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Topics - David Pinnegar

#401
Hi!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290519642027 looks useful for some project . . .

Best wishes

David P
#402
Miscellaneous & Suggestions / A Christmas Inspiration
December 26, 2010, 03:06:35 AM
Hi!

Yesterday we saw a most pathos inducing documentary about the victims of the floods in Pakistan - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special_reports/pakistan_floods/

Whilst many of us in the countries where organs are generally played might be more or less comfortable, none are so uncomfortable as those who have lost all and everything and have nowhere to be, even without tents. Local government commissioners trying to do all they can cannot for lack of buildings, office space equipment, and even their files which are just mountains of fungal pulp in cupboards. There is desperation and this can be relieved. People there are saying "PLEASE HELP".

The husband of the new incumbent of Cowden and Hammerwood, Marion Trask, was born in Pakistan, returns frequently and was helping there in August. Through his assistance we have a real opportunity to make a difference: who's willing to help?

We will try to organise some event sooner rather than later but it's cold . . . and it's even colder for people without tents in Pakistan. Can we do anything before then? Can readers of this forum spread the word and see what help we might muster?

Organs matter  . . . but people do too . . . and that's why we sing to organs. Organs without the people . . . aren't much use to humanity.

Best wishes

David P
#403
Hi!

An acquaintence's Dad has died and his family are disposing of various things. He was a recording engineer for Glyndebourne and, needless to say, kept company with the best array of equipment available.

If anyone is interested in his speakers please contact me 01342 850594 or antespam@gmail.com

The they are the legendary Mangers - http://www.manger-audio.co.uk/

These use a total of six tranducers for the stereo pair plus two woofer boxes. I have auditioned them and one realises why they are favoured by audio engineers, with a smooth flat frequency response going down to organ depths to which one can listen without tiring for very long periods.

Were someone to offer just the cost of the 6 units plus a bit more for the bass boxes, I'm sure that the offer would be accepted.

Because the upper units produce a widefield sound as tripoles, they give good spaciousness in domestic surroundings and no more than two channels are needed from the computer system. Of course in use with Hauptwerk one could use these as the main speakers and use others for reverb or anything not requiring such a superbly perfectly flat sound.

They happen to be rather good for hi-fi too!

Best wishes

David P
#404
Hi!

It's always worth looking up Pfeifenorgel and kirchenorgel on www.ebay.de

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300502428554
A single manual three rank instrument

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250156953052
A two manual four rank instrument

Both very much house sized.

Best wishes

David P
#405
Inspirational instruments / Complicated consoles
December 07, 2010, 04:22:27 AM
Hi!

Being notorious for the creation of the most complicated organ in the world to play . . . :) I was delighted to see the arrangement for the Celestial stops at Westminster Abbey:
http://www.organrecitals.com/p/gallery3.php?pic=westabbeycelestial

Best wishes

David P
#406
Hi!

I do reccomend subscribing to The Organ magazine. It often carries interesting articles.

The current issue describes the Walcker organ in the Civic Tower of the Fortressof Kufstein in the Tyrol. It can be heard 15km away - truly an instrument of worthy of the area of Mad King Ludwig's domain. There is a one second delay from the sound of the instrument back to the console, so the main sound that the organist hears is through some small and distorting speakers fed by microphones in the pipe chambers.

Recitals are given every day at noon in July and August.

Manuals are Hauptwerk (Great), Positiv, Schellwerk nord and Schellwerk ost.

Wind pressure is 10 times normal pressures .. .

Clearly an instrument for Carol Williams to include on her travels!

Best wishes

David P
#407
Organs wanted / Scrap grand piano soundboard wanted
December 04, 2010, 04:36:25 AM
Hi!

Sorry - not quite organ related . . . If anyone is scrapping a grand piano, I'm looking for a soundboard to play with for some acoustic experiments.

Many thanks

Best wishes

David P
01342 850594
#408
Hi!

In listening further to the recordings of the Chopin 24 preludes, I have annotated below the key of each prelude and the effect that might have been expected with early 19th century tuning . . .

Would anyone like to do a performance of the Bach 48 at Hammerwood on either piano or harpsichord on possibly a stronger temperament?

