A few CDs landed on my desk this month for review and amongst them were
two from Paul Morris of his Model "F" Orchestrelle.  As not everyone in
the MMD reads where these reviews usually end up, I thought I'd also
copy you in on them.  They're great CDs, they really are.

Paul also has a brand new web site where you can listen to samples
of these and purchase online: http://www.paulmorrismusic.co.uk/
The web site also has samples and CDs of his 2-manual Aeolian residence
organ, a very fine instrument indeed.

Regards,
Adam Ramet

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  The Orchestrelle plays "Grand" Rolls

Here's a full length CD of a Model "F" Solo Orchestrelle with the
switch set to "Grand" and a fine stack of 58-note rolls receiving the
breath of life under the control of Paul Morris.

The moniker "Orchestrelle" is apt as once your ear becomes acquainted
to the instrument it doesn't take much to imagine classical ensemble
tones, strings, woodwind, brass et al.  If pushed in the right places
a rollicking Edwardian theatre orchestra sounds from within or even
a cathedral organ.

"Grand" music is typically all without printed stop registration on the
music sheet.  It is for the performer to decide which stops to draw,
how to operate the swells, how much air to treadle.  When you listen
to this CD do remember this point for all the orchestral shadings are
entirely Paul's own -- it is an entirely interactive player instrument
and a live performance.

The chosen rolls span the entire period of the 58-note format with
serial numbers from the early 1890s through to the 'teens.  There is
everything you'd find in a typical Orchestrelle roll library, not just
tunes that we find moderately popular a century later.  These eighteen
pieces are eighteen good reasons to explain what once attracted people
to these fine instruments so readily.

The tracks comprise dance music, light opera, grand opera, marches,
light classics and characteristic pieces.  I personally enjoyed
Grunfeld's "Little Serenade" so much I tracked the music down that very
same evening so I could play it by hand myself.

Other highlights are Louis Ganne's "Marche Tartare", a long selection
from the Edwardian musical by Talbot "A Chinese Honeymoon", Depret's
"Sourire d'Avril" waltz (had me waltzing around on my chair), the
overture from Gounod's opera "Mireille", Davidov's "Gates of the Holy
Cloister", Sibelius' "Valse Triste" and Victor Herbert's vivacious
"Al Fresco" intermezzo.

 ***

  The Orchestrelle plays 116-note "Solo" rolls

Barely has the first minute passed before you appreciate the musical
differences of the "Solo" roll format when applied to the same organ.
This enables the Orchestrelle to create complex orchestral effects by
simulating the effect of 2-manual music to play melody lines distinct
from accompaniment notes played on different stops.

I am not going to say that these are therefore better than 58-note
rolls: they are merely different and the effect they give is different.
Mercifully, the 116-note rolls are orchestrated with stop instructions
printed on the rolls.  Without these it'd be as complicated as flying
a fighter jet.

Again, as with the other disc, there is a similarly broad eighteen
selections of music.  The subtle finesse capable by the solo system
is shown in "At the Spring" by Strauss, Kreisler's "Caprice Viennoise"
and the opening number of the selection from that delight of Edwardian
musical theatre "The Aradians".  Liza Lehman's "In a Persian Garden"
is revealed as most wonderful melody when brought to life on the organ.

The CD ends with Eilenberg's "Guardmount Patrol" with fabulous tenor
countermelody and a magical piccolos part.  As long as music like this
can still be heard Arcady is indeed ever young.

 ***