Best organ in the country?

[Lizzie]

That Halifax one looks a beast, VC. And the Keighley one could be on my way to where I have to go to, occasionally - I'll try and look in.

I like the note (Halifax) that the "Red warning light above Choir stops operated when "Great Reeds on Choir" is drawn."


Very useful! A few years ago I was asked at short notice to do a funeral in a largish church I'd never been in before. I arrived on time, but already there were people there and I couldn't really experiment. It was an old, but excellent, 3 manual. The stop names were in that olde englishe/hochdeutsch script that you see - and some had been almost worn away over the years. Nonetheless, by the last hymn I was becoming a little more daring - in other words, overconfident. I can't recall what I wanted to draw - I think I'd seen some kind of clarinet - but I missed it and drew a trumpet instead.

Oh for a little red warning light then - I might have started the verse a bit late, but that would have been better. I was in full view too: nowhere to hide.

How I wish I'd been there for that one. I am not a player but have page-turned for a few unlucky friends. I recall doing duty for one of my Cath friends who shall remain nameless, when one of the console light bulbs fell out and into the pedal board. He also asked me at the last moment to pull a couple of stops as he needed both hands. I came within a heartbeat of drawing the wrong one by mistake, in a panic. I nearly caused him to have a coronary on another occasion when I thought I'd turned two pages at once and went to turn one back - I hadn't! The piece he played that terrified me most was the Toccata from the Paul Creston Organ Suite - never again! We turners have a dog's life! Best. Liz

[Vile Consort]

I like the note (Halifax) that the "Red warning light above Choir stops operated when "Great Reeds on Choir" is drawn."

Unfortunately there isn't a light to indicate that you have got the Solo (with the Tuba drawn) coupled to the Choir! So when you were going for a Dulciana expecting it to be barely audible, you get a blast that can be heard at the railway station.

[Vile Consort]

The 135 stop Sorabji organ shouldn't cost more than about £3 million.

[Simon]

I wish you'd been there, too, Lizzie - if only to cower behind!!

Re turning, I think the turner has either to be very sharp with reading (or know the work well) or simply to count like a robot. I expect we've all probably all had narrow escapes like you, too!! I was once asked to help at a concert (two piano trios). The first piece (Beethoven) was fine, even though the repeats are a pain, but the second (Dvorak) needs much concentration and I didn't know it well anyway. In the interval I spotted a friend in the audience, said I felt dizzy and asked if she'd take over. To her credit, she did it faultlessly - but was rather ambivalent towards me for a while after, as she seemed to think I'd dropped her in it. How right she was!

---

So when you were going for a Dulciana expecting it to be barely audible, you get a blast that can be heard at the railway station.

Oh dear VC - sounds as if that, too, is a comment based on an unfortunate experience!!

The 135 stop Sorabji organ shouldn't cost more than about £3 million.

Even if it only costs £300, it's money which could and should be far better spent on projects that will be more useful and of wider benefit. How often are people going to be queueing up at wherever it is built to listen to it, after all?

[ahinton]

The 135 stop Sorabji organ shouldn't cost more than about £3 million.

Indeed - as Mr Bowyer probably knows better than most; it might even be less if it comes about as a result of a restoration / expansion of an existing instrument. That said, when one thinks about the amounts spent on the restoration of various other major British organs over the past quarter century or so - Hereford, Bristol and quite a few others - even £3m might not sound so disproportionately expensive; like all the others, it just needs someone to bankroll it.

[ahinton]

The 135 stop Sorabji organ shouldn't cost more than about £3 million.

Even if it only costs £300, it's money which could and should be far better spent on projects that will be more useful and of wider benefit. How often are people going to be queueing up at wherever it is built to listen to it, after all?

Wait and see! - after all, it's not so extravagant in comparison to some of the other major instruments that are already well established in UK, apart from the extended compasses (and, sadly, even current "full compass" is not yet standard, as may be noted even from fine instruments like the one at Hereford that has short compass manuals and pedals). The point of it would be an instrument that could be pressed into service for almost anything in the repertoire.

[Simon]

The point of it would be an instrument that could be pressed into service for almost anything in the repertoire.

