BIOS Reporter

I recently attended two very different organ recitals, and thought of Mark 6:4! The first was in St Mary’s RC Cathedral, Edinburgh and finished with a performance of Rachmaninov’s 2nd Piano Concerto, using the organ instead of an orchestra. The organ is based on the 1882 Wilkinson & Son organ from Preston Town Hall. The unusual mix of piano and… read more

In this issue of the “Reporter” you can read an interesting article of Durham Cathedral Organs. It is unlikely that any reader of this periodical would not have visited or heard of Durham Cathedral, so it is fascinating to read about such a famous building. It is also fascinating to read about Irish organists and organ-builders, which an area of… read more

You will have already noticed that this issue of “The Reporter” is larger than usual. Unfortunately this is not as a result of a vast number of printed articles, rather that there is a large amount of material printed from the AGM, together with other regular reports. I apologise to those members who have submitted articles that have not been… read more

Some interesting questions have been raised in the letters printed and I would like to pick up on one or two points if I may. Recently I had cause to play the Sneztler organ in the premises of The Royal Order of Scotland, Edinburgh which was installed in 1757. This organ is in very original condition and still hand pumped.… read more

I am well aware of the importance of our academic writings and I am very happy to be associated with them. It has recently come to my attention that an organ near Edinburgh has recently been rebuilt to a “historic” specification, with a shortened swell and a lot of additions being removed. An organist friend of mine, who is an… read more

This being my first edition of the Reporter as editor, I would like to take the opportunity to thank my predecessor David Shuker for his help in handing over the position and also for his work over the past few years as editor. He has done an excellent job and I am sure, as you can imagine, it will not… read more

The 2012 Oxford Residential conference may not have provided a clear answer to the question posed by the organisers (see p 67) but one of the talks did cover a relevant subject in a very thought-provoking way. Timothy Day’s exploration of the origin of the contemporary ‘Anglican sound’ was based on the availability of almost a hundred years’ worth of… read more

The losses of historic organs in London due to bomb damage during the Second World War is a subject that has recently been covered in BIOS meetings. The seemingly random nature of this destruction is all the more striking when one considers how instruments carefully preserved over several centuries were destroyed, in some cases, in a matter of minutes. Our… read more

It has been my good fortune on a few occasions recently to come across books, music or artefacts where previous owners have left their mark in various ways. Perhaps the most striking for me personally was to discover that my copy of the 1769 edition of William Herschel’s Sei Sonate per il Cembalo was one of the two copies that… read more

The introduction of barrel organs into churches during the latter half of the eighteenth century is often seen as an ingenious solution to a practical problem, namely, a shortage of people able or prepared to play the required accompaniments to congregational worship. An obvious limitation to barrel organs was the number of hymn tunes and other pieces of music that… read more