INTRODUCTION
DREAM ORGANS
A fascination with 'what if?'; a restlessness with the very solidity of the physical world; a
searching beyond historical fact.
Place has always been important to organs. Each is the musical voice of its own
location. Unlike mass-produced pianos, and harpsichords which move from venue to venue, the
very permanence and uniqueness of each organ justifies the itinerant lifestyle of the touring
performer.
Each organ defines and symbolises its physical locus. Each organ is at
home in its own surroundings.
Throughout history, home has been symbolised by a town or city: ancient foundations such as
Ur, Babylon and hundred-gated-Thebes; exotic locations such as Xanadu and Byzantium;
imaginary havens such as Emerald City; spiritual refuges such as the New Jerusalem or St.
Augustine's City of God. Earthly or heavenly, each place is home to the heart and spirit of
one who "plugs into a circuit" there. Each has its own presence, an ambience which is more
than the sum of its physical parts.
Why imaginary organs?
"So then, yours is truly a journey through memory. Your cities do not exist... why do you
amuse yourself with consolatory fables?"
"This is the aim of my explorations: examining the traces of happiness still to be glimpsed...
I am collecting the ashes of the other possible cities that vanish..."
. . .
"Everything imaginable can be dreamed... you take delight in the answer it gives
to a question of yours."
Italo Calvino: Invisible Cities
Imaginary organs; invisible organs; dream organs. An honourable tradition: Renautus Harris's
6-manual scheme for St. Paul's Cathedral, London, in 1712; Dom Bedos's 84-stop apothoesis of
the French classical tradition; Schulze's 84-stop sketch for Cologne Cathedral; Willis III's
130-stop scheme for Sheffield City Hall in 1929; Mutin's 152-stop revision of
Cavaillé-Coll's plan for St. Peters, Rome; Audsley's 273-stop 'Temple of Tone'; and many
others.
"Home is where a man knows who he is. If he sticks his finger in the earth he plugs into a
circuit. The gods come up through the earth or out of the sky and take a seat in his head"
Greg Bear: Queen of Angels
Home exists in two realms: the mundane and the imaginative. As a symbol, 'home' binds together
the varied facets of our lives. This is more important than its outward form, which
may be grandiose or humble, ancient or modern.
My 'invisible organs' are multi-layered in time. They range through the past, bestowing a
permanence on the fragile moment and allowing us to wander, at will, through the corridors of
experience. Sometimes they explore alternative histories - the intriguing 'what if'? Some are
unabashed avant-garde statements. Some of them are purely symbolic. Several of my imaginary
organs are permeated by the sensations of one midlands town, Chesterfield
(above left): the scent of moorland air and the damp coolness of autumn rain; the stained brick
of town buildings; the odour of coal-smoke and the clank of steam railways. A few more are
inspired by the Victorian architectural heritage and elemental nature of one south-coast
resort, Hastings & St. Leonards (above right).
In the process of their genesis, these organs have defined their own world. They are
marking-points on a journey which is never finished.