Do people feel that the recordings of the preludes demonstrate the expected key colour results?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdsFLIo9l88
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A34K-fj5nHs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpqrynlohR4

As one goes through the keys
http://www.wmich.edu/mus-theo/courses/keys.html or
->From http://www.wu-wien.ac.at/earlym-l/logfiles/em.2001-03
->Key or mode descriptions from Charpentier's Regles de Composition ca. 1682 (in some cases, although discrepancies and missing keys demonstrate the advance of 18th century well temperament over Meantone standard to Charpentier)
could even be the programme notes:
   1. Agitato ­ C major
Completely Pure. Its character is: innocence, simplicity, naivety, children's talk.
->gay and warlike
   2. Lento ­ A minor
Pious womanliness and tenderness of character.
->tender and plaintive
   3. Vivace ­ G major
Everything rustic, idyllic and lyrical, every calm and satisfied passion, every tender gratitude for true friendship and faithful love,--in a word every gentle and peaceful emotion of the heart is correctly expressed by this key.
->serious and magnificent
   4. Largo ­ E minor
Naive, womanly innocent declaration of love, lament without grumbling; sighs accompanied by few tears; this key speaks of the imminent hope of resolving in the pure happiness of C major.
->effeminate, amorous, plaintive
   5. Molto allegro ­ D major
The key of triumph, of Hallejuahs, of war-cries, of victory-rejoicing. Thus, the inviting symphonies, the marches, holiday songs and heaven-rejoicing choruses are set in this key.
->joyous and very warlike
   6. Lento assai ­ B minor
This is as it were the key of patience, of calm awaiting ones's fate and of submission to divine dispensation.
->solitary and melancholic
   7. Andantino ­ A major
This key includes declarations of innocent love, satisfaction with one's state of affairs; hope of seeing one's beloved again when parting; youthful cheerfulness and trust in God.
->joyful and pastoral
   8. Molto agitato ­ F-sharp minor
A gloomy key: it tugs at passion as a dog biting a dress. Resentment and discontent are its language
   9. Largo ­ E major
Noisy shouts of joy, laughing pleasure and not yet complete, full delight lies in E Major.
->quarrelsome and boisterous
  10. Molto allegro ­ C-sharp minor
Penitential lamentation, intimate conversation with God, the friend and help-meet of life; sighs of disappointed friendship and love lie in its radius.
  11. Vivace ­ B major
Strongly coloured, announcing wild passions, composed from the most glaring coulors. Anger, rage, jealousy, fury, despair and every burden of the heart lies in its sphere.
->harsh and plaintive
  12. Presto ­ G-sharp minor
(A flat minor . . . ?) Grumbler, heart squeezed until it suffocates; wailing lament, difficult struggle; in a word, the color of this key is everything struggling with difficulty.
  13. Lento ­ F-sharp major
A gloomy key: it tugs at passion as a dog biting a dress. Resentment and discontent are its language.
  14. Allegro ­ E-flat minor
(D sharp minor . . . . ?) Feelings of the anxiety of the soul's deepest distress, of brooding despair, of blackest depresssion, of the most gloomy condition of the soul. Every fear, every hesitation of the shuddering heart, breathes out of horrible D# minor. If ghosts could speak, their speech would approximate this key
  15. Sostenuto ­ D-flat major ("Raindrop Prelude")
A leering key, degenerating into grief and rapture. It cannot laugh, but it can smile; it cannot howl, but it can at least grimace its crying.--Consequently only unusual characters and feelings can be brought out in this key.
  16. Presto con fuoco ­ B-flat minor
A quaint creature, often dressed in the garment of night. It is somewhat surly and very seldom takes on a pleasant countenance. Mocking God and the world; discontented with itself and with everything; preparation for suicide sounds in this key.
->obscure and terrible
  17. Allegretto ­ A-flat major
Key of the grave. Death, grave, putrefaction, judgment, eternity lie in its radius.
  18. Molto allegro ­ F minor
Deep depression, funereal lament, groans of misery and longing for the grave.
->obscure and plaintive
  19. Vivace ­ E-flat major
The key of love, of devotion, of intimate conversation with God.
->cruel and hard
  20. Largo ­ C minor
Declaration of love and at the same time the lament of unhappy love. All languishing, longing, sighing of the love-sick soul lies in this key.
->obscure and sad
  21. Cantabile ­ B-flat major
Cheerful love, clear conscience, hope aspiration for a better world.
->magnificent and joyful
  22. Molto agitato ­ G minor
Discontent, uneasiness, worry about a failed scheme; bad-tempered gnashing of teeth; in a word: resentment and dislike.
->serious and magnificent
  23. Moderato ­ F major
Complaisance & Calm.
->furious and quick-tempered subjects
  24. Allegro appassionato ­ D minor
Melancholy womanliness, the spleen and humours brood.
->serious and pious

Best wishes

David P
#409
Dear Friends

For those who have been unable to come to Hammerwood for recent concerts, YouTube links are below. The Cancer fundraising concert raised over £340 split between Macmillan Cancer Support and St Catherines and if you would like to donate whilst listening to the recordings on YouTube, there is a link to Macmillan from each.

