P DeVile

You dont get a true picture, especially with sudden loud chords (sfz) in pieces. You can easily hear the volume change, while the auto changes the level to avoid overloading. Far better to manually set the level to the loudest bit and when listening later, turn the volume up for the quiet bits if you cant hear it. Peter

I record a fair amount of our choir and organ and use an Audio Technica AT825 Stereo mike which though it retails at about £250, I got on Ebay for £80. I have been using an aged Sharp md recorder and the results are astonishing. I have used a Sony mike, but the lack of Bass was a real problem. What I like about the Sharp is that the record levels are manually set. The Sony md recorders are auto levelling by default and you need to mess about going through menus to switch it to manual...... which only stays like that until you turn it off. Peter

A small amount of Meths on a cloth is fine, though too much can melt the glue underneath the ivories. P

No No No......Meths tastes better

Get a duster and dampen with some Meths. Wipe the keys, which will kill the grease from grubby organists fingers. Job done!!

I was born in Brecon and was one of Hazel Gedge's first piano pupils when they moved there, so have known the family for many years. I spoke to the Dean of the Cathedral this afternoon, who told me that he is steadily improving, but still hasn't got much use of his left arm. He told me that David did announce his retirement..... but not yet! Stubborn lot, organists!

No, none of the old echo organ survives in Norwich, I'm afraid. Peter

Maybe the third manual was to power the Kazoo-en chamade? P

Has anyone seen this? Peter

Or to my mind even better, "Pomp and Circumstance" - David Drury at the Sydney Town Hall organ - ABC Classics as well. 1. P and C no. 1 Elgar 2. Air on a G string JSB 3 and 4. Canzona and Scherzetto from C minor Sonata Whitlock 5. F and F on "Ad Nos" Liszt 6. Nimrod Elgar 7. Impro on a Theme of Peter Sculthorpe Drury 8. Trumpet Minuet Hollins 9. C de Westminster Vierne It is a cd that I never get tired of and the liszt is wonderful There are about 6 cds out of the instrument, but another good one is played by Willibald Guggenmos on Motette (CD 12591), which amongst many other things he plays the "American Rhapsody" by Pietro Yon. Great Fun. As far as I know, Thomas Heywood hasn't recorded on it yet. Peter

Amen to that Peter

Carlo Curley has probably done more for the organ over the last thirty or so years than anyone else that I can think of. His concerts are well attended because he does a good show and knows generally what people want to hear. I remember going to one of his Albert Hall spectaculars in the late 70s and he virtually filled the place.... perhaps he should do another. Peter

"How can you possibly yawn at this programme? It goes without saying that David Goode is one of the finest organists in the world; so let's take a stunning recital performance for granted prior to the start" Yes, OK I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. A really spine-tingling performance. P

http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whatson/0608.shtml#prom31 Yawn P

There used to be a record/playback system that enabled an organist to go down into the Cathedral to hear what the organ sounded like to the listener. It can be a salutary experience but all takes up rehearsal time. FF The organists mainly use the divided Choir sections for evensongs and build on that. They dont go much beyond Great piston 4, because apart from the choir the organ speaks west. The result is that to get any audible increase in volume from the choir stalls, you need to add great clumps of stops. Even if you are getting noisy when accompanying, it is still worth keeping an 8,4,2 coupled from the positive because the choir cant hear the westbound volume and can still tend to go out of tune. Oh, and for some reason the Pedal reeds are on the South triforium and the 32ft bottom octave is right behind you on the North, so dont jump! The record/playback device still works well. P

I tuned the organ - well as much as was possible - last year, though the leakage was such that it was difficult to hear properly inside the instrument! Between February and Easter this year we had an extremely dry spell (as many organ builders will tell you) which caused havoc to many organs, especially pneumatic ones and more especially exhaust pneumatic ones, which cypher when leaking rather than simply not working. When I turned up to tune in April, there were so many leaks that the bellows wouldn't rise and when I managed to get one to do something, all of the pneumatic pistons jammed half on. I know when I am beaten! As I said earlier, it is a great shame because it is in a hall with a barrel-vault ceiling, thus creating a perfect accoustic and the organ when going makes a very good sound and deserves to be kept playing. I have given numerous quotations to the council for restoration or electrification and each time they have made excited noises, but then forgotten about it. If anyone feels inclined to give Colchester Borough Council a prod, please do!

I'm not sure but you could try this site: http://www.wayneleupold.com/organ_solos_trans.html

Download and register with iTunes. Once you have done that, search for Latry. It should then show 4 cds with a separate list of tracks which can be purchased individually, including Carillon De Phwoar.... and yup, the kitchen sink goes in. Another good one is Widor's 6th... Each track is 79p. The only drawback is that each track is stored as a protected file, so you can either transfer them from your harddrive to an ipod or play them on your computer.

I worked on it maybe 15 years ago, when the main breakdown bellows in the blower room needed to be releathered. It was a vast reservoir, with 150 weights on it! the only way to get it out of the building was to cut it in half and then releather it as two linked units. Less than five years on from that I heard that they disconnected the console (which was a four manual HNB horseshoe type) and had no plans to reconnect...... The rest of the organ may still be there as it was reasonably high up on pillars. Another instrument is the 3 manual N & B in Colchester Town Hall. Sadly I had to give up on it earlier this year as it has so many leaks, the bellows wouldnt go up. A shame because the Council obviously dont really care whether it works or not. And what an accoustic!

Here at Saffron Walden, our assistant organist - Cyril Coe died on Easter Day, having been at the post for a few months short of 60 years. He was a very quiet man, but superb musician who could play virtually anything from sight.

One of the instruments that I look after is the Christie Cinema organ that is now in The Gordon Craig Theatre, Stevenage. Bill was one of the organists that opened it, following its move from a nearby social club. He was a regular there and always performed a great concert that covered every genre of organ music - from memory. I remember one time in particular when he appeared about an hour and a half before the concert, sat at the console to set up his pistons..... 3 I think... played through Dieu Parmi Nous and then went to the bar. He'll be sorely missed

I too was at Dame Gs recital and was in the upper circle bang opposite the organ. I think that though she was not on top form at first, she noticably improved in the second half. She may even have started off a little nervous, knowing that there were one or two rather self-opinionated people ready with their notebooks to fire off as soon as they got home. It didnt bother me in the least that there was a bit of out-of tuneness..... it is a very large instrument in a very busy building. The tuner simply doesnt have time to check through everything, especially with industrial hoovers to contend with and other delights. The problem with recordings is that they can be put together in little bits, resulting in perfect performances. People hear these and expect the live playing to be the same. Oh and there was the cypher............ so what? Someone said it took a long time to be stopped.... Good God, it was a Bourdon and most of the time she was playing loud. Not easy to find in the dark. Generally speaking, the first half was OK and the second half apart from the one fluff in Nimrod was superb.

Osmonds became part of the Christie group (which also owned HNB) in the late 1970s. They carried on until early to mid 90s, when a number of the staff left to become the Deane organ builders. Peter

I purchased the CD over the weekend. Simply stunning.

HNB ceased trading in June 1998. The tuners that were left - Myself, Reg Lane and Colin Jilks were given (not sold) our tunings so that we could continue under our own steam. The other tuner who continued until that point was Neville Newby who retired. A little while after the closure, Bernard Whitmill of Heritage Organs purchased the name but doesnt seem to have done anything with it. Peter