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St Pauls Cathedral


DouglasCorr

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I have booked an evening in the Cathedral exclusively for Mander website users - Wednesday 25th March 2009, 19.00-20.30. This will take the form of a demonstration of the various features of the instrument, including the new dome reeds, and will culminate in a performance of Cocker's Tuba Tune using, at some point or other, every Tuba in the building. For health and safety reasons (primarily my own: the organ tuner would never forgive me) it will not be possible to clamber about inside the instrument.

 

I will meet all that are interested outside Paul Coffee House - to the left of the steps as you face the Cathedral - at 19.00 (needless to say, please don't be late or you won't be able to gain access to the building).

 

I do need to know numbers for security reasons so please would you reply to this posting indicating that you would like to attend.

 

I hope that this will be of interest.

 

Simon Johnson

Organist & Assistant Director of Music, St Paul's Cathedral

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I have booked an evening in the Cathedral exclusively for Mander website users - Wednesday 25th March 2009, 19.00-20.30. This will take the form of a demonstration of the various features of the instrument, including the new dome reeds, and will culminate in a performance of Cocker's Tuba Tune using, at some point or other, every Tuba in the building. For health and safety reasons (primarily my own: the organ tuner would never forgive me) it will not be possible to clamber about inside the instrument.

 

I will meet all that are interested outside Paul Coffee House - to the left of the steps as you face the Cathedral - at 19.00 (needless to say, please don't be late or you won't be able to gain access to the building).

 

I do need to know numbers for security reasons so please would you reply to this posting indicating that you would like to attend.

 

I hope that this will be of interest.

 

Simon Johnson

Organist & Assistant Director of Music, St Paul's Cathedral

 

 

I would love to attend. Many thanks,

 

Paul Fearnley

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  • 2 weeks later...
I have booked an evening in the Cathedral exclusively for Mander website users - Wednesday 25th March 2009, 19.00-20.30. ....

Simon Johnson

Organist & Assistant Director of Music, St Paul's Cathedral

 

Simon, I hope it is not too late to be added to your list of attendees for your generous offer of a demonstration please?

 

Regards,

 

Douglas

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Many thanks to Messrs Johnson and Mander for an excellent and most enjoyable evening which I thought was well supported considering that travelling would have been an issue for many members, not to mention some strange pastime that some people have called work!

 

Thanks again.

 

Malcolm

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Yes thanks again to Simon Johnson and John Mander for giving up their time for holding a demonstration of the restored Organ. The demonstration of the new Dome reeds confirmed my view from the Celebrity recital by Olivier Latry that a better balance has been achieved with the Dome Chorus, although I must say the new Clarion is certainly punching away nicely at the same kind of level as the Trompette Militaire. The demonstration of some of the quieter stops was also a revelation: in particular the South Choir Claribel Flute, the Solo Corno di Bassetto, and most surprising to me the Solo Diapason (I was amazed at how effective this was under expression).

 

Great evening, thanks again.

 

Mark.

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I add my thanks to those already expressed. It was a real privilege to be given such a great tour of the capabilities of this wonderful instrument and I am most grateful to Simon Johnson for arranging it and taking time from his busy schedule to play for us, and to John Pike Mander for his fascinating insight on the recent work.

 

That Claribel Flute is gorgeous!

 

Peter

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Yes, just adding my thanks too - a fabulous experience. :rolleyes:

 

Sitting just a few feet from the choir (directed by Simon) in their Nave position next to the mobile console, for the 5pm Eucharist was very special too, such an incredible sound under that dome - and uniquely the St Paul's sound too.

Fabulous.

 

The sudden shift from disappointment when JPM said "We can't use the west end at the moment because there's a router out" to excitement when Simon said "But the west trumpets still work - do you want to hear them?" was quite a rollercoaster of emotion! :o

Needless to say - they didn't disappoint.

 

Again, many thanks to Simon and John for their time.

 

(Oh, and thanks to the guy in the triforium with a vacuum for eventually turning it off!)

 

 

 

 

Where to next chaps?

 

 

 

Paul CARR

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Now that Hauptwerk is sampling the complete Salisbury Cathedral organ, I wonder how long wel'll have to wait before we can get to play St Paul's in our living rooms? The hardware is already there- WOW -, we just need someone with the patience of Job to record every one of those 10,000 pipes.

 

And at the risk of causing our most generous moderators apoplexy since I know you have something of an interest in the "real" organ at St. Paul's - I can take no responsibility if you keel over at the very suggestion! But I wonder whether it is actually of considerable value to make accurate pipe-by-pipe digital recordings of such historically important organs, not to mention the experience of learning on a console that can be changed at the click of a mouse from a Silbermann to a Father Willis. OK, I'll abide by the rules and not mention digital again for a good while!)

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May I add my thanks also. I have a small photo gallery on my homepage which has 2 shots of the console and 1 long exposure shot of the south case. As the case shot was set up rather rapidly I had to guess the framing but I think I just got the right bits in!

Regards, Oliver.

 

www.biggestelk.com for the photos.

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