Delightful recital played on the king of instruments

ORTOA CELEBRITY RECITALS AT THE ROCHDALE TOWN HALL ORGAN - A BEACON FOR THE TOWN OF CULTURE

- Review by Dr Joe Dawson

ORTOA (Oldham, Rochdale and Tameside Organists' Association est.1908) are back at the newly-renovated town hall presenting top performers at the JJ Binns organ.

A new time for this set of recitals was Tuesday at 1pm.

This gives lucky concert -goers the opportunity to explore the magnificent, restored building and enjoy a tasty brunch in the Martlet restaurant beforehand.

ORTOA presented a great exponent: the exuberant and charismatic virtuoso Keith Hearnshaw with his gift for making music accessible.

Part of the skillset of a top-notch organist is the ability to adapt to many different, individual instruments and deal with whatever idiosyncrasies, quirks and foibles they may present.

Keith knows the Rochdale Binns instrument well.

However, even he was surprised when he arrived for his pre-recital day's practice and part of it sounded as soon as he switched on ... and it stayed sounding.

(For techies, the Swell 16 reed slider stuck on, due to humidity).

But have no fear, Hearnshaw’s here; with his cool head and tons of experience, plus a visit from the specialists, disaster was averted.

The audience were oblivious of these problems, but it does highlight the need to keep our Rolls Royce instrument in fine fettle.