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Yesterday Anne and I spent a happy day at Belton House (a National Trust property of great character and beauty) and church, near Grantham. Wearing my hat as Diocesan Organ Adviser for Lincoln I was asked by the churchwarden Michael Coney to look at the charming little anonymous 2-manual organ in the church, which I duly did. The real treat for the day was then being allowed to play the 1826 Thomas Elliot organ in the gallery of the house’s chapel. Restored by Goetze & Gwynn in 1998, this gentle instrument with its delightful cantabile tone was a joy to play, the wind being raised by some very subtle hand blowing from Michael! The Great (with its spicy Sesquialtera/Cornet) descends to a sonorous low G, whereas the tiny Swell starts only at tenor G. Its unique pedalboard [pictured herewith] was added by Buckingham in 1833; I stayed clear of it! Greene, Stanley and Boyce all sounded perfect, the unequal temperament adding significant and welcome character. Belton is only 30 minutes away from us, so I look forward to a return visit at a warmer time of the year – the chapel was perishing cold!

Situated in London’s Regent Street, in the home of the University of Westminster, the Fyvie Hall contains an organ by the John Compton Organ Company Ltd, London organ-builders who specialised in fitting instruments into tiny spaces. The gift of Lord Blanesburgh, it was installed during September 1934 in an enclosure behind oak panelling at the rear of the hall. Above the enclosure are eight Swell shutters, through which the sound emerges.

The detached console was connected to the organ by a large multi-core cable. The Fyvie Hall instrument, like the majority of Comptons, was designed as an ‘extension organ’ where a small number of ranks of pipes are electrically switched to create a larger number of stops at different pitches. Model organs were produced in their ‘Miniatura’ series; the Fyvie Hall is based on one of these, with the addition of a 80-pipe 16ft Tromba (trumpet) rank. The other ranks are an 8ft Open Diapason of 73 pipes, a 16ft Hohl Flute rank of 85 pipes and an 8ft Salicional rank of 85 pipes. These stand on a common windchest, each pipe being controlled by an individual pneumatic valve operated by an electromagnet. After decades out of use it has now been restored – original relays, magnets and wiring included – by the exceptionally patient and diligent Peter Hammond. I had the great pleasure of giving the inaugural recital on this remarkably effective organ on November 2nd.

I’ve had a stimulating if tiring three days. Surveying on Thursday The Archers organ at Hanbury, with its exquisite Sutton-designed case, then enjoying a superb CBSO concert in the evening was an enjoyable prelude to playing a lunchtime concert at Emmanuel, Wylde Green the next day, before driving back to Nottingham in time for a wonderful Hallé concert that evening, which included Rachmaninov’s 3rd piano concerto and the Strauss Ein Heldenleben.  Then up early on Saturday morning to drive to Grimsby for a rehearsal on the recently rebuilt organ at Little Coates, on which I had the pleasure of giving the opening recital in the evening, to a goodly crowd of over 100. Put up in a local hotel, unsurprisingly I slept very well last night before driving home to Bingham on a beautiful sunny morning (listening to The Archers Omnibus, naturally). Another organ to survey tomorrow and Nicholson Organs to visit with a client; two further organ inspections on Tuesday – and then the rest of the week writing them all up. All good fun!

Hull City Hall has a gigantic organ, built by Forster & Andrews, rebuilt after war damage by the John Compton Organ Company, with an overhaul and console modernisation by Rushworth & Dreaper. It was my privilege to perform there on 14th September – my fifth appearance there over the years. What made it special and poignant was the timing – only a few days after the death of Her Majesty the Queen. I changed my programme to include Solemn Melody, Nimrod and The Angel’s Farewell from Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius. This latter piece seemed to take on a special intensity as I played it as slowly and reverently as I dared, letting the beautiful softer colours of the organ fold one into another and breathe out into the spacious acoustic. There was complete hush at the end, applause not beginning for quite a while. Afterwards, members of the audience told me how much it had affected them. What a privilege we musicians have, that in our music making we can reach so deeply into the hearts of listeners.

