Restoration of the Harrison & Harrison organ in St Albans Cathedral

Andrew Lucas, Master of the Music, writes:

In August 2007 the Cathedral organ was removed to Durham to the workshops of Harrison & Harrison for comprehensive repairs to the whole mechanism of the organ, from its wind reservoirs, hidden in the depths of the structure of the organ loft, upwards. This is the most major piece of work to be done on the instrument since its construction in the early 1960s and is costing the Cathedral more than three-quarters of a million pounds.

This is major investment by the Dean and Chapter in the future of organ music in worship and concert. The significance and success over the last four decades of the IOF influenced their decision in no small part. They are very aware of our heritage and are proud to be hosts of this festival.

The organ will not be returned to use until Easter 2009. In the meantime two temporary installations from the Rodgers Organ Company, placed in the Nave and Quire of the cathedral, are being used to support all services and events. The restored organ will be re-launch in the summer of  2009 culminating with the  25th International Organ  Festival in July.

The work on the cathedral organ is very significant in some ways, but lest any fear that the organ will be changed in character I can assure you that this is not the intention at all. There will be a few discrete additions and indeed some Mixture stops will be returned to their original lower pitches, as they were installed in 1962.

One significant addition will be a small chorus of pipes in the north nave triforium in order to help the clarity of the organ in leading congregational singing in this very long building. That work is likely to be completed at a later date, but will be prepared for on the main organ console.

The bulk of the work and cost, however, is going on the repair and replacement of worn or damaged actions and soundboards, which are suffering from decay and the over-dry atmosphere that was prevalent in the ‘80s and ‘90s.  Almost all of the manual soundboards will be replaced with new and the slider action will now be operated by solenoids, which are silent in operation, after 45 years of clunks from the electro-pneumatic slider motors.

The organ will also look different. When the current main cases were installed in 1907, the architect was constrained to use the display pipes from its previous configuration in the centre of the organ screen (facing east and west). So the case was designed and constructed to contain pre-existing pipes. Normally the process works in the opposite direction, where an organ case is designed to clothe the instrument with pipes that are newly made, with foot and body lengths that suit the proportions of the new case. We are taking opportunity to do this now in order to gain two other distinct advantages. 

The first advantage will be visual. The new case pipes will be of much brighter metal so that the present rather heavy and dull profile and the tarnished appearance of the organ should be transformed with the better pipe proportions adding elegance to the detail.

The second advantage is a gain in sound distribution and internal space. In some places the case pipes will be more widely spaced, releasing more of the organ’s rich sound out into the building, and also far more of the pipes will speak (currently around 45 pipes in the present facades are dumb) which will enable the designers to create more breathing space or the larger pipes and better access for maintenance to the internal pipes.