Contrabombarde Posted February 28, 2022 Share Posted February 28, 2022 On 27/02/2022 at 12:32, S_L said: Your use of 'we' tells us that you have some input into the restoration at Bristol. Surely, I would have though that, seeing as a builder has been appointed and a date for the work to commence has been given, that a contract will have been signed which will encompass the restoration of the present action or starting afresh! Is this not the case? Absolutely not; I have never had any connection. I wondered out loud about the merits of restoring pneumatics, against a backdrop of surprise a full action restoration should be needed again only 30 years after the last one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Contrabombarde Posted February 28, 2022 Share Posted February 28, 2022 On 27/02/2022 at 14:25, MikeK said: I seem to remember being told that when the organ was worked on in 1990, a condition attached to a grant given by English Heritage(?) stipulated that the action was restored & not altered. I wonder if any such conditions have been attached to the proposed works? There were a few minor tonal changes which must have been possible without changes to soundboards in that case. Do we know when the stop action was changed from TN to EP? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Walton Posted February 28, 2022 Share Posted February 28, 2022 20 minutes ago, Contrabombarde said: There were a few minor tonal changes which must have been possible without changes to soundboards in that case. Do we know when the stop action was changed from TN to EP? As part of the 1990 work. The Gt Fourniture was added on a clamp onto the higher pressure soundboard. The Ch Piccolo was fitted onto the existing soundboard. The new pedal stops (Trumpet 8, Fifteenth 4, top octave of Cello 8) are on new chests. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S_L Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 13 hours ago, Contrabombarde said: Absolutely not; I have never had any connection. Apologies! It was your use of the word 'we' that made me think that! "or are we better off not trying to restore ageing pneumatics but starting afresh" My mistake! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveHarries Posted June 12, 2023 Author Share Posted June 12, 2023 Quick update on this. I was in Bristol Cathedral yesterday (Sunday 11th) and the electronic substitute was in use because an air reservoir failure (albeit fortunately not in mid-service) on Saturday 10th. I understand that H&H are to have a look at it during the coming week but was told on Sunday that there is hope of a temporary repair to get the pipe organ functioning again. When the choristers for the service on Sunday 11th were practicing in the cathedral one of the reeds on the electronic was played and the sound seemed to cause some amusement among the choir. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewartt Posted July 1, 2023 Share Posted July 1, 2023 A superb instrument, without doubt. I did a visiting choir weekend there about ten years ago. I loved the organ but it kept going wrong - restoring a very temperamental pneumatic action design was surely not a sensible idea. I hope we'd know better nowadays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Cooke Posted August 12, 2023 Share Posted August 12, 2023 I had the pleasure of hearing the Bristol organ this week - gosh, what HUGE 16fts on the pedal! Earlier in this thread there was a link to the proposed new scheme for the organ - we all discussed Quints and Clarion Mixtures etc. The link no longer works and I just wondered if anyone could revitalise it or, in some other way, bring it back to an available state, as it were. I guess I might be looking you, Dave, but glad of anyone's help. I see that the latest lunch hour recital poster announced that the organ will be off to Durham later this year. I am sure the result will be splendid - certainly a bit nearer for me than York, Canterbury or Norwich! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveHarries Posted December 11, 2023 Author Share Posted December 11, 2023 On 12/08/2023 at 14:23, Martin Cooke said: I had the pleasure of hearing the Bristol organ this week - gosh, what HUGE 16fts on the pedal! Earlier in this thread there was a link to the proposed new scheme for the organ - we all discussed Quints and Clarion Mixtures etc. The link no longer works and I just wondered if anyone could revitalise it or, in some other way, bring it back to an available state, as it were. I guess I might be looking you, Dave, but glad of anyone's help. I see that the latest lunch hour recital poster announced that the organ will be off to Durham later this year. I am sure the result will be splendid - certainly a bit nearer for me than York, Canterbury or Norwich! Some updates on this. Firstly It is planned, as I understand it, that the organ will come down in January 2024, probably during the first half thereof. It is not scheduled to be back in use until August 2025. If that is correct then its final service before restoration, all being well, will be Sunday 31st December. Secondly, in terms of alterations to the stoplist I have the following information. The info was supplied by somebody in the know (not from H&H, whose website doesn't yet mention the project AFAICT) by email this morning: Great: Possible work to the Fourniture III-IV - replacement / revoicing. Choir: Clarinet (8ft?) replaced (as per 1907) Sesquialtera II (addded 1970s) to be split into separate ranks. I don't know what they will be and haven't been told. Pedal: Addition of Dulciana 8' (as per 1907) and Double Trumpet 16' (from Great) (presumably the rank will be on both divisions) Quint 5 1/3 to become Quint 10 2/3 (as per 1907) Great reeds to be available on other manuals. And that, I am told, is about it. There certainly one other alteration planned but that is very much TBC so I have been asked not to mention it here at present. HTIOI, Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Walton Posted December 12, 2023 Share Posted December 12, 2023 Thanks, Dave. Just one correction - the last chance to hear the organ will be the 10:00 Eucharist on Christmas Day, where I’ll be playing her out to the Widor Toccata. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveHarries Posted December 13, 2023 Author Share Posted December 13, 2023 14 hours ago, Paul Walton said: Thanks, Dave. Just one correction - the last chance to hear the organ will be the 10:00 Eucharist on Christmas Day, where I’ll be playing her out to the Widor Toccata. Paul Thanks Paul. Someone (Andrew Kirk) has also told me that on a FB group where I posted the same information. Although I am well aware that the work is needed it will be a pity to have to endure that electronic: when the blower packed up earlier in the year I heard the Viscount and I didn't think much of it. It takes me back to the time when I was a pupil (1990-1995) of Clifton College: when H&H restored the chapel organ in 1994 we had a 3-manual Allen in use and I thought that was, by comparison to the Viscount, a good electronic. Roll on August 2025. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeK Posted December 13, 2023 Share Posted December 13, 2023 I wonder if it is the same Viscount that was installed temporarily in Winchester Cathedral earlier this year? I didn’t like the sound there also! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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