On Sunday at 3pm Adolfo Barabino at Emerson College in Forest Row is giving a talk "Understanding and Playing Chopin". This is followed by Michele D'Ambrosio playing Schumann - Carnaval - and Chopin's 24 preludes. Michele played Beethoven with Adolfo in the summer and this is a _must_ go to recital. YouTube of Michele is below.

We have avoided Sunday 28th Nov and also the Sunday 5th December, when Adolfo is playing there, for concerts at Hammerwood so that you can go there instead.

The next Hammerwood concert is 17 year old John Clark Maxwell playing the Organ with a seasonally joyous virtuoso performance.

Please take children to hear Michele and Adolfo: - why?

In the past decade, take up of musical instruments at schools has dropped 75%! Young generation have NO IDEA about any classical music at all. We are severely on the brink of terrible cultural loss. Who can do anything about it? YOU! Yes - we can do something, but it has to be a community effort. I have tried to interest both state schools in East Grinstead with no response. At least one EG primary school has noone who can play a piano, and has no instruments. The director of music at one of the posh private schools with a good musical heritage was sacked, replaced by a drum banging brigade. Another private school has lost interest with change of musical director.

Michel d'Ambrosio at Emerson in the summer:
Beethoven, Prokofiev, Chopin and Schumann
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=michele+d%27ambrosio+emerson
and playing Chopin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BK6_v6RWNjU

Adolfo's masterclass pupil played at Emerson a couple of weeks ago and came to record the Four Chopin Ballades and Scherzi at Hammerwood afterwards. Truly astounding performances and very beautiful:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Chopin+Ballade+unequal
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Chopin+Scherzo+unequal
You can go to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rvqQ3K26oE and follow the video responses

Jeremy Filsell's organ recital was incredible.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jeremy+filsell+hammerwood
Of course it's not the same through small computer speakers . . . so please do try to come to real recitals! He played some very beautiful Bach, some exciting works by David Briggs and a really fun piece
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD9FFPhyRd4
which I had never heard before

Finally Paul Austin Kelly and Martin Isepp, raising funds for the cancer charities were really superb - and Martin's accompaniment was exquisite.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=paul+kelly+martin+isepp
The Haydn starts rather severely but becomes very beautiful
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzlvFcYdVjs
as does the Benjamin Britten
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sboyVManGAk
Drink to me only with thine eyes is an old favourite:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sy8d_3ghzKc
and the Strauss songs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9Cj1yow-v8
struck me with great beauty.

Hope to see some familiar faces on Sunday at Emerson . . . ! And by the way, a trip to the cinema might be interesting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4hgPz-bLFg
in which features the Hammerwood 128ft Self Destruct stop of the organ!

Best wishes

David P
#410
Hi!

In the interests of pipe organ preservation it seems appropriate here to recommend pipe organ builders to http://www.roger-russell.com/notone/notone.htm
for specifying speakers to replace pipe organs.

Best wishes

David P
#411
Hi!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcuvDE_MR0g is the second ballade by Chopin played by a masterclass student of Adolfo Barabino, Miena Sanada in a series of concerts at Emerson College in Sussex in Unequal Temperament.

What's the verdict?

Here's the third . . .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cawoTqbi_iI

Best wishes

David P
#412
Hi!

Whilst looking up the details earlier for Peter Collins at Trono, I came accross
http://www.nottsorganists.co.uk/Articles/artelectorgans.htm

It is very comprehensive and of great interest thereby . . .

Best wishes

David P
#413
Hi!

In Atheist's corner I have mentioned the intriguing book "The Golden Bough" by Frazer. In a section documenting the worship of the Pine Tree, brought into the heart of our Christmas rejoicings, derived from the worship of Attis and Cybele, a section of the book details why the nature of worship music is so important:

QuoteEven in our own day a great religious writer, himself deeply sensitive to the witchery of music, has said that musical notes, with all their power to fire the blood and melt the heart, cannot be mere empty sounds and nothing more; no, they have escaped from some higher sphere, they are outpourings of eternal harmony, the voice of angels, the Magnificat of saints. It is thus that the rude imaginings of primitive man are transfigured and his feeble lispings echoed with a rolling reverberation in the musical prose of Newman. Indeed the influence of music on the development of religion is a subject which would repay a sympathetic study. For we cannot doubt that this, the most intimate and affecting of all the arts, has done much to create as well as to express the religious emotions, thus modifying more or less deeply the fabric of belief to which at first sight it seems only to minister. The musician has done his part as well as the prophet and the thinker in the making of religion.

