Organ matters - Organs matter!

It was startling when it was new, admittedly, although there are a few other George Pace designs around that are similar in outline (I like his work, generally), but I like it.  There are, after all, a number of distinguished modernist cases in great Gothic churches in Europe, to say nothing of the wealth of Baroque cases in Gothic surroundings which should, logically, be just as incongruous.  I guess it's all a matter of opinion.  I don't like all modern cases, and I do like gothic revival, but I like New College - both the case and the instrument inside it.

And, as the old fellows used to say, "Rushworth's could really do it when they wanted to."  Holy Rude, Stirling; St. James, Belfast, to name but two.  Maybe New College was another.

Still, the present incumbent is a fine job - I wouldn't want to see it replaced.

I don't remember the old organ at New College, but the present one seems to do the job very well and is a fine piece of work in its own way.  I think you're being a little unfair to Wells - it does the Romantic accompanying stuff very well in addition to being versatile in solo repertoire.  Oddly enough, one doesn't seem to miss the open wood and 32' (the latter was resultant anyway).  And it hadn't been a Willis since Harrisons' first rebuilt it in the 30s or thereabouts.

From the notes, it seems to be an ex-church organ which was re-erected in a house.  It's not mentioned in NPOR as one of the organs in Callington (Masonic, Methodist and CofE).  Nice little job for someone, somewhere....

I note from the photograph that it's by Arthur Spencer, which makes it quite a classy piece of work (and was in the care of Rushworth & Dreaper).  Although it looks to be in a state, these beasts are quite simple mechanically and it could well be that it wouldn't take much to get it playing again.

So it was!  I had been thinking that it was a conceit of Rushworths', who had a taste for fancifully named flutes - Flute Bouchee Harmonique (Stowe School had one), Stowe Flute (Wilton Parish Church, apparently a copy of one at Stowe).

I've never encountered one either.  A Trigon was a triangular harp or lyre in ancient Greek and Roman times, the name coming from the Greek trigonon, which is also the root of trigonometry (I remember doing the latter at school, but I can't remember what it was!).

My guess is that it is a flute with three sides, sometimes found under the name "Flute Triangulaire".  Some Arthur Harrison Wald Flutes were three-sided.

The Trigon Flute doesn't appear prior to the last Rushworth rebuild, so I presume it was either a renaming or recasting.

My impression was that the organ was reduced in size at the last rebuild at Fort Augustus and installed at Buckie in much the same form.

There seems to be some doubt as to whether the original had four or five manuals.  From surviving reports, it seems to me likely that it had four manuals, with the Echo and Solo sharing at the top.

As far as I know, no one who has played it considers that the seventh manual is out of reach.  The manuals are inclined - the top ones steeply - to bring them into easier reach. I remember seeing one account which suggested the organ would be easier to play if it had eight manuals rather than seven!  Significantly, virtually all reports of the sound of the instrument seem to be favourable, some making particular points about the principal choruses and the general effectiveness in a building which is large enough to have had a helicopter flown in it.  Now that there looks to be a good chance of the whole beast being restored and playable, it will be interesting to see what people think of it.  Emerson Richards was, after all, a very knowledgeable and imaginative person and it is unlikely that his plan would have resulted in an intractable monster.  I believe he later regretted using so much extension and duplication, but the basic scheme appears to be a brilliant essay in dealing with a vast space.

Incidentally, there is another seven-manual console, if not actually built yet but at least in the final design stages.

http://racolby.com/pages/instruments/castro-theatre.html

A problem would be that pipes made like this would be very difficult to voice. While one could perhaps file down the lips, such things as the optimum position of the languid and delicate nicking would seem to be virtually impossible.  I suppose one could make a type of traverse flute, blown externally - it's been done before - but the difficulties would seem to outweigh any benefits.

Yes, they're nice little jobs and easily transportable.  I moved one from Essex to Orkney and it was just a matter of wrapping the pipes, wheeling it onto a van (they tend to be on wheels), wheeling it out at the other end and putting the pipes back.

This looks like a nice one.  I've played a few identical examples.  I don't see it on NPOR, but I seem to have the knack of missing things when I look them up....

Maybe, because Hill got in with Bangor and St. Asaph Cathedrals, the firm established a sphere of influence in those parts.  Or do the dates not add up?

Brilliant!  It must have taken you ages to get the poses right.

Harpsichord looks nice too....

George Thalben-Ball had a story about being invited to the opening of a cinema and asked to play 'God save the King' on the organ at the end.  Enquiring of the organist,  a piston was pointed out which would provide a drum roll at the beginning. 

