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When was it installed? That link doesn't say (as far as I can tell). -
Any reason for posting this now ardcarp? Do you know something we don't?Originally posted by ardcarp View Post
I have heard that a decison has been made to replace the exisitng organ that was, or was not, 'new' in 1994. Unsure of the timetable though. Poor old George Guest took many months to stop grumbling about it, despite it being three years after his retirement.Comment
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No. It was quite random! But you've obviously heard a rumble in the jungle.Any reason for posting this now ardcarp?
My reason for posting? Well, since The Organ sub-forum was kindly introduced by FF a few years ago, I thought a few bits and pieces ought to be stuck in there now and again. And we did have the St John's Advent bash a couple of weekends ago.
1994/5 I think. It was almost completely new apart from just a few ranks of pipes...especially the big pedal ones....from the old organ. It's quite a big beast to have mechanical key-action.When was it installed? That link doesn't say (as far as I can tell).Comment
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Any suggestions as to who should build the new organ in SJC chapel?
Ruffatti are surely no longer in vogue in the UK, players having had the chance to assess their megabucks fantasising at Fastbucks Abbey. It was described to me by a well-known recitalist there as “A pile of s**t”. Americans can build them loud, as with the Dobson at Merton College, Oxford. Harrisons must be too busy renovating famous cathedral organs. Nicholsons could be in the running, though maybe not sufficiently prestigious. It would be heartening to think that a builder from these shores could be found to fulfill the brief, especially with the pound so low against the euro. Just to be clear, I have no insider info on any such choice, and am simply curious as to the views of other pipe organ-fanciers.Comment
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... I like the current 'French Romantic' organ at Exeter College by JW Walker & sons :Originally posted by Keraulophone View Post
Walker & sons are British -
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That one is somewhat atypical for a British firm, presumably built to a French design to match the mini Sainte-Chapelle clone that is Exeter College Chapel. I’m also a fan, particularly in appropriate repertoire such as Vierne, Langlais, Duruflé and the like. Maybe it’s not so effective for Howells and Stanford, though a skilled organ scholar would stilll manage reasonably well. After hearing that Sortie by Lefébure-Wély on Le Walker, choir members poured the post-Evensong sherry in even greater quantities than usual.Originally posted by vinteuil View Post
Worcester and Manchester Cathedrals have installed Kenneth Tickell instruments, as has Downing College, Cambridge, though I’m not sure of the direction the company has taken since the death of its founder.
The French firm of Aubertin has provided the fabulously well-endowed St John’s College, Oxford with a fine instrument, and its Master at the time with a house organ. I was reliably informed that the latter cost £10,000 per stop, of which there were five. I have played its twin (Father Willis also liked building pairs of organs) which has an ultra-responsive touch and can be a little temperamental in terms of regulation and tuning, but it’s a real treat for an aficionado, especially as it’s in a friend’s house! To illustrate the kind of detail involved, each stop knob is made from a different fruit wood. The only thing I didn’t like about it was the rather untidy script beside each stop, but this seemed to me to make it even more français! Bernard Aubertin has been commissioned to build a 13-stop organ @ £330,000 for St Birinus, Dorchester-on-Thames: http://www.stbirinus.co.uk/the-new-o...Thry7EAsAdPGtM
Despite the many excellent organ builders presently to be found in Sweden, Holland, Germany, Austria and elsewhere in Europe, prices diminishing to the east, I feel it would be a missed opportunity for SJC not to award the contract to a British firm, given the archetypal nature of its Victorian chapel and world famous choir.Comment
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Originally posted by vinteuil View Post... I like the current 'French Romantic' organ at Exeter College by JW Walker & sons :
Walker & sons are British -
.A generous selection of Lefebure-Wely, including the 3 'great' sorties, on Exeter's Walker organ hereThat one is somewhat atypical for a British firm, presumably built to a French design to match the mini Sainte-Chapelle clone that is Exeter College Chapel. I’m also a fan, particularly in appropriate repertoire such as Vierne, Langlais, Duruflé and the like. Maybe it’s not so effective for Howells and Stanford, though a skilled organ scholar would stilll manage reasonably well. After hearing that Sortie by Lefébure-Wély on Le Walker, choir members poured the post-Evensong sherry in even greater quantities than usual.
My very first L-F CD after hearing the Bolero de concert in Winchester Cathedral - I expected all the stained glass to fall out at the sacrilege
- but not my last!!
Last edited by LeMartinPecheur; 10-12-19, 20:21.I keep hitting the Escape key, but I'm still here!Comment
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Walker was, of course, the builder of the Ralph Downes inspired, organ at Fastbuck Abbey before it was ripped out for a Ruffatti. What a wonderful instrument that was! It could accompany beautifully, at times like a whisper and at others sounding 'loud' but without drowning a choir in that wondrous acoustic. It could also put on a very French accent, and was IMHO one of the few British organs on which the organ part of Durufle's Requiem sounded perfect....in the right hands. Such a shame that when it became more and more worn out it was was not fully restored, perhaps with a new console.
As was hinted above, organ firms have their ups and downs. Hill, Norman* and Beard, for instance, went through a very good patch (e.g.Southwell Minster and the monster in the Great Hall of Birmingham University) but they don't seem to be flavour of the month at the moment. I'm totally out of touch with such things, but agree that if St John's College is to get a new instrument, it needs to be able to accompany the core Anglican repertoire not just 'convincingly' but to the manner born. After all, they do have a Howells Organ Scholarship.
*John Norman is now widely respected as an independent organ advisor.Comment
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’Walker was, of course, the builder of the Ralph Downes inspired, organ at Fastbuck Abbey before it was ripped out for a Ruffatti. What a wonderful instrument that was! It could accompany beautifully, at times like a whisper and at others sounding 'loud' but without drowning a choir in that wondrous acoustic. It could also put on a very French accent, and was IMHO one of the few British organs on which the organ part of Durufle's Requiem sounded perfect....in the right hands. Such a shame that when it became more and more worn out it was was not fully restored, perhaps with a new console.’
I’d go along with that. Downes had a fair few goes at it before the final scheme was completed but those David M Patrick LPs showed that it was a versatile instrument. It lasted well too. I’d have kept the console though - those Walker ‘elephant tusk’ consoles were really easy to use, very ergonomic (as long as you switched off the double touch control! - Doncaster was similar, a real joy to use).
HNB are no more of course so it’s down to the usual suspects I suppose (maybe Mander could have another go). I hadn’t realised it was virtually a brand new instrument in SJCC in 1994, and mechanical at that, must have been a lot of work to achieve what must be some complicated tracker runs.Comment
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For console anoraks only - Buckfast cockpit, elephant tusks:)
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In its favour, it was the only one I'd come across in the UK with a rollerschweller.I’d have kept the console though - those Walker ‘elephant tusk’ consoles were really easy to use,Comment
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I always liked the alternative name for a rollschweller -‘walze’, very appropriate in a balletic way! Did you use it? They’re fun gadgets, especially if it also make the stop controls move, like winning the jackpot in a gambling hell (amusement arcade:)Originally posted by ardcarp View PostComment
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Only for fun. As you suggest, it's a bit of a lottery as to what it is set up to add. However, a certain...how shall I put it...regular player in times past (lovely man) had his right foot pretty much glued to it, whilst his left dapped around the bottom octave of pedals.Did you use it?Comment
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