Organ Experience at Liverpool Cathedral

Since 1926, many of the world’s most famous organists have sat at this very console and played the mighty Willis at Liverpool Cathedral. People like Goss-Custard, Germani, Thalben-Ball, Jackson, Rawsthorne, Tracey, Curley and now Harrington. Well okay, Keith Harrington doesn’t exactly fit in with this illustrious ‘pipe’ of organists, but on 30th January 2013 he had the significant pleasure of playing on the top console of this mighty five manual instrument with 10,268 speaking pipes for a couple of hours. “This was a terrific honour, something I never imagined I would ever do” said Keith. He added “The ergonomics of the console are superb with everything within easy reach; you actually sit inside the console and feel part of this living, breathing instrument”.

Playing at the original console high up in the chancel under the north case brings its own challenges as the organist does not hear the instrument in perfect balance since, for example, the Great division is very immediate whilst the Swell speaks down the Nave. The 1989 Hutson recital console is more or less a copy of the original, but is placed on a mobile plinth and generally played from close to the pulpit in the Nave. Here everything is in balance but the organist has to deal with a significant acoustic delay.

Fancy this yourself? You too can have a similar organ experience, see the appeal website for details.