2024 news

Today I made a trio of organ visits, all north-east of Lincoln, for the Lincoln DAC – Nettleham, Burgh on Bain and Louth.  This is Cousans country, and the first two organs are by that firm, separated by almost exactly a century.  The 1971 Nettleham case is by Lawrence Bond and the organ spec (quite ‘vertical’) was by Dr William L Sumner, the renowned author on organs who was based at the University of Nottingham quite nearby.  Something of a champion of Willis and Cousans, there are several examples of his Willis & Cousans schemes in the Lincs/Notts/Sheffield area.

I joined the BOA (founded in 1924) in 1965 – aged 13.  It has long held warm memories for me, as it does for Dr Roy Massey, who joined it a decade or so earlier and has twice been President.  A delightful 100th anniversary lunch was held at St Chad’s Cathedral, where Dr Massey gave an informed and amusing speech, before cutting a wonderfully decorated cake, as this photograph shows.

It was a total delight to attend a stunning concert by Ex Cathedral this evening, in St Francis church, Bournville.  The choir and its founder-director Jeffrey Skidmore, were on typically top form.  I last played the organ here in the early 1970s, when Roy Hayton was the excellent choirmaster, since when both the church and the organ have been beautifully refurnished and an enhanced.  What a joy to see the nave completely full for this concert!

Today I met Alastair Johnston, who is carrying out research into one of my favourite ‘small’ organ-builders – Roger Yates (1905-75).  Willis-trained, his work was absolutely first-class and it was a joy to play and inspect this remarkably successful 2-manual of his in St Andrew’s, Kegworth church. Dating from 1953, it’s much the same age as me, but shows it rather less!

Back home and some practice needed doing for my recital at Sleaford a few days later.  This Rodgers organ was installed to accompany services in the nave, leaving the compact 3-manual Harrison & Harrison in the chancel to accompany services (such as Choral Evensong and Compline) east of the wonderful but dense screen.  Seems an ideal solution and I enjoyed myself,  playing the encore (‘Tune in E’, Thalben-Ball) on the H&H, which went down well with the smiley audience.

Believe it or not, it was basically an organ-free holiday: we spent far longer in galleries etc than seeing organs.  However, on our last morning we just had time to walk three blocks from our hotel to St Paul’s Church in K Street.  The big Schoenstein there was an organ I’d long wanted to play and I was not disappointed.  Full of gorgeous colours (a Flügel Horn to die for) and with much brighter choruses than I’ve experienced in other Schoensteins.  A wonderful liturgical instrument for a richly Anglo-Catholic church, with a British Rector, too.  And an enjoyable way to end our USA 2024 trip.

Then we took the train down to Washington DC, to spend three days mainly in Art Galleries and Museums (most of which come under the umbrella of the Smithsonian). On our first afternoon (Sunday 13th) we took a bus up to Washington National Cathedral – such a grand and beautiful building – where we attended Choral Evensong.

It was a surprise to see massive steelwork at the top of the central tower, where damage from the 2011 earthquake is still being repaired.

In the Cathedral Shop is this enormous Lego model of the cathedral, which visitors can pay to enlarge by a few bricks.  It will be stunning when – if – completed.

The famous Aeolian-Skinner organ is almost completely removed for rebuilding, after many years debate of what to do.  A scaffolding bridge has been erected between the two sides of the organ (filling two bays).  It has been dressed up to look like stone – very clever.

Evensong was accompanied by a Walker Technical digital clone of the cathedral’s pipe organ.  It was exceptionally effective but so large that one wonders what its next home could possibly be.  Ideally they should move it to a room somewhere, use it with headphones, and rehearse on it when the cathedral diary doesn’t permit access to the pipe organ.  Every cathedral could do with just such a set-up!

Following the wedding, we spent a day in the city’s marvellous Art Gallery, returning to the city centre for a superb 5.30pm recital on the largest fully functioning organ in the world (29,000 pipes) in the Grand Court at Macy’s store (was more famous as Wanamaker’s). 

Peter Richard Conte has been organist there since 1989.  Famous for its colossal string section, the organ – and Mr Conte – did not disappoint, and appeared to be in tip-top condition.