That's certainly true, but if you want to play things you suit the repertoire to the venue, don't you? As happens already. And despite Hereford being "small" it still sounds magnificent doesn't it?! :)

[peterdevile]

OK, so here's for abit of a change - not an instrument yet constructed but one that may well be in the not too distant future, inspired by the central core of the project concerned. Kevin Bowyer has put together a specification for an instrument whose contruction he may well supervise and which he has put together principally for the purpose of accommodating the three symphonies for organ solo by Sorabji which are arguably the most demanding repertoire ever written for the instrument and which occupy in total more than 18 hours. The site on which this detail is presented hasn't been updated for a while, but the première of Sorabji's Second Organ Symphony - at an improbable nine hours, the largest of the three - has taken place in the interim, last June on the organ of Glasgow University Memorial Chapel.

http://www.sorabji-organ.org/instruments.html

Why not just record them on the organ at Sydney Town Hall? It has just about everything that is wanted....

[ahinton]

That's certainly true, but if you want to play things you suit the repertoire to the venue, don't you? As happens already. And despite Hereford being "small" it still sounds magnificent doesn't it?! :)

Yes, indeed it does - and size isn't everything here; the instrument at St. Mary Redcliffe, Bristol is hardly a monster either, but it sounds magnificent (and has full compass manuals and pedals).

[ahinton]

Why not just record them on the organ at Sydney Town Hall? It has just about everything that is wanted....

I've not heard it so cannot say; as I mentioned in my reply to Simon above, it's not all about size. The first of the three was recorded very successfully on the Bristol instrument back in 1988; the only tiny issue with it was the long held chords that end the outer movements, where the five notes in each hand over one in the pedals (mvt. 1) and six in each hand over two in the pedals (mvt. 3) with all resources deployed led to a slight asphyxiation due to a wind leak which I have no doubt has been repaired in the interim (it's had another refurbishment recently although I've not heard it since).

[peterdevile]

I've not heard it so cannot say; as I mentioned in my reply to Simon above, it's not all about size. The first of the three was recorded very successfully on the Bristol instrument back in 1988; the only tiny issue with it was the long held chords that end the outer movements, where the five notes in each hand over one in the pedals (mvt. 1) and six in each hand over two in the pedals (mvt. 3) with all resources deployed led to a slight asphyxiation due to a wind leak which I have no doubt has been repaired in the interim (it's had another refurbishment recently although I've not heard it since).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAtIDU3R2eQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FXoyr_FyFw&NR=1

[Contre Bombarde]

Very useful! A few years ago I was asked at short notice to do a funeral in a largish church I'd never been in before. I arrived on time, but already there were people there and I couldn't really experiment. It was an old, but excellent, 3 manual. The stop names were in that olde englishe/hochdeutsch script that you see - and some had been almost worn away over the years. Nonetheless, by the last hymn I was becoming a little more daring - in other words, overconfident. I can't recall what I wanted to draw - I think I'd seen some kind of clarinet - but I missed it and drew a trumpet instead.

Um, human failure played a part here too. I once played under similar circumstances where the notice given was a panicky phone call from the wife of the organist whose back had failed about 2 hours before the due time. With travelling time etc etc I had no time to change the pistons to my preferred settings and could have sworn during a quick flick-through that Choir 7 drew the necessary 5 stops for a Cornet Séparé, ideal for the John Stanley that I was playing. The Orchestral Trumpet was less successful and, as someone later remarked, it was probably a good job that the coffin wasn't being carried up the nave at the time...

[ahinton]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAtIDU3R2eQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FXoyr_FyFw&NR=1

Many thanks for this. I'd like to hear it live, though. I also hear that the Melbourne Town Hall one is superior. It seems strange, looking at the Sydney one's specification and overall sheer size, that is has such a small choir and swell organ and even more so that its pedalboard has only 30 notes rather than the full 32.

[scotiaalto]

This is my first time on this MB, and am slightly awed at the levels of erudition displayed (so be gentle everyone) but may I put my head over the parapet and gently enquire why the organ at Durham Cathedral has not appeared on the lists of favourite organs? I must admit to falling in love with that H&H sound as a boy treble ( erm some years ago now) processing 4 abreast up the nave at RSCM diocesan festivals. I'd always thought the sound was majestic and incomparable. Westminster Cathedral, Ely and Coventry tuck in behind Durham on my list...............

[Simon]

Welcome, scotiaalto. Durham is one of the cathedrals I don't know, and I'm sorry to say I've never heard the organ live. But here you are...!

Best wishes,

Simon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctyAKAxLVls