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The Wanamaker At Lord And Taylor


Guest stevecbournias

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seems like mega organs r casualties when remodeling is happening and thats what has happened here and in atlantic city
Do you mean that the Wanamaker organ was the victim of remodelling of the building, like the Atlantic City organ was? If so I imagine the answer is that the people who had the work done were the owners of the organ, but at the time had little or no interest in the instruments. That seems to be the case at the Boardwalk Hall at least. As for suing, who would be suing whom?
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SPECIFICATION - LORD&TAYLOR (WANAMAKER ORGAN)

 

==========================

 

 

Wot?

 

Still no Erzahlers?

 

:)

 

However, I'm delighted to note that there is a Tuba Mirabilis on the Ethereal Division! I hope it's located near to the pharmacy department rather than lingerie.

 

:)

 

I bet they've got Erzahlers at Riverside!

 

Actually, not to be too critical of American organs, I understand that a great deal of new material went into the monumental organ at Riverside a little while back, and that the acoustic was much improved from the days of the late and greatly interesting Virgil Fox

 

What's the pool-side gossip on this one Steve? I hope they didn't go for Baroke.

 

MM

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tubamirabilis is a 1914 addition on 25" along with all of the ethereal way up on the top floor

 

its tone is soooo smooth that it is flue-like and not very reed-like

 

the reeds up there that r dynamite r the harmonic trumpet and post horn

 

also the clear flute is the most beautifully voiced in the world

 

that made virgil fox famous in 1939 along with the string section on the arrangement of come sweet death

 

the clear flute on 25" plays a counter melody against all of the string dept and if u can listen to all of that with a dry eye more power to u

 

riverside

 

erzahlers in the choir

 

tonal improvements to the whole gallery organ 1964

 

55 new ranks by gil adams former aeolian-skinner 1966-67

most of all of that was excellent work

swell reeds made more english in my opinion

curator tony bufano also ex-aeolian skinner tonal work 1978-80

new chamade in memory of his mother

new diapasons replacing some gil adams pipes that were not all that outstanding

they were subsequently moved to the gallery replacing some stinkens pipes that were even less sucessful

 

new pedal principal chorus 16 thru mixtures

old wood 16 buzz-sawn to pieces to avoid removing grillework

 

finally new visible diapason chorus in 2nd gallery in front of grillework of great and pedal using 2/7 mouth

very successful

voicing by former aeolian-skinner head voicer originally from holland 

 

recent addition of tubamirabilis

unknown from whence it came nor how it soundeth

central space console for playing both organs for liturgical use

 

========================

 

Aaaaaw! Erzahlers at last!

 

:)

 

Just in case Steven gets the wrong idea, I have an enormous respect for E M Skinner and the work he did.

 

Only a few organ-builders ever get to make such a uniqe contribution to voicing and national styles: people like Silbermann, Schnitger, Walcker, Muller, Cavaille-Coll, Fr.Willis, Arthur Harrison....they (and others) were the ones who produced the extraordinary richness and variety in all our lives.

 

There is something so utterly lavish, if not a little decadent, about listening to organ-music whilst chomping a Waldorf Salad at Lord & Taylor's surrounded by crystal chandeliers.

 

There is something special about Haarlem, Liverpool Cathedral or the Grecian splendour of St.George's Hall and that immense, brooding instrument which dominates the interior.

 

Certain organs sum up an age as well as a nationality.....WurliTzer were at the forefront of American showmanship, and E M Skinner and his team were so very, very good at what they did, which is why I was interested to learn the general view about the G.Donald-Harrison organ at Riverside and the changes made to it.

 

Steven admits that he doesn't know what the new Tuba Mirabilis sounds like at Riverside, so I can provide a link to how it sounds. Also, for those who have reservations about the symphonic-style, the JAV recording site has a free excerpt from a remarkable recording made by Thomas Murray at Yale, in which he describes and demonstrates some of the unique and very beautiful ranks to be heard there.

 

I once played the huge instrument of the Christian Science Mother Church, Boston, and marvelled at it, even though everything I know should have reacted against it.

 

So, enjoy the big Tuba at Riverside and gasp at the beauty of the Skinner registers at Yale University.

 

http://www.pipeorgancds.com/thommurplayw1.html

 

http://www.pipeorgancds.com/onsumev.html

 

 

MM

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ive played the yale and riverside organs

 

the tuba in the reubke is dark and thick, not my kind of stop

 

i like don harrisons tubas

 

they were brite and fiery

 

mother church and salt lake tabernacle each had one on 15"

 

 

mother church was revised by larry phelps extensively

he threw out a lot of don harrisons 2/7 mouth principals and had austin organs supply new pipes

 

 

====================

 

 

When was Larry Phelps involved at Mother Church, Boston?

 

Did I play it pre-Phelps or post-Phelps I wonder?

 

I think the year was 1982-ish.....it impressed me anyway.

 

MM

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====================

When was Larry Phelps involved at Mother Church, Boston?

 

Did I play it pre-Phelps or post-Phelps I wonder?

 

I think the year was 1982-ish.....it impressed me anyway.

 

MM

 

Between 1949 and 1952 initially. The link below provides the details.

 

Cheers,

 

Brian Childs

 

.http://www.lawrencephelps.com/Documents/Articles/Phelps/motherchurchorgan.shtml

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JUST PRIOR TO HIS DEATH THE MOTHER CHURCH INVITED HIM (Lawrence Phelps)BACK AFTER AN ABSENCE OF MANY YEARS

 

THE ORGAN HAD BEEN ENLARGED UNDER CURATOR JASON MCkOWEN FORMERLY OF AEOLIAN-SKINNER AND PRETTY MUCH FULL-TIME OR SO WITH THE MOTHER CHURCH

 

ADDITIONS WERE MADE BOTH FLUE AND REED

 

FROM 235 RKS IN 1952 IT WAS AT LEAST CIRCA 245-247 BY LETS SAY 1980S

 

jack steinkampf self-taught genius reed voicer new york city did some work on that project and topped it off with a stop called

cor d'anges 8 on 20"

 

phelps told me personally about meeting jack when he was a kid and voicing tin cans

 

phelps had all of jacks pipes removed or revoiced to dom bedos style

 

don harrisons 2/7 mouth principal chorus was scrapped as was his manual 32 quintade which phelps used to like and boast that u could play bach on it

 

the surplus flue-work discarded went to st louis cathedral a kilgen-moller-wicks-digital organ

 

=========================

 

Aha! Mystery solved! At least I now know why the organ I hear on recordings NOW doesn't quite fit the sound I experienced back in the early 80's.

 

Lawrence Phelps completed his work at Boston in 1999, and discarded an awful lot of original material by G.Donald Harrison, so when I played it, it was more or less the original instrument, save for the additions Steve mentions.

 

I'm not sure I would be quite so impressed to-day as I was then.

 

MM

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