This is exactly what I need to prepare for my auditons at Chichester Cathedral later this month. Thank you to Richard for recording this series, but also a giant thankyou to Tim Ravalde for demonstrating the organ in such a detailed and clear way!
I am completely carried away into an ethereal state of mind! Demos like this are a vicarious thrill to us old organ enthusiasts who can no longer travel far from home. The organ seems to be unique, a blessing that has its origins in a terrible tragedy over a century ago. May God bless you and your church with peace and prosperity.
I am an American and visited Chichester many times while living and working in Kingston-Upon-Thames around 1998. I toured the cathedral but never heard the organ. I especially enjoyed hearing the instrument and your history of the pipes. What a magnificent instrument. Thank you.
Have taken a choir there twice as a visiting choir. Wonderful building, organ and very welcoming clergy. One of the best cathedrals in which to sing, especially with a smallish choir.
Lovely demonstration of a gorgeous sounding instrument. Not one I've heard before although my in-laws know it well, my M-I-L being a lay Reader in the diocese. Next time I'm in the area I'll have to make a visit.
Thant you for the revival of many memories. My old friend the (late Sir George Thalben-Ball asked me in 1980 what I thought of the Allen organ (interim replacement) the console of which was on the Arandel Screen , as he had cur a record of it . I was most fortunate during a visit to play the old ( still working) Hele organ from which this superb organ has "morphed". Its tonalities ( Hill & others) was glorious and Tim has revived my old memories. The Allen was totally forgeable as I was lost on the gorgeous flutes (etc) of the former Hill instrument. The nave addition appears to be complementary & necessary. Tis the acoustic in this Historic space that makes this instrument divine.however ! Thank you. Chris Thors-Smith (Australia) .
What a magnificent demonstration of an absolutely fabulous organ! Tim really knows his way around this instrument and I really appreciate him taking us to the loft. Thank you Richard for absolutely stunning video and audio production, as always! Absolutely love the drone shots :D
I trained there under Dr Alan Thurlow - the most patient organ teacher I have ever had. Sadly, three strokes have robbed me of much of my ability to play, but oh, how I should love to revisit this organ again.
🙏I was most taken in how flute like sounds were coming out of Diapasons at start of this video.Then as You went on,I was totally awestruck by what this organ was capable of.Thank You Very Much.God Bless You fore Doing this.🙏
I used to be a chorister here, Tim here was the organ player for us choristers during almost all our songs I think, it must have been about 7 years ago when I went there, but Tim is such a skilful organist it was very beautiful hearing it.
I grew up listening to the organ in St George’s Cathedral, Cape Town, South Africa. I never realised how complicated the various controls are. So interesting. Thank you.
A fabulous demonstration by Tim of this very lovely English cathedral organ - and I can see why he loves it so much as it is a triumph of tonal design just exuding musicality! B R A V O !
Congratulations on a hugely enjoyable tour of this wonderful instrument. I do remember sitting against the woodwork downstairs during Evensong and feeling the vibrations at certain moments during the psalms. Also it was wonderful to hear your superbly clean playing and to be inspired by your obvious enthusiasm for the instrument. I found your presentation well thought out and utterly riveting. Thanks so much Tim and Richard.
A really good demo which shall certainly change the way I think about this organ when next at Chichester with a visiting choir. Thanks, Tim! As a side note, I love the way the stops come out and then go in a little on the pistons.
Really enjoyed this demo, thanks Tim and Richard. I was turning pages for John Birch's opening recital back in 1986 but I had forgotten what a superb sound the organ produces. Petr Eben was in the audience that night as he'd been commissioned to write his Variations on Good King Wenceslas for the occasion.
What a great organ demonstration by somebody with great knowledge of the various colors of the organ in addition to the history. Thank you for a great video!
Wow! Such a wonderful demonstration, captured (produced) so well. Tim's loving and candid tour of the tonal resources, his frank assessment of the Goldilocks problem of pedal divisions, are a masterclass not only of appreciative listeners, but for musicians, and "organ selection committees" too. It's just bittersweet that we lost Mander the organbuilding firm, but it's a blessing their work adorns many churches.
I really love this format of showing all the stops on the side to know what's being used at certain times. Hope you keep this up for future organ exploring videos
Another incredible BIS presentation, thanks Richard! What a glorious instrument, and it's clear Tim loves his work! :) And agree with Jerry, the drone work was spot on!
Not only an excellent demonstration of this particular organ, but very helpful as a demo of the use of organ stops in general. Thank you so much, Tim and Richard.
