organ118 - Birmingham Organists' Association

Go to content

organ118

Organs

organ 118

April 2012

2 manuals
24 speaking stops

Click here for full spec


Christ Church
Chelsea

Builder:

Flentrop, 2010


Pass your mouse over a photo
for a brief description

Click on the photo to obtain
a full-size image



Click here for
Organ of the Month archive
(contains over 100 organs)

Several members of our association made the trip to Chelsea for this year's London Organ Day, an event devoted to the Lutheran Chorale and the music of Bach.  The guest recitalist was Ludger Lohmann.

The new organ by Flentrop Orgelbouw of The Netherlands was an ideal choice for this repertoire, and it was pleasing to hear the three masterclass students (Richard Cook, Jonathan Stamp and Joe Waggott, all from Birmingham Conservatoire) giving a good demonstration of chorale prelude playing before such a distinguished authority on Bach as Professor Peter Williams.

The organ replaces an instrument built in 1779 for St Michael's Church in the City of London by John Budgen and moved to Christ Church in 1876, which had become unplayable.  A number of stops that remain from the 18th century and the old organ facade provided the basis for the design, and are incorporated in the new instrument. The Advisor for this project was Ian Bell. The pedalboard is straight & flat, with the stop jambs also flat. The key and stop actions are mechanical throughout, and playing aids are limited to two on/off foot pedals per department, with the stops to be affected being selected by rotating the respective stop knobs.

Professor
Ludger Lohmann

You can listen to part of a Bach Partita played on a Flentrop organ as April 12's Music of the Month

Back to content