Philip J Wells

Nicholson's did a recent restoration of the Compton organ in St Peter's RC Church, Gloucester. I'm told this included rewinding the magnets. PJW

The Trompeta Argenta was on the Walker at Ampleforth, I think. The St Chad's reed (Trompeta Real) went on the Nicholson rebuild at Monmouth Parish Church. PJW

Blackburn, Gloucester PJW

I recall that copper bass pipes inside organs in Denmark were quite common at one time. In the UK there is the copper Ped Pr 8 in the case on the Collins organ at Shellingford, the Copley Ped 32ft in the case at Edinburgh RC Cath, and in Oxford St Mary Mag Copley used flamed copper in the North Case Gt Pr 8 (pic on NPOR) and very nice it looks too. PJW

Cavaille-Coll thought the wooden 32's on the 1834 Birmingham Town Hall organ sounded like "wet drums" and the metal 32's looked "just like rainspouts". PJW

And what about the 32ft flue on the Peter Collins organ in Edinburgh? Rumble may be a description but in this case is what it actually says on the knob. PJW

The size, shape and positioning of the sharps in relation to the natural keys can also cause problems and I would have hoped had been specified when keyboards were (later?) standardized. A Henry Jones organ of 1875 I am aware of had keys made by S W Browne, a commercial firm of that time. In the 1980's the organist complained that he occasionally got his fingers stuck in between the sharps! PJW

Thanks to both for this. I am not a member of the texting generation and have also not come across HTH before! I gather LOL has two meanings; Lots of Laughs and Laugh out Loud. PJW

I'm sorry I don't do foreign languages. Can anyone translate HTIOI into English please. PJW

The ex Jesus Coll Cambs Mander organ went to Truro School Chapel. The Organ Club are due to hear it on their West Country Tour this September. PJW

The power of advertising! Two Cathedrals both within 1hr drive of me had recitals last night and I would happily have attended either. But both Cathedral websites had listed their recitals and expected people to turn up with no idea on them of what was to be played. I am a bit obsessed about this as we are treated as second class citizens. This would not be the situation if an orchestra was playing; a programme would be published. Thanks to Mr Allsop publishing details here I chose his recital and very enjoyable it was too. I was particularly interested in the Couperin with chant and organ. The basse de trompette was wonderful with just the right amount of splash and the plein and grande jeux hung together very well. I now see it is possible to make up a cornet on the Gt, something I had not noticed before. It was good to renew an acquaintance with the ending Franck as well. I am glad I went even if I was drenched upon leaving. Would that more had made the effort! PJW

Now that the NPOR entry has been identified by "RAC", and if it is up to date and correct (there is an issue with couplers) it appears that this is not the case. PJW

Thanks for flagging that up. I don't know the area and used the way it was referred to in the M F-G book. PJW

The only organ I am aware of with BBE input is St George's Letchworth which does not seem to be recorded on NPOR. Hurford designed a scheme but the Diocesan Organ Advisor was BBE who would not pass it unless there was an 8 Open Diapason on the Great. This is covered in the "21 years of organbuilding" book by Maurice Forsyth-Grant begining on page 95. Frank Bradbeer was at pains to point out that it was against the organbuilders will, "clearly marking it Pedal Diapason, to show where it had come from, and to discourage the dabblers who would use it all the time if it merely said Diapason 8". Gt - Fl 8, Pr 4, Block Fl 2, Mix IV, Pedal Diapason 8. Sw - Spitz Fl 8, Quintadena 4, Pr 2, Trompette 8. Ped - Subbass 16, Pr 8, Bass Fl 8, Quint 5 1/3, Choral Bass 4. Normal 3 couplers + sw Sub-oct to Gt. PJW

There is a chapter entitled "Glossary of Stop Names" in the book "The Organ Today" by Herbert and John Norman 1966 (updated 1980), published by David and Charles. I have both which you are welcome to see if you are ever over my way as I expect libraries may have disposed of "old stock little used" by now. This covers the general flue and reed families with good line drawings and texts describing: shape, scale, material, voicing and musical use. Copies are sometimes on ebay. A useful starting point. PJW

