SOUNDS DIFFERENT IN SALISBURY CATHEDRAL!

Current visitors to Salisbury Cathedral with discerning ears are in for a big surprise. For the next week, they will hear the quite different sounds of famous organs from cathedrals and churches in countries around the world right here during any one service.

This extraordinary situation is happening because, while Salisbury Cathedral’s mighty Father Willis organ is out of action for essential maintenance work, the cathedral is using a digital computer organ built by Daniel Cook, the cathedral’s organist, which utilizes the pioneering Hauptwerk computer software. This software allows Daniel and his colleagues at the cathedral to use a variety of different ‘virtual’ instruments recorded and produced by Milan Digital Audio which are then loaded into Hauptwerk.

“I built the organ to practice on at home. When we knew that the Father Willis would be out of action, I offered to lend my four manual digital computer organ to the cathedral. Over the past few weeks we have used the organs from Metz Cathedral, France, St Georgenkirche, Roetha, Germany, and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Chicago, IL., USA. Members of the congregation and staff have been hugely impressed by the realism and power available from these ‘virtual’ instruments.

“And very fortunately, as luck would have it, Volume I of our very own Father Willis Organ was released by Milan Digital Audio just days before my organ was installed into the cathedral which has allowed me to use 28 of the 65 stops of the Father Willis organ in its natural acoustic. It is believed to be the first time a sampled instrument has been used in its own building for services! It’s been fun hearing members of the congregation identify their own organ amongst all the international guests!”

The work on the real Father Willis organ will be completed by 23 March so it will be sounding better than ever for Easter.