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Saturday, 4 November 2000 Bromley Parish Church JOHN HUGHES This day conference, incorporating the BIOS Annual General Meeting, began with the history of J.W. Walker & Sons by Nicholas Plumley, whose eagerly awaited book on the subject is moving towards publication. Nicholas began with J.W. Walker's early days as G.P. England's parlour apprentice, and the establishment of his own firm. The disastrous fire at the Francis Street premises in 1847 was followed by a recovery and a friendship with Ouseley. Walker's work was conservative in execution; most of it consisted of small organs and barrel organs, some 900 instruments, usually beautifully cased in the Gothic style. His success was attributed to the durability of the instruments, their comparative cheapness and his giving his customers what they wanted. At his death in 1870, he was a millionaire by modern standards. His wife and sons inherited the firm, but James John Walker was to reign over the firm for forty years, and he produced the firm's grandest organs in important churches, e.g., St Margaret's, Westminster where Lemare's influence can be detected in the stop-list. A mixture was used for the upper octaves of 4' reeds, some were sharp mixtures, others a conglomeration of mixture and reeds, with a variety of terms used to describe them. His diapasons were praised for their 'warmth, drive and church-tone'. The firm's subsequent history showed a steady manufacture of organs but only four cathedral organs, and no Oxbridge college organs - the firm never achieved the status of Henry Willis & Sons. Later developments included the incorporation of the ideas of the Organ Reform Movement leading up to the production of the type of instrument demonstrated to the delegates in Bromley Parish Church. This is a three-manual instrument, handsomely cased. Its aspect is unusual in that it seemed to be more suited to the rear gallery than its present position where the choir case juts out on the right of the chancel in what is essentially a long tunnel-like building. Its specification is typical of the 1980s, with a return to diapason choruses on Great, Swell, Choir and Pedal, the Choir typically containing all the mutation stops. Is there some musical reason why so many modern organs have the mutation stops on one manual only? The organ was demonstrated by Gerard Brooks, whose lecture on the development of the French Symphonic Tradition was a mine of information and practical examples. A précis of his talk can be found elsewhere. His recital of nineteenth-century French music in the afternoon gave delegates a valuable insight into a neglected area of the repertoire, particularly the programmatic and amusing Judex Crederis setting. He conjured up a wealth of appropriate registrations, although this delegate concluded that there had been some compromise in the voicing of the organ between a true singing quality and the desirable virtues of promptness of speech and clarity. The thanks of BIOS are due to Michael and Gloria Toplis for the smooth running of the events and to Timothy Lawford for arranging the conference. |