'....But he didn't tell me that if I pressed the pedal too firmly, something quite different would happen.  Well, I pressed the pedal in a businesslike way - and all the effects f the organ started to perform!  The National Anthem began with bicycle bells, motor horns and (very loudly from one side of the room) voices calling "Cuckoo! Cuckoo!"  I can still see Gracie Fields looking down at me in amazement.'

Yes, Compton used them, among others.  They tend to be fiddly things to adjust and not entirely reliable, so they're an example of a good idea which doesn't work out so well in practice.

I take the point about pressing two pistons, but in practice, one doesn't need to change the Pedal all the time, but merely have it maintain balance.  It makes a difference if one's Pedal Organ has a full chorus, but there aren't many of them around outside the Netherlands.  Even those that look good often don't work out as well as one might expect.  I believe that at Liverpool Cathedral (the Anglican one), it's normal to have a neutral medium Pedal on most of the time and leave off the piston couplers.  The Pedal upperwork tends to quarrel with the acoustic.

We all couple most of the time.  Even so, we're luckier than Bach, who generally had no choice.

I think, ironically, that the North American system works very well for me, simply because I only have three Pedal generals.  Thus: 1] Bourdons 16 and 8, 2] add the Tibias (normal moderate open woods, but of H-J origin), 3] the lot. 

The more I consider these things, the more I am put in mind of Riepp's comparisons between cuisine and registration at Ottobeuren.  The Pedal generals provide a roux, which forms the basis for what goes on top.  I can vary this by adding or subtracting stops, or I can add upperwork by coupling the Solo Stentor (not a fearsome beast as its name suggests) at 8' and 4'.

I am in a culinary mood: I just finished making a chicken stew.....

More modern organs have more Pedal generals (and more Pedal upperwork), but I don't find them any more versatile.

More generally, I'm inclined to the view that pistons are a basis from which to work rather than an end in themselves.  I have five pistons to control a 13 stop Great and the same number for a 15 stop Swell.  I don't feel the need for any more and I rarely change them - but I don't use what they provide without modification very much either.  Like my chicken stew, I can produce a number of final results, depending how I treat the basics.

The toaster I play at the College has only generals and I hardly touch them at all, except that I have No. 10 set to give a fair amount of Great and the Swell Trumpet, which (because of the Armageddon like tendencies of toaster swells) produces a really good Tuba when I want to put the wind up someone.

Quote from: KB7DQH on May 06, 2014, 07:55:16 PM
Changing the subject (we will return your computer to the thread momentarily ;)  What relationship is there between the Royal College of Church Music and Canterbury Cathedral?  Oddly enough events eight time zones West have prompted me to ask :o  Background can be found herehttp://www.organmatters.com/index.php/topic,1848.msg8372.html#msg8372 :o :o :o

Eric
KB7DQH

No connection except that the RSCM moved its headquarters to Canterbury during World War II and thr cathedral organist, Gerald Knight, subsequently became director of the RSCM at Addington Palace.

Quote from: pcnd5584 on May 06, 2014, 02:10:26 PM
I would agree with you regarding the general pistons - about the worst place to put them. However, I did notice that at least now the Pedal and G.O. piston coupler and the Generals/Swell foot piston transfer have been disconnected from the General Cancel....

....I am still not convinced about the couplers. Since the unison inter-clavier couplers are engraved in red at Salisbury, it is comparatively easy to see which are drawn. However, with a long row (of thirty or so, in an instrument of this size), I would find it far harder to tell at a glance which couplers were engaged.

Mind you, those Solo strings are absolutely gorgeous. In addition, the build-up is one of the smoothest I know.

Yes, a set of Solo strings similar to those at Salisbury would sound wonderful at Canterbury.  I wonder what happened to the old ones.  I agree about the build-up, too - I wonder if the acoustics are helpful here.

Is there a perfect place for General Pistons?  I think, on balance, I prefer them to be on the bass toe pistons with a switch (or rocking tablet in the keyslip) to give either Swell or General.  North American organs usually have them to the left of the swell pedals (some organists from the smaller country south of us, even quite famous ones with rhinestone slippers, do most of their registration with generals and the general crescendo pedal).

A Gt & Ped Combs which goes off on the General Cancel is an awful nuisance, but the stop itself is an oddity, being more often on than off and sometimes left out when the organ is not in use.  Perhaps it would be more logical to have a device to uncouple Great and Pedal combinations, but, again, I think a rocking tablet in the keyslip would be best.  North American organs tend not to have this coupler, but instead a separate set of thumb pistons for the Pedal, situated to the left of the Great pistons and G/P reversible.  This has advantages, but the disadvantage that the inter-manual reversibles have to go to the right of the department pistons, where they are well-nigh useless.

