Vox Humana

Mr Bournias/gdh has posted his specifications on The Organ Forum where they have been received with similar incredulity. A bit of Googling shows that he is perfectly capable of punctuating sensibly when he wants to. I don't think his forum is a discussion forum though. At least, if it is I've not been able to find it.

And why not? Orchestras have to play ppp sometimes, don't they?

So?

Some excellent points there, Muso. Dulcianas I do have some time for, especially if they are on an enclosed Choir. There are rare occasions when you want a mere enervated whisper (though I accept there could be better options; I've never heard a Dolcan). I've also found a 16ft Dulciana very useful in the Pedal for providing a much more defined pp than an Echo Bourdon.

Earlier this year I heard Colin Walsh playing Dupré's Evocation . It reminded me strongly of something, but I couldn't place it. Days later it clicked: the scherzo from Brahm's second piano concerto.

But I wouldn't use a Tuba (or Trumpet) for either of those. The Bombarde 32 is far better.

Not me, it won't. A Tuba sounds like a magnified Tromba and I don't like those much either. A decent solo Trumpet can do everything a Tuba can and more.

Leaving individual instruments out of it and taking a general view, which stop, however well made and voiced, contributes least to the act of making music? For me it's a toss-up between Hohl Flute and Open Wood. If I had to choose I think I'd opt for Hohl Flute. Sorry. I know I've just enraged the Romantics among you.

Oh hell. I wasn't going to play, but... Tuba (Loud, thick and useless)

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?

The original spec as given in Stephen Bicknell's book does include one.

Am I right in thinking that the restoration of this organ has been completed and that it is now in full working order again?

That's interesting. What sort of range are we talking of here? Did they build any other organs with seven-octave manuals?

You've obviously read the 256ft pipe story on Pipechat!

It is vast (not, I hasten to add, that I've ever been there). You can fly a helcopter inside it - it's been done (I wonder whether they accompanied it on the 64' Dulzian. ) Clearly a hall that size needed an exceptional instrument. But there was no reason why it had to have as many manuals and stops as the Midmer-Losh has.

Nick's got a point, but I have to say that one man's gravitas is another's oil slick!

Or how about a 64' Harmonic Flute?

Yes, it's a full length rank. It appears amongst both the flues (where it's called Diaphone) and the reeds (where it's called Dulzian) - but both stops use exactly the same rank of pipes. I can't help wondering what the point was of quinting the Dulzian at 42 2/3 ft.

Nope - it's the C major one in 3/8 time.

Back in the 60s Bärenreiter published a slim volumes of "Sonatas and Fugues for Organ" by Scarlatti. The editor, Loek Hautus, considered K255 to be "undoubtedly" an organ piece, apparently because of two markings which he assumed were registrations: "Oytabado", which he thought derived from "Octava tapada" (a 4' Gedeckt) and "Tortorilla" (literally "Turtle Dove") for which he suggested a bright registration like 8'+2' or 8'+1' (obviously he'd never heard a Turtle Dove!) However, "oytabado" must surely derive from the Portuguese dance "oitavado". So was the "tortorilla" also a dance? And, if so, where does that leave K255 as an organ piece?

He is reputed to have said this about someone, but I would be surprised if it were Parry. Whatever might appear on his grave, I can't imagine anyone choosing these words to describe the Professor of Music at Oxford and Director of the RCM. I'm not even sure Parry was an organist at all (except in the dabbling sense).

If you'll pardon me for jumping in, I never played the RFH organ (alas!), but I did go to every recital there for a couple of years in the late 60s and, while the tone did rather grab you by the lapels, as it were, I can't say I ever thought of the instrument as being incoherent. Maybe it was all down to registration and anyway, as you say, I suppose it's all in the ear of the auditor. If I heard it now I suspect I might have different views, but my tastes have changed since those days.

I don't think it was.

Thank you, Karl. And in return, I am sure that those of us who have sampled church music in the States would agree that there is a great deal on your side of the pond that we can envy and take as inspiration.

With apologies to Liszt fans, "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing" is more what I had in mind!