Colin Tilney plays English Renaissance music on the Consort organ of Knole House

From the album "Fruhe Englische Orgelmusik" published by EMI. (OOP), recorded 1980

There is an audio error in track 3. I was informed that the CD this was ripped from, and possibly the whole print run had this error.

Tracklist:
John Bull (1562~1628)
0:00 In Nominie 6

Anonymous, possibly Thomas Preston (? ~ c.1563)?
3:32 Uppon La Mi Re

William Blitheman (1525~1591)
6:05 6 Settings of Gloria tibia Trinitatis

Orlando Gibbons (1583~1625)
16:48 Fantasia of Foure parts
23:12 Fancy in g

Richard Allwood (middle 16th century?)
30:29 Voluntary

Thomas Tomkins (1545~1627)
32:52 Ground

Thomas Tallis (1505~1585)
39:03 Iste Confessor

Bull
40:42 In Nomine 9

A note on the instrument
The Jacobean Chest organ in the private Chapel of Knole House, Sevenoaks Keth, England, is one of the very few musical documents left that dates from the pre-Revolution period in Britain. It is in fact almost certainly the oldest playable English keyboard instrument. Thomas Sackville, first Earl of Dorset, was considerably engaged in building up a musical establishment at Knole between 1604 and 1608 - and he resurbished the Chapel - and it seems likely that the organ was purchased during this period. The “traditional” (orally transmitted) date has been given as 1623, but this may be a confusion with the date (1622) of the acquisition of the now empty harpichord from John Hasard of London. This also still stands in the house.
The organ may perhaps have been obtained for use with other instruments in the gallery of the nevv Screen in the Great Hall (made about 1608), but at some time before 1765 it was placed in a room opening to the Chapel next to the west gallery that is still known as the Organ Room, although it is now closed off as a bedroom. There the organ could have fulfilled a dual rôle as a domestic consort continuo instrument and in solo or accompanying use in the Chapel services. It appears that the organ was renovated about 1740 [1], and the present single-rise wedge shaped reservoir, and its feeder, which recall Snetzler’s work, were probably fitted at this time. In 1871 [2] I, J. W. Walker of London extended the key compass from the original C-c”’ (short octave, 45 notes) to CD - d'" (50 notes) and added an octave of 16’ Bourdon pipes; these last have since been removed. The organ was, perhaps at this time, tuned in equal temperament. However, practically all the original oak pipes have survived otherwise unaltered, as the organ seems to have fallen out of use towards the end of the 19th century. Except for a brief resurrection in the 1920s, it was silent and generally unnoticed until 1975, when it was brought back into playing order by two teachers at the nearby Sevenoaks School. It has since been maintained by Martin Renshaw.
The whole original organ is of English Oak, and was originally made without screws. The only metalwork is in the stop action (of forged iron) and the brass of the pallet springs, and key and sticker pins.
The registers are:
8’ Stopped Diapason, 50 stopped pipes (45 original)
4’ Principal, 50 open pipes (45 original)
2 2/3’ Twelfth, 50 pipes; the bass octave 11 pipes have at some time been convened to stopped 4’ pitch; the rest are open (43 original pipes)
2’ Fifteenth, 50 open pipes (42 original)
The present keyboard (of 1871) is of oak with box natural platings, and ebony sharps. The overall size of the organ is 54” wide by 26” deep by 47” high. The height has been increased by about 2 1/2" during the two earlier renovations.
The organ is now tuned in meantone temperament; as a result of the earlier retunings, the pitch is of a little higher than originally - it is now about 1/4 tone sharp of standard pitch (a = 440 Hz).

Notes:
[1] Some newspaper used to patch pipes appears to date from this time.
[2] Evidence of date, builder (and replacement of keyboard) from a letter written that year by F. H. Sutton

Painting: "The Three Ages of Man" ( painted c. 1500)
Giorgione (1477 ~ 1510)
From the collection of the Palazzo Pitti, Florence