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justinf

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Posts posted by justinf

  1. Next week I am fortunate to visit Vienna for the first time. As usual nearly all planning and packing must wait for a final desperate flurry of activity before departing, but the recent topic on Leipzig prompts me to ask: Where would you particularly recommend visiting? Any advice you can offer will be most gratefully received.

     

    As part of the week's events we will see both the Konzerthaus and the Musikverein. Touching on which, is the new organ project sprondel mentioned some time ago mentioned proceeding apace?

     

    Best to all -- Justin

  2. Who can resist a stoplist on a cold winter's day? I took a chance here which might not work in practice. If only I had the resources to build it and find out!

     

    Grand-Orgue

    Quintaton 16'

    Montre 8'

    Flûte Harmonique 8'

    Violoncelle 8'

    Bourdon 8'

    Prestant 4'

    Flûte 4'

    Grosse Tierce 3 1/5'

    Doublette 2'

    Fourniture IV

    Trompette 8'

    Cromorne 8'

     

    Récit

    Flûte Traversière 8'

    Viole de Gambe 8'

    Voix Céleste 8'

    Flûte Octaviante 4'

    Nasard 2 2/3'

    Octavin 2'

    Tierce 1 3/5'

    Trompette Harmonique 8'

    Basson-Hautbois 8'

    Voix Humaine 8'

     

    Pédale

    Contrebasse 16'

    Soubasse 16'

    Flûte 8'

    Flûte 4'

    Bombarde 16'

  3. And Oh -We are far from the end!- I found this while seeing the Compenius organ video:

     

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOmcV7nueL0...feature=related

     

    The last Sterzing we still have, in Erfurt! Sterzing, a builder known to Bach!

     

    Your quick fingers beat me the punch on the Stertzing. We are lucky to have this instrument: It was moved in 1811, and two years later its former church burned to the ground in war. Here are some more details in German and in English with sound clips.

  4. Oh, what a gem, Nigel. Thank you for sharing this with us. I stumbled across a site with some more information on this instrument and others in Denmark, including the 1610 Compenius in Frederiksborg Castle. I see OHS has a CD featuring both, although I'm not sure I could listen to the Compenius Baroque reeds for very long without getting a bit irritable.

     

    Here is the Van Covelens organ at Alkmaar. No audio, alas.

     

    All the best,

    Justin Fries

  5. I have valiantly tried to get an organ building friend to make a Viool da Gamba but alas the scale and design is so large (have you see it?), he has yet to have a commodious case in which to put it. What a sound. What a piece of architecture.

     

    I have yet to make its acquaintance, although I did find a picture: A 'snake swallowing a rabbit' it is!

     

    As you say, instruments like Alkmaar are wondrous even when silent. It is humbling to think of the faith that inspired such projects, of the careful planning, the craftsmanship, and the sacrifices of time and money that went into them. These men cut no corners: They built for God and for the ages.

     

    Oh! Here is the link to Stephen Bicknell's essay which I neglected to include earlier.

     

    All the best,

    Justin Fries

  6. Alkmaar is simply lovely. Parts of its design are certainly idiosyncratic, but how well it all works. This might be as good a time as any to recall Stephen Bicknell's essay about Alkmaar which provides the specification and notes several points of interest (e.g. the reed Viool di Gamba, Cimbel composition, and of course the 22' Principal).

  7. Since Pierre mentioned Synthematophons...

     

    I see that Harrison are finishing a renovation of the Walcker organ in Stockholm City Hall, which includes one Synthematophon. I found no recordings or videos of this instrument online, nor any samples of a Synthematophon (even aeoline.de punts on that one). Can anyone link me up? Plan B is to win a Nobel prize to hear this thing.

  8. "Today I think I will mostly be using the Great principals 3, 5 & 8 today..."

     

    You'll have to bear with me (being American and all), but is this a reference to the Fast Show? "This week I have been mostly using Great Principals 3, 5 and 8."

     

    Ten Principals must surely be a record, though I see Atlantic City managed ten Diapasons on its Great. The gauntlet has been thrown down: Won't someone build an organ that goes to eleven?

     

    Edit: Thanks for the YouTube links. The Gigout sounds quite nice, actually. How about this one?

  9. Thanks Colin and Nigel for replying. I have to agree the specification looks more than a little bizarre... I wonder if those mixtures set all of the dogs in town to barking? Still, I do not wish to be too dismissive of their efforts. As dubious as the spec may look, I wish them well with their project and hope they are able to turn out a satisfying and useful instrument.