Frazer continues:
QuoteEvery faith has its appropriate music, and the difference between the creeds might almost be expressed in musical notation. The interval, for example, which divides the wild revels of Cybele from the stately ritual of the Catholic Church is measured by the gulf which severs the dissonant clash of cymbals and tambourines from the grave harmonies of Palestrina and Handel. A different spirit breathes in the difference of the music.

One thinks that Christianity might have sold out enough to the Pagan rites, without having its music bastardised in drumming.

This leads to so many skips of pipe organs

Best wishes

David P
#414
Hi!

There are organs around which are being spared radical change by reason of the impecunious climate.

Who thinks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt4sA5_KZes is a bad organ?

Best wishes

David P
#415
Harpsichords / Useful looking harpsichord on ebay
November 10, 2010, 10:18:24 PM
#416
Atheists' Corner / Digging deeper - The Golden Bough
November 09, 2010, 08:07:08 AM
Hi!

On the Organists who think they are Atheists thread I mentioned The Golden Bough by Frazer.

Aeneas and the Sybil have just presented the Golden Bough, which allows entry to the Elysian Fields, to the gatekeeper.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Bough

QuoteIn this sacred grove there grew a certain tree round which at any time of the day, and probably far into the night, a grim figure might be seen to prowl. In his hand he carried a drawn sword, and he kept peering warily about him as if at every instant he expected to be set upon by an enemy. He was a priest and a murderer; and the man for whom he looked was sooner or later to murder him and hold the priesthood in his stead. Such was the rule of the sanctuary.

It's online, chapter by chapter at
http://www.bartleby.com/196/
and I recommend its study.

As a matter of mere entertainment here, the following passage makes the mind boggle. If ever you have fancied more than one lady on your life, or to die in the lap of a nubile virgin, or had aspirations to be prime-minister, or king . . . BEWARE!

http://www.bartleby.com/196/62.html
QuoteA custom of putting their divine kings to death at the first symptoms of infirmity or old age prevailed until lately, if indeed it is even now extinct and not merely dormant, among the Shilluk of the White Nile, and in recent years it has been carefully investigated by Dr. C. G. Seligman. The reverence which the Shilluk pay to their king appears to arise chiefly from the conviction that he is a reincarnation of the spirit of Nyakang, the semi-divine hero who founded the dynasty and settled the tribe in their present territory. It is a fundamental article of the Shilluk creed that the spirit of the divine or semi-divine Nyakang is incarnate in the reigning king, who is accordingly himself invested to some extent with the character of a divinity. But while the Shilluk hold their kings in high, indeed religious reverence and take every precaution against their accidental death, nevertheless they cherish "the conviction that the king must not be allowed to become ill or senile, lest with his diminishing vigour the cattle should sicken and fail to bear their increase, the crops should rot in the fields, and man, stricken with disease, should die in ever-increasing numbers."

To prevent these calamities it used to be the regular custom with the Shilluk to put the king to death whenever he showed signs of ill-health or failing strength.

One of the fatal symptoms of decay was taken to be an incapacity to satisfy the sexual passions of his wives, of whom he has very many, distributed in a large number of houses at Fashoda. When this ominous weakness manifested itself, the wives reported it to the chiefs, who are popularly said to have intimated to the king his doom by spreading a white cloth over his face and knees as he lay slumbering in the heat of the sultry afternoon.

Execution soon followed the sentence of death. A hut was specially built for the occasion: the king was led into it and lay down with his head resting on the lap of a nubile virgin: the door of the hut was then walled up; and the couple were left without food, water, or fire to die of hunger and suffocation. This was the old custom, but it was abolished some five generations ago on account of the excessive sufferings of one of the kings who perished in this way. It is said that the chiefs announce his fate to the king, and that afterwards he is strangled in a hut which has been specially built for the occasion.      

  From Dr. Seligman's enquiries it appears that not only was the Shilluk king liable to be killed with due ceremony at the first symptoms of incipient decay, but even while he was yet in the prime of health and strength he might be attacked at any time by a rival and have to defend his crown in a combat to the death. According to the common Shilluk tradition any son of a king had the right thus to fight the king in possession and, if he succeeded in killing him, to reign in his stead.

