Sydney Town Hall organ: Ricercare by Vladimir Vavilov played on the amazing William Hill instrument
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 ธ.ค. 2024
- This video shows my very first moments of playing this fabulous, vintage organ - capturing the raw excitement of the encounter!
This immense instrument is famous for having an almost uniquely deep pedal bass in the form of a 64-foot pedal reed. It's so deep that it's less of an actual note and more of an abiding presence. You can hear it in the final few seconds of this video (from 4:31 onwards) where it adds an amazing extra frisson to the pedal bass notes. But this organ is no one-trick wonder: every single stop is an absolute gem by that master craftsman, William Hill.
My camcorder decided to expire the day before my visit to the Town Hall (of all the times!!!). This left me devastated, even more so when I got home and found out that it just needed a new memory card (a problem I could easily have solved in Sydney, if I had half a brain for technology). But at least Stephen was on hand to capture a few snippets on his phone camera. As you'll see, Stephen has a short attention span and an unusual approach to cinematography ...
On the day of the recording I spent the first few hours in the Emergency Department of the local hospital. So it was a memorable day on two fronts.
Many thanks to Sydney's City Organist, Titus Grenyer, for making it possible for me to hear and play this utterly fantastic instrument.
This piece by Vladimir Vavilov explores lots of different sounds of the organ, ending dramatically on Full Organ. To hear a more considered performance on my regular organ (with rather fewer errors!) and to read the interesting story behind this music, click here:
• Ricercare by Vladimir ...
Thumbnail: The absolutely splendid casework of the organ of Sydney Town Hall
Congratulations Paul and than you so much for share.
Hi Isabel. Many thanks for your comment! After not going on holiday for 5 years since the start of Covid, I decided that I needed to get out more ... and, as you can see, I went pretty much as far as it is possible to go! It was a great experience to see Australia and play this wonderful organ.
wow, what a sound! Paul, you were on what is probably the deadliest continent in the world and played such a wonderful organ! You didn't promise too much the ending is impressive!😀👍👍👍
Hi Dietmar. Yes, lots of danger in Australia. I'm not good with spiders at the best of times, but you should see some of the whoppers they have over there! (Though it's the really small ones which are the most dangerous, apparently.) It was a dream come true to visit Sydney and play this fabulous organ. I made lots of mistakes in this performance but I thought it was worth sharing such a fantastic experience. Many thanks for your comment!
What a thrill for you to play this amazing Hill organ . . . and have Titus as your registrant! Yes, Stephen's approach to cinematography is 'different' (though I'm sure Alfred Hitchcock would have approved) and no recording device is going to let us feel that pedal reed as you will have experienced it . . . but, I must confess to more than a little touch of envy as I'd love to make such a visit myself! In my case, Paul, I think the time spent at the Emergency Department would have been after the 64' shook me senseless . . . and not before!
This instrument is an absolute world gem - all the more so for being unaltered. As you can see, the pneumatic thumb pistons are quite sluggish but it's all part of the vintage experience and you just need to adapt your technique to suit (which I was able to do ... eventually!). Titus was a whiz at registering and can add "mind reader" to his many other musical talents. I was very aware of following in the geographical footsteps of the great W. T. Best who also travelled from Liverpool to present the opening recital of this organ in 1890. It's fabulous to know that the console, the sounds - everything! - remains just as he experienced it.
What an amazing organ,it must have been an absolute thrill to be able to play it,I love that piece of music and it really does sound wonderful on that organ but you can't beat Father Willis.xxxxxx
It was an absolute thrill to hear and play this instrument: it sounds every bit as good as it looks. But yes, it's always great to come home to Our Henry!!