I am not sure that floating backfalls and fan frames go together. My understanding is that floating backfalls need the 90 degree pivot angle to operate and would be used in conjunction with roller boards, one roller for each note on the soundboard. PJW

Yes, I recall there was an LP recorded and marketed by Guild records with Barry Rose as one of the Directors I think. I also remember buying the history booklet of the organ there by Betty Matthews. PJW

I have a cassette tape (possibly a private recording?) made by David Dobson at New College. A variety of peices but it was the Aria by Floor Peeters which haunted me at the time. Whilst the New College Bach recordings were a revelation, I recall collecting all the Hurford LP Bach sets as they were issued. For sheer beauty the flutes at Melk Abbey in Austria had me spellbound. The New College end of year lollipops recitals were a highlight; the organists came out of the door at the east of the Chapel all sucking giant lollipops as they made their way to the west loft. Items included the Spitfire Prelude using the chamade and In a Monastery Garden, with choir rising up from below the gallery rail complete with bird whistles. It did not do their (Paul Hale and Paul Trepte + others) careers any harm it seems! All such great fun. PJW

I am no expert but it is my understanding that Walker pneumatic actions such as Bristol Cath have a lot of adjustment points and are very difficult to get right. It will be interesting to see how our hosts get on at Wimbledon restoring another Walker action. I have not heard of any problems with the Hill pneumatic actions at Eton College Chapel which our hosts also restored. And the original H&H action at Stafford is thought restorable. On the other hand I understand that nobody would restore the Rushworth and Dreaper actions at Malvern for reliability reasons. Every case considered on its merits? PJW

Wonderful - thanks to all for their contributions. I am still trying to get my head around what an organbuilder/organist would do with "48 spring matresses" in the organ loft! PJW

Thank you for this. I have no idea how large the Birmingham instrument will be (surely at least 3 manuals) but it is to play North German music and have stops for the classic French sounds. In addition it will have a large role in accompanying the choir on the concert platform. I look forward to hearing more of the proposals in due course. PJW

Board members may be interested to know that at the BIOS Research Conference yesterday at Birmingham John Whenham gave details of the construction of the new music building. This is to include a New Concert Organ which is being procured under Europen Union Procurement Directive rules. The French company Marc Garnier has won the bidding process. They have built an organ in Tokyo where you choose the facade according to what music you are playing. Pics of the two cases are here; please scroll down http://organ-au-logis.pagesperso-orange.fr...daire/Tokyo.htm (Don't ask me to translate!) Has anybody any experience of their work? PJW

I think it used to be the case that anyone could nominate an instrument for a HOC but certainly from around Oct 2009 a nomination form was introduced as the scheme became more popular. I assume you certificate pre-dates Oct 2009. PJW

I think the same could be said of a lot of Cathedral instruments not just this potential one. Adrian Partington has said of Gloucester: "I believe that nobody in 2010 would design an English cathedral organ like this one........ contemporary organ building dogma took precedence over musical practicalities". PJW

I think some of this depends on whether the organ case is viewed as a separate piece of furniture (freestanding) or to cover up the mechanisms of pipes shoehorned into a chamber. Given the state of the roofs of some churches these days I have seen roofs of corrugated tin complete with drain pipes installed in organ chambers. (This was in the Hull area.) Apart from keeping out the dust you never know when the lead on the church roof is going to be pinched. Lots of money from insurance companies goes on water damage to organs that could be avoided if organs had proper cases with roofs. Builders doing church repair work also often create dust when doing roof repairs which falls through into the organ. How often is the organbuilder called in to advise when repairs or church decoration is contemplated? But I bet this sort of dusty work would not go ahead without shutting up the lid on a grand piano! Give me an organ roof every time. The fashion these days seems to be for a more diffuse sound (French as against German influences?) and roofs have apparently come off instruments such as The Albert Hall, London, Chichester Cath and Gloucester Cath. Personally I think its done these days to give the organbuilders more organ cleaning work! PJW