Music
[LIVERPOOL CATHEDRAL ORGAN]
Duania a recent visit to Liverpool, I made a point of hearing the Willis organ in the Cathedral. Mr; H. Goss-Custard, the Cathedral organist, kindly gave the two sessions, during which he denionstrated the full 'possibilities of the instrument' in general and in detail. It is a wonderful achievement. I confess that I was prepared to find an excess Of experinient,
and a -Jsiaskint of duplication in an instrument accommodating one hundred and sixty-eight speaking stops.
But the organ embodies no experiment which has not been completely successful, and redundancy has been avoided by basing the constitution upon the family system. The families of stopped diapasons, dulcianas, viols, etc., are so completely individual in themselves, and yet so flexible in the interests of good ensemble, that the organ can profitably be likened to a Federal State in that it encourages just that amount of local government which is compatible with the larger unity. This attainment becomes even more notable when one reconstructs the initial difficulties which the builders encountered. These difficulties were not only connected with the apportioning of the munificence of Mrs. J. Barrow, but also with the acoustical problems of the building. Only a third of the Cathedral is built as yet, but, event so, the organ at its fullest is never aggressive. The echo problem necessitates a little compromise in' the • matter of tempo (in the Bach G minor Fugue, for example), but this condition- is enforced by almost every lofty building. In view of the enormous height and span of the western arch, the wonder is that the echo is not -more antagonistic.
The discovery that impressed me above all else was that there was a complete absence of megalomania in the construction of the organ. In theory, a specification of this size could not but produce a monster. Indeed, certain critics have been unable "to resist the platitude of calling the instrument a white elephant. Such criticism is without real foundation. That charge can' be 'brought against the organ no more reasonably than against the Cathedral. Both are conceptions of great magnitude, and both have been nobly realized. I think the most telling evidence is that of Mr. Goss-Custard, who told me that there is not a single stop on the organ that he could easily spare. This, from one who plays upon it daily, cannot be ignored, even if we allow for the natural affection he feels for the instrument he helped to design. Not only is it a fine recital' organ, but by judicious selettion and careful elimination it can be used with beautiful effect for the simplest service.
For his recitals, Mr. Goss-Custard includes from time to time a transcription of an orchestral work. He played to me parts of the Siegfried Idyll. The reproduction of the string tone and the French horn was remarkably faithful. Even the 'cello phrases were silhouetted by means of skilful double pedalling. In the fuller passages of the score the divergence became more apparent ; and rightly so, for he would be a foolish builder who attempted to eliminate diapason' tone in favour of orchestral ensemble. Nobody would be so guileless as to believe that an organ version of the " Unfinished Symphony " could sound like an orchestral performance ; yet only a wilful purist would deny the benefit an impecunious student could derive from hearing the work played on such an organ as this.
Beim MAINE.
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