Wesley Andante.wmv

The "Royal Seraphim" was one of the predecessors of the Harmonium and other Reed Organs. These were a basic free-reed keyboard instrument with one row of reeds. Samuel Wesley (1766-1837) wrote a set of 5 pieces specifically for this instrument. This is the 2nd piece in the collection -- marked Andantino.
This is one of a small batch of tracks recorded live at a charity concert earlier this year (2010) to raise relief funds for the Pakistan floods. The Harmonium is an early Debain, supplied by Phil Fluke of the Reed Organ Museum, Saltaire for this event. The Debain is unusual in that there are no knee swells at all -- the two knee levers operate the "grand Jeu" (ranks 1-4 inclusive) in Bass and Treble ranges of the keyboard (which is why I don't draw the Grand Jeu stop -- and also why at times the sound changes with no apparent stop change!) All the dynamics are produced solely by manipulating the blowing pedals, with the "expression" stop drawn (this disconnects the wind reservoir). This feature is one of the strengths of the Harmonium -- but takes a bit of practice to master! Recording quality is somewhat compromised by the mono microphone and automatic level control on the camera. Recorded in Heaton (Bradford) Baptist Church on 14th August 2010.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Harmonium
• Royal Seraphim
• Samuel Wesley
• Music organ classical music