Worksop Priory

[Peter Allison]

good evening, thats (if the weather holds up).

I have just had an invite thru FB, to a recital at Worksop Priory, has anyone heard it, and if so, what is it like in the "flesh" so to speak?

 

Peter

[Peter Allison]

what, no one

[innate]

what, no one

I think I went to the opening recital in the mid-70s. I remember David Butterworth muttering something indiscreet about "pipes tied up with shoelaces". My teenage ears liked the bright plenum, but I can't remember much about individual registers. I gather the stoplist was very closely based on the Marcussen in St Mary's Nottingham, which I'd also heard in its opening recital (Gillian Weir, programme included the Schoenberg Variations iirc) but I think Worksop was less bright than Nottingham.

[AJJ]

Wood of Huddersfield rebuilt it in the '90s sorting out a few oddities of action etc. - when I last heard it (before that) it sounded very much of its time - but none the worse for that!

 

A

[John Sayer]

Wood of Huddersfield rebuilt it in the '90s sorting out a few oddities of action etc. - when I last heard it (before that) it sounded very much of its time - but none the worse for that!

 

A

 

 

I believe the instrument was built with aluminium pallets, thought to be a great technical advance at the time, but which gave major problems later as the leather coverings came unstuck from the metal. Rectifying this problem accounted, I believe, for the major part of of Wood's rebuilding.

 

I seem to remember the original intention was for a new Frobenius (?) at the west end but the plans fell through and Peter Collins was contracted to provide an largish 2m instrument to meet a very tight deadline for the dedication of the new eastward extension attended by Princess Margaret.

 

Lawrence King was the architect. The siting of the organ behind the altar is not ideal as much of the sound goes up into the new lantern tower rather than down into the nave. Quite a reasonable 70s neo-classical sound, all the same.

 

JS

[Peter Allison]

thank you all,

it seems like it will be a ride through to see how it has stood the test of time.

Speaking today with a young chap who plays there on a regular basis and is giving the recital prior to him going to the Birmingham conservatoire, its still in full working order, and he said it plays most styles of repertoire, within reason.

I gather the 1988 Peter Collins in St. Oswalds in Durham city has kept in good shape, although I have not heard it for a few years now. My father used to have the odd lesson there, from the DoM, David Higgins, who has now sadly passed.

Peter

ps. St Oswalds are looking for a new DoM

[Charles Wooler]

thank you all,

it seems like it will be a ride through to see how it has stood the test of time.

Speaking today with a young chap who plays there on a regular basis and is giving the recital prior to him going to the Birmingham conservatoire, its still in full working order, and he said it plays most styles of repertoire, within reason.

I gather the 1988 Peter Collins in St. Oswalds in Durham city has kept in good shape, although I have not heard it for a few years now. My father used to have the odd lesson there, from the DoM, David Higgins, who has now sadly passed.

Peter

ps. St Oswalds are looking for a new DoM

 

Indeed they are. Their current DoM is off to do a PGCE in Lancaster. PM me if anyone wants the job description as I am in the loop on it, having been their organ scholar for five years whilst at uni leaving in 2003. I'm still very much in touch with the church but live in Northumberland and work in Berwick. The job is a superb one to have and I would go for it instantly were it not for the fact that I would have a nearly 100 mile trip to choir practice from school each week! As to the organ it sadly hasn't stood the test of time, the current organ tuner has done a remarkably good job keeping it goin but the action is getting very stiff and uneven with the coupled action wearing loose and only firing at the bottom of the key bed. The wind is very unsteady and consequently the tuning gets pulled on- you can sink the wind with the last chord of Litanies if you wish. But there are plans to spend money on it in the not too distant future.

 

Charles