|
Wellington Cathedral
There can be few places in the world where so much organ music has been written within such a small geographical area. The modern French organ school, with César Franck as its undisputed founder, exists largely within the boundaries of the twenty arrondissements surrounding the Ile de la Cité in Paris. All of the composers on this recording (except for Jehan Alain whose life was tragically cut short by World War II) worked in Parisian churches which are little more than a stone’s throw from each other; and significantly, they all would have played organs which were built by the same man (some of them Sunday by Sunday over a long period of time). It is perhaps this last factor which gives French organ music its remarkably distinctive flavour and the influence of the great organ builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll in creating a whole new sound world cannot be underestimated.
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II laid the foundation stone of Wellington’s new Anglican Cathedral during her coronation tour in 1954. The first stage of the building was completed ten years later when the old pro-Cathedral (dating from 1866) was closed and the new Cathedral dedicated. The Cathedral has grown in two further stages since that time and in May 1998 the completed building was finally dedicated by the Bishop of Wellington. It is of an uncomplicated form evoking recollections of solid Byzantine style and provides an inspiring space for the atmosphere of worship.
The Cathedral’s large and impressive acoustics make it one of the prime venues for choral and organ music in New Zealand. The Cathedral organ was originally built by the English firm of T. C. Lewis and Company and was installed in Old St. Paul’s (the pro-Cathedral) in 1877. It was a fine example of that famous builder’s work and was a two-manual tracker instrument blown by a water engine.
The instrument was rebuilt and enlarged in the 1930s by Lawton and Osborne of Auckland. A new choir organ was added, and the tracker action was replaced by exhaust pneumatic.
In 1964 the organ was moved to the new Cathedral by George Croft and Son of Auckland where it served the Cathedral music until 1976 when Crofts were entrusted with the work of rebuilding and enlarging the instrument to cathedral proportions. Most of the original pipework was incorporated into the new organ. All new pipework was imported from England with the exception of the Pedal Bombarde unit, the Trompette en Chamade and the Great reeds which came from Germany.
The organ has two consoles - a small mobile console of two manuals can be located anywhere in the choir and compliments the four manual master console.
The rebuilt organ was re-opened in 1980, and in 1992 the South Island Organ Company, Timaru, completed a tonal revision, upgrading of the capture system and enhancements to the mobile console.
|
|
Recorded in Wellington Cathedral of St Paul, Wellington, New Zealand in May 1999
Producer David McCaw
Recording/editing/mastrering engineer Richard Hulse
Executive Producer Ross Hendy
Design Epitome
Typesetting Foundry
Manufactured by Software Images, Auckland, New Zealand
Photography Bruce Connew
Acknowledgements Thomas Rohlfs, Brian Hesketh, Michael Fletcher, Thomas Wilson
Booklet notes Philip Walsh
 
Recording note:
Following the recently completed extension to the nave, the Cathedral’s reverberation time has increased to around seven seconds. In order to meet listeners’ expectations of a reasonably detailed recording, while placing the organ clearly in its Cathedral acoustic, microphones were placed both in the nave and directly in front of the organ chamber. Consequently some instrument action and wind-pressure hiss will be apparent during quieter passages in the music.
This recording was made direct to a SADiE digital audio workstation at 20 Bit resolution and mastered using Apogee’s UV22 process.
|
