Wolverhampton Civic Hall Organ

Wolverhampton City organist Steve Tovey gives a brief off the cuff demonstration of the 4/44 Compton pipe organ at Wolverhampton Civic Hall.
Two Borough Organists have served Wolverhampton at the Civic Hall, Arnold Richardson (1938--1973) and Steve Tovey (1991--present), the latter becoming City Organist in 2001.
Steve is currently on dialysis several times a week and has been for many years. He has saved over 20 theatre organs, including this compton, and the 4/10 Compton which was in the Paramoun/ODEON Birmingham where Steve was organist for over 25 years .
He has played for and alongside celebrities such as Slade, Carry Grant, Ken Dodd, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Bob Monkhouse and many others.
Steve still has a very busy schedule, being head of the Cannock Chase Cinema Organ Club as well as carrying out his duties as the City organist.
The Compton at Wolverhampton Civic Hall was installed in 1938. It is suspended from the roof above the stage in two chambers and is completely enclosed behind 5 sets of swell shutters. Compton said, "as a recital instrument, it is second to none in the Midlands.
In 2001 it went through a major refurbishment and rebuild, but all of the original voicing and ranks stayed completely original. A Sax, Kinura and English Horn were added as well as a Moller tibia to allow the organ to be better used for theatre organ concerts, as well as classical, and for the organ to be used for dancing.

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[x8lover]

Where exactly in the civic hall is the organ. Been in there many times and have never seen it.

[3dwurli]

@x8lover When not in use, the organ console is kept in storage. All the pipe work is above the stage, in the roof space.

[The2010SnowDay]

@AnOrganCornucopia To me a kinura is more like a cornopean. The skinner has a few notes on the cornopean that sound very kinura-ish with the trems on. But I personally love the tibias, voxes, and especially the tinny sound of the kinura.

[comptonplus]

@AnOrganCornucopia in addition, our Classical organ concerts are now FREE of charge including tea and biscuits subsidised by the council, and attendances are still very poor. Put one of the theatre organists on and you can get a crowd of 200 in!

[comptonplus]

@AnOrganCornucopia The Theatre organ additions are to make the organ FAR more versatile. It enabled the organ to be used for dancing, theatre organ concerts and shows in general. 25 years ago this organ was destined for the scrapheap, it was used once or twice a year at the most, it is now used approx 35 times a year. The original specification is still there. Classical organ concerts in the past have cost us to run, theatre organ concerts do not as we get better attendances.

[AnOrganCornucopia]

Lovely organ, but I cannot think why ANYONE would enjoy the Tibias + trems sound! It makes me feel seasick... and Kinuras are nothing more than badly-voiced Oboes. Thin, weak, poorly regulated sound. Would have been nice to have heard the diapason chorus above 4ft, seeing as it goes up to 2 2/3, 2ft and a 4-rank mixture! Personally, I'd strip off all that theatre guff and return it to its original spec + Vox Humana for French repertoire.

[comptonplus]

@JoePeterzak as far as Post Horns go, ours is what would be classed as a Post Horn, modelled after the one at the Gaumont in Manchester. There are many variations on the voicing of the English Horns that came over here, some more tubby than others. The 'ripping metal' sound personally, I think is awful and none of the Post Horns to come over here originally sounded that harsh, some have now been re-voiced. This one fits in nicely without being vulgar. There is no second touch on this organ.

[JoePeterzak]

Excellent! Thanks for posting. Great sounding organ.

One thought though... Where's the Post Horn ?

Every good Theatre organ has to have a loud bright Post Horn for second touch and counter melodies. You demonstrated an "English Horn" but it did not have the right "ripping metal" sound. So, I assumed it was just an plain english horn, and not a post horn.

Can you comment ?

Thanks.. Joe. Phoenix Arizona USA

[michaelsmusicservice]

Bring on the Comptons!

[BlondieChipz]

looooooove the mighty sound !!! would like to play it instantly