BIOS Reporter – Volume 16, No.4 – October 1992

The console itself told a story. Stop-names such as “Block Flute” and “Larigot” were not characteristic of the work of the distinguished builder whose name appeared below the music desk; and for anyone ignorant of that builder’s work, there was a clue in the somewhat maladroit way in which the stop-heads had been re-engraved. (Why are organ builders sometimes so careless about this, and organists themselves apparently indifferent?) The organist received with good humour the Firm “No thanks” which followed an invitation to try the instrument. He was not responsible for what had happened in the 1970s, and on an earlier occasion had made his unenthusiasm clear. The tuner’s book – almost invariably a useful source of information, and sometimes of humour – showed that by as early as 1985, the then organist was grumbling about an “abrasive” mixture. Later, there was an exchange with the tuner over the possibility of putting in a Voix Celeste, a register subtracted in the 1970s. The tuner had promised to look out for one, but none had arrived. The present organist confided that he thought a Dulciana would be useful…