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DouglasCorr

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    I have a Peter Collins organ: 8 8 4 2 over 2 man and ped. + 8 ped reed (1/8 length)- foolishly and against Peter's advice with a R&C pedal board (no one should use an R&C pedal board these days, particularly if you have a large shoe size! - makes life needlessly difficult).
    Yamaha U3 piano, now carefully revoiced to get rid of brassy tenor and bass.
    Guelph 1 manual American reed organ.
    I have a severely shrinking repertoire - I mostly blame my organ shoes - but there must be something else...I use Dupre editions of Bach, Mendelsohn, Franck...I have a large number of CDs .. mostly avoiding English organs.. with a lot of St Sulpice. Karl Richter and his Munich Choir and Orchestra are also old favourites.

    I don't play on Sundays for a variety of reasons.I used to play with a visiting choir and was lucky enough to play on a number of large instruments in the south. I only play for fun....Science pays the bills...

    Live not far from Farnborough Abbey - the best small organ in Great Britain.

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  1. The removal of the ceiling plaster in Guildford Cathedral has certainly added a few seconds to the reverberation time. But I think it is more significant to realise that without the sound absorption that that plaster must nave provided the organ now sounds enormously and unpleasantly louder! Several of the previous contributors to this thread have expressed an enthusiasm to hear the instrument, but I would like to warn them that they may be dissapointed. I have been to a number of recitals and services there since the 70s (and also played there with a visiting choir) and I am sorry to say that (in my opinnion) the sound is nothing particularly special; but it is what it is and well serves the cathedral's purpose.
  2. I have just come back from the Orford Organ Festival. This included recitals by Paul Hale and Bernard Haas (almost completely from memory!) and organ with choir and orchestra with Catherine Ennis. When the organ was in the Turner Sims Concert Hall, where the reverberation was negligible when an audience was present, the organ allowed much music from the Barock era to be played satisfactorily with appropriate tone colours and balance; it was most satisfying sound yet one could not describe it as beautiful. St Bartholomew's church Orford's interior is both wide and lofty and provides a few seconds reverberation, even when there are over a hundred people in the church. This transforms the sound of the organ into one which is memorably beautiful! Perhaps one might argue that Peter Collins would have voiced the organ differently if this church had been its original home; however Cousans have done an excellent job in restoring the organ to life once more!
  3. I am pleased to find out that the Easter Vigil is being broadcast live from St Sulpice (to-night) at 8:30 pm UK time https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j9b7Bfy0jE
  4. Allan Wicks also said that it sounded all right for playing trio sonatas rather than large scale pieces
  5. Allan Wicks showed me their electronic organ around 1974 I’m pretty sure it was a Hammond.
  6. I have just found details of the opening Orford Organ Festival The organ has been installed by Cousans who have had to do a lot of work on pipe work that was badly damaged by the length of time it was all in storage. I've got my tickets and I'm looking forward to hearing it once again!
  7. Further details can be found here https://orfordorganproject.com/
  8. Looking forward to hearing this fine instrument once again!
  9. When I started this topic I never expected it to come to such a sad and undeserved end. And it was too upsetting to see the photographs of the organ being dismantled. Thanks Mark for providing the short recording of your recital - what an exciting and interesting sound! I don't know of any recordings of the Turner Sims organ. (Although there is the Regent Records CD "from Chamber to Chantry" that features several other Peter Collins organs.) When I was deciding to buy my own organ from Peter Collins I spent a few hour at the Turner Sims; and had the pleasure to meet Prof Evans, who I think was the driving force behind the acquisition of the instrument.
  10. This is a very important comment. Without this (i.e. volume increasing with increased pitch) much of Widor sounds completely boring and lifeless. But I'm not so sure that it is helpful with Bach.
  11. Whooooooooooooooo. I feel drunk after playing those clips!!!!!!
  12. This is sad news indeed. At St Albans in July I was so sorry that Peter had been unable to present his new organ for the Festival due to illness. Peter had unlimited enthusiasm, energy, knowledge and vision in all things to do with organs. He was a most interesting speaker. In the early days of the St Albans Organ Festival I was so impressed by the small organs he displayed that I ordered a small instrument from him -it produces such a refined and elegant sound that I still enjoy 35 years on. At the time I ordered this I remember playing on other recent organs of his- at the Turner Sims Concert Hall and St Mary's Paddington Green. He had boundless enthusiasm for both of these - however I remember that at St Mary's the features he most commented on were the fiery wooden urns on the top of the case! Over the years every time I met him he had a new enthusiasm -high purity lead pipes, cases with resonant panels, light weight pallets.... Although many of his organs leant towards the north European classical organ, he was enthusiastic about many English builders, and he told me that he thought the sound of the organ in St Sulpice was incomparably fine.
  13. And I wonder what has happened to the Turner Sims organ now??? Anyone know??
  14. 20 or 30 years ago- I remember going to a talk by Arthur Wills in which he explained how the rebuild had put the organ back towards its original sound. I asked how he could say that when the Great 32ft had been removed. It was clearly an unwanted question and I received a short and fuzzy reply - which I unfortunately don't remember. It is interesting how one person's improvement is another person's vandalism.....
  15. I'm sure that Kings would have done the full spectrum of accompanied services before CCTVs appeared. CCTV would be too big and expensive before the 1980's, however a loudspeaker in an organ loft would be feasible. There was such an arrangement at Ely in the 70s for services in the nave, I don't know if Kings ever had any similar arrangements. It would be interesting to consider what the impact of CCTV is on the modern cathedral repertoire.
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