Christopher Herrick plays Litanies in St Paul's Cathedral

[hans2406]

The liking of an organ is purely a private thing. Of course, or maybe, thare are better organs in the world. However, in St Paul's everything comes together, the acoustics, the architecture, the feelings you get, the sound of the organ....in short, and this is very private, I prefer st Paul's. A visit is uplifting indeed, and the organ is fantastic. I had the luck to get a ticket some years ago for the Organ symphony from st Saens, with John scott on the organ. Still thinking about it.

[a55b47]

You know I'll listen enthusiastically to anything recorded at St. Paul's. But have you heard Jeremy Filsell's interpretation of this piece that I recorded at the National Shrine & uploaded? Jeremy takes a novel approach to the phrasing at about 2:45 that I don't think I've ever heard before, and adds a whole new level of intensity.

[barumite]

Wren had no choice - the old St. Paul's was burned down in the Great Fire of London!!!

[barumite]

Wren had no choice - the old St Paul's was burned down in the Great Fire of London!!!!!

[EccentricRichard]

@barumite - Old St Paul's was reduced to a scorched shell, but several architects (including the great Nicholas Hawksmoor IIRC) pronounced it eminently worthy of restoration. Wren's demolition of Old London's churches (and other stone buildings) was far more to do with his personal hatred of Gothic architecture than any structural danger. One day I'd love to take revenge by burning and demolishing one of his miserable little preaching-boxes and replacing it with an ornate High Gothic church...

[EccentricRichard]

St Paul's Cathedral has, I think it is fair to say, the best organ in the world. It is so exciting: it will do pretty much everything any Cavaillé-Coll or Sauer will do and is also one of the best English Cathedral organs anywhere. And that stupendous acoustic... it's funny, I don't even like St Paul's as a building, Wren was an idiot to pull down the old Gothic building, I dislike classical architecture as a rule (especially in an ecclesiastical context), but that organ in THAT acoustic... WOW.

[poopingeneral]

@EccentricRichard I disagree. St. Ouen has the finest built organ built, with nearly perfect acoustics. You can't trump a Cavaille-Coll.

[EccentricRichard]

@poopingeneral - St Ouen is stupendous, but its screaming chorus reeds, mounted en chamade, that thunderous 32ft Contre Bombarde and the huge acoustic aren't conducive to great clarity with that organ... St Paul's will do full justice to everything the St Ouen organ can have played on it, and a great deal else besides, because of the clearer acoustic and the way its sound is better balanced, with smoother, warmer chorus reeds and a Contra Bombarde that simply underpins rather than drowning out.

[EccentricRichard]

Oh dear, what a dreadfully pedestrian and excessively staccato performance. I've met Chris Herrick on a few occasions. His judgement is reflected in his choice of practice instrument: it's the Frobenius in Kingston Parish Church. Horrible committee camel. Nothing like as good as its smaller, older sister in Stoke D'Abernon (on which my mother was organist for a few years), no use as an English PC organ either. There are much better organs nearby, but no, he chose the Frobenius.

[Sesquiltera]

Whao, I didn´t know you could play this piece in such a "Brittish" manner!

[dihamilton100]

Very staccato...not like any other recording I've heard.

[FromHolbergsTime]

A noble and impressive piece, to be sure, especially in this fine acoustic venue and surrounded by such sumptuous displays of art and architecture. There is a grand sense of spaciousness on this recording which is sometimes lost in the process of capturing the massive sonorities of sheer sound. Herrick certainly has the measure of this work and defines its character admirably. I also find Marie-Claire Alain's interpretation of this work fascinating and fiery, recorded in 1993 at St. Sulpice.

[ds1868]

Hello again JFS. Listening to old pre-1977 recordings such as this remind me of the dream-like quality of the instrument back then. The old Lewis chorus in the SE Dome wasn't up to much, but the rest speaks for itself. The NE Dome tubas were magnificent and I simply do not understand why they were replaced in 2008. Again like the photos, I do like the shots of the 32' Bombarde placed en chamade (as well as the 32' Violone, and somewhere in there, the 32' Wood).

[manga12]

Yea I hate it when they take out sections of pipes too, it nuters the organ, they are supposed to be added on to for greater abillity not taken down, or tuned down, only then to be replaced with another renovation with Gasp digital sound simulations. Its sacrilage and no digital can ever sound better then the true instermant it is replicating as its only a copy of a live pipe, even if they can add effects to it.

signed Jeremy manga12

[EccentricRichard]

@ds1868 - according to John Mander, the old Dome Tubas had been much damaged by the passage of time, the pipes collapsing, the metal too soft to be of any further use. Nothing short of complete recasting would have fixed them - and that involving a good deal of new metal. Personally, I do rather like the new Tubas, brassier as they are.

[trompettechamade1]

@EccentricRichard And no one mentioned the Royal Trumpets, placed at the West End to, as my notes on the "Advent at St. Paul's" CD put it, "flood the nave with sound." A very good demonstration of them is on that same CD in the "Toccata on Veni Emanuel" by Sumsion (I may have the composer's name wrong - I am terrible with names!)