St Mary Redcliffe

Organ Description

A dream-come-true?

Right from its inauguration in 1912, the organ of St Mary Redcliffe was recognised as a masterpiece. Arthur Harrison is inextricably linked with the instrument, and it was made clear from the outset that the people of St Mary's were determined to provide Redcliffe with the best organ that money could buy.

Sir Edward Bairstow said of it "I really think it is the finest you have ever built. The voicing is superb and the build up glorious".

Boris Ord said "I cannot imagine anything more beautiful than your Claribel Flutes at Redcliffe".

William McVicker described the organ as "the finest high-Romantic organ ever constructed", as also did Carlo Curley "The finest English Romantic Organ in the entire world".

What makes this instrument so successful is that above all, the grandeur of the sound is astonishing. It is almost too overwhelming at the console, and the ensemble blends perfectly in the church, helped by the glorious acoustic.

Arthur Harrison himself is said to have regarded the Redcliffe organ as his finest and most characteristic work.

My most important objective was to replicate this organ as faithfully as possible, whilst capturing everything about it from the fizz of the Swell strings to the roar of the Great Trombas, and from the singing quality of the Choir Flutes to the pomp & circumstance of the Solo Tuba.

I am first and foremost an organist - an experienced one at that, and I know what makes an organ sound good. I wanted this sample set to sound 'alive' and so you will hear all the quirks and idiosyncrasies of the real pipe organ. Everything has been done by hand, and as a result you may hear some hissing, some seagulls, some rattles, some passing cars and some out of tune reeds.

This is as real as it gets. This is of the world's finest organs available to play in your own home. This is not just any organ - this is St Mary Redcliffe.

A dream-come-true?

Absolutely - built by people who really care.

Rx

Support documentation

St Mary Redcliffe User Guide

Organ features

• Fully animated organ console;
• 'Simple' divisional screen;
• 'Simple' single stops screen;
• Photo-realistic fully-functional left and right stop jams in portrait (landscape coming in early 2025);
  
• Fully sampled (only) Tremulants across the Echo and Orchestral Swell divisions (only the Vox Humana will be available in this release with all others coming in early 2025);
• 3 separate (Close, Front and Rear) perspectives, totalling 6 channels;
• Adjustable audio levels for each division in each perspective;
• Separate pallet and slider noises;
• 4 presets (Console, Crossing, Nave and Recording);
• 4 memory banks for personal customisation of settings;
• All noise levels fully adjustable;
• 4 different Ambience settings (day, evening, night and the famous Redcliffe bells);
• Adjustable Swell and Echo delay of the expression pedals;
• Adjustable tuning (NOT an false 'de-tune' feature. The default tuning is as it was when recorded, and the tuned version has been manually tuned by Richard, note-by-note using the Great Octave 4' as a basis).

Overview

Released: 6 December 2024
Producer: BIS
Location: Redcliffe, Bristol, UK
Organ Builder: Harrison & Harrison
Stops: 71
Manuals: 4 + pedal
Expression Pedals: Echo and Swell(x2)
Pistons: 8 Pistons on each division (14 on the Swell)

Specification

Echo & Solo
Tuba 8
Tremulant
Oboe 8
Double Clarinet 16
Dulciana Mixture III 15.19.22
Flageolet 2
Lieblich Flöte 4
Vox Angelica 8
Lieblich Gedeckt 8
Salicional 8
Lieblich Bordun 16
Octave
Sub Octave
Unison Off

Swell
Clarion 4
Trumpet 8
Horn 8
Double Trumpet 16
Mixture V 12.19.22.26.29
Fifteenth 2
Concert Flute 4
Principal 4
Harmonic Flute 8
Open Diapason 8
Tremulant
Vox Humana 8
Orchestral Hautboy 8
Cor Anglais 16
Viole Octaviante 4
Viole Céleste 8
Viole d’Orchestre 8
Contra Viola 16
Octave
Sub Octave
Unison Off
Solo to Swell

Great
Octave Tromba 4
Tromba 8
Contra Tromba 16
Harmonics IV 17.19.21.22
Mixture V 12.15.19.22.26
Super Octave 2
Octave Quint 2 2/3
Octave 4
Wald Flöte 4
Small Open Diapason 8
Hohl Flöte 8
Large Open Diapason 8
Stopped Diapason 8
Geigen 8
Bordun 16
Gross Geigen 16
Solo to Great
Swell to Great
Choir to Great

Choir
Corno di Bassetto 8
Gemshorn 2
Flauto Traverso 4
Salicet 4
Claribel Flute 8
Viola da Gamba 8
Dulciana 8
Open Diapason 8
Contra Dulciana 16
Tromba on Choir
Reeds on Choir
Solo to Choir
Swell to Choir

Pedal
Clarinet 16
Posaune 8
Trombone 16
Ophicleide 16
Double Trombone 32
Double Ophicleide 32
Mixture IV 19.22.26.29
Fifteenth 4
Octave Flute 4
Principal 8
Flute 8
Octave Wood 8
Sub Bass 16
Dulciana 16
Geigen 16
Violone 16
Open Wood 16
Open Diapason 16
Double Open Wood 32
Solo to Pedal
Swell to Pedal
Great to Pedal
Choir to Pedal

Technical information

Sample rate: 48 kHz
Bit resolution: 24-bit
Channel count: 6 (3 x stereo)
Hauptwerk version: Hauptwerk 7 or higher (with iLok account and license)

Computer requirements

Operating System: Windows or MacOS
Hauptwerk version: v7 or above
RAM in addition to system RAM and other RAM that Hauptwerk may currently be using:

Each Perspective (Close, Front and Rear):

• 16-bit 7gb
• 20-bit 16gb
• 24-bit 19gb

Noises

• 16-bit 600mb
• 20-bit 1gb
• 24-bit 1gb

Ambience
16-bit (only) 1gb

Minimum RAM: 16gb (only one perspective loaded in 16-bit, no noises)
Maximum RAM: 64GB (for a full load on maximum settings)

External links

Paul Hale - Perfection Preserved
Harrison & Harrison overview

Demo information

Upon purchasing the demo, you'll receive a licence code to a fully-functional version of the organ which will expire after 7 days, If you decide to purchase the full version, please get in touch with me with your Order Number and I'll discount the full price by the amount you paid for the demo (amounts will vary from country to country depending on local tax rates).