ABC Plymouth Compton Organ
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- Опубліковано 15 вер 2024
- The famous Compton cinema organ from the ABC Royal Cinema Plymouth - an extended trailer of documentary footage about this wonderful instrument, which is now seeking a new home. Presented by Rick Wakeman. Music played by Dudley Savage MBE at the ABC Royal Plymouth Compton. Produced by Silver Street Films in association with Swan Media Ltd and HWS Associates LLP. More info at: www.ssfweb.co.u...
Many thanks for Posting this !
really enjoyed watching !
what a great presentation 👍👍👍 🎹🎹🎹 🇳🇱🇳🇱🇳🇱
Thanks Jack. All the best
Thank god you saved it as someone at reel decided to turn the power off of the building sometime this year and the basement flooded its now back on but sadly the damage was done
Hi Jonathan. I see. The console might have got wet I guess had it still been there, but the pipes were all up behind the right hand wall so the actual organ would have been ok
@@jazzboyfin yeah i guessed that remember where the pipe room was The building had been breached by kids and urban explorers since it shut so in another way thank god it was saved
As the video explains if you read the captions, the Blackheath Halls project did fall though. The organ is now in store in London. We are however talking to an interested venue in the South West about its relocation.
Yes you're right John. Although the spec was much like a lot of other smallish Comptons, the voicing and quality of sound was not. Mind you it was the more 'luxurious' model in the first place, with a separate Strings rank of unison and celeste plus a viol rank. It had other nice features too such as celeste going all the way to 8ft and the Compton xylo & glock with the extra notes. However apart from that the spec was nothing out of the ordinary. Just listen to the tonal quality though!
@TheMysticalOrgan The organ is no longer 'in situ' as it was bought by Trinity college of music and removed from Plymouth in 2006. You are correct - the project to install it into Blackheath Halls has fallen through and the organ is currently in store awaiting a new home, as the video explains at the end.
@sirenbleu Put it in a "stuffy" concert hall or church, which is a listed building gives the instrument a degree of protection. In alot of cases, once the instrument is in, it becomes part of the listing.
Philip Fowke and Rick Wakeman in one take. Two damned fine musicians. Philip is the only pianist who really nailed the brilliant Piano Concerto of Sir Arthur Bliss along with Solomon and Noel Mewton Wood.
Will this fine organ ever find a home? I hope it doesn't end up in some rich bloke's loft.
Yes we are currently raising funds to install it into a venue.
Yes it is.
@goodchappy They DO use organs SOMETIMES - rarely. The problem is alot of them dont really know how to play one. I dont think its just organs that suffer, I think instrumental music over the past few years has suffered alot too.
Can some one tell me what happened with this organ after the project fell through. This what was going to be a great project , why did it fall through?
Trinity college of music pulled the plug on the project after a change of management, plus the recession hitting. The organ is in safe storage and talks are underway about a potential new home for it
Very interesting
@3dwurli Oh yes, I know the group Muse used the Royal Albert Hall organ for a few concerts. It just needs to be made more popular. I don't know the answer but I am always surprised when I speak to people my age or younger and they say they like the sound of the organ, it is just the association it has with things old and stuffy.
@jazzboyfin Well...the cinemas did want them installed yesterday!
back after travelling , damn Blackheath fell through !!!!!! ok good luck with future in s west
@3dwurli Yes indeed. Hammersmith is another example and there were several others. However some were almost 'thrown' into the cinema in a hurry with no onsite regulation etc. There are even stories of one or two still being wired up as the organist is coming up on the lift for the opening night!
Hopefully someday the ABC/Reel Cinema will be restored to its former glory and the Compton Organ can then be reinstalled
Brythonic Fox not a great chance of either of those I'm afraid
Perhaps if the Cinema/Theater Organ owners in this country would allow more professional players to perform on them (and not just the "favoured few") then those performers with an audience base would bring the organ to new ears. I do not understand why some of these owners seem frightened to allow professionals to perform on them - no wonder the theatre organ is dying in England!
@jazzboyfin Just shows you when Compton was given the time to do things properly etc, they really could do things VERY well.
@goodchappy actually theres a group of 30 children having free lessons from Michael Wooldridge on the Wurlitzer at Rye!
great
So where is it now?
@ jazzboyfin the link in the video is now also invalid.
Keep this in the Westcountry preferably Plymouth the BLITZ did not destroy it !
3:08, are the reeds Vox Humana or clarinet?
The ABC Plymouth Compton reeds are Vox, Tuba & Trumpet
You forgot to take the pipe test panel. Some urbexers got in there and showed it, they thought it was a telephone panel but i knew it was organ test panel. Why dont you go and retrieve it befoire it gets demolished
Yes I know. Wish I had really, although don't actually need it. A long way to go just for that though...
