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Organ performance

Newest version (RealPlayer 10) is highly recommended! The last version, the RealOne player, posed a number of problems.  Also, any even older versions won't work with some clips.

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1739 Trost Organ played by Bach!

The famous organ at the Schlosskirche, Altenburg (Germany) was formally tested and approved by J.S. Bach in 1739, and his student J.L. Krebs was organist there. With greater access to the Bach lands in the former East Germany, it now becomes clear that the neo-classic movement went to a bit of an extreme: organ building in the Bach region was rich in foundation color, 32-foot pitches, bell stops, and all the things we were taught not to use in Bach's works! Here's a large two-manual organ with tierce mixtures, 9 8-foot flue stops (including strings!), a 32-foot Posaune, and enough wind to support the use of several 8-foot stops together! I had a nice two-hour session on the instrument on June 22, 2007, and it's all boiled down to a CD-length compilation.

Click here for page with MP3 files and other details
 

Two organs played as one... a celebration of bells, June 12, 1987

Four performers offered segments of music with bell or carillon themes in a program celebrating new tower bells finally installed in 1987 in the early 20th century Cathedral of Saint Paul (Minnesota). The huge single-domed structure has an acoustic that is almost "too much of a good thing," even for organists who love reverberant rooms, but with the right repertoire and attempts to "play the room" properly, you can make some spectacular sounds. Two fine instruments of different eras can be played from one console: the 1963 Aeolian-Skinner of 42 ranks (gallery-spec here), and the 1926 E.M. Skinner of 30 ranks (front/sanctuary area - spec here). Photos here. Here's my chunk of this program.
Carillon ou Cloches, Jean-François Dandrieu
This is a little ditty that is just pure sound-effects fun in the French classic style. The hooded Bombarde stop in the Saint Paul Cathedral's 1963 Aeolian-Skinner gallery organ provides the foundation for something resembling the grand jeu registration that pours like molten lava from famous French instruments like Poitiers (by the builder Cliquot), or Saint-Maximin (Isnard).

Twilight at Fiesole and Florentine Chimes from "Harmonies of Florence", Seth Bingham
at the beginning, barely audible, is a short peal of the tower bells. This is really soooooooft.
Twilight: This doesn't begin much louder, either, even with some volume enhancement. (Makes ya listen, doesn't it?!) Wonderful tone-painting period piece that features some delicious sounds from the E.M. Skinner sanctuary organ in the opening and closing sections. In the middle section, the purring 32' Bourdon and the keener string chorus of the Aeolian-Skinner gallery organ contrast with the Wald Flute from the sanctuary. One has to use one's imagination a little bit since the specified "harp" (a mallet percussion instrument often included in early 20th century orchestral organs) is not available, but the big flute played staccato in such a huge acoustic makes a plausible effect.
Florentine Chimes: an evocation of a city full of church bells!

Paraphrase-Carillon from "Assumption Suite", Charles Tournemire 

From the Cathedral of Saint Paul, Saint Paul, Minnesota, comes this excerpt from a program on the occasion of the dedication of the new tower bells in June 1987. Four performers played a variety of organ pieces inspired by bell sounds, and one of my contributions was this rhapsodic gem by French composer Charles Tournemire. 

In the immense domed space, the quiet opening "duel" between the two instruments is something you don't experience too often. "Ave maris stella" and "Salve regina," two famous Latin chants in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, are woven into the texture as the piece unfolds.

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Small Organ, Big Sound 

Two "Prières"

• Prière (Gaston Litaize)
• Prière à Notre-Dame, from Suite gothique (Leon Boëllman)

Recital recording, March 24, 1996, Church of the Annunciation, Minneapolis

Humble instrument, great acoustic, a little extra added electronically:  I lived with this 29-rank 1962 Wicks organ for nine years at Church of the Annunciation; with a little careful registration, it makes an amazing sound, with  Swell, Choir, and Pedal voiced more along the "closed toe, more nicking" lines (though by no means dull-sounding), with a Great chorus in the "open-toe" style then becoming popular. I added a MIDI interface to the Pedal (its main use was to add electronic 32-foot pitches), and a most convincing "big-organ" sound opened up. See the specification here.

I played this contrasting pair of musical "prayers" several times: the dark, brooding sonorities of Litaize's work relieved immediately by a comforting melodic style. An audience member was far more sympathetic to the Litaize work than I expected: "More often than not, my prayers are like the first one," he said!

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A 100-year-old pipe organ still going strong: 

If you build it they will come...100 years later... that was a wry line on the program of the centennial celebration of the 1891 William Schuelke organ at St. Boniface Church, New Vienna, Iowa. Located in the scenic area near Dubuque, IA, it is only a few miles from the "ball diamond in the cornfields" created for the movie "Field of Dreams." This fantasy movie site is still going strong as a tourist attraction, but down the road, the very real, gripping sound of this modest-sized organ (24 ranks) sounds through the ages. These two excerpts are from John's recital during that centennial symposium.

Printed program excerpts here (with organ spec)....

Program 9740 (uplinked 10/6/97)

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