Internals exposed
Michael Stewart sits among the pipes in the swell of the cathedral’s organ.
Now the cathedral’s organ is to be exposed like never before in a recital far removed from the traditional performance. Instead of sitting and listening to the music the audience will be encouraged to walk around the cathedral and experience how the organ sounds from different points within the vast building.
Internal Organ is the inspiration of Richard Apperley, assistant organist at the cathedral and co-director of location audio company Hadfield Audio. Apperley was working inside the pipe chamber of the organ when one of his students, not knowing he was there, began playing the instrument.
“That gave me the idea,” Apperley says, “that and the fact I’m an audio geek.”
He says one of the most impressive places to listen to the organ is from inside the pipe chamber itself.
“Standing inside the chamber is akin to standing in the middle of a large orchestra, except the instruments are not only around you – they’re also above you.”
While the organ is vast it is also fragile and Apperley says because of this it was not possible for members of the public to enter the organ chamber. Instead he has set up seven microphones inside the organ case and eight speakers around the chapel to give the impression that listeners are standing among the pipes themselves.
Michael Stewart, organist and director of music at St Paul’s, has chosen music to show off the many colours and possibilities of the organ. He will play works from the 17th to 20th century, including Bach’s famous Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.
“I want to demonstrate how incredible this instrument is. It is incredibly loud but can also be played so quietly that you can barely hear it,” Stewart says.
English firm T.C. Lewis and Company built the organ. It was installed in Old St Paul’s in 1877 and rebuilt and enlarged in the 1930s. In 1964 it was moved to the new cathedral and enlarged to cathedral proportions in 1976. It is second, only in size, to the organ in the Wellington Town Hall.
Internal Organ is one of a series of organ recitals around Wellington churches this week to mark Wellington Organ Week.
Internal Organ, Wellington Cathedral of St Paul, 5.30pm, September 7.
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