Listen to the Organ

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• The Compton comes to the valley
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• Listen to the organ in its heydey

If you enjoy listening to the sounds of this organ recorded when it was in good shape, and would like to hear the "Dartford Warbler" singing away live once again, then please do consider a donation, sponsorship or other help and material assistance in our restoration work.Thank You.

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STATE DARTFORD RADIO BROADCAST

Here we have tracks from an extremely rare live BBC radio broadcast in the mid 1940s by organist

LEWIS GERARD

Lewis Gerard was resident at the 4 manual Compton-Notermann organ in the Dreamland Compex at Margate, and opened several organs on the ABC Cinema circuit. He emigrated to the USA in the 1960s and continied to play concerts over there, as well as several trips back to the UK for guest appearances

The quality of this recording is very poor as it was taken direct off the radio, presumably onto an early tape machine. The recordings have further suffered from copying and transfer to MP3 format. However, I hope it gives you a flavour of how the organ sounded (as a 3/6 with original metal Tibia clausa, plus Melophone) in its original home all those years ago. The nice acoustics of the cinema can certainly be heard. The haunting tones of the early Compton patent electrostatic" Melophone" unit can be heard in the opening bars of Lewis Gerard's signature tune "When Day is Done" just before "Orpheus in the Underworld" and on other tracks.

3. When Day is Done/Closing Announcement

(Recordings courtesy W. Ivany )

Arnold Loxam

(link to Arnold Loxam photo/biography)

Dr. Arnold Loxam is still going strong at 91 years of age. Here we hear the rhythmic playing for which he has become famous in over 80 years of public performances!

Quickstep Medley #2

George Blackmore in Concert 17/11/85

Internationally reknowned North Kentish theatre organist, one-time resident at the superb Compton organ of the Majestic, Rochester, plays another former North Kentish organ!