A fantastic insight into the many voices that contribute to a superb instrument demonstrated by the immensely talented Tim Rivalde, with thanks to Richard McVeigh for sharing this opportunity.😁👍🎹
The production and demonstration quality really shines and makes this a very wonderful tool in registration instruction. Well done, Tim.! Richard, thank you for the graphic showing the pulled stops in real time, quite useful in keeping track of the sounding voices.
Simply splendid demonstration of this fabulous and still historic masterpiece. Thanks Tim for so beautifully demonstrating and talking about the instrument. Tell me if you can, is the Allen still there and working? Remember it as being pretty dreadful but liked by some?? Adrian in Bermuda, organist of St Theresa’s RC Cathedral, Hamilton, Bermuda!!! (4M pipe/digital 157)
Thank you @Richard McVeigh for this expertly produced informative guide to the historic organ at Chichester. Thanks to Tim for sharing your knowledge and for your skilful playing.
How nice to see a fully mechanical organ which is that large! It sounds wonderful, especially with the Bach. I'm looking foward for more content with this organ!
I’d never heard this organ before, and it was a very pleasant surprise. Some lovely sounds on it especially that Choir Stopped Diapason. Interesting that Tim doesn’t use any manual doubles to flesh out that full organ sound, I didn’t hear/see him use the Swell bourdon or Great double open.
I played this organ by kind invitation of Dr Alan Thurlow many years ago so know it well. Wonderful demonstration from Tim ! Bit puzzled though why does not the Great to pedal coupled mechanically as does the Swell to pedal ? Also some of those pistons need looking at as they were quite sluggish when u pressed them ! I suspect a drop in voltage somewhere. St John's College Cambridge which Mander also rebuilt as a mechanical action organ with pistons controlled similar had these problems.
12:08 Sorry, but I don't hear the addition of the 10' stop as adding the octave below at all. To the extent that I can hear it at all, I do hear it "quinted". It's tricky to make two pitches sound like their difference pitch, and these two don't cut it. Can't beat genuine sub-16' pipes.
Why apologise? Why mention it? Are your speakers capable of reproducing anything low? You say they "don't cut it" - based on recorded compressed audio or your direct experience in the space? Harmonic basses aren't intended to replace the real thing, but they work well enough as a compromise when space or funds require it - some better than others - why else would almost every great (& lesser) builder employ them? You get fantastic free content & moan about it - baffling
Famtabulous !! So much better than that awful box if thermionic valves that I heard and sang with aeons ago. I was going to make a reference about Richard - he of BiS - but you've already given him a credit... 'We don't have m-any good organs further East of you, 'cept perhaps two in one at Lancing 'cathedral' , but that's a bit of a closed shop... Wharra-bout doing choral evensongs on TH-cam in competition with Kent, Chester, and some others??
This is just fabulous
Wonderful Organ.
This is exactly what I need to prepare for my auditons at Chichester Cathedral later this month. Thank you to Richard for recording this series, but also a giant thankyou to Tim Ravalde for demonstrating the organ in such a detailed and clear way!
If music be the food of love, play on, give access of it.
Love that 32' Contre Fagotto, 16' Trombone in the pedal.
I am completely carried away into an ethereal state of mind! Demos like this are a vicarious thrill to us old organ enthusiasts who can no longer travel far from home. The organ seems to be unique, a blessing that has its origins in a terrible tragedy over a century ago. May God bless you and your church with peace and prosperity.
I am an American and visited Chichester many times while living and working in Kingston-Upon-Thames around 1998. I toured the cathedral but never heard the organ. I especially enjoyed hearing the instrument and your history of the pipes. What a magnificent instrument. Thank you.
An exceptionally beautiful organ, which doesn't have to shout to be heard. The flutes are an absolute joy as are the strings.
This is a gorgeous organ, and deserves to be more widely known
Have taken a choir there twice as a visiting choir. Wonderful building, organ and very welcoming clergy. One of the best cathedrals in which to sing, especially with a smallish choir.
Thank you Tim for explaining those great sounding stops. I enjoy your concerts along with organ playing advice and guidance.
Thank you so much 😊
Lovely demonstration of a gorgeous sounding instrument. Not one I've heard before although my in-laws know it well, my M-I-L being a lay Reader in the diocese. Next time I'm in the area I'll have to make a visit.
Thant you for the revival of many memories. My old friend the (late Sir George Thalben-Ball asked me in 1980 what I thought of the Allen organ (interim replacement) the console of which was on the Arandel Screen , as he had cur a record of it . I was most fortunate during a visit to play the old ( still working) Hele organ from which this superb organ has "morphed". Its tonalities ( Hill & others) was glorious and Tim has revived my old memories. The Allen was totally forgeable as I was lost on the gorgeous flutes (etc) of the former Hill instrument.
