Have your say on pipe organ issues

Recordings link

9/5/2012

Thanks for your comments about the various recordings on the website. One person asked if there was a link between them. Yes, the various instruments were either built by Wood Pipe Organ Builders or rebuilt or restored by the firm.

9 Comments

John T

9/5/2012 12:20:50 am

Some stunning sounds on here, not least Blackburn Cathedral! But my favourite individual stops are the flutes on the recording from Pontefract and the Diapason stop(?) in the slow introduction to the Stanley Voluntary from St Paul's Armitage Bridge.

Rohrflute8

9/5/2012 12:48:01 am

That Lewis in Ashton-under-Lyne makes a pretty good noise in the Boellmann! Never heard this organ before. I'll never underdstand why some 19th century English builders turned out meek fluty choruses while others like Lewis could do work like this.

Henry

9/5/2012 01:20:48 am

Interesting comments. BUt surprised no one has mentioned the 'little' G minor fugue from Clifton. Great playing and proof you don't need hundreds of stops to play Bach. Bryant gets by on one!

Martin Brown

20/5/2012 11:28:23 am

I agree wholeheartedly with the previous comment. I would prefer to play on a organ of half-a-dozen beautifully voices stops than on some 19th century monster where voicing of individual stops came a long way down the list of priorities.

TR Ellis

21/5/2012 02:21:06 am

Many years ago I would enjoy trying the organs in some of the small - often tiny - churches in North Yorkshire and the Wolds. This was in the day when churches were open and the parson, from whom to seek consent, often lived next door. Many are the gems I stumbled across: a simple flute, a lovely diapason, a keen gamba produced by fine craftsmen, some unnamed, of yesteryear. Sadly, many of churches are now locked and a query as to where the vicar lives brings a puzzled look. Another pleasure lost to the present generation I fear.

K R Hutton

28/5/2012 01:44:44 am

May I reply to TR Ellis with a brief anecdote? I was visiting the north Yorkshire village of Coxwold some years ago and found its lovely church locked. As my wife and I walked away, we saw a figure walking up the high street carrying a pair of shoes. Only an organist or a cobbler walks about holding shoes. I asked the man if he was the organist and, expressing surprise on my identification, he said he was. He showed me into the church and allowed me to play the instrument on the gallery at the west end for 20 minutes or so. I cannot remember the name of the maker but the instrument dated from the 1970s and had some lovely stops.

Phil Sykes

28/5/2012 12:51:25 pm

While on a country walk in South Yorkshire, my wife and I came across a lovely church tucked away behind the village of Hoylandswaine. Luckily a member of the congregation happened to be there and alllowed me to try the organ. It was a make I had not previously encountered: Nicholson and Lord of Walsall. A pleasant instrument with a lovely gamba on the great and a rather nice swell oboe.

Mrs Frost, Darton

21/2/2013 02:26:27 pm

A nice organ that at Hoylandswaine. Heard it a couple of times. New front pipes look very nice but speaking as someone in the pew I am not too happy about organ music hitting me in the back of the head! I prefer organs to be at the front of churches, leads the singing better. Just my view

Man in the Pew

21/1/2014 04:38:08 am

Once lived in Penistone and went to the parish church several times. Organ was decent enough but it was at the rear of the nave and the sound also hit you in the back of the head. It's all right in large, resonant churches where the organ is in a raised loft at the back. But it succeeds less well in small, non-resonant buildings.

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