Organs

Principles

Harrison & Harrison’s approach to organ building is nothing if not thorough.”

Every organ is designed individually for its specific building, to fit both the acoustics and the architecture; and great care is taken to ensure that each organ has a logical and accessible internal layout. Harrisons use Computer Aided Design (CAD), which has the advantage of ease in producing accurate, detailed working drawings, and allows our designers to experiment with a variety of layouts.

• We make our own organs in our own workshop.
• Nothing is mass-produced: not a single tracker or power-motor is made without a particular organ in mind. There are no short cuts.
• The firm has an unbroken tradition of slider chests, going back to 1861.
• We cast our own pipe metal by traditional methods to the specification required for each stop.
• The firm’s own voicers control every aspect of the organ’s musical development.
• Each new organ is first set up in our workshop to ensure that every part is functioning correctly. It is then dismantled and packed for dispatch.
• After it has been installed by our own organ builders, the instrument is finished with the detailed voicing and tonal blending for which the firm is renowned.

Harrison organs have a reputation for longevity. A new organ is guaranteed for the first fifteen years; even after that it will require little attention. A busy city church could expect its H&H organ to run smoothly for 50 years before its first major maintenance work. A small country organ might last twice as long.

We provide a prompt and efficient maintenance service.

New Organs

Restoration work requires the ability to place the aims of the original builder first. But when we build new organs, whatever their size, they are always instantly recognisable as Harrison instruments, with our characteristically colourful and exquisitely-blended voicing, closely associated with the English choral tradition.

Since the mid-1980s the majority of new H&H organs have employed mechanical action, although the firm still willingly uses electro-pneumatic action where considerations of architecture or musical style make it the best choice.

Each new organ that leaves the Durham workshop is installed and finished in every detail by our own organ builders. Each is a work of art: an authentic musical instrument with its own aesthetic integrity.

Mechanical action

• Chamber organs for Ely Cathedral, Ripon Cathedral and others
• Practice Organs (II/5) for James Lancelot, Nottingham High School, Christopher Storr, Mark Venning
• Douglas, IoM, St George’s Church (2003: II/22 )
• Fenham, Newcastle, St Robert’s Church (1980: II/13)
• Glenalmond College, Perth (2007: II/26)
• Leighton Buzzard Parish Church (1989: III/35)
• Tunbridge Wells, St Augustine’s R.C. Church (1994: II/12)
• Twickenham Parish Church (1996: II/20)
• Twyford Parish Church, Hampshire (2006: II/18, in the spirit of the 1867 Walker organ)
• West Ham Parish Church (1986: II/21)
• Winchester College, Fromond’s Chantry (2005: II/6)
• Windsor Castle, The Private Chapel (1997: I/6)
• Denmark, St Alban’s Church, Copenhagen (2005: II/21, including 7 stops from 1887 Walker organ )
• South Korea, Seoul Cathedral (1985/2006: II/20)
• U.S.A. Emmanuel Church, Chestertown, MD (1993: II/23)
• U.S.A. Church of the Good Shepherd, Rocky Mount, NC (1998: II/22)

Electro-pneumatic action

• Bury St Edmunds, St Edmundsbury Cathedral (2010: IV/59, including 36 stops from old organ)
• Cirencester Parish Church (2009: IV/63, including 30 Willis stops from old organ)
• Exeter Cathedral (2003: Minstrel organ, 8 stops)
• Glasgow University Memorial Chapel (2005: III/48, including 30 stops from 1928 Willis organ)
• Lichfield Cathedral (2000: nave organ, 13 stops)
• London, Holy Trinity, Sloane St (2012: IV/71, based on pipework by JW Walker, 1891/1934)
• London, Westminster Central Hall (2011: IV/66, based on Hill pipework of 1912)
• St Davids Cathedral, Pembrokeshire (2000: IV/54, including 31 stops from 1883 Willis organ)
• U.S.A. Front Street United Methodist Church, Burlington, NC (2002: III/55)
• U.S.A. Christ Church, Grosse Pointe, MI (2001: III/49)
• U.S.A. St James’s Episcopal Church, Hendersonville, NC (1999: III/44)
• U.S.A. Church of the Holy Spirit, Lake Forest, IL (1995: III/47, based on the 1972 Harrison organ)
• U.S.A. Hope United Church of Christ, St Louis, MO (2002: II/33)
• U.S.A. Trinity Episcopal Church, Vero Beach, FL (1997, moved to new church 2005: III/41)
• U.S.A. St Paul’s Episcopal Church, Winterhaven, FL (1990: III/32)

Restoration

A remarkable success.”
Dr Harry Bramma, who was Organist at the time, describing Harrisons’ restoration work on the renowned Lewis organ of Southwark Cathedral, which included correction of the pitch and reinstatement of the original wind-pressures.

	In spite of their complexity, pipe organs can carry on for years without giving any trouble.  Quite a small organ may have 1,000 pipes;  a large organ 5,000 or more.  Like any other piece of machinery, they need proper maintenance and adjustment to keep them in good working order. As the organ gets older, it may start to get moody.  Notes sound when they shouldn’t, or don’t sound when they should.  Stops go silent.  Bellows leak, keys rattle, components wear out.  A thick layer of dirt settles in the moving parts, and clogs the pipes so that the sound gradually loses its freshness. Leather may crack;  the wood may twist so that sliders will not slide, or shrink so that air escapes where it shouldn’t.  Mice, moth or woodworm may cause problems;  dampness or water from a leaking roof may cause damage. After two or three decades, a simple cleaning and overhaul may be enough.  But the time will eventually come when the entire instrument has to be taken apart for major restoration. In country churches, this will probably be after 100 years or so.  In a busy church, it may be needed sooner.  But organs don’t suddenly crash out. They age gracefully, and a good instrument will give many more decades of reliable service if well restored. Harrisons’ historic restorations are carefully researched and any changes are meticulously executed.  The firm’s advice on organ restorationis widely respected. Notable examples of our historic restoration  work include the 1922-32 Willis organ of Westminster Cathedral, the 1897 Lewis organ of Southwark Cathedral, and the 1882 Willis organ of Reading Town Hall.  We are also specialists in the unusual and complex art of pneumatic restoration as at the Caird Hall, Dundee (H&H 1923), the Usher Hall Edinburgh (Norman & Beard 1914) and St Bartholomew’s Church Armley (Schulze 1869/Binns 1905).