As every king had a large harem and many sons, the number of possible candidates for the throne at any time may well have been not inconsiderable, and the reigning monarch must have carried his life in his hand.

But the attack on him could only take place with any prospect of success at night; for during the day the king surrounded himself with his friends and bodyguards, and an aspirant to the throne could hardly hope to cut his way through them and strike home. It was otherwise at night. For then the guards were dismissed and the king was alone in his enclosure with his favourite wives, and there was no man near to defend him except a few herdsmen, whose huts stood a little way off. The hours of darkness were therefore the season of peril for the king. It is said that he used to pass them in constant watchfulness, prowling round his huts fully armed, peering into the blackest shadows, or himself standing silent and alert, like a sentinel on duty, in some dark corner.

When at last his rival appeared, the fight would take place in grim silence, broken only by the clash of spears and shields, for it was a point of honour with the king not to call the herdsmen to his assistance.      

  Like Nyakang himself, their founder, each of the Shilluk kings after death is worshipped at a shrine, which is erected over his grave, and the grave of a king is always in the village where he was born. The tomb-shrine of a king resembles the shrine of Nyakang, consisting of a few huts enclosed by a fence; one of the huts is built over the king's grave, the others are occupied by the guardians of the shrine. Indeed the shrines of Nyakang and the shrines of the kings are scarcely to be distinguished from each other, and the religious rituals observed at all of them are identical in form and vary only in matters of detail, the variations being due apparently to the far greater sanctity attributed to the shrines of Nyakang. The grave-shrines of the kings are tended by certain old men or women, who correspond to the guardians of the shrines of Nyakang. They are usually widows or old men-servants of the deceased king, and when they die they are succeeded in their office by their descendants. Moreover, cattle are dedicated to the grave-shrines of the kings and sacrifices are offered at them just as at the shrines of Nyakang.      

  In general the principal element in the religion of the Shilluk would seem to be the worship which they pay to their sacred or divine kings, whether dead or alive. These are believed to be animated by a single divine spirit, which has been transmitted from the semi-mythical, but probably in substance historical, founder of the dynasty through all his successors to the present day. Hence, regarding their kings as incarnate divinities on whom the welfare of men, of cattle, and of the corn implicitly depends, the Shilluk naturally pay them the greatest respect and take every care of them; and however strange it may seem to us, their custom of putting the divine king to death as soon as he shows signs of ill-health or failing strength springs directly from their profound veneration for him and from their anxiety to preserve him, or rather the divine spirit by which he is animated, in the most perfect state of efficiency: nay, we may go further and say that their practice of regicide is the best proof they can give of the high regard in which they hold their kings. For they believe, as we have seen, that the king's life or spirit is so sympathetically bound up with the prosperity of the whole country, that if he fell ill or grew senile the cattle would sicken and cease to multiply, the crops would rot in the fields, and men would perish of widespread disease. Hence, in their opinion, the only way of averting these calamities is to put the king to death while he is still hale and hearty, in order that the divine spirit which he has inherited from his predecessors may be transmitted in turn by him to his successor while it is still in full vigour and has not yet been impaired by the weakness of disease and old age. In this connexion the particular symptom which is commonly said to seal the king's death-warrant is highly significant; when he can no longer satisfy the passions of his numerous wives, in other words, when he has ceased, whether partially or wholly, to be able to reproduce his kind, it is time for him to die and to make room for a more vigorous successor. Taken along with the other reasons which are alleged for putting the king to death, this one suggests that the fertility of men, of cattle, and of the crops is believed to depend sympathetically on the generative power of the king, so that the complete failure of that power in him would involve a corresponding failure in men, animals, and plants, and would thereby entail at no distant date the entire extinction of all life, whether human, animal, or vegetable. No wonder, that with such a danger before their eyes the Shilluk should be most careful not to let the king die what we should call a natural death of sickness or old age. It is characteristic of their attitude towards the death of the kings that they refrain from speaking of it as death: they do not say that a king has died but simply that he has "gone away" like his divine ancestors Nyakang and Dag, the two first kings of the dynasty, both of whom are reported not to have died but to have disappeared. The similar legends of the mysterious disappearance of early kings in other lands, for example at Rome and in Uganda, may well point to a similar custom of putting them to death for the purpose of preserving their life.      

