Author: Paul

December was a month happily dominated by several splendid concerts. Here are photos of three of the best. On December 7th, Ex Cathedra (whom we are pleased to support) sang a lively and stylish complete Bach Christmas Oratorio in Birmingham Town Hall.

Only a few days later, on the 10^th, we were back in Birmingham, this time at Symphony Hall, for the CBSO on typically cracking form in a programme of  Richard Strauss, with two of his most famous tone-poems framing his lovely Oboe Concerto.

At much the same time, Ex Cathedra embarked on its numerous concerts of Christmas music, of which we attended that held in the spacious church of St James the Greater in Leicester. Typical of Jeffrey Skidmore, who founded the choir in 1969 and retires in 2027 (what an innings!) the programme was novel, unusual, musically and historically varied, and used the whole building imaginatively.

Three musical events enhanced the first week of November:  David Hill giving a masterly lunchtime recital on the mighty Binns in Nottingham’s Albert Hall; the CBSO conducted by the irrepressible Kazuki Yamada on top form in Birmingham’s Symphony Hall, with Isata Kanneh-Mason impeccably playing Rachmaninov’s fiendish third piano concerto; and Choral – a film about a small Yorkshire choral society attempting to put on a performances of The Dream of Gerontius during World War 1.  I warmly recommend this moving and thoughtful film, directed by Nicholas Hytner and Alan Bennett (who wrote it), which stars Ralph Fiennes, Roger Allam and Alun Armstrong and has Simon Russell Beale in a cameo rôle as a grumpy Elgar, not least for its being filmed at Saltaire – the village created by Sir Titus Salt for his mill workers.

On November 12^th I visited four organs in the Burton-upon-Trent area. First was the Wurlitzer in Burton-upon-Trent Town Hall, which is kept in apple-pie condition.

Next (to see the beautiful organ cases only) was St Paul’s church, where once there was a 4-manual Hope-Jones rebuild of a Hill.  Of the two contrasting G.F. Bodley cases, the chancel case now contains a transplanted Conacher, whereas in the huge south transept case sits – silent – the Hope-Jones Solo Organ.  All rather reminiscent of the Worcester Cathedral organ situation, where the 32ft case in the south transept still awaits the promised second organ.

St Modwen’s church also had a 4-manual organ in the Hope-Jones style, though built in 1901 by Norman & Beard.  There is most unusual west-end case, originally by Snetzler and cunningly extended.  The organ now is a distinctly successful 1972 HN&B, somewhat in the Gloucester cathedral mould, and akin to successful small ‘multum in parvo’ organs HN&B installed elsewhere (such as Carrs Lane chapel in Birmingham) in the late 1960s and very early 1970s.

Outside Burton, in St Mark’s, Winshill, is found a remarkable 3-manual 1870 J.W. Walker which is little-known. Despite a heavy action and a disappointing Great Mixture, this is a fine instrument, deserving to be better known.

One of my projects (St Mary’s Moseley, Birmingham) was completed this month; I visited on November 18^th to sign it off. Originally a Henry Jones organ from 1885, it was rebuilt by Nicholsons in 1966 and now has been again by Clevedon. The Nicholson console has been rebuilt and a great deal of work was carried out to the organ, both to reclaim something of its Henry Jones tonality and also to project its tone better down the nave, which totally lacks resonance.  The Henry Jones console remains, as a museum-piece, and a handful of stolen stop-knobs (of ?unique oval shape) have been replaced by matching new ones, crafted by Renatus of Bideford.

During the month I have been liaising with Nicholsons and Gloucester Cathedral about progress with the new organ, as I have been constantly since October 2024. The largest pipes (the 1831 Bishop Open Wood pipes, now restored) have recently been installed inside the Screen, the console has been started (note the linenfold panelling) and the Swell soundboard has just been finished. All the pipes are made, all the flues voiced, all the chests and wind system made, along with the Swell shutters and parts of the building-frame. Installation in earnest begins in January.

During October I attended significant meetings of two interesting organisations to which I belong.

On Saturday 4^th the Ecclesiological Society (founded in 1879 as the successor to the original Cambridge Campden Society) held a day of fascinating lectures about Anglican and Catholic cathedrals built during the 20^th Century, the emphasis being on what guided their individual designs, liturgically and artistically.  It was held in the beautiful G.E. Street church of St James the Less in Pimlico, often described as “one of the finest Gothic Revival churches anywhere”.  The photograph was taken from the pulpit, looking west; I took no eastwards-facing photograph as the view of the beautiful chancel and screen was blocked by an enormous projection screen needed for the lectures.  Definitely worth a visit – even though the churchmanship has suffered a volte-face from Anglo-Catholicism to Charismatic Evangelicalism. 

At the end of the event I made my to the London (Brompton) Oratory for a beautifully sung 6pm Mass, followed by a meal and a good chat with my long-standing New College friend, Patrick Russill, now retired from the RAM but still in post at the Oratory, where he has worked ever since leaving Oxford in the mid 1970s.

A week later, on Sunday 12^th, I was at St Mary’s Collegiate Church, Warwick, for the AGM of the Traditional Cathedral Choir Association.  This is a body with significant (though rapidly diminishing) funds which seeks to offer financial help to those cathedrals and churches which need such assistance to maintain a top line of boys in the choirs.  Whilst welcoming the advent of girls of a similar age to boys in our leading choirs, the worry now is the number of boys singing is rapidly diminishing – to the great loss of our unique Anglican Choral Tradition.  We enjoyed a convivial lunch and a fine Choral Evensong, with the AGM in between, presenting the St Mary’s Music Foundation with a cheque for a significant sum.  These photos show some of the visual glories of this magnificent and unusual church.

