TRAVELS IN TASMANIA

Private residence, Launceston: 66-note keboard of organ by James Corps, c.1856 Photograph: Stephen Bicknell

Tasmania is an island the size of a small country inhabited by a population the size of a small city. It retains, perhaps more strongly than anywhere else down under, the character of its origins as a colony for transported convicts. I hasten to say that one would not guess this from the present population, which combines gentility and civility in equal measure (except when roaring round the back streets of Launceston in V6 Holdens on a Saturday night). But the tangible relics are many, as I found as a guest of the Organs Historical Trust of Australia for its Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Conference in September and October of 2002.
   This is a good time to go to Australia, and if you have never been you must brave the journey soon. The disparity of exchange rates makes it incredibly cheap once you have arrived and, if you are bitten by the organ bug, the kind welcome and splendid hospitality offered by our opposite numbers is yours to enjoy. Keep your eyes peeled for announcements of further OHTA events, and when you see one that takes your fancy, go. They have some remarkable things down there; the Hill at Sydney Town Hall is just one of them. The architectural heritage of Australia is far more interesting than most British critics would have you imagine. I found the supply of fascinating buildings to be inexhaustible. The scenery, as every tourist will tell you, is amazing beyond description.
   Tasmania has about seventy-five pipe organs. Among them there are Anglican rebuilds of a kind we know well. At St John's, Launceston, the trouble started when G.F. Hopkins, nephew of E.J. Hopkins, arrived as organist in 1915. He imported soundboards and trade-voiced pipes to enlarge the 1862 Brindley, with a nightmare specification in view — never completed. The mess was untangled somewhat by J.W. Walker in 1960, who nevertheless added a Tuba. That Tuba was then laid horizontal by Steve Laurie in 1976, and the sound thereof causeth the beasts of the field (marsupial in this instance) to stop up their ears. Listeners can try to distract themselves by looking at the building, one of many in Tasmania built or rebuilt by the extraordinary Alexander North, an Arts-and-Crafts polymath whose brilliant work puts Sedding and Lethaby rather in the shade.
   Alongside some commonplace instruments, Tasmania houses more than its fair share of real survivors — little-altered old organs that are typical of the best of Australia's musical heritage. The lovely three-manual 1861 Charles Brindley in the Albert Hall, Launceston (JBIOS 8, 18-25), is probably the finest surviving example of his work. [The organ is illustrated on the front cover of this issue.]. It is behind a proscenium arch on the stage, and was not-so-kindly renovated in modern times (much brown paint, tuning slides), but is still exceptionally rewarding to listen to — provided you sit on the stage, not in the auditorium.
   We saw some of the older organs in Australia, including three one-manual organs by Bishop, all with long compass; and a chamber organ in private hands built by James Corps of Hampstead c.1856 with the extraordinary key compass of GG - c⁴, 66 notes.

City Baptist Church, Launceston: Bevington 1874. Amy Johannsen preparing for her recital. Photograph: Stephen Bicknell

And, on the subject of long compass, we saw several very fine one-manual organs by J.W. Walker: nos. 856 and 859 (Evandale, Westbury, both 1867) are typical of the breed, but no. 683 (Hagley, 1861) has a set of keys from FF to g³, 51 notes. I had once seen the order for this organ in the Walker shop books, and thought the compass was written down in error. But there it was — surely one of the last and the oddest long-compass organs to be made.
   I was particularly pleased to be shown the work of Josiah Eustace Dodd of Adelaide, who introduced a new ultra-foundational style from the 1890s and whose work was much admired by Lemare. At Pilgrim Uniting Church, Launceston, the three-manual of 1910 is his best surviving work. I learned to my delight that Dodd's later reputation is partly based on fluework made and voiced by Carlton Michell from his last business in Wakefield — and internal inspection of this instrument showed the great man's hand at work in bold but clear diapasons and exquisite strings with the Thynne-type micro-nicking carried up as far as the eye can see.
   

   This account of the conference is highly selective — I would not wish to try readers' patience with a blow-by-blow travelogue — but I must also mention the playing, by various members of the OHTA, which was always carefully prepared and well executed and enjoyable to hear.
   I especially admired Amy Johanssen's programme of works played in recitals by Lilian Frost over a period from 1895 to 1950. On a brazen little 1874 Bevington in Launceston she gave spirited renderings of works we would once have thought senti-mental or even silly (Salomé, Lux, Dubois). Her serious purpose was leavened with a healthy dose of panache, and the works came completely to life without parody or melodrama.
    I was given the warmest possible welcome by members of the OHTA, and my heartfelt thanks go to those who asked me to travel out to visit and to those who made my stay so enjoyable.
   And, to my great surprise, I learned while I was away that the little old lady who had taught me to play my first notes on the organ back in 1973, one Dorothy Glover, was a Tasmanian native and one of the island's great organists! It's a small world ...

Christ Church Longford, Seraphine (free-reeds) by Gunther & Horwood, Camden Town, c.1825 Photograph: Stephen Bicknell

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