Organ matters - Organs matter!

Quote from: David Pinnegar on August 08, 2011, 12:22:08 PM

Quote from: organforumadmin on August 01, 2011, 11:47:41 PM
Whilst not being early, examination of the stoplist of the Glyndebourne instrument of 1926 suggests almost pure HJ in all but name.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izbv7WVmufA&feature=related

Saw the clip. OMG, what a case!!!  Thank God it survives at least.

Noticed that the missing draw knob from the Swell is the one lying next to the Choir keyboard cheek.  2 2/3' Twelfth

Quote from: AnOrganCornucopia on April 02, 2012, 09:30:56 PM
Could it have been that the Choir mutation at Ambleside is a later modification?

Battersea sounds surprisingly bright in that video - I've never heard a Hope-Jones but wonder why you would need any more brightness in a Romantic organ.

Another very intact large Hope-Jones (sadly not playable for many years) is that in St Oswald, Hartlepool, which from the outside looks very much like a scaled-down version of the nave of York Minster, minus one of the two West towers. It's four manuals and about forty stops. I think one rank (the Diaphonic Ophicleide/Tuba) is missing but it's otherwise completely untouched.

Not just the mutation, but the whole Choir supposedly was added later.

For the purpose of expressive dynamics, some of the stops of a Hope-Jones was deliberately voiced brightly.  For example, a brassy toned Tuba sounds brassy in an open swellbox.  As you close the shades, and because of the solid design of a H-J swellbox, the tuba's tone is reduced to that of a quiet French Horn.

At Hartlepool, the tower, as well, has some similarities to the ones at York.  Like Beverley Minster, perhaps this church was designed by the same architect who designed York M.

Looked up the Ingram, Hope-Jones & Co. in that church.  Beautiful case, all console hardware appears orig. .... yet another surviving H-J design! (fortunately, imo, Hartlepool looks like a nice place to spend holiday, so we're not necessarily off-topic)  Yes, it is sad that this organ is out of commission.

If I can shoe-horn this town into my itinerary for next year, this is another of York Minster's sisters I'd like to visit.

I read the description of the Priory CD and found that one of the churches in this collection has a 15-second reverb. (wow!!!!)  St. Paul's, London, has something like 10 seconds.

This I gotta hear!

@Musing Muso: This is only speculation on my part.

Also regarding the Choir Stopped Diapason, going by Hope-Jones apparent degree of standardization, as with a large number of other British organ builders of that era, the Choir's 8' stopped flute would usually be a Lieblich Gedeckt.

I'm planning a trip to the UK for next year, and the more I think of this organ, the more I want to try to visit it.  Problem is, I may not have the time to travel up that way unless I drive there (I don't like driving).

According to another source, the organ was originally a 2-manual.  HN&B added the Choir, and maybe the 15th and one of the Diapasons in the Great, later on.
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Correction added later: not Hill, Norman & Beard, but Norman & Beard

On youtube, type "hope-jones type electric" in the search box, and the clip should be at the top of the list.  Mind the volume, the organ is pretty loud and abrupt.

Quote from: MusingMuso on April 01, 2012, 09:27:34 PM

As a period piece and as a piece of organ heritage, I am very pleased that this organ has been retained and restored; if only to remind us of the tonal defects as well as the tonal possibilities.

MM

My thoughs exactly, MM.  In the case of saving rare instruments, yes, we should be reminded of, and perhaps appreciate, the pros and cons of a given instrument.

Having a 2 2/3' in the midst of an all-8' group does seem a mystery.  A 4' stop could close the gap. 

After failing to find my Hope-Jones book, I looked up stoplists on NPOR to see how common a Choir 8' Quintadena was in his jobs.  I found that most 8' Quintadenas were in the Swell.  Some 4' Qs were in the Choir.

The reason I bring this up is that my theory is that the organist wanted an 8' Q, but instead was in favor of the 2 2/3', which he/she could add to the 8' St. Diapason to get the same effect.  Another use for this, is coupling to the Great Diapason chorus.  It is interesting that Hill, Norman & Beard would come up with an anomaly like this.  More than likely an experiment.

skf

ps: ( a little off topic, sorry)  btw....  The Battersea instrument is being restored by members of a theatre organ society in London.  There's something I found on youtube which, for some reason, shows an oscilloscope.  You can hear the organ playing in the background.  When I find it, I'll post it.

At St. Mary the Virgin C of E, in Ambleside, there's a late-1890s Hope-Jones that, I believe, was recently restored. 

The Choir was added by HN&B later on, but I'm betting that this division was designed on H-J principles (HN&B had purchased H-J Organ Co. after Hope-Jones, himself, fled England).  I got my info from the NPOR.

Ambleside is very close to the northern tip of Lake Windermere.

Hi.

For those who don't know, Liverpool Anglican Cathedral is raising funds to continue restoring the famous 5-manual Willis III.  Ian Tracey, organist titulaire, also has an adopt-a-pipe program connected with this.  I've already made a couple contributions myself.

Here's a link to the printable application (2 pages)....

www.liverpoolcathedral.org.uk/305/section.aspx/download/101

If you have trouble getting in, try going through google.

Page one is a brief description of this appeal and includes minimum amounts of a donation according to what sort of stop you want to adopt from.
Page two is the application itself.  At the bottom is the address to where to send funding (to play it safe, I added 20 St. James' Rd. to the address to be sure my $$ gets to the right place).

Quote from: thatminidotcom on February 19, 2012, 11:50:39 PM
The Vowles organ at St Michael's Abertillery is in quite a bad state of repair. It sounds nothing like it used to in its heyday, and quite frankly if I had to choose between spending money on putting it right and installing the 1920's Walker, assuming the costs were roughly equal, I'd save the Walker and scrap the Vowles.

From the youtube footage of the Walker, I remember that there was no pipe facade in the London location.

I just had a look at a couple snaps of the Vowles facade.  Beautiful sweeping arrangement.  Can't help but wonder if this facade is, or will be, re-used in the Walker installation? 

As for the rest of the Vowles, by scrapped, could this mean parted out?