Members meet at Cottonstones
The 2008-2009 season got under way with a well-attended event in Cottonstones, visiting St Mary's church and a Makin electronic organ with the same stop list as Halifax Parish Church.
Cottonstones is a dispersed rural community in a partly-wooded valley off the road from Sowerby Bridge to Ripponden, accessed by a tangle of narrow, winding lanes. The church stands alone among the trees. Our visit was blessed with a warm sunny September evening - something of a rarity this year.
St Mary's, Cottonstones, has a five-bay nave with tall lancet windows, and an apsidal chancel. The three bays at the west end of the church have been converted into meeting rooms, leaving an intimate little church of just two bays plus chancel.
The organ, which is by Conacher, occupies a prominent position on the south side of the chancel. With no stops above 4' on either manual, this might seem an unpromising instrument. But the voicing is good, and everything that was played on it, from Bach to Nielsen, came off well.
Christine and Graham listen attentively as Alex plays the St Anne Prelude
From the church we moved on to HDOA member Sue Turnbull's converted farmhouse in an enviable location with superb views across the valley. Sue has commissioned an instrument from Makin to be as close a copy as possible of the Harrison and Harrison in Halifax Parish Church, an instrument most of us have played at some time. In terms of its stop list, the layout of the stop jambs, the position of the departmental pistons, and their settings, it is an exact copy of HPC. It has a 61 note compass, as opposed to 58 notes on the real thing, and the stop jambs seem slightly further away owing to the shallower angle at which they are set. Nevertheless, it was slightly spooky to sit in front of such a familiar console and be able to use the exact registrations we had prepared for performance on the Harrison itself!
The manual touch, which has a "tracker" feel and is not at all springy, is rather different from the HPC organ, and the player must pay more attention to maintaining a legato. Several players commented that the pedals don't seem to be in quite the same place, either. Another difference is that the Tuba is under expression on the Makin, whereas it is unenclosed at the parish church. Nor is the pedal Ophicleide quite as devastating as the real one!
No-one would imagine they were listening to the real thing, of course.
The swell trumpets had rather "synthetic" quality when played alone,
though they sounded well enough as part of the full swell. The
balance between the manuals and between individual stops is somewhat
different. But much of the instrument comes off extremely well.
The full organ sound is very convincing: so many electronic
instruments have good individual stops but a poor plenum. There is
the authentic gravitas at the bottom end of the instrument. And
yes, the Tuba is very loud!
Most of the party then repaired to the nearby Alma Inn for a pint of Timothy Taylor's real ale.