Subbed at another church today | Bevington & Sons, London, organ (1845)

Bevington & Sons, London 1845
1 manual, 5 speaking stops, pedal pulldowns, mechanical action

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Today I subbed at Holy Trinity Cathedral, Wangaratta. The cathedral is home to two beautiful organs—a Willis and Bevington. Both are quite different instruments, in both size and character.

The Willis is a traditional English cathedral organ with 3 manuals and all the stops you could ever need, and the other, a much more compact instrument with only a single manual, 5 speaking stops and the ability to be hand blown (no electricity required). Fortunately there was electricity, so the bellows were filled up for me by the blower!

Even though I've played at this church serveral times, there's always time for a sneaky selfie before the service—she's a beauty!

A close up of the facade (I'm not sure if these pipes are speaking or only for decoration)

A close up of the manual and stops

The flat pedalboard is permanently coupled to the manual (no stops)

Director of Music and @contrabourdon (2017)

The photo above was taken after a recital in 2017 by the DoM of the cathedral. I think it was in 2016 where the DoM also did monthly organ recitals here and I went to every one of them. The drive to the cathedral is about 45 mins from my place but it was well worth it. Often I had to turn pages and manage some registrations for him. Come to think of it, I actually owe some credit to the DoM as he was partly responsible for my inspiration behind starting a lunchtime recital series in my town.

You might be wondering why I was playing the Bevington organ today instead of the Willis. Well, sadly, the Willis has been out of action for probably over a year now due to a rat infestation. The rats had eaten into the leather bellows, causing the air to leak from them which subsequently means there is no air to flow through the pipes. As far as I'm aware, they are still raising funds for its complete restoration and the DoM will be giving a benefit recital (along with other musicians) in Melbourne later this year. I do hope it will be sounding again because it's a significant instrument in the region.

I did record some clips on the Bevington this morning, but silly me...I did not have auto gain turned on my recording device and everything ended up distorted. Believe me...I was really, really annoyed about that. Anyway, I will leave you with a recording of the Willis from 2017 at an Evensong: Lord, Thou hast been our refuge by the popular Ralph Vaughan Williams. My iPhone was used for this recording at the console so it's not the best but at least it's something!

All photos were taken by me.

Yours truly,
@contrabourdon

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