From 7-17 October we were in the USA for my nephew’s Philadelphia wedding.  I was allowed a ‘day off’ which I spent at the glorious mansion close to Philadelphia which now is the home of the Organ Historical Society.  I was welcomed royally and spent a wonderful time there, mainly looking at their unique collection of organ literature and archival material, all stored in climate controlled rooms – former bedrooms in this grand country house.  What a treat! As was the chance to play the Aeolian-Skinner.

This was the very first organ made after the Skinner takeover of Aeolian so in effect it is a typical lavish Aeolian, with pipes and mechanism below floor level in several chambers, emerging through grand bronze grilles in the floor.  Gentle and lush, it boasts four undulating ranks and three Vox Humanas!

The month of October began and ended with organ recitals – both on Rodgers organs, the first of which, in St Peter’s Nottingham, is part of a surprisingly effective and successful hybrid organ, the major ranks on Great, Choir and Pedal being pipes.

We’ve had a delightful day at the annual Southwell Ploughing Match, which these days is all but as large and varied as the County Show.  The sun shone, hundreds of people strolled around the many fields full or rural attractions, and my wife’s grand-nephew, whose 2nd birthday it was, had the time of his life, both sitting at the controls of an excavator and then watching in the main ring ‘Dancing Diggers’ – five JCBs doing things JCBs don’t usually get to do. A glorious ‘last gasp of summer’ day out.

It was my pleasure to organise an Organ Club 5-day tour of 15 organs (plus Osborne House) on the Isle of Wight, ending up at Quarr Abbey before returning to Portsmouth for a session on the cathedral organ, where we were warmly welcomed by Dr David Price.  The Island has a wide range of organs – some of them fine musical instruments as well as ‘interesting’.

Island organ-builder Andrew Cooper made most of the arrangements (what a help that was!) and accompanied us on our travels.  At Quarr, the beautiful Mutin Cavaillé-Coll (excellently restored by Andrew Cooper) stole members’ hearts; the truly imperial Fr. Willis at All Saints Ryde thrilled them in equal measure.  A very sociable – sunny – and successful tour.

Today a goodly number of people descended upon the Guards’ Chapel in London, where Harrison & Harrison recently completed one of the most imaginative organs they’ve designed for many years.  A fine composite recital displayed it admirably and showed that it could both fill the chapel with sound yet also enchant with a wide palette of delightful softer colours.  A notable success.

The HN&B ‘Trompeta’ remains, but mute (taking it down would have been too costly); its photo here is therefore in memoriam.

At the end of the month was our annual Diocesan Organ Advisers’ Conference, which I had the privilege of chairing for three years and then organising for a decade.  This year found us in Norwich, where the rebuilt cathedral organ made a great impression – as did (to the surprise of no few members) the Peter Collins magnum opus at St Peter, Mancroft.

There were several worthwhile discussions about aspects of our work and a detailed update from Dr David Knight of Church Care.  As usual, the three days were both sociable and informative.

Of the several concerts we attended during August, these two stood out: Jonathan Scott’s barnstorming Prom from the RAH on the 10th, plus an inspiring performance of the Mozart Requiem in Southwell Minster conducted by Marcus Farnsworth on the 25th, as part of the highly enjoyable Southwell Music Festival.

Anne sang for the weekend of August 17-18 in Hereford Cathedral with the excellent choir of St Peter’s Nottingham.  I was able to walk along the river and take these photographs. Note Bulldog Dan, of Enigma Variations fame.

August 8th saw us showing an old friend around Lincoln.  Castle, prison (!) and cathedral all impressed. To my delight, the 1898 Father Willis console is on display in the cathedral’s excellent new museum.  Here are shots of both stop jambs, to entertain organists reading my news this month.

August has been a pleasantly varied month – without too many organs, but busy. Anne and I spent a lovely day on 2nd August at Althorp House in Northamptonshire, the late Princess of Wales’ family home.

Near the lake, on an island in the middle of which Diana is buried, is an elegant temple in her memory, containing various items which bring to mind both her remarkable character and also the tragic manner in which she met her death.

It was a beautiful, tranquil day, and we were moved by the Diana memorials and utterly delighted by the astonishing collection of fine art within the house itself, which visitors are not allowed to photograph.  A visit is highly recommended.