I presume this thing can't be restored in situ? What has happened to the project to restore it in Blackheath Halls? I've heard rumours that the project has fallen through, though I would be happy to hear this denied!
@3dwurli Well that's good news, though I think the bigger picture is not so much training people to be organists but the general public coming to listen to them.
I wish that pop bands and artists famous for other things would use organs, even though this could restrict where they play. There is a sad ignorance in society about organs and organ music, even when people know roughly what an organ is they associate it with a cold dull church or old b&w films which I think is narrow minded and sad.
Of course that guy's name is Peter Hammond.
The web address for more info has changed - see the video description above
Is it true that the pipes from this organ could possibly turn up on the Compton Organ of The State Cinema in the near future ?Peter
Hi. No it is not. There has never been any thought whatsoever to do so. The Plymouth pipe ranks are not all the same as the Grays State ranks, and in any case what is the point in wrecking one complete and very fine organ to rebuild another?
Is this organ still looking for a new home?
Robert Hope-Jones and Wurlitzer never called their instruments "Organs'. The official title was "Unit Orchestra"
Compton and Christie were the top British builders, while in America there were Bartons, Robert Morton, Kimball and a whole bunch of less well known manufactures, all copying Wurlitzer's ideas.
Yes I think most folk who know anything about theatre organs know that early Wurlitzers were called Hope-Jones Unit Orchestras. The other manufacturers did not just copy all of Wurlitzer/HJ's ideas, although of course were influenced by them. Compton was very inventive and developed many items or ideas the others did not have,
The one feature I always loved about Compton was their melotone units ! This gave the Compton a very haunting sound? Wurlitzer were the giants of the theatre organ and did make fantastic organs and arguably the best? Certainly the most expensive and the biggest ,but Compton and Christie made fine instruments for us in the UK.
I do remember a story that Reg Dixon was approached by Compton for the new Blackpool Tower Ballroom organ in 1934 ,but he was only interested in the Wurlitzer sound !
Can you imagine if he had gone with Compton?
Reg Dixon at the mighty Compton organ Blackpool Tower Ballroom !
What's the music at 5:37? Thanks.
+Reuben Jones It's the hymn O Thou Who Camest From Above, to the tune Hereford. See this as another example: ua-cam.com/video/R3UYybc7Xa0/v-deo.html
Thanks! I might have to learn it :)
Can anyone tell me the name of the first song played.
www.ssfweb.co.uk/abc-organ/
Are you the same Jazzboy who wrote in the Herald paper comment section 04/02/17 this Basically if you ripped out all the awful bingo hall panelling they put in, plus the false ceiling, you'd be left with most of the front of the original cinema auditorium, including the proscenium and decorative plasterwork. Could well be worth listing, if they had a mind to. There's a lot more of the original decor still intact there - it's all above the Gala bingo ceiling. I've seen it. If you are how long ago did you see this and is the Balcony frontage gone or is it still in situe behind things
Hi. Yes it is me. I saw above the bingo ceiling in 2006. I can't now remember whether the front of the balcony was there, but I don't see why not. As far as I know they built a drop wall down from the original ceiling to the front of the balcony, then another to divide that space in two, to form the two balcony cinemas as are there currently. They also suspended a false ceiling from the underside of the balcony straight forward towards the stage and cut the space in half height-wise to form the bingo area, which they then clad in the awful blue panels etc. The original proscenium, ceiling and most of the decorative plasterwork above the bingo ceiling and in front of the balcony is still there. I don't see why therefore that the balcony frontage shouldn't still be there too. It just needs someone to go up into the old organ chambers (on the right-hand side wall), climb down through the void behind the grill and look out with a strong torch....
Actually I've just examined my photos and compared with the shots on the video above of the existing cinemas - it actually looks like the front edge of the balcony would have been absorbed into the floor in front of the cinema screens. However most of the fancy plasterwork was around the proscenium and ceiling.
Here's the page thats trying to save the place we would love you to try and post your pictures to it if you at all can please facebook.com/groups/627143367446193/
Thank you for the reply some of us want to save the place if at all possible but as usual English Heritage do there usual thing and go it just to bashed up to list but if we can find out that the area behind screens 1 and 2 is still unmolested we might just have a chance
This is such a waste. I went to hear the small Wurlitzer in Rye College last year and I thought to myself, in 10 years time, this just wont be here, most of the people listening were above the age of 70. I agree if the general public heard this on a regular basis even if modern music was played on it, say in a popular shopping mall, it may gain popularity. What springs to mind is the Wanamaker in Macys department store Philadelphia, though that is famous for its sheer size.