Clare Stevens

Presumably the powers-that-be who believe the organ is of no consequence and that polished pipes would be too much of an attraction at non-organ events share a mindset with Ros Rigby, one of the artistic directors of the new Sage concert hall in Gateshead, who was quoted in this week's Sunday Times as follows: 'One of the reasons we haven't put an organ in this hall is that the message it gives out to other forms of music is that they're second rate. so, when we open, we won't have an organ. Goodness knows whether we'll get one later.' And goodness knows how they compute that one. I suppose it could be taken as a compliment to the magnetic attraction of the organ, but I would have thought other forms of music would have had enough confidence to stand up for themselves. There is always the possibility of shutters, if organ pipes are really such a distraction (not in the RAH, obviously, but in Gateshead!) And I never heard any reports of concerts in Symphony Hall, Birmingham suffering from the audience's attention being drawn to the silent facade organ pipes for ten years before the instrument was installed behind them! Clare Stevens