On Saturday 27th I had the great delight of giving an afternoon recital on the very fine instrument in St Giles – a handsome church in Lincoln.  The case and much pipework survives from the H.C. Lincoln organ of 1795, with some Swell pipework by Fr. Willis and later work – fine reeds, an elegant mahogany console and responsive tubular-pneumatic action – by Cousans of Lincoln.

Lewis Paul and Chris Hind have recently cleaned the Great, releathering the various complex layers of pneumatics.  All now sound bright once again and works perfectly.  A treat to perform there.

On Thursday 25th I much enjoyed a lunchtime recital at Worksop Priory by Angela Sones, who has recently been appointed director of music at the Birmingham Anglo-Catholic church of St Alban where I spent my teenage years soaking up the liturgy and J.L. Pearson’s wonderful French Gothic architecture.  The choir and organ weren’t bad either!  Truly impressive that Angela could play at all, as her car had been written off (with her at the wheel) in a smash on the M1 only the day before.  That’s professionalism for you.

On Tuesday 23rd the family of the late Dominic Gwynn held a small ‘do’ outside the Goetze & Gwynn workshop (near Worksop), in Dominic’s memory, and mainly for some of us who had been unable to attend his funeral in St Cuthbert’s, Wells.  His long-time colleague Edward Bennett formed some of us into a choir, singing madrigals by Wilbye (‘Adieu, sweet Amaryllis’) and Gibbons (‘The Silver Swan’, naturally), plus ‘Salvator Mundi’ and ‘If ye love me’ (Tallis).  It was a lovely, gentle, thoughtful evening of which one felt sure Dominic would have approved.

We had a particularly busy final week in July, which started by attending two fabulous Proms at the RAH on Sunday 21st, with our son Morgan, on his 33rd birthday.  The morning Prom was a concert by the combined forces of my two favourite a cappella ensembles – The King’s Singers and Voces 8.  We had a great view and their singing was as sublime as it always is.

Going down the stairs of the RAH I noticed out of a landing window the former Royal College of Organists – that building which terrified so many of us as we made the long climb to destiny up the stairs to the organ hall, preparing to meet the examiners and play our AR/FRCO pieces.  It looks a bit neglected now, but – our terror aside – it is a very special, indeed unique and beautiful building. After a long lunch and a visit to the Natural History Museum (I still miss ‘Dippy’ in the grand nave which is the main entrance hall) it was back to the RAH for something very special:  Sir Mark Elder’s final Prom with the Hallé.

We had attended their Mahler 5 in Nottingham (see 27th June news item and photos) and hardly expected that that glorious performance could be matched or bettered, but their Proms performance was just superlative.  The Prommers went wild, Sir Mark gave a typically well-prepared and witty speech, and then we were treated to Elgar’s Chanson de Nuit as a delicious encore.  What a day!

A wonderful concert this evening – Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.1 and the Fifth Symphony of Mahler. It was Sir Mark Elder’s final appearance in Nottingham with the Hallé, rapturously received by a full house, with a lengthy standing ovation before the Symphony Hall management made a presentation to Sir Mark, who gave a delightful speech of thanks.

I’ve never met Sir Mark, but his mother was at boarding school in Hastings with my mother in the late 1930s, and as both families lived in Crouch End in the early 1950s, my mother would occasionally visit, baby Hale in tow.  I so admire what he has achieved with the Hallé – especially their Elgar performances – and their Mahler V tonight was quite sublime.

Anne and I visited the delightful village church at Glapthorn, Northants.  It was a social visit to friends, but for me something of a pilgrimage too, as the little 1937 Roger Yates organ there has long been one I had hoped to visit.  Its 1-manual stop-list is given in Sumner’s seminal book ‘The Organ’, which I won as a Solihull School Music prize aged 15 in June 1967, so I’ve known about it for many years, and as my enthusiasm has grown for the excellent work carried out by Roger Yates, this little gem is one I have very much wished to play.  It did not disappoint!

Wonderful voicing and an extraordinary dynamic range for such a small instrument – look it up on the NPOR. A superbly effective swell box encloses all except the basses of the Bourdon and Open Diapason.  From delicate and silvery Aeoline to powerful Plein Jeu (with 17th) it sounds like a cathedral organ in miniature.

