Me playing the organ at Immaculate Heart of Mary and St Dominic Catholic Church in Homerton, London.
The organ is the now extremely rare 347 model built by the John Compton Organ Company Ltd in 1957 for the church following rebuild after extensive damage during world war two. The 347 was the first electronic model to be produced by Compton in the post war years. Unlike later models, the tone generators, relays and amplifiers are contained in an external cabinet rather than the console. The specification reads:
PEDAL Acoustic Bass 32' Contra Bass 16' Violone 16' Bourdon 16' Dulciana 16' Octave 8' Flute 8' Trombone 16' Great to Pedal Swell to Pedal
GREAT Contra Geigen 16' Diapason 8' Gemshorn 8' Hohl Flute 8' Stopped Diapason 8' Dolce 8' Octave 4' Wald Flute 4' Twelfth & Fifteenth II Cor Anglais 8' Clarinet 8' Tromba 8' Swell to Great
SWELL Contra Salicional 16' Principal 8' Viol de Gamba 8' Salicional 8' Flauto Pleno 8' Lieblich Gedeckt 8' Salicet 4' Lieblich Flute 4' Flageolet 2' Mixture III Contra Fagotto 16' Cornopean 8' Hautbois 8' Clarion 4'
ACCESSORIES 4 double touch thumb pistons to Great and Pedal 4 double touch thumb pistons to Swell and Pedal 2 pedal coupler canceller thumb pistons 1 balanced expression pedal - Great and Pedal 1 balanced expression pedal - Swell Tremulant - entire organ Double touch canceller to each department
For this video I am playing the hymn 'Promised Lord and Christ is he' to the tune 'Hark my soul' from the Catholic hymnal.
Many thanks to the parish priest for kindly allowing me access to the church to play what is now an extremely rare instrument.
One thing to note - I am certainly no wizard of an organist but hope this video is able to give an illustration of what a Compton 347 electrone sounds like.
