looked after the organ from 1990 until a couple of years ago! Peter

The Echo department was removed at least 60 years ago.

Having been a chorister at St John's centuries ago I absolutely go with adding girls - it is the right thing to do in this day and age and can only benefit the choir. Andrew Nethsingha is an absolute master at getting the sound he wants. The Advent carol service was truly amazing - especially as Andrew wasn't there having tested positive and the top line was down to 10 boys. The organ scholar, George Herbert conducted and Joseph Wicks came in at the last minute to play the organ. Wonderful stuff!

Awful news that the factory has been destroyed by fire yesterday. Fortunately nobody was killed but one guy got badly burned.

Maybe but I'm not going there and anyway, it is high up in the case and I can't reach it! The organ is in remarkably good fettle and sounds good - some of the stops are a little dated (Pedal 16ft reed is quite unpleasant) - but tunes up well. The one problem that I have is finding the great mixture and odd pedal upperwork pipes out of their holes because the college electricians have to climb into the instrument to change the striplights which surround the blacked out west window.....

One set of bells but two stars. Neither turn any more because the fan-belts both broke and I can't get any replacements!

None taken! P

Ok - definitely not HNBs finest but they were doing what was asked of them by the college. They wanted party horns on next to no wind pressure and being a company who were not used to low pressure mechanical action did what they could. I speak as one who worked on the organ and for a while looked after it. The voicing of the organ (apart from the party horns) was pretty well perfect. To put this into context, the HNB organ is being removed because the chapel is being hugely enlarged so it won't be able to cope. By the way.... Horizontal trumpets have been around for a while and have always been a love 'em or hate' em thing. For me, the best example of them are on the organ of St John's Cambridge. I'm not talking about the 1994 Mander organ because they were installed in 1954 by Hill, Norman and Beard and were experimental because Spanish trumpets were not 'a thing' in English organs. The experiment worked - the organ sounded fabulous ( I know because I was a chorister and was inspired to be an organ builder).

As far as I know the organ will come out in September 2022 and the restored instrument back in ready for Advent 2023.

I can remember holding keys as an apprentice at Holy Trinity Kingsway London which was an HNB organ and had both None and Septieme on the swell. The combined sound was enough to make your fillings fall out..... https://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N16499

What have you found not interesting??

Another issue with the Swell being audibly slow at the console was because of where it was in the chamber. I was assistant to HNBs MD, Frank Fowler in the London office for 14 months and Dudley Holroyd (who was a great musician etc but could also be a tad awkward...) was convinced that this was due to badly adjusted actions. Frank thought otherwise and so we both went there and hung a microphone in the Swell connected to a small amplifier and headphones. When playing the organ normally, the swell was a fraction behind the great but when he put the headphones on, there was hardly any delay. Headcase will correct me but I think the swell box was behind the arch but the great under or in front.

A small amount of Methylated spirits on a cloth is sufficient to wipe over keys and stop knobs but never soak them. Peter

I was told that the critics loved the Liszt recording but someone said that of course the Albert Hall organ should never be used for Bach. She responded by including the St Anne P and F in her next LP. I have digitised (is that a word??) and put it here: P

If you missed today's Bridgewater hall recital on youtube by Jonathan Scott - here it is: P