The organ at London’s St Paul’s Cathedral

I’ve never seen a large organ console close up before and was pretty gobsmacked when I encountered this one in real life. St Paul’s Cathedral hosts organ recitals several times a year and it’s well worth the experience,

The complexity of the instrument is mind-boggling. As Simon Johnson, the organist performing that evening explained, this console is Victorian with modern additions and was presented to the cathedral in 2008.

It’s quite disorientating to see the organist play in front of you then hear sound coming from the quire on one side.

Five keyboards, 

two rows of pedals, the base boards 

and then all those knobs, each one connected to a pipe…four limbs just don’t seem enough.