This wonderful video brought back memories. My partner Bruce Dracott asked me to post the following which may be of interest: The John Holt Reed Organ at Knowle. "We first met this splendid instrument some time in the later 1990s. It had had little or no attention for many years. Our brief was to make things work that didn’t work, and make things stop working that wouldn’t stop. Basically this meant overhauling the stop action, dealing with cyphers (as far as possible), putting silent reeds back on speech, and sorting out the winding. As you have probably heard in the recordings, quieting the pedal action was not part of the job! If this sounds fairly straightforward, remember that this is a mechanical action 3 M+P organ with all the reeds and action inside the console, so getting at almost any of the moving or speaking parts usually requires a lot of dismantling, including the beautiful case itself. We returned in spring 2001 to tune it up for its 75th anniversary recital. Tuning took two full days with a certain amount of (informed?) guesswork, mainly because of a 5C temperature rise between the first and second days. We made quite a good recording of the recital. The organ sounded and behaved very well in a truly punishing work-out covering music of many periods." Bruce and I are now blissfully retired in Finistère, Brittany.
This will confuse those uninformed critics who claim that all ranks on a reed organ sound the same. Very convincing contrast: solos stand out beautifully. A then elderly man told me 30-odd years ago that if John Holt liked you he'd build you a first-class instrument. He obviously took a liking to the client for this one! Very heartening to hear a John Holt in such good repair and tune.
If all they know is a grandmas little two rank parlor organ that is in disrepair then that is their experience. I wouldn't say this would confuse them but it will inform them that there are many types of reed organs out there.
What an absolutely incredible reed organ! Is there anything to not like about it? The voicing, tuning and performers are all outstanding. Even the cipher at the end was awesome, it keeps us all on our toes :) Thanks so much for sharing!
Thank you for this recording. I hope it gets more recordings, preferably with the mic out on the room so we can hear the voicing better. The brief bit at the beginning was a good example. Such a fine instrument and situation.
The now clsoed Reed Organ Museum in Saltaire, Bradford had an absollutely enormous three manual Holt reed organ, built for a Cathedral organist as their practice instrument. It was collosal. The voicing was fantastic.
Hi Interesrting video. Back in the '60's I was organist at a church thaat had a 2mp Holt. Nice instrument for wht it was. I've also played the 3mp Holt that was formerly in the Reed Organ Museum at Saltaire. Interesting videos of the other reed organs on your channel as well.
Is this vacumn or pressure? & is it the only known example in existance? This is tonally far superior to the more common Rushworth & Dreaper Apollo Reed organ & is more equal to the Wright/Vocalion reed organs which are pressure.
This is no doubt the work of a pipe organ builder as this is built on the principal of a pipe organ the only difference is it uses reeds instead of pipes.The wind supply ( I assume this is a pressure instrument) is from a blower & the whole thing is basically an oversized electric reed organ like the magnus etc.
No, I don't think that Holts built pipe organs, only reed instruments. I am fairly sure this is a suction instrument, though I think harmonium type reeds are used for some ranks (gt. Open) but these are inverted to work on vacuum.
I agree that the console completely looks like a pipe organ. All the smooth wood surfaces and the keyboard style, even 3 of them, and the positioning of the stops. The builder might have been a pure reed organ builder, but it really seems like he copied the pipe organ building style. Absolutely not bad anyway :-)
+j.fisher *This product from a builder on which I had no prior information* is clearly competitive with the Rushworth & Dreaper Apollo B. From my perspective as a child of the Organ Reform Movement, the Pedal lacks mainly a 4', potentially 2-2/3' and 2' stops. Manuals could potentially use 2-2/3' and 2' stops. Most of the larger reed organs have similar shortcomings; none of the reed organ manufacturers reacted properly to the Organ Reform Movement's findings, unlike the smarter pipe organ builders.
That organ is magnificent. I hope that someone will give it the acoustics it deserves. Please remove all that carpet and pew pads. Remove any ceiling tiles and add a tin ceiling. That organ will rival any pipe organ. A grand organ without a natural reverb is like a grand steinway piano without the sustain pedal.
the 32' sounds incredible!
This wonderful video brought back memories. My partner Bruce Dracott asked me to post the following which may be of interest:
The John Holt Reed Organ at Knowle.
"We first met this splendid instrument some time in the later 1990s. It had had little or no attention for many years.
Our brief was to make things work that didn’t work, and make things stop working that wouldn’t stop. Basically this meant overhauling the stop action, dealing with cyphers (as far as possible), putting silent reeds back on speech, and sorting out the winding. As you have probably heard in the recordings, quieting the pedal action was not part of the job!