The nave addition appears to be complementary & necessary.
Tis the acoustic in this Historic space that makes this instrument divine.however !
Thank you.
Chris Thors-Smith (Australia) .
What a magnificent demonstration of an absolutely fabulous organ! Tim really knows his way around this instrument and I really appreciate him taking us to the loft. Thank you Richard for absolutely stunning video and audio production, as always! Absolutely love the drone shots :D
I trained there under Dr Alan Thurlow - the most patient organ teacher I have ever had. Sadly, three strokes have robbed me of much of my ability to play, but oh, how I should love to revisit this organ again.
Love this organ. The solo posaune seems like such a versatile stop for a big reed, and the choir flutes are gorgeous. Thanks Tim and Richard for this
🙏I was most taken in how flute like sounds were coming out of Diapasons at start of this video.Then as You went on,I was totally awestruck by what this organ was capable of.Thank You Very Much.God Bless You fore Doing this.🙏
I used to be a chorister here, Tim here was the organ player for us choristers during almost all our songs I think, it must have been about 7 years ago when I went there, but Tim is such a skilful organist it was very beautiful hearing it.
Lucky you to have been a chorister at Chichester. It’s a great place and Charles and Tim are a great team!
A beautiful instrument! I love the Reed stops!
Such a good organ.
Such a good organist.
From Wikipedia: Tim = FRCO by sixth form. Wow! Amazing and Inspiring! 👏👏👏👏👏
I think I’ve found my new favourite Pipe organ!
Thank you for wonderful organ demonstration.🎼🎵🎶
I could never get tired of listening to music played on this fantastic organ.
I grew up listening to the organ in St George’s Cathedral, Cape Town, South Africa. I never realised how complicated the various controls are. So interesting. Thank you.
It’s because the Subject of the Fugue sounds similar to the hymn tune ‘St Anne’.
A fabulous demonstration by Tim of this very lovely English cathedral organ - and I can see why he loves it so much as it is a triumph of tonal design just exuding musicality! B R A V O !
Congratulations on a hugely enjoyable tour of this wonderful instrument. I do remember sitting against the woodwork downstairs during Evensong and feeling the vibrations at certain moments during the psalms. Also it was wonderful to hear your superbly clean playing and to be inspired by your obvious enthusiasm for the instrument. I found your presentation well thought out and utterly riveting. Thanks so much Tim and Richard.
Every voice this instrument contains is delicious. It is a surpassingly lovely organ.
A really good demo which shall certainly change the way I think about this organ when next at Chichester with a visiting choir. Thanks, Tim! As a side note, I love the way the stops come out and then go in a little on the pistons.
Really enjoyed this demo, thanks Tim and Richard. I was turning pages for John Birch's opening recital back in 1986 but I had forgotten what a superb sound the organ produces. Petr Eben was in the audience that night as he'd been commissioned to write his Variations on Good King Wenceslas for the occasion.
Really enjoyed this presentation. I almost feel like making a donation to extend the Cornet at least a few notes below Tenor C.
Oh, go on! Do!
What a great organ demonstration by somebody with great knowledge of the various colors of the organ in addition to the history. Thank you for a great video!
Loved Tim’s playing of the opening of the Bach prelude in G major, BWV 541. More please!
I agree. Exceptionally musical playing.
Absolutely - perfect registration for clarity and excitement.
Thank you Tim! What a wonderful efficient but informative walk-though of the organ. What a wonderful space to praise God in!
Wow! Such a wonderful demonstration, captured (produced) so well. Tim's loving and candid tour of the tonal resources, his frank assessment of the Goldilocks problem of pedal divisions, are a masterclass not only of appreciative listeners, but for musicians, and "organ selection committees" too. It's just bittersweet that we lost Mander the organbuilding firm, but it's a blessing their work adorns many churches.
I really love this format of showing all the stops on the side to know what's being used at certain times. Hope you keep this up for future organ exploring videos
Unbelievable how some instruments can capture a heart within a few minutes ❤
Thanks very much all involved. Totally enjoyable 👏👏
Another incredible BIS presentation, thanks Richard! What a glorious instrument, and it's clear Tim loves his work! :)
And agree with Jerry, the drone work was spot on!
Not only an excellent demonstration of this particular organ,
but very helpful as a demo of the use of organ stops in general.
Thank you so much, Tim and Richard.
