Songs of Praise 11th March

[Barrie Davis]

Hi

Songs of Praise came from St Thomas Belfast on Sunday, the singing was accompanied by an orchestra, the organ remaining silent for the whole of the programe. I was curious to see what was there and looked it up on NPOR, ref NO6926. I wish they had used it, a Hill restored by Manders, does anyone know this instrument?

Best wishes

Barrie

[David Drinkell]

I know this one very well - when I was organist at Belfast Cathedral, I did quite a few funerals on it, and for some months before I came to Newfoundland, I acted as locum there.  I must confess to not being particularly enamoured of the instrument, but Hills of this period don't often do much for me.  It was classy enough, but not very exciting.  I thought the tierce mixture on the Great was particularly unpleasant.  The late Leslie McCarrison, who was organist here for many years, said that all the upperwork had been quietened at the request of a previous organist.  I think this may well have been the case and that Manders' should have opened it up again when they carried out their much-publicised (and Lottery-funded) restoration.  Despite the restoration, I felt that the action was sluggish and uneven. All in all, I would have had more fun with a Walker, or Willis or a Norman & Beard (I'm not the only one to think that the best parish church organ in Belfast was the 1954 Rushworth at St. James, Antrim Road - they could be really good when they tried).  I can't agree with my friend Joe McKee's comments on NPOR: 'This is a magnificent example of Hill's work. The reeds make a glorious sound and the choruses on Great and Swell are very fine. '  Each to his own - I feel guilty about being such a Philistine about Hills.....

http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=N06926

Still, it has fared a lot better than its smaller sister a few yards along on the other side of the road at St. Nicholas.  This lost its Great Twelfth and Fifteenth (possibly at the hands of Evans & Barr in 1955) in favour of a Piccolo and Echo Gamba (sic - a circular saw) and then, in 1983, was electrified with nasty plastic stop-heads and no attempt to restore the original tonal scheme (which wouldn't have been expensive).

http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=C00317