The wandering organist

The weekend before last I renewed my acquaintanceship with Portsmouth Cathedral's organ (CofE, though I have played the RC one). Nicholson's did a good job in the 90s, and mechanically it seems ok with the daily use that a busy cathedral organ gets. I couldn't work out if the electric assistance coupling was on or off with the switch down or up, but it made a difference to the coupling: Swell to Great pulled down fully on all notes (one or two in the middle octave were a little iffy with the switch in the other direction) so I left well alone. I liked the little extras Portsmouth Cathedral chorister... which were above the console - however, I was less enthusiastic about the other extras which are soon to be added: not that extra stops are in and of themselves bad, just that I don't really see the necessity for a loud trumpet at the west end of the nave, which is not exactly far from the loud trumpet on the main organ.The other thing I didn't like was the c...

There really isn't much you can say, other than nowadays the C of E would make them take it down and re-do it straight. The organ pipes, on the other hand, were straight. At least, the bits on display. It's a bit of a cheat, actually, because the side towers' pipes should poke over the top of the case, but Henry Willis (I imagine it was HW 4, his firm put the organ in in 1963) mitred the pipes so they didn't. It was impossible to get a picture of this, but at the top of the pipes they put a 45-degree mitre back into the organ so the pipes were full-length but not poking up. I suspect an architect who didn't ask and didn't believe in talking to organ builders. The photo of the church (Chesterfield PC) and the organ (north transept) were taken this last weekend when I wandered up there (207 miles).That's almost olympic-class wandering. The organ is quite loud by the altar under the crossing, but by virtue of its position, in the nave it's almost subd...

Friday's post brought the first bill from the new managing agents of the flats where I live. Paying half-yearly, I was expecting it to be about £900-1,000 as there is a lot of work which the previous managing agents just didn't do, we've a lot of catching up to do. I had enough saved, but not much extra. How does this relate to holidays, I hear you ask? Well, the bill was just under £500, which means that I have the money to go with Cantores Vagantes to Derby Cathedral for a week in August. (BTW, not the Estonian one, the one run by Philip Drew.) I like that church, the organ is a classic Compton rebuild of a Hill (with a little tinkering since)  http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N02750  with a lovely little 2-manual by Cousins in the Retro-Choir (that doesn't mean a choir which looks or sings in a 1950s way)  http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N05294  which is used for weekday services. A small specification, but every stop counts. It needed a little ...

The week after Easter is often called "Low" Sunday. A sermon I heard once (in Parkend church) wondered if it referred to the number in the congregation, and surmised that those seen on Easter Day and then not again til Christmas were having Holy Car-munion (ouch) at home, washing their Fords and Vauxhalls. For those involved with Cantores Vagantes, it's the weekend jaunt to some cathedral or other to sing the weekend services. Some hundreds of miles and to the north-east of London is the town of St Edmundsbury, now usuallly referred to as Bury St Edmunds. I was last there in 2010 on my 51st birthday, which is another story altogether, and the cathedral had scaffolding up in the chancel whilst they installed the new Harrison & Harrison organ  (rather than pinch their excellent photo, I thought a link better). I didn't think then I would be playing it for three services. Whilst waiting for the choir to assemble, I took a quick pic of the east window from ...