Today I had great fun playing the large and splendid Compton in the Astoria Centre, Barnsley.  Kevin Grunill has, over the years, made a first class job of its installation and enlargement.  It’s a much travelled instrument, made for the Astoria, Purley in 1934 (the same year as the Compton which found partial use in Solihull School chapel, to my youthful joy), it’s been rehoused in East Kilbride, Carluke, Spalding and Sheffield before finding its final (?) and finest home at the Astoria Centre.

It now boasts 18 ranks (5 down to 16ft) — large for a cinema/theatre organ — and is exceptionally well balanced when heard from the auditorium.

The Echo Organ at Liverpool Cathedral has been ‘prepared-for’ since 1926!  Owing to suitable pipework (and sufficient funds) becoming available, organ-builder David Wells and his team are busily installing it.  Situated at the far south-east corner of the Sanctuary, right up in the triforium, its effect in the building will be exquisite.  I was visiting it yesterday, in order to write it up for Organists’ Review, so this photograph is a sneak preview.

Just back from a enjoyable Organ Club Tour, based in delightful guest quarters at Buckfast Abbey.  Leaving aside the rather curate’s eggish new organs in the Abbey, for me the stand-out instruments were the two we played in Totnes.  In St Mary’s church is a fine Father Willis, moved to the west end and beautifully restored by William Drake in 1988.  Its 12-stop Great Organ could give a few cathedral instruments a run for their money.

Across the river is the church of St John the Evangelist, which suffered a terrible fire in 1976 and was rebuilt in modern style.  In 1983 William Drake installed an uncompromising 2/24 werkprinzip instrument, which is one of the best-voiced such instruments in the country and should be better known.

Yesterday was a special day for the musicians of New College Oxford; many of us attended a wonderful Memorial Evensong for Sir David Lumsden. The choir was on superb form, singing two works written for it – Harris’s ‘Faire is the Heaven’ and (for an introit) ‘Drop, drop, slow tears’ by Kenneth Leighton – the profoundly moving final movement of his ‘Crucifixus pro nobis’, commissioned by David Lumsden for N.C. choir in 1961.

Earlier in the day David and Sheila’s ashes had been interred in the Cloisters, on the north side near the bell-tower.  A finely incised memorial stone marks the spot, close to where N.C. alumnus James Bowman is also remembered.

Yesterday Olivier Latry gave a wonderful performance on the superb Dobson organ in Merton College Chapel, to celebrate its 10th anniversary.  I can’t think where that decade has gone, as memories of working on the project (a real highlight for me) are as fresh as ever.  The large Dobson factory was completely destroyed by fire eight years later; it is good to be able to report that the new factory is now built and being fitted out with machinery.  Exciting times ahead for Dobson after their dreadful bad luck.

I’ve just returned from an interesting and enjoyable week in the USA, visiting organs by the J.P. Buzard firm, in advance of writing an article for Choir & Organ.  I arrived in Chicago just in time to see everyone out in the streets looking up at the eclipse – good timing!

Visited organs in Chicago, Nashville and the company’s home town, Champaign.  Wonderful instruments and lovely hospitable hosts.

Symphony Hall Birmingham, St John Passion, Bach, performed by Ex Cathedra

As a teenager in the late 1960s / early 1970s I would attend Birmingham Town Hall every Good Friday, where the City Choir and the Choral Union, together with the CBSO, with Roy Massey at the mighty Willis organ, would alternate the St John and the St Matthew Passions.  These were performances on a massive scale, leavened by also attending the more stylish interpretations offered in St Philip’s Cathedral by the lithe Birmingham Bach Choir under Richard Butt, with Orchestra da Camera and Roy Massey at the organ.  Jeffrey Skidmore, a Birmingham lad one year older than me, also attended such performances and in 1969 founded Ex Cathedra to offer even more stylish interpretations than the Bach Choir.  An astonishing  fifty-five years later, the choir has long been a much-loved West Midlands institution, renowned for its imaginative programmes, outreach work, and the researches still being carried out by Jeffrey. Their St John on Good Friday celebrated the 300th anniversary of the work’s first performance, augmenting it with motets, readings and clever organ improvisations (by Rupert Jeffcoat).  All I have to say is that if J.S. Bach had heard this concert, he would have been utterly delighted, as was a large audience, by its beauty, drama and loving attention to detail.  A moving and truly memorable experience.

Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford upon Avon

Anne and I attended a matinée performance of Ben and Imo, a play by Mark Ravenhill.  A tour de force for the two actors (Victoria Yeates and Samuel Barnett), the play tells of a turbulent year (1952-3) in which Imogen Holst arrives at Aldeburgh to ‘help’ Benjamin Britten write Gloriana, a full-scale opera commissioned for the Coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.  Their developing relationship is complex, intense, turbulent and creative.  There is not a dull moment in this captivating and thought-provoking play, which I recommend most warmly to anyone reading this.

St Philip & St James, Holywood, Northern Ireland

This was a happy day when Jonathan Scott gave a brilliant recital to a packed church on the fine Henry Groves & Son complete rebuilding of the well-known large 3-manual 1963 J.W. Walker organ. See the Scott Brothers YouTube channel for some concert items – notably the first movement of the Elgar Sonata. I have enjoyed being consultant for the project (see my history of the Holywood organ) and gave a demonstration recital the next day to a most appreciative audience.  The first photograph at the console (Walker, restored by Renatus) shows Edwin Gray (long-serving organist of the church), Jonathan Wallace (of Henry Groves), Jonathan Scott and yours truly. 

The second photograph is a good view from the console to the organ’s twin west end cases, with me rehearsing.

I’ve been looking after the project for a partial restorarion of this stupendous Binns for a few years.  Nothing could be done in the Hall until the multi-million pound restoration of the building and its environs was complete, at which point David Wells Organ-builders returned the Great soundboard and pipes, along with the Trombone and its chests, following complete renovation after water penetration from a formerly leaky roof.  A second stage, for which funds will need to be raised, will see the rest of the organ restored in due course.  It has to be my favourite Binns, despite having been a Trustee of its bigger brother in Nottingham’s Albert Hall. It’s much more fiery than the Nottingham organ, yet still has the extraordinarily powerful and resonant 32ft Double Open Wood which is such a hall-shaking feature of both instruments.

I spent a happy day in Holywood (Belfast) today, checking over the all but complete Henry Groves & Son rebuild of the large 1963 J.W. Walker in the parish church.  Known for its splendid choir and many concerts, this large Victorian church has benefitted from a fine organ since 1872, its 1963 rebuild in twin cases at the west end being something of a landmark in organ-building in Northern Ireland.  Now remade with new chests, a new wind system, tonal rebalancing, new electrics and a refurbished console (both by Renatus), it’s all but ready for its opening recitals next month by the fabulous Jonathan Scott, followed the next day by yours truly.

Today I surveyed an unusual organ with an elegant case.  St Mary’s Willingdon had a small organ by Hill (dated 1893) which was rebuilt with electric action and a detached console in the 1950s, the slender base of the case then, over the decades, being completely filled with additional Pedal and Great ranks.  I have never seen so many pipes – plus electro-pneumatic relays – in such a small space!  What to do with it – ah, that is the question.  Curiously, it all sounds rather fine down in the church, so some serious thought is required. All too easy and glib to say ‘scrap all the additions’: organ consultants are paid to be more imaginative than that.  There was a smile on my face as I left, recalling the wonderful mis-spelling on one of the stop keys: “Faggotta”!

January has been a mercifully quiet month, ending with a most enjoyable Bloomsbury Organ Day at the Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church, during which I gave an illustrated talk about The Organ Club and its well-supported September 2023 tour of the organs of Greater Birmingham.

I’ve been able to catch up with jobs such as ‘remaindering’ some of the least-used academic music books in my library to the attic (there are Billy bookcases up there!), to make room for currently homeless and more useful replacement organ tomes.  My life-long passion for collecting books and booklets on the organ has resulted in some 1,400 of them on my shelves, plus many hundreds of specification leaflets and smaller booklets in folders in cupboards beneath the shelves.  The photograph herewith gives a good idea of the library side of my music room. The drawers contain organ CDs.  The unit was designed and made for me by Renatus of Bideford; I’ve been thrilled with it ever since it arrived seven years ago. There’s a library ladder, too, not in shot.