The annual Diocesan Organ Advisers’ Residential Conference is always an enjoyable event with which to end the summer holidays, falling as it does on the week of the August Bank Holiday.  After two years in abeyance, the conference this year was particularly memorable, being York based, and centred on the two significant recent organ projects there – the Minster and St Lawrence church.  Andrew Caskie (of Nicholson & Co) gave a fine presentation (including sound files) about his firm’s scrupulous restoration of the Denman organ they moved there from St Mary le Belfrey, whilst Andrew Scott (starting that very day as Managing Director of Harrison & Harrison) held us fascinated by his account of the Herculean H&H rebuild in York Minster.  A visit to St Lawrence was frustrated by last minute problems with the church, but our evening visit to the Minster will long remain in the minds and ears of all DOAs present.  Dr William McVicker spoke about the British neo-classical organ movement in the Lyons Concert Hall at York University, also playing the ground-breaking Grant, Degens and Bradbeer there, and we also had case studies of the organs at St Helen and St Denys.  The York DOA, Dr Maximillian Elliott, gave three fascinating talks about the organ-builders of York, based on his PhD thesis; hearty thanks are owed to him and to Conference Secretary David Cain for all the hard work it took to pull this conference together.  Portsmouth next year – St Mary’s Portsea will be a great attraction for us there.

Returned a couple of weeks ago from a blissful fortnight cruising on the Rhine and Moselle.  Took in churches, art galleries, castles and museums along the way from Amsterdam to Basel, including visiting Arnhem, Baden-Baden, Bernkastel, Colmar, Cologne, Heidelberg, Koblenz, Rudesheim, Speyer and more.  No ordinary trip for us, as it was our 70th birthday celebratory ‘treat’ – followed on 8th July by Acis & Galatea at Nevill Holt Opera, and then on 14th July by Alcina at Glyndebourne, where our old and very good friends, Jeff and Alison Sutherland-Kay joined us for a glorious couple of days.  Roll on our 75th, I say!

The last three days have been a most welcome return visit to Christchurch, Dorset, with its beautiful Priory and famous Willis / Nicholson organ. I’ve always enjoyed playing it, especially so since the Solo Organ (planned by my good friend Geoffrey Morgan, now Emeritus Priory Organist) was added. My recital celebrated several special people with anniversaries in 2022 (HM the Queen, César Franck, Ralph Vaughan Williams) and also brought to mind two who have recently died – Francis Jackson and Simon Preston. All went well and Anne and I enjoyed a stroll in glorious sunshine around the marina.

It’s been a busy few days since playing at Boston on Monday last week.  First was a lunchtime recital at Retford last Thursday, then Saturday was spent in Guildford as President of the Organ Club, enjoying our cathedral and church visits.  Off to the Isle of Wight after the weekend, to prepare a talk and demonstration programme (Jongen, Vierne, Franck & Hakim) on the very beautiful restored Mutin Cavaillé-Coll at Quarr Abbey.  And then, today, I played the piano in a song recital with baritone Stephen Cooper at Southwell Minster.  Dichterliebe was the centrepiece, preluded by songs by Quilter, Finzi and Southwell’s own Guy Turner.  A real delight sitting again at the Bechstein grand in the Minster’s nave: a venerable piano, indeed, but perfect for song accompaniment.  Next week it’s off on Wednesday to give a 12.30pm recital on Thursday June 2nd at Christchurch Priory.  I always enjoy that organ, having first heard it as an organ-mad teenager, 54 years ago.

Today I gave a lunchtime recital on an organ, the quality of which proved a very pleasant surprise. Centenary Methodist Church in Boston (Lincs) has the finest Cousans of Lincoln organ I have ever played. It dates from 1913 and was rebuilt very successfully by Bishop & Son in 2000, with the addition of a Great Mixture and Pedal Trombone.  Beautifully voiced yet really powerful (rather like a big Binns) – one can readily imagine it leading 1,000 Methodists in full song – its heavy-pressure reeds are superbly voiced and added a real thrill to the louder works in my programme.  Such limpidly beautiful flutes, too.  I look forward with relish to a return visit to this grand building and its splendid organ.

To my shame, I have never before today heard Mahler’s Fifth Symphony in a live concert – only in recordings and on the radio. However a CBSO concert this afternoon in Birmingham’s Symphony Hall rectified that in grand style. Conducted by Christopher König, the orchestra (my favourite, since teenage immersion in its Town Hall concerts under Louis Fremaux) was on top form and brought out the whole extraordinary musical and emotional depth of this glorious work. The concert opened with a delightfully poised, elegant performance of Mozart’s piano concerto No.27 in which the soloists was Paul Lewis, whose crystalline touch enchanted and delighted a large and enthusiastic audience. It’s such a thrill that a degree of normality has now returned to the concert hall – somehow it makes hearing such masterpieces all the more special.