Restoration

The Contra Viola, playable from the Choir (1st manual), is a very important stop for music-making on the Alexandra Palace Organ, since no other flue stops of 16' pitch on the manuals have yet been restored. The Choir Organ is the only division on the instrument that is almost complete, and is housed in the expression box at the rear of the installation, at the lower level.

The remainder of the original 1875 Contra Viola has been in store with the Organbuilder since the 1970s. A substantial portion of the 61 pipes exist in restorable condition. For pipes that are restorable, the Organbuilder will carry out a painstaking repair process. For pipes that are absent or in such bad condition as to be unrestorable, the Organbuilder will make new based on the existing pipes. When all 61 separate pipes are produced, the Choir soundboards are ready to house and supply wind and thus no work to the existing installation is required, other than simply slotting the pipes into their holes.

The Solo soundboard seats and supplies wind to the entire Solo organ (4th manual) as the instrument currently stands. The final Solo organ will be substantially larger, including a separate expression box with thirteen imitative and orchestral voices. Presently the Solo consists only of the unenclosed portion, the four Trombas and Tuba, the loudest stops on the instrument, and sits immediately behind the front case pipes above the Great arch.

During recent years severe climatic conditions at the upper level of the Great Hall have taken a severe toll on the soundboard and two of the four stops are inoperative due to stuck sliders. The repair work consists of dismantling the soundboard and rebuilding it at a lower position, so that in future it will be less exposed to these severe conditions.

Like the Contra Viola, the remainder of the 1929 Cor Anglais has been in store with the Organbuilder since the 1970s. Unfortunately in this case only a very small portion of the 61 pipes exist in restorable condition. The Organbuilder will be able, therefore, to use these as a template to produce a new rank in as close a style as possible to the original. As with the Contra Viola, the Choir soundboards are ready for the pipes which will simply be slotted into their holes.

As the final stop to complete the Choir Organ, the Cor Anglais is a fine imitative voice with a similar timbre to an Orchestral Oboe. The old Cor Anglais, generously loaned by the builder until it had to return to its rightful home, was of too small a scale and the new will naturally be much more suited to the vast space of the Great Hall.

The reeds had suffered from dust and dirt in the Palace for a number of years and the old reed tongues and wedges were giving continual issues with tuning. The reeds were removed to the Willis works in Liverpool where extensive restoration was carried out on them.

The Pedal reeds had suffered from a quick restoration back in the late 1980s and the reeds were never successful in the Great Hall. It was discovered during restoration that the organ pitch change in 1939 had also affected the way the reeds spoke and this all had to be redressed. Delays in this project were caused by Covid and Brexit in the supply and delivery of raw materials.