Lee Blick

[OmegaConsort]

Ah - has the organ at Melton Mowbray Parish Church still got a 32ft. stop on the G.O.? According to the following, it has, but I do not recall it having one when I played it:

 

Back in the mid-80s I used to assist at Melton - it was there then, and worked (tho I never used it!). And yes, as NPOR says, it is TC. I remember marvelling even then (20 years ago) what good condition the instrument was in given that nothing had been done since the major Walker rebuild. I assume it is still the case..? I have two strong memories of my 3 years there (1) the useless choir organ based on a dulciana extension unit and (2) turning pages for the DoM one sunday morning when the organ gasped to death halfway through the voluntary - turned out one of the wardens turned it off at the mains because he got fed up trying to make himself heard over coffee in the transept!

[Tony Newnham]

Ah - has the organ at Melton Mowbray Parish Church still got a 32ft. stop on the G.O.? According to the following, it has, but I do not recall it having one when I played it:

 

Back in the mid-80s I used to assist at Melton - it was there then, and worked (tho I never used it!). And yes, as NPOR says, it is TC. I remember marvelling even then (20 years ago) what good condition the instrument was in given that nothing had been done since the major Walker rebuild. I assume it is still the case..? I have two strong memories of my 3 years there (1) the useless choir organ based on a dulciana extension unit and (2) turning pages for the DoM one sunday morning when the organ gasped to death halfway through the voluntary - turned out one of the wardens turned it off at the mains because he got fed up trying to make himself heard over coffee in the transept!

 

Hi

 

The NPOR survey dates from 1991, checked & corrected 1998 - it's not impossible that the organ has been changed since and that no-one has given us the information. One of the most relevant fields on NPOR surveys is the survey date!

 

Every Blessing

 

Tony

[carrick]

=======================

 

Oh please!

 

It was a complete mish-mash of international ideas, from Schulze through to the worsts aspects of orchestral excess. It bankrupt the company that built it, and they didn't have much of a pedigree to start with.

 

It is nothing more than a collection of organs scattered around a very large auditorium, all controlled from a vast, electro-mechanical telephone exchange and a ridiculous console which must be a nightmare.

 

I have heard recordings and I don't really want to hear any more. I have talked to people who knew the organ, and I've talked to people who know the organ now.

 

Yes, it has worth, like any vast musical-engineering project, but it still reminds of that film, where hundreds of children pound away at pianos scattered around a vast room. I'm just surprised that Howard Hughes didn't have a hand in its' construction!

 

What is the MUSICAL point other than to make a lot of noise in a lot of different places at the same time?

 

Much the same could be said of the Lord & Taylor (Wanamaker) organ, which I have heard in the flesh. At least that one works and is now in good voice, but again, it is more noise than music.

 

Neither of these organs are in the same class as the huge Skinner at Wolseley Hall, Yale, and that probably goes for West Point also. The Yale Skinner is a masterpiece of the genre, and whilst it may now be unfashionable, it has a certain musical integrity which is sadly lacking in the monsters mentioned above.

 

Unless it is a theatre style instrument, the organ should not be regarded as a musical synthesiser!

 

MM

 

Shows how much you know about the atlantic city organ!

[Contrabombarde]

Shows how much you know about the atlantic city organ!

 

OK so here's a thought experiment. If our kind hosts, or indeed any other contemporary major organ builders, were given a blank sheet of paper, an unlimited budget courtesy of a generous billionaire, a space the size of Atlantic City Hall and a brief to design an organ that would fill the space available, what would they come up with? I think there would be three possibilties.

 

1. something similar in size to the current Atlantic City insrument (though across five manuals, maybe even six but certainly not seven!)

 

2. something similar in volume but smaller spec and higher pressures (issue: how do you design an organ that will fill such an enormous space. Or is there a size of building beyond which an organ simply can't work as the wind pressures are too great for a musical sound to result?)

 

3. "you must be barking mad, forget it".

 

Thoughts?