Hi!
Thanks everyone for such comments, but really . . . I'm most disappointed in all of you in support as
I had sworn all of you to secrecy . . .
In continuing this thread, I appreciate that I'll be severely off topic specifically but crave your indulgence just once, as it does lead to something important.
Really whilst Martin very kindly directed people to an interesting interview of the 1980s in which I explained the "how" of coming to Hammerwood, the "why" was really much more interesting. In 1982, here was a place ostensibly allowed to go to rack and ruin by a famous pop group (thank goodness or it would have had a fate even worse) and it had 14 holes in the roof that didn't exist. The estate agents could not put a photograph of it on the advert - only a sketch, with underneath words in the nature of "in need of modernisation"
"HELP HELP HELP" the place was screaming . . . and seeing it for the first time I thought that anyone who took it on would have to be stark raving mad. (No comment)
The reality after 28 years is a place that comes to life bringing people to life with creativity and especially music. In taking on the house and its restoration, which the National Trust and others felt impossible, I challenged established norms.
I should add, however, that 28 years survival at Hammerwood from times of dereliction and disasters common to all struggles, has only been achieved by reason of a sense of humour
which is often incomprehensible. Apologies to anyone who might have been offended inadvertently as a result.
I'm bringing music to life both for musicians and audiences its original colour of unequal temperament, and probably the only venue hosting regular recitals where it can be heard on the piano. I was probably the first, after a late 1990s performance of Chopin's second sonata to recognise and suggest that Chopin was writing for an instrument in unequal temperament. Experimental concerts have ensued beyond Chopin to Liszt, Brahms, Debussy and Prokofiev in which we have witnessed clear empathy of the music with the temperament and otherwise with later composers no detraction suffered by its use. With Adolfo Barabino, we have proved the case for Chopin in practice, and it's interesting to see
http://www.millersrus.com/dissertation/ in the same vein. Now in the USA, tuners are going back to UT as standard practice
http://www.radfordpiano.com/repertoire.html . I sympathise with the article
http://www.radfordpiano.com/future.html and love the comment:
I believe that Equal Temperament also plays a contributing factor in the piano's decline in popularity. . . The discovery of Well Temperament, for me, was like viewing a Picasso painting in black and white all my life, and then for the first time seeing all the reds, blues, and greens I didn't know were there. If Johnny's Steinway is tuned in color and Susie's Steinway in black and white, who do you suppose is more likely to want to continue learning to play?
The result here is that we get musicians enthusiastic to perform to audiences who want to share their passion. This is one reason why elsewhere I have encouraged musicians to advertise their concerts and with their programme explain the passion behind their choice of programme and their choice of venue and or instrument.
One of my ambitions is to work with any organists who are willing to do so, to record established organ repertoire even intended for equal temperament in unequal temperaments, and see just how far we can get to see really what would be precluded by building pipe organs as standard in UT. (By UT, I do not support the Lehman Bradley upside down interpretation of Bach's squiggle: it has no musical nor historical precedence and other solutions to the problem accord with precedents)
Why all this? Because like Hammerwood I discovered an organ in dereliction, which unlike Hammerwood I could not save from the bulldozers.
And that's the point: appreciation of the Organ as an instrument is derelict among the wider population.
In deciding to do something about this, I minded to add the Organ to the concert platform that I had been operating for a quarter century. To do so outside the normal boundaries of ecclesia would not disable anti-church people from enjoying the instrument. The ex Addington Palace Hunter was not inspirational enough to bring the King of Instruments into the necessary realms of enthusiasm. To succeed the result had to achieve the attainment of the absolute best, and this has been a continuing quest in the past years.
I was forced to do this using the technology and resources available to me, and having the pipe organ in the same room enabled exacting critical comparison as I sought better and better result from the ex Londonderry Cathedral instrument by voicing, additions, and attention to speakers.
Hauptwerk's universality is a brilliant tool, capable of being to the instrument as crucial to the organ as Gutenberg was to freedom of speech and thought from the dissemination of the printed word. It's for this reason that collectively we have the most wonderful opportunity to pull together in the cause, discovering rather than arguing, and promoting research and enthusiasm along the way. I hope that in 30 years time, we will see pipe organs appreciated, cherished and loved as a result and pipe organ builders flourishing.
In the course of this passion, it has been great to find organists with enthusiasm to share and even a pipe organ builder brave enough to add a tagline to his full page advert in Choir and Organ magazine promoting a concert here by a top and raptuously enthusiastic performer in November.
I'm trying to persuade a local organist of international stature to come to practice here at 4pm on days when the house is open to the public, and in this way, as with the position of the cinema organ in people's minds, I hope that we will inspire a more general public familiarity, understanding and enjoyment. All visiting organists are welcome in this vein.
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In view of such gracious recent comments in this thread I thought it appropriate to fill in gaps here, (apologies to anyone of contrary persuasion), and in view of those comments I hope that this posting will not impose on the leniency of the moderators and providers of this forum nor distract them from their software development nor require their further intervention.
(When they have finished and want to holiday in Sussex, my invitation is still open, but obviously not in paid time! )
However, for that reason
please can I urge continuation of this thread only in the direction of any further questions or clarifications on the original topic, and any further mention of matters raised in this post be continued more appropriately elsewhere.
Best wishes
David P