A fantastic insight into the many voices that contribute to a superb instrument demonstrated by the immensely talented Tim Rivalde, with thanks to Richard McVeigh for sharing this opportunity.😁👍🎹
Those flutes are so sweet I just can’t imagine how it feels in person😮 I’m carried away
Sweetest thing I’ve ever seen😢
Thank you both gentlemen for demonstrating the organ and producing such high quality content
I was there last week from East Croydon and it was magnificent.
Wow, this was truly a session of fine art, both
Organ and a musician of classs..
Thank you for interesting demonstration. Hope to hear more of your playing. Blessings from New Zealand 🇳🇿
Fabulous! I've always been fascinated by this organ since I was a young boy and have always wanted to hear a demonstration of it! Thank you!
Enjoyed that very much! My Friend Tom Howells was an Organ Scholler here too!
The production and demonstration quality really shines and makes this a very wonderful tool in registration instruction. Well done, Tim.! Richard, thank you for the graphic showing the pulled stops in real time, quite useful in keeping track of the sounding voices.
A big thank you great video cheers
Simply splendid demonstration of this fabulous and still historic masterpiece. Thanks Tim for so beautifully demonstrating and talking about the instrument. Tell me if you can, is the Allen still there and working? Remember it as being pretty dreadful but liked by some?? Adrian in Bermuda, organist of St Theresa’s RC Cathedral, Hamilton, Bermuda!!! (4M pipe/digital 157)
It's still there! Hiding away up high at the west end.
Thank you for the demonstration
Fantastic overview! Much appreciated:-)
Thank you
Thank you @Richard McVeigh for this expertly produced informative guide to the historic organ at Chichester. Thanks to Tim for sharing your knowledge and for your skilful playing.
🤗!.. Bravo; very nice and interesting. A Wonderful display of a great instrument!👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾💓 I hope to see more of this in the future..!👍🏾💕
How nice to see a fully mechanical organ which is that large! It sounds wonderful, especially with the Bach. I'm looking foward for more content with this organ!
I’d never heard this organ before, and it was a very pleasant surprise. Some lovely sounds on it especially that Choir Stopped Diapason. Interesting that Tim doesn’t use any manual doubles to flesh out that full organ sound, I didn’t hear/see him use the Swell bourdon or Great double open.
Excellent demonstration. Beautiful English organ
Very informative and interesting. Thanks Tim.
What a lovely organ , my former Rector retired to Chichester Revd Vaughan Roberts if you see him best wishes from St Marys Warwick Gill.
I am a patron of David Briggs and he has strong links with St Marys Collegiate Church Warwick going back years.
I played this organ by kind invitation of Dr Alan Thurlow many years ago so know it well. Wonderful demonstration from Tim ! Bit puzzled though why does not the Great to pedal coupled mechanically as does the Swell to pedal ? Also some of those pistons need looking at as they were quite sluggish when u pressed them ! I suspect a drop in voltage somewhere. St John's College Cambridge which Mander also rebuilt as a mechanical action organ with pistons controlled similar had these problems.
All the pedal couplers are mechanical, but some more visibly than others (for reasons I don't understand!).
👏well done Maestro!
I love to have a sample set of this one day. BUT Replacing the Quint 10 2/3 with a virtually extended 32'.
Brilliant !
Love it!
wonderful
I am just not a fan of strings, but the other pipes are glorious. Thank you for this wonderful demonstration!
Damn❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️😊❤️❤️❤️
12:08 Sorry, but I don't hear the addition of the 10' stop as adding the octave below at all. To the extent that I can hear it at all, I do hear it "quinted". It's tricky to make two pitches sound like their difference pitch, and these two don't cut it. Can't beat genuine sub-16' pipes.
Why apologise? Why mention it? Are your speakers capable of reproducing anything low? You say they "don't cut it" - based on recorded compressed audio or your direct experience in the space? Harmonic basses aren't intended to replace the real thing, but they work well enough as a compromise when space or funds require it - some better than others - why else would almost every great (& lesser) builder employ them? You get fantastic free content & moan about it - baffling
It certainly has to be used with care, and sparingly.
Famtabulous !! So much better than that awful box if thermionic valves that I heard and sang with aeons ago.
I was going to make a reference about Richard - he of BiS - but you've already given him a credit... 'We don't have m-any good organs further East of you, 'cept perhaps two in one at Lancing 'cathedral' , but that's a bit of a closed shop...
Wharra-bout doing choral evensongs on TH-cam in competition with Kent, Chester, and some others??
My uncle once gave an organ demonstration. It landed him in jail for 90 days.
I just can't get into this organ, sorry. All a bit too precious
The cathedral is not especially large, and it has a small resident choir. A large instrument (or rather a boldly voiced instrument) is not necessary.