Priory Records

[Vox Humana]

I see Priory have just redesigned their website. Navigation is easier now. I see they have a few of the Great European Organs series remaindered at £4.99, plus a new CD of warhorses from York Minster at the same price (but who's playing - JSW?)

 

And before you leap on me, no, I don't have any connection with them!

[pwhodges]

a new CD of warhorses from York Minster at the same price (but who's playing - JSW?)

Yes - you can just read his name on the cover.

 

Paul

[Brian Childs]

I see Priory have just redesigned their website. Navigation is easier now. I see they have a few of the Great European Organs series remaindered at £4.99, plus a new CD of warhorses from York Minster at the same price (but who's playing - JSW?)

 

And before you leap on me, no, I don't have any connection with them!

 

I am a sucker for this type of collection and must have acquired about 30 + of these programmes over the years but I am afraid this one leaves me cold. The playing seems uninvolved and in my opinion the new position found for the microphone(s) - suspended from the central tower above the pipework - does the sound no favours. Even the Tuba Mirabilis in the Cocker lacks impact, and I much prefer the 60s sound of FJ to the 90s sound of JSW : by contrast what I take to be the new Bombarde ( a stop I have never heard in the building) makes quite a splash in the Purcell, though hardly authentic. Has anyone else heard it and what do they think ?

[Guest Cynic]

I am a sucker for this type of collection and must have acquired about 30 + of these programmes over the years but I am afraid this one leaves me cold. The playing seems uninvolved and in my opinion the new position found for the microphone(s) - suspended from the central tower above the pipework - does the sound no favours. Even the Tuba Mirabilis in the Cocker lacks impact, and I much prefer the 60s sound of FJ to the 90s sound of JSW : by contrast what I take to be the new Bombarde ( a stop I have never heard in the building) makes quite a splash in the Purcell, though hardly authentic. Has anyone else heard it and what do they think ?

 

 

One of the features of Priory Records seems still to be well in evidence - their lack of a competent proof-reader!

For instance, and only one of several errors I found in a few minutes spent on the site, Adrian Lucas's St.Andrew's Hall Norwich LP (great fun BTW!) has been reissued, this time the organ is (apparently) that of Norwich Cathedral.

[John Robinson]

I am a sucker for this type of collection and must have acquired about 30 + of these programmes over the years but I am afraid this one leaves me cold. The playing seems uninvolved and in my opinion the new position found for the microphone(s) - suspended from the central tower above the pipework - does the sound no favours. Even the Tuba Mirabilis in the Cocker lacks impact, and I much prefer the 60s sound of FJ to the 90s sound of JSW : by contrast what I take to be the new Bombarde ( a stop I have never heard in the building) makes quite a splash in the Purcell, though hardly authentic. Has anyone else heard it and what do they think ?

 

I have just taken delivery of this CD, which I find rather interesting.

 

The sound balance, as one might expect, is very different from what I have heard before - recorded or live.

 

What I find really quite puzzling is that, whereas the Tuba Mirabilis (facing west) is noticeably subdued on this recording, the Bombarde (facing east) is much louder. If the microphone was suspended above the case from the central tower, one would expect both of these horizontal stops to be equally ineffective.

 

All considered, I like this CD, especially since it cost only £6 (Yorkshire roots coming out again!). Mrs R., not an organ aficionado by any means, likes it too (especially Tuba Tune), which means that I am allowed to listen to it in her presence!

 

John

[AJJ]

The first organ LP I ever bought was a sort of compliation including Francis Jackson playing the Cocker at York, Ralph Downes (?) playing some Buxtehude from the RFH and other things that I can't remember now. The cover I seem to remember was an 'arty' picture of the case at Westminster Abbey. The LP eventually wore out through continual playing but I remember still the rather uneven honking of the York Tuba Mirabilis and the point just before the final 'recap.' when Jackson pulled out the 32' reed. - I'd never heard anything like it. Great stuff!

 

AJJ

 

Does anyone else remember this record & what else was on it?

[Graham Powell]

The first organ LP I ever bought was a sort of compliation including Francis Jackson playing the Cocker at York, Ralph Downes (?) playing some Buxtehude from the RFH and other things that I can't remember now. The cover I seem to remember was an 'arty' picture of the case at Westminster Abbey. The LP eventually wore out through continual playing but I remember still the rather uneven honking of the York Tuba Mirabilis and the point just before the final 'recap.' when Jackson pulled out the 32' reed. - I'd never heard anything like it. Great stuff!

 

AJJ

 

Does anyone else remember this record & what else was on it?

 

Ah yes, fond memories of one of the first organ LPs I owned back in the early 1970's. Released by EMI and entitled "The King of instruments", I haven't heard it for years - I don't have the means to play it now - but this is the playlist:

 

Side one:

Toccata (Symphony No.5) - Widor (Fernando Germani - Selby Abbey 1962)

Carillon - Murrill (Simon Preston - Westminster Abbey 1967)

Prelude and Fugue in G minor - Buxtehude (Lionel Rogg - RFH 1970)

Wachet auf - JSB (David Willcocks - King's College Cambridge 1968)

Carillon de Westminster - Vierne (Nicholas Kynaston - Westminster Cathedral 1968)

 

Side two:

Nun danket - Karg-Elert (Noel Rawsthorne - Liverpool Cathedral 1964)

Voluntary on the Old 100th - Purcell (George Thalben-Ball - Temple Church 1961)

Toccata (Suite Gothique) - Boellmann (Nicholas Danby - Blenheim Palace 1968)

Tuba Tune - Cocker (Francis Jackson - York Minster 1964)

Toccata and Fugue in D minor BWV565 - JSB (Allan Wicks - Canterbury Cathedral 1969)

 

I agree with you re the Tuba Tune - adding the 32' reed at that point was a wonderful effect!

 

Incidentally, if you want THAT recording of the Tuba Tune on CD, I think this might be it -

http://www.amphion-recordings.com/jackson2.html

 

Graham

[John Robinson]

The first organ LP I ever bought was a sort of compliation including Francis Jackson playing the Cocker at York, Ralph Downes (?) playing some Buxtehude from the RFH and other things that I can't remember now. The cover I seem to remember was an 'arty' picture of the case at Westminster Abbey. The LP eventually wore out through continual playing but I remember still the rather uneven honking of the York Tuba Mirabilis and the point just before the final 'recap.' when Jackson pulled out the 32' reed. - I'd never heard anything like it. Great stuff!

 

AJJ

 

Does anyone else remember this record & what else was on it?

 

Yes, I have it too - we must be of a similar age!

 

I agree about the York 32' reed. It certainly makes itself felt, at least on that recording. I wonder what it must have sounded like before it was relegated to the south transept!

 

John

[Jeremy Jones]

Oooh yes!!! This was my first organ LP and what really got me hooked on the instrument BIG TIME! Oh for some enterprising soul to reissue it on CD on licence from EMI. One can but dream.