CE St Edmundsbury Cathedral 26th September 2012

[DracoM]

CE St Edmundsbury Cathedral


Order of Service:


Introit: Cana's Guest (Richard Allain - Choirbook for the Queen)
Responses: Ayleward
Office Hymn: At Cana's wedding (Stella)
Psalm: 119: 145-176 (Turle, Walmisley)
First Lesson: 2 Kings 4: 1-7
Office Hymn: At Cana's wedding (Stella)
Canticles: Smart in G
Second Lesson: John 2: 1-11
Anthem: O Thou sweetest Source of gladness (Wood)
Final Hymn: You, living Christ, our eyes behold (Palace Green)


Organ Voluntary: Postlude in D minor (Stanford)



Dan Soper (Assistant Director of Music)
James Thomas (Director of Music)

[Finzi4ever]

Is this our first chance to hear publicly the Harrison rebuild, or at least since it's had those outstanding new cases?

http://www.stedscathedral.co.uk/music/organ

[ardcarp]

From the link you kindly posted up, Finzi, it looks like more than just a rebuild. Just as well, because I dimly remember the old instrument and it was a bit of a hotch-potch.

[bach736]

Is this our first chance to hear publicly the Harrison rebuild, or at least since it's had those outstanding new cases?

No, Finzi - there was a CE from Bury Eds in May last year when David Humphreys gave us Howells' Rhapsody No 3.
The cases may look nice but they don't half restrict the sound - nowhere near as loud as the Nicholson.

[Finzi4ever]

Was the new H&H played much before the Rome/Dykes Bower cases were installed, or do they contain integral speaking pipes? If the former, then did the instrument speak better into the building?

[Caussade]

No, Finzi - there was a CE from Bury Eds in May last year when David Humphreys gave us Howells' Rhapsody No 3.
The cases may look nice but they don't half restrict the sound - nowhere near as loud as the Nicholson.

Quality and quantity are not the same thing, are they? I played a concert on the old St E organ about 7 years ago and it was the second most depressing experience of my musical life. The foremost depressing experience of my musical life was the concert I played on the old St E organ the year before. It may have made a racket, but so did the cement-mixer in the car park, and the old organ it had very few redeeming features as a vehicle for music-making; the new one is an immeasurable improvement. Everyone who has played the new H and H seems to come back with glowing reports and I'm very much looking forward to hearing it. The resident players seem to be pretty happy with the outcome.

[Simon]

Like your style, Caussade!

[bach736]

Quality and quantity are not the same thing, are they?

No, they're not and you could fill the cathedral with no more than six ranks on the Nicholson. If you got to know it, there were some treasures to be found.
The work on the roof which flooded most of the Solo and the new, unregulated, central heating, which fried most of the rest, meant it had to go - but it was a fine instrument in its day.
Of course the residents are happy - it cost a fortune.

[Caussade]

I'm quite sure you could fill the building with six ranks on the old organ, but that still doesn't say anything about the quality of the experience for the listener or the player, does it? It just tells you that the old organ had at least six very loud stops on it. In any case, a fair amount of the old instrument has been preserved in the new one - it looks like about 50% from the stop list.

[bach736]

Apologies, Caussade, if my points were poorly made.
They were ...
a) The potential of the new H&H organ is somewhat limited by the aesthetics of the new casework.
b) You clearly didn't get to know the Nicholson well enough to get the best out of it.

[Simon]

I'm assuming that you both, whatever your slight differences about/experiences of the former organ might be, would agree that the new version is in many ways an improvement, despite the apparent restriction caused by the casing.

With that in mind, may I ask why this has happened? I'm no expert at all, but organ builders know what pipe casings do to sounds, don't they... so the result is deliberate...?

[bach736]

Look, this was just a footnote to Finzi to suggest that sometimes, architectural beauty comes at a price - albeit a small one.
Probably, some of the sound disappears up the new tower as well - but that doesn't mean I'm not thrilled to see it on the Bury horizon instead of just the sugar beet factory.

[dansoper]

I thought it might be fun to reply just to allay any concerns!

The 2010 H&H Organ was installed at the same time as the cases, which were an integral part of the design. There are 121 case pipes, 70 of which are speaking (all of the West Case, and 23 of the South Case). Most would disagree that the cases have any negative effect, and think the organ carries better into the building than its predecessor, but without having done a decibel test, this is of course subjective. The presence of the cases in fact helps the organ, as they protrude away from the wall, and allow almost all of the Great Flue soundboard to actually sit in the building, rather than being stuck inside the organ chamber.

Hope you enjoy it!

[bach736]

A warm welcome to The Choir, Dan.
I'm sure we will !

[MrGongGong]

I'm no organist
but I have spent a bit of time with H&H folk, and Manders and an a few interesting evenings with Philipp Klais
having met many acousticians and instrument builders I would say that the idea that somehow they are unaware of the effects of placing pipes in a case etc is a bit daft. These people take their acoustics very seriously indeed (try reading an acoustics report !!!) ........ I don't know who was the consultant on this job but I would imagine that they would have taken many things into account ...........