  On the whole the theory and practice of the divine kings of the Shilluk correspond very nearly to the theory and practice of the priests of Nemi, the Kings of the Wood, if my view of the latter is correct. In both we see a series of divine kings on whose life the fertility of men, of cattle, and of vegetation is believed to depend, and who are put to death, whether in single combat or otherwise, in order that their divine spirit may be transmitted to their successors in full vigour, uncontaminated by the weakness and decay of sickness or old age, because any such degeneration on the part of the king would, in the opinion of his worshippers, entail a corresponding degeneration on mankind, on cattle, and on the crops. Some points in this explanation of the custom of putting divine kings to death, particularly the method of transmitting their divine souls to their successors, will be dealt with more fully in the sequel. Meantime we pass to other examples of the general practice.

If anyone can find the section from the unabridged edition, I'd be very interested to see Frazer's analysis of the Crucifiction.

Best wishes

David P
#417
Hi!

http://estivales.perso.sfr.fr/histoire/index.html is an interesting organ at Carcassonne restored in modern times by the great Formentelli who has been responsible in addition for Albi and Rieti.

http://estivales.perso.sfr.fr/composition/index.html is intriguing - Recit is on IV with Flute and Oboe sounds together with the Cornet, putting the Oboe on steroids and a distinction is made between Positif de Dos on I, conventionally, and Positif d'Intérieur on III.

This is quite amusing as in making additions to the Hammerwood Park instrument I was really troubled by what to call the further stops added to III. As they were not under expression, and in relation to their character, I called it the Positif department, much to the confusion and eye-brow raising of all visiting organists. Yesterday, I removed the label. Tomorrow I'm going to have to print another!

Best wishes

David P
#418
Hi!

Apologies for this not being obviously organistic . . . on the other hand going to an orchestral concert can give one a wider appreciation of organ registration.

The Orchestre Régional de Cannes is quite superb http://www.orchestre-cannes.com/ and in the Evénements section you'll see find the list of forthcoming events, which are temptingly exciting.

It's so easy to go to a holiday destination and miss out on great cultural activities nowadays patronised only by the cognoscenti locals. For my part, one of the influences in my life was for three memorable years of years of youth between 6 and 9, going to the outside concerts of the orchestra at Menton on warm summer evenings.

It's for this reason that it's SO important for children to be taken to such events instead of being disenfranchised on account of "not being interested in that" . . . Take them, and they might be!

Best wishes

David P
#419
Hi!

During my panic over the weekend, the name Royston Orme was mentioned more than once - http://www.ormatronixorgans.co.uk/

Whilst other people are very knowledgable and practical, Royston has versatility to his repertoire:
    * Ahlborn
    * Bradford Computer Organs
    * Cantor
    * Content
    * Gem
    * Makin
    * Norwich
    * Phoenix
    * Viscount & Wyvern

Um. Does that leave anything that he can't cope repair?

Best wishes

David P
#420
QuoteIncidentally, we also have to persuade the organ anoracs to tear themselves away from their computer organ simulations. All computer organ simulations have to be in some ways organs on steroids, or they would not be attractive enough to invest in. Whether it be the Hill at Hove, the Walker at Lindfield or the Holdich at Charlwood, or the Grant Degens and Bradbeer at Ardingly, were computer simulations to sound like that, we'd say the instruments were under powered and we wouldn't buy the software and samplesets to play them. Only hearing the real thing once in a while, in a real acoustic, can bring us back down to earth in reminding us what organs should really be sounding like. It's SO important to go to live concerts!

Hi!

Considering this further, I wonder whether one might contemplate this from a different angle. . . Perhaps what I should be saying is that in experiencing organ simulations in our front living rooms, as I'm told that many people do nowadays, we're likely to be tempted to be setting up the installation as an organ with mono-sodium-glutamate as we would like it to sound, rather than as the real thing sounds in its real place.

It's for that reason that attending live concerts is so very important.

Accordingly in setting up an electronic reproduction of any sort of organ, one should be starting out with the concept that one wishes to achieve.

One of the very special concert experiences one can enjoy is that of organ recitals at St George's Windsor http://www.stgeorges-windsor.org/worship-and-music/diary/concerts.html when one can have one of a dozen or so special seats upon the cancel screen next to the console and between the two organ cases. One has the direct sound of the detail of the instrument at close quarters with the acoustic of the building in the background - a prime combination for the real experience of the music. It's this approach that I have followed for the Hammerwood concert instrument, taking the basic starting point from the experience of the Open Diapason of the pipe organ in the same space. I hope that in providing such a concert facility, audiences will be keener to go to experience pipe organs in their natural habitats.

Best wishes

David P