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Messages - Ludus57

#1
Organ registration / Re: The British Choir/Positive Organ
February 02, 2015, 10:53:55 PM
I am glad that seeing the full spec has made things clearer for you. I would answer your remarks on the 4 foot Block Flute, with the fact that it is an Harmonic Flute - we might rename it as such. Played an octave lower, it does the job perfectly - the end of the Adagio from Vierne 3 is a prime example of how I use it.
#2
Organ registration / Re: 32ft on a manual
February 02, 2015, 03:53:29 PM
I played the organ in Paisley Abbey last August. It must be one of the most exciting organs in the country! The quiet stops sing, the flue choruses have just the right feeling of presence and refinement, and the tutti is devastating in all the right ways! Harrisons did a phenomenal job building on the 1968 Walker/Downes work. It just has to be heard and played to be experienced. I cannot speak too highly of it. Make the trek to Paisley and experience it for yourself. As an added treat, meet with Dr George McPhee, the organist. He is a real enthusiast, and is clearly - and justly - proud of such a fine instrument. I rate him as one of our greatest organists, and as a former Germani pupil ( thus a member of a very select band), maintains the highest standards as a player. I am very pleased to be able to put so many superlatives in one paragraph. I mean every one! Go there and be astounded.
I would add that it makes a very interesting exercise to look at the 1928 HNB instrument on the NPOR
and look at what the Walker rebuild did to it.
#3
I should add that the wooden Pedal Trombone is extended to a Trumpet 8 and a Clarion 4.The top is metal. The former Choir Clarionet was revoiced to also provide a Pedal Krummhorn 4. The Octave Tuba was the suggestion of Francis Jackson, who was consulted by the then organist on the rebuild. FJ's opinion was that a classical Positif organ did not have an octave coupler, so the flue extension was added instead.
The only other extension is the Sub Bass from the Open Wood down to bottom F. I am very keen to ensure that in a rebuild the integrity of each department is maintained. 
The Swell has got to be heard to be believed. The mechanical swell mechanism is very responsive, and the sound of the Full Swell is fantastic.

I hope this helps put things into perspective.         
#4
I am glad my original post has started an interesting debate!
Here are the Choir/Positif specifications of our instrument, from Hill in the 1870's to today:

1870s                                         1901                                    1963
Dulciana                          8         Dulciana             8                Rohr Flote      8
Stopped Diapason (Bass)  8         Harmonic Flute    8                Prinzipal        4             
Clarabella                        8         Leiblich Gedackt  8                Flote              4
Harmonic Flute                8         Gamba               8                Nazard            2 2/3
Keraulaphone                  8         Suabe Flute        4                Octav              2
Gamba                           8          Orchestral Oboe  8                Terz                1 3/5
Principal                         4          Clarionet             8               Larigot             1 1/3
Flute                              4          (all enclosed, except)            Sifflote             1
Fifteenth                        2            Tuba (7 ins wind) 8                Rohr Schalmei  8
Piccolo                           2
Orchestral Oboe             8                                                      Tuba                8
Clarionet                       8                                                       Octave Tuba     4

I hope this is of assistance, and shows where I am coming from.
                       
#5
A good point. that would be entirely in the hands of the builder. However, the sound of the Positif (I intend to keep the name!) would then be in keeping with the rest of the organ. Although I have grown up with it, if the pipework proves incapable of taking a slightly higher wind-pressure, then its back off to the drawing board! I have to say that if the Positif organ was a single manual instrument on its own, I would preserve it exactly as it is, because HNB did a great job. But....Baroque Positifs on electric action as part of an essentially British organ are, I think, past their time. Incidentally, the greater part of the pipework on the Positif was made by Stinkens in Holland, but the 4' Principal was made mainly from the Choir Dulciana 8', and the Choir Clarinet 8' ended up as the Krummhorn 4' on the enlarged Pedal.  Thank you for making me think! Your observations will receive serious consideration.
#6
Organ registration / The British Choir/Positive Organ
January 13, 2015, 10:12:23 AM
We are planning to rebuild our large 3 manual organ. Its origins lie in an1870s' Hill rebuilt by Norman and Beard in 1902, and then rebuilt and enlarged by Hill, Norman and Beard in the 1960s. The 1902 Choir organ was replaced by a Positif organ which stands tonally apart from the rest of the instrument, which is unmistakeably a Hill sound. In my view,the typical British Choir organ to be a lost cause, that is neither of use nor ornament. The Positif organ was actually a move in the right direction, with its semblance of a chorus (not unrelated to the original Hill Choir, which was complete up to a Fifteenth), making it much more useful than an enclosed collection of soft 8' and 4's, with Clarinet and Orchestral Oboe (aka. fancy, ear-tickling solo stops). The Tuba was retained at the last rebuild, and is jolly good! My vision is to raise the pressures from 2 inches to the 3 and a 1/2 inches of the Great, and have a division based on a complete chorus that can balance the Great. I am aided in this aim by an excellent Swell division that earns wide praise from visiting organists for its effectiveness and range of colours. With only a few well thought out additions totalling three stops, we would have full three-manuality, as required in a flexible accompanimental instrument, capable of coping with the demands of the greater parts of the repertoire. Am I being over-ambitious in what I expect? I do not think so, but I invite other opinions on the subject of the British Choir organ.