The following week we attended Thomas Trotter’s first-class opening recital on the fine Willis II instrument in what was known for most of its life as “St Monica’s Home of Rest”, just north-west of Bristol.

A few days later I was inspecting the empty organ cases at Gloucester cathedral – a sight repeated only every century or so, so I’ve included some photos here.

September has been a stimulatingly varied month.  Here are photographs of some of the most interesting days, ignoring all the organ visits I’ve made.  

Early in the month we visited Renishaw Hall in Derbyshire.  This beautiful house, begun in 1625 by George Sitwell, has been the home of the Sitwell family ever since and remains in their hands.  Tours of the house reveal a remarkable abundance of artistic treasures, including many paintings by John Piper, and one can readily sense the presence of Edith Sitwell and of the regular visits by William Walton, who wrote his Façade suite to accompany Edith’s ‘entertainment’ of that name. Sumptuous gardens, too.  No interior photography allowed (it is still very much a family house, with domestic items sharing space with art treasures), hence my having only this external image to show at the end of a delightful day.  A visit / guided tour is highly recommended.

We visited beautiful Audley End on our way back from Canterbury, where I had given a speech at the Kent County Organists’ Association Annual Lunch.  I joined the KCOA precisely 50 years ago when I started as Assistant Director of Music at Tonbridge School.  Happy days!

With the Friends of Southwell Cathedral we visited the extraordinary Stow Minster in Lincolnshire – a church which was actually the first cathedral there, before they built Lincoln. A selection of photographs show just how special it is and very much worth a pilgrimage.

On Saturday 27^th, the Organ Club launched plans for 2026 – its Centenary Year – during a splendid day in the City of London.  Starting by visiting St Botolph, Aldersgate, the only City church organ never visited by the Club before (where its Samuel Green case impressed us somewhat more than the ailing organ within), we moved to Cutlers’ Hall for a magnificent Luncheon, where Michael, Lord Berkeley, was the well-received speaker. 

A leisurely walk took us to St Paul’s Cathedral nearby, where all the Evensong music was chosen with The Organ Club in mind, including works by former Vice Presidents, Herbert Howells and Sir George Thalben-Ball.  A really memorable day, adroitly organised by President Jonathan Rennert, as are several significant events to look forward to in 2026 – the Centenary year itself.

Finally, a taster of what is to come at Gloucester Cathedral: this image shows the first new work inside the historic organ cases.  It is the building-frame installed during September to take the Great and Solo divisions.  In October the 16ft Open Wood and 32ft reed will be installed inside the north side of the Screen.  The main installation will begin in January 2026.

August has been notable for the number of beautiful buildings life has taken me to.  Recitals, organ surveys and the annual Diocesan Organ Advisers’ conference have taken place in these wonderful buildings.  What a privilege it is to work in this field?  I never cease to take joy and inspiration from the settings in which I work.  Enjoy the August images.

This month, two recitals stood out for me: a return visit to the grand old Binns in the Albert Hall, Nottingham and a chance to demonstrate the wonderful Tickell organ in Manchester Cathedral, which stands as a more than worthy tribute to its designer, Ken Tickell, whose sudden death before construction had even started was a great shock to the organ world – and a great impoverishment, too.

On 16^th July I made my first visit to Pontypridd, where one the town’s beautiful chapels has been very sensitively turned into a museum.  The Conacher organ is loved and there is a determination to refurbish it; hence my visit.  It’s a handsome piece of work, well worth a photo here.

One of my most enjoyable days in July was revisiting the famous Cavaillé-Coll organ in Warrington’s Parr Hall, on Monday 14th.  I had the very welcome chance to climb around inside as so could take photos, a few of which it is a pleasure to share here.  The organ still plays pretty well, but is not often used and in need of some t.l.c.

June was dominated by the final planning and execution of a 5-day tour of some of the fine organs of Norfolk.  I took some 45 members of The Organ Club to play twenty organs (averaging 4 per day) from June 10th-14th, ending up with a memorable Norwich visit to St Peter Mancroft and the Cathedral.  All went well and a happy crowd of Organ Club members knew far more about Norman & Beard (of Norwich) instruments at the end of the week than they did at the start!  Here is a selection of photos showing all the venues we visited.

My monthly inspection visit of progress on the new Gloucester Cathedral organ at Nicholsons always takes place in the last week of the month.  The first photo shows some beautiful 17th century front pipes, their previously hacked-about backs skilfully filled with matching medal and then slotted and tuned.

The ranks not placed on slider soundboards will go on unit chests.  Smaller pipes will be on Roosevelt chests (a small pneumatic motor with disc pallet attached, exhausted by a chest magnet), the larger ones on pouch chests (or ‘purse’ chests), the leather purse/pouch being exhausted by a compound magnet and then drawing down a disc pallet at the head of a phosphor-bronze stem running through a register and held off with a coil spring.  Both are fast and reliable actions, giving good speech.

The new Great Organ has two divisions, one facing east into the Quire, the other – the Grand Great – facing West down the Nave.  The generous scale of this Grand Open Diapason is evident in the photo; it, and the chorus it supports, will have no difficulty in singing boldly all the way to the West door.