Quote from: pcnd5584 on May 05, 2014, 08:21:05 AM
Yes - but it is not the height of the draw-stop jambs which pushes up the music desk.[/font]

Ah, but Salisbury or the old Willis III console at Canterbury have a row of generals above the top manual, the music desk being a fair height above that.  It is hardly lower than those at Hereford or Truro.  The couplers make the side jambs inconveniently tall and, although one may reasonably be expected to remember which speaking stops are on, and can check with a quick sideways flick of the eyes, it is handy to have the couplers always in full view in front. 

Quote from: pcnd5584 on May 02, 2014, 10:05:11 PM

Quote from: David Drinkell on May 02, 2014, 05:33:31 PM
Sylvestrina - difficult to describe, because different examples were voiced in various ways, with various harmonics brought out as may have been felt appropriate.  However, a salicional with a very quiet flute to give it substance might come close, or a quiet version of a good Swell gemshorn.  The idea certainly seems to have been based on Skinner's Erzahler, which EMS described as kaleidoscopic.

I am quite surprised at this - reading many of the letters of HWIII (in The American Classic Organ, by Charles Callahan), it soon becomes clear that HWIII had exacting standards for voicing - and that every detail was prescribed and laid down by Willis himself. Of course, the acoustics of a building would have an effect, as would the wind pressures, although these again were often standardised, depending on the size of the building and the specification of the instrument in question.

Indeed, HWIII permitted no deviation from his voicing instructions, but he himself observed that the construction of the Sylvestrina permitted a certain amount of latitude in the tone, it being possible to bring out different harmonics as desired.

Quote from: David Drinkell on May 02, 2014, 05:33:31 PM
Side-tracking again to octave couplers (one day I will get round to a proper setting out of why I think a full set is invaluable),  last Sunday I extemporised a little partita on 'O filii et filiae' before the 11:00 Choral Eucharist.  I had one 8' or 4' flute on each manual.  By use of the octave couplers, I could find a distinctive and different registration for each variation - flipping up and down octaves, cancelling unisons, etc.  It's easy to do this with a row of tabs, but difficult with drawstops.  St. James' Cathedral, Toronto is a classic example of how not to do it - every conceivable type of coupler, including Pedal Octave and Unison Off, all done by drawstops, all the drawstops lettered in black.  It's very difficult to see the state of play at any given time and the jambs are very tall (the console is by Walker, the organ by virtually anyone who happened to be passing).

Salisbury Cathedral is similar, although there the unison couplers (as at Truro Cathedral) are lettered in red, whilst the inter-departmental octave couplers are lettered in black. However, I still dislike couplers in a long row. In fact, I detest the look of stop keys, tabs or rocking tablets; I find them aesthetically unpleasant. I should always prefer stop control to be solely by draw-stop. Aside from the fact that in four-clavier organs it tends to push the music desk higher than I find comfortable, I simply do not like searching for the coupler I want in a long line of closely spaced stop-keys.

Whilst I take your point that occasional charming effects may be obtained through the use of octave couplers, surely on an instrument of even moderately large size there is ample tonal variety without resorting to such devices. The only time I have specified a 'full' set of octave couplers, was on the instrument in Saint Aldhelm's, Branksome - II/P 36 - since I felt that, on this smaller instrument, the extra couplers would help to provide some accompanimental flexibility, which would otherwise be curtailed by the size of the instrument.

It's a lot more than occasional charming effects - the possibilities are virtually limitless. Paul Hale has pointed out that, on a Skinner organ, one has a number of different ways of building up, and can then work down by a completely different route.  The couplers are an important and integral part of this.  It's more like orchestration than registration.

I think Willis tablets (similar to those used by Austin) look quite handsome.  The Skinner type, also used by Casavant, are plainer and slightly less easy to handle.  With regard to console height,  the extra height necessitated by a row of tablets is more than compensated for by that saved by not having coupler drawstops on the side jambs.  Hereford, with tabs, is a lot easier to handle than Salisbury (or the old Canterbury console) - providing one is used to the system.  It's more compact, too, as is usual with the Skinner-type console.  Mine has four manuals, 55 drawstops and 34 couplers and I can easily see over the top of it.  The English convention that drawstops should be in double rows tends to make a console taller, but in practice the North American  practice of triple or even quadruple rows is no less easy to manage.

One works with what one has.  I use all 34 couplers regularly, even the more unusual ones.