If this sounds fairly straightforward, remember that this is a mechanical action 3 M+P organ with all the reeds and action inside the console, so getting at almost any of the moving or speaking parts usually requires a lot of dismantling, including the beautiful case itself.
We returned in spring 2001 to tune it up for its 75th anniversary recital. Tuning took two full days with a certain amount of (informed?) guesswork, mainly because of a 5C temperature rise between the first and second days. We made quite a good recording of the recital. The organ sounded and behaved very well in a truly punishing work-out covering music of many periods."
Bruce and I are now blissfully retired in Finistère, Brittany.
This will confuse those uninformed critics who claim that all ranks on a reed organ sound the same. Very convincing contrast: solos stand out beautifully. A then elderly man told me 30-odd years ago that if John Holt liked you he'd build you a first-class instrument. He obviously took a liking to the client for this one! Very heartening to hear a John Holt in such good repair and tune.
If all they know is a grandmas little two rank parlor organ that is in disrepair then that is their experience. I wouldn't say this would confuse them but it will inform them that there are many types of reed organs out there.
This is the largest reed organ I have ever seen. It's incredible how much sound you can pack into this little box.
wonderfull lovely to see and hear this instrument .
Amazing! I had no idea there were reed organs like this.
What an absolutely incredible reed organ! Is there anything to not like about it? The voicing, tuning and performers are all outstanding. Even the cipher at the end was awesome, it keeps us all on our toes :) Thanks so much for sharing!
lol....(cipher)...
Had me fooled for the first few seconds! A lovely tone.
What a remarkable instrument. A three manual Reed organ is as rare as a unicorn.
I LOVE it!! The sounds are all so rich and diverse. I wish these were seen in the United States more. I'd love to have one.
It has the size and power of an organ that would never fit in a smaller church, yet it fits in the space of a small 2 manual organ. Awesome.
Thank you for this recording. I hope it gets more recordings, preferably with the mic out on the room so we can hear the voicing better. The brief bit at the beginning was a good example. Such a fine instrument and situation.
I'd love to see more videos of this organ.
The now clsoed Reed Organ Museum in Saltaire, Bradford had an absollutely enormous three manual Holt reed organ, built for a Cathedral organist as their practice instrument. It was collosal. The voicing was fantastic.
Hi
Interesrting video. Back in the '60's I was organist at a church thaat had a 2mp Holt. Nice instrument for wht it was. I've also played the 3mp Holt that was formerly in the Reed Organ Museum at Saltaire. Interesting videos of the other reed organs on your channel as well.
Muito bom!!!!
This is cool! I love pipe organs and this reed organ sounds nice. Is it using an electric vacuum pump?
Is this vacumn or pressure? & is it the only known example in existance? This is tonally far superior to the more common Rushworth & Dreaper Apollo Reed organ & is more equal to the Wright/Vocalion reed organs which are pressure.
Dated 1926 on a Builder's card inside the Swell soundboard...
This is no doubt the work of a pipe organ builder as this is built on the principal of a pipe organ the only difference is it uses reeds instead of pipes.The wind supply ( I assume this is a pressure instrument) is from a blower & the whole thing is basically an oversized electric reed organ like the magnus etc.
No, I don't think that Holts built pipe organs, only reed instruments. I am fairly sure this is a suction instrument, though I think harmonium type reeds are used for some ranks (gt. Open) but these are inverted to work on vacuum.
If this s a suction instrument is the motive power from a pipe organ blower tat has been modified to produce suction?
I agree that the console completely looks like a pipe organ. All the smooth wood surfaces and the keyboard style, even 3 of them, and the positioning of the stops. The builder might have been a pure reed organ builder, but it really seems like he copied the pipe organ building style. Absolutely not bad anyway :-)
+j.fisher *This product from a builder on which I had no prior information* is clearly competitive with the Rushworth & Dreaper Apollo B. From my perspective as a child of the Organ Reform Movement, the Pedal lacks mainly a 4', potentially 2-2/3' and 2' stops. Manuals could potentially use 2-2/3' and 2' stops. Most of the larger reed organs have similar shortcomings; none of the reed organ manufacturers reacted properly to the Organ Reform Movement's findings, unlike the smarter pipe organ builders.
That organ is magnificent. I hope that someone will give it the acoustics it deserves. Please remove all that carpet and pew pads. Remove any ceiling tiles and add a tin ceiling. That organ will rival any pipe organ. A grand organ without a natural reverb is like a grand steinway piano without the sustain pedal.