How nice that it has been kept in its original specification.

Excellent presentation of a beautiful instrument!

A beautiful instrument and excellent introduction.

Lovely to see inside I never went into it - what I missed.

What a beautiful instrument. Thank you Titus for this engaging introduction and delightful presentation!

I couldn't be more pleasantly surprised by your poise and the quality of your presentation

Thank you for your voyage of discovery on this beautiful instrument.

I had the pleasure of "re-habilitating" the Choir Clarionet and flute/flue work back in the early 2000's during Mark Fisher's tenure as carer for the organ. The rank was in very poor condition and regulation and thankfully it came up to the mark as demonstated by you here Titus. It should be noted that Peter Jewkes reinstated the Great Trumpet, which for some extrordinary reason had been moved to the Swell (???) - or the Swell Cornopean moved to the Great as a 16' ??? in many years past by others not known to me. I remember selling a Hill & Son Pedal Violone Cello to Ralph Lane many years ago that he'd hoped to add to the Pedal of the instrument. Regrettably that never happened. I think many builders over the years have had 'played around' with this organ, but it is good to know that it is now back to what Hill originally planned.

The case like the work of Dr Arthur Hill who designed many fine cases eg Peterborough Cathedral and Beverley Minster. In England. Hill mixtures usually begin 17,19,22, but the tierce drops our after tenor c. It makes such a difference to have an organ in the right place.

"international sources" throws in "Victoria" at the end 🤣 Well played!

Very good tonal demonstration. The Hill organ you must visit is the one at Ss Peter & Paul’s old Cathedral, Goulburn. It has a Trombone to die for.

A beautiful church and a splendid Hill & Son Organ. Thank you very much, Titus, for this wonderful demonstration of the organ's historical importance and also its tonal possibilities: bravo!

Thanks for the demo, Titus!

The wobble on the great is unusual, we have a fully restored Hill & Son in Tanunda which is magnificent

I really enjoyed that tour of that very beautiful instrument! Wonderful job with playing but also with the photography and editing (Kim?)! Hope you do more videos like this. It would be fun to see the interior pipe work and the blower system, when possible! Thanks so much!

I didn't interpret "hymn machine" as derogatory either. Just thought it quite apt. I guess "squawk box" is derogatory.

Nice! Beautiful case! Does it have tracker action or is it tubular pneumatic? Check out the 1870 Hill organ in St. John True brook, Liverpool, Uk. It reminds me of that instrument. William Faulkes was organist there for 5 years during the early 1900s. Thank you for your demonstration!! You just answer my question at the end of your demostration. It's a tracker!

Great video as usual Titus. The amount of flex in the Great manual would put me off a lot; like walking on a suspension bridge. Very disappointing that the integrity of the restoration has been compromised by going with a makeshift balanced swell pedal instead of the proper ratchet lever from the period. Hill & Son pipe organs are in a league of their own. Cheers.

Fantastic video

Hi Titus, what a lovely presentation and demonstration! BRAVO! My honest feelings right now are I wish I could listen to you play it for several hours and just soak it up! My extremely limited experience is that Hill organs are delightfully voiced and you soon fall in love with them, despite the limitations as you described. I was surprised there were only 2 pedal stops for a 3 manual, I thought perhaps Hill might have included an 8 ft violon cello and a 16 ft trombone? Sometimes there would be a 16 ft reed in the swell and maybe a celeste (often no mixture though). I imagine some of the larger Hill organs would have had Barker lever assistance installed which would be nice for the manual coupling. Have you had a chance to play the Hill & Son at Tanunda SA? Yku would thoroughly enjoy it, formerly from the Adelaide Town Hall, it was beautifully restored by the team including Steve Kaisler and George Stephens. Take care, John Ps would love to hear any other recordings you made here!

A ""hymn machine": I've never heard that way of describing an organ before. Much better than a" squawk box" as is sometimes used to describe a neo-baroque instrument.

This organ has rather a harsh tone apart from the Choir Organ which I preferred. The Swell reeds shout rather than sing, The Great Mixture screeches and makes the division sound a touch top heavy. I think the Chorus is more than adequate without the Mixture. This is all in my opinion

That the church's fabric is of Pyrmont stone is a myth that was created after the building was completed & opened in 1889. The very inferior stone was extracted from the newly opened Walz's quarry at Arncliffe (now Gardiner's Park, Banksia). The principal trustee & executor of the Baillie estate was Thomas Buckland, Chairman of (among other firms) Colonial Sugar Refinery which generated its profits using Kanaka & indentured labour in Queensland (where the Baillies had acquired farmland) & in the Pacific, &, of course, child labour in its Sydney refinery.

PULL ALL THE STOPS and Play PHANTOM of the OPERA! Bwahahahaha. . .

The organ looks a lot more visibly attractive than it sounds. I wouldn’t be in a hurry to play it for the reasons I mentioned in a previous comment. It certainly is a hymn machine as apposed to a concert instrument. In fact, depending on the size of the church congregation, I can imagine that if not played with a degree of restraint, ie. not using the Great Mixture and the Swell Cornopean, It could drown out the singing . Again these are my opinions and are not meant to be in any way derogatory.

A wonderful instrument for sure. But why is it this much out of tune if it has been restored? The swell 8’s are the worst. A fine organ like this deserves to be tuned well!