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St Paul's Cathedral


davidh

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I must admit that all this talk of wonderfully warm and exciting full swell reminds me greatly of another cathedral organ not far from my home, which particularly before it was emasculated c1976 was all that you could possibly ask for. Still, no use crying over spilt milk.

 

OK, I am confused. Given this date, where would that be, Neil? (Gloucester was 1971.)

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I will be interested to hear the new Dome tubas next month. I am sure, as in the case of all the Mander additions to this organ, they will sound very impressive. Not being the greatest fan of tubas, I do hope to be pleasantly surprised by the results.

 

Having said all this, I am not entirely convinced that the complete removal of the Father Willis Dome tubas is a good idea, at least on aesthetic grounds. Of all the tubas stops that I've come across they were, for me, the most impressive of the lot, and by some margin. The description 'hot coals' did indeed refer specifically to these tuba ranks. I just can't help but feel that if you readily remove such noteworthy ranks of a master organ builder, then surely the rest will follow in due course.

 

Oh well, if this does happen, at least we have the old recordings to fall back on.

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I will be interested to hear the new Dome tubas next month. I am sure, as in the case of all the Mander additions to this organ, they will sound very impressive. Not being the greatest fan of tubas, I do hope to be pleasantly surprised by the results.

 

Having said all this, I am not entirely convinced that the complete removal of the Father Willis Dome tubas is a good idea, at least on aesthetic grounds. Of all the tubas stops that I've come across they were, for me, the most impressive of the lot, and by some margin. The description 'hot coals' did indeed refer specifically to these tuba ranks. I just can't help but feel that if you readily remove such noteworthy ranks of a master organ builder, then surely the rest will follow in due course.

 

Oh well, if this does happen, at least we have the old recordings to fall back on.

 

One wonders were space and (evidently) money no problem whether it would have been better to have added the new ranks to the existing scheme, rather than to replace those originally there, in order to give a wider tonal palette, should the existing ranks be presently viewed as "unsuitable" for whatever reason.

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It is interesting that the Willis tubas have been carefully preserved, should anyone in the future wish to re-instate them. This in itself is a very laudable idea. But I am curious as to why a degree of 'brightness' is required from these ranks, when they seemed to work so well before. 'Full Dome' is already an extremely dramatic, dare I say 'nuclear' experience. You either like being bombarded (sic) with the decibel equivalent of a supersonic aircraft taking off, or you don't. I guess it is in human nature to push the boundaries to the limit.

 

I would rather have seen the addition of a Cornet on this section, or perhaps several solo mutations, rather than further clarity on what is already an extremely impressive sonic earthquake. I do reserve judgement though until I hear them next month.

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