Skip Sempé and Andreas Linos at Staunton Harold

The main reason for Andreas and Skip visiting us was to sample the world of the English 17th century consort organ. On Saturday we visited Canons Ashby, where the ca1675 organ is now placed at the end of a long gallery, an appropriate acoustical space which one can imagine being used by viol players in the early 17th century. On Sunday we visited Staunton Harold, where the 1630/1686 organ is associated with William Lawes. Both organs are captivating for those who know. Andreas is a viol player (amongst other things) and plays with the group l’Archéron, who have just bought a set of six English viols. They also present a programme based on Thomas Dallam’s organ for the sultan, which generated a great deal of discussion…