An organ is installed at London Underground station

An organ is installed at London Underground station

News

norman lebrecht

August 10, 2022

It’s London Bridge, actually.

Brendan Kavanagh is the player.

But anyone can now fugue off.

Comments

  • Sisko24 says:

    I despair: London takes organ music so seriously they install a pipe organ in a subway (tube) station while neither of New York’s allegedly world-class concert halls takes organmusic seriously so that neither has one.

    Higher breeding and IQ in London, perhaps?

    • NYMike says:

      Carnegie Hall’s configuration has never had room for an installed organ onstage. Geffen Hall’s redesign puts the audience behind the orchestra ala Berlin’s Philharmonie.

      • Sisko24 says:

        No, not quite accurate. Carnegie Hall had a pipe organ installed in it until the 1950s or early 1960s when it was removed for an unknown reason. As I remember from reading old reviews somewhere, among the many works for orchestra and which featured organ, there was premiered in Carnegie Hall ‘The Pines of Rome’ and Saint-Saens 3rd Symphony. Geffen Hall could and should have had a pipe organ included in the redesign, but it was not. Both instances tend to prove my point, wouldn’t you agree?

    • Maria says:

      It’s a big mainline station, not in a tube station! Like the pianos we also have in the mainline stations all over the country, they are there for anyone – including me as a very good amateur pianist – to play.

  • Dan says:

    Thank you Norman, finally an organ article which isn’t an obituary.
    More details about the London Bridge station organ here: https://www.timeout.com/london/news/a-victorian-pipe-organ-has-been-installed-at-london-bridge-to-serenade-commuters-072522

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