Chester Cathedral Organ.
Played by Jonathan Scott.
29 May 2021.
Available on YouTube
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unless stated otherwise.
The Choral Tradition at Chester is 900 years old, dating from the foundation of the Bendedictine Monastery.
In 1844, an Organ by Gray & Davison of London was installed in the Cathedral, replacing an instrument with parts dating back to 1626, possibly by Father Bernard Smith.
Father Bernard Smith, 1630 – 1708, was a German-born Master-Organ-maker in England in the Late-17th-Century.
The Organ was rebuilt and enlarged by Whiteley Bros. of Chester in 1876, to include harmonic flutes and reeds by Cavaillé-Coll.
It was later moved to its present position at the front of the North Transept. In 1910, William Hill and Son of London extensively rebuilt and re-voiced the Organ, replacing the Cavaillé-Coll reeds with new pipes of their own.
The Choir division of the Organ was enlarged and moved behind the Choir-Stalls on the South side. The instrument was again overhauled by Rushworth and Dreaper of Liverpool in 1969, when a new mechanism and some new pipework made to a design by the Organist, Roger Fisher, was installed; the following year, the instrument was inaugurated by Maurice Duruflé and his wife, Marie-Madeleine Duruflé.
Since 1991, the Organ has been in the care of David Wells, a Liverpudlian Organ-builder.[4]
Since 1991, the Organ has been in the care of David Wells, a Liverpudlian Organ-builder.[4]
The Organ Case was built and designed by Sir Gilbert Scott.[5]
The Organ’s four manual keyboards run through a five-octave range and its radiating concave pedal board runs through a two-and-a-half-octave range.
The key and draw stop mechanisms employ electro-pneumatic action. Its bellows are pumped electrically, which is triggered by a key at the console, thus powering the instrument.
The console labels and keys are veneered in ivory; and it has 109 pistons including fourteen generals on thirty-two memory channels.
It is tuned to a' = 440hz in equal temperament. In total, the instrument carries sixty-nine stops accounting to eighty-six ranks of pipes.
It is tuned to a' = 440hz in equal temperament. In total, the instrument carries sixty-nine stops accounting to eighty-six ranks of pipes.
Thank you, Zephyrinus, for a thorough exposition of the Chester Cathedral pipe organ, which the Great Organ is of Rushworth & Dreaper manufacture and generally might be called “English Late Romantic” design and timbre.
ReplyDeleteThank you also for the video, a tour de force performance of the virtually unplayable transcription of the Overture to “The Magic Flute” by Mozart. Jonathan Scott provides a devilishly clever demonstration of musical virtuosity and exploits the full range of the orchestral pipe organ stops of “The King of Instruments.” —Note by Dante P
Thank you to Dante P, our Church Organ Correspondent of international prowess.
DeleteAlways a great pleasure to be informed of the more technical and historical features of “The King of Instruments”.
Viva Chester !!!