     

    Colin, is this the York Minster spec you mean? It almost looks like a cut+paste error. At the very least it should silence any further comments about the 1905 Hele additions at Winchester! :rolleyes:

     

    Edit: I did find one page about the fate of the original organ, but no specification yet.

  10. I stumbled quite by accident across two Wikipedia entries about the organ in Esztergom Basilica, Hungary. According to the first article, the instrument will eventually be the third largest in Europe. The specification listed is rather unusual.

     

    • Many assertive and/or horizontal reeds: Trompeta Imperial 32', Clarins 16/8/4', Bajoncillo 4'
    • Several large and/or unusual mixtures: Rauschwerk VIII-X 2', Colorian IV 4/9'
    • Positiv mutations up through the None 8/9' and Undecim-Tredecim 8/11 + 8/13'
    • Oberwerk 16' mutations from the Nasat 5 1/3' up through the Septime 2 2/7'
    • Plenty of schnarr in the form of regals, dulzians and schalmeys all over the place
    • Two 32' flues and two 32' reeds in the pedal, plus a Grand Cornet IV 10 2/3'

     

    Has anyone heard this instrument, in whatever form it currently exists? The first article reads, "The present organ preserves several stops from the instrument Liszt played." Is the new instrument replacing an historic organ, or was the original III/49 instrument lost or damaged in the war? I couldn't find the specification or much information at all about the organ Liszt played.

  11. I don't think anybody has mentioned this one yet, but with so many postings I cannot be sure. Here is a brief tour of the restored RAH pipe chambers by our host's own Mr. Leslie Ross.

     

    I'm not quite sure why there was so much noise when the blowers were turned on; It almost sounds like a novice piper trying to strike in. Perhaps the people filming asked for some notes to be played to convey the concept of the instrument warming up?

  12. Pierre, thank you for the explanation.

     

    I must have been looking for order where none exists, like: Contrebasse 16/Basse 8 (St. Ouen), Montre 16/Octave 8, Violonbasse 16/Violoncelle 8, Soubasse 16/Bourdon 8. I am glad the French ideal is a bit less regimented than that.

     

    The organstops description of "[a]n imitative string stop of 16' pitch" is a bit misleading after all. Unless I'm misstating your post, the name Contrebasse refers more to its role as an open 16 than to a precise timbre.

     

    I do intend to hear these instruments in person some day, but for now I am stuck home. Still, I am looking forward to heading downtown this Friday to hear the new Letourneau instrument for the first time. It is terribly large (though not literally so, I trust).

     

    --Justin

  13. The Contrebasse 16' is a fixture in French pedal deparments, but I'm having a tough time understanding what it is. The organstops site describes it as a string (double bass), but I suspect there is more to it than that.

     

    Many Cavaillé-Coll pedal departments are based on the Contrebasse+Soubasse pair (St. Ouen, Ste.-Trinité, NDP), and at La Madeleine the only 16' flue is a Contrebasse. Is the Contrebasse a principal then, or perhaps a string which adds harmonics to the Soubasse to create principal tone? What makes it different than a Violonbasse? When looking at the Mander organ of St. Ignatius Loyola, should I mentally translate Montre/Contrebasse/Soubasse to Open Diapason/Violone/Bourdon?

     

    While searching these forums, I found two specs from Pierre, one that extends a Contrebasse to an Octave, while the other extends it to a Violoncelle. On another site I read about a Fisk/Rosales organ in Texas where the Contrebasse is extended to Flûte 8' and Flûte 4'. (Then again, isn't the term "Flûte" sometimes used for a principal in France?)

     

    The more I read, the less I know, unfortunately. Thanks in advance for helping to clear up this Contrebasse contretemps. :blink:

     

    --Justin

  14. contrabordun, thank you for your thoughts. In a fit of uncharacteristic fiscal responsibility, I have ordered the HD-595s. These will be for home listening and eventually for a toaster (either to replace or join my Hammond A100), so sound leakage isn't much of a concern.

     

    It's good to see those little triangular shelves aren't so very different on either side of the Atlantic. A quick inventory here reveals a bunch of pencils and paper clips, a stack of small Post-It Notes, AAA batteries (mostly unused), IceBreakers mints, Luden's cherry cough drops, an ancient and decrepit hymnal (but with some nice harmonizations), a few old bulletins, tissues (also mostly unused, I hope), a Maglite and a Phillips screwdriver.

     

    Justin

  15. Hi contrabordun,

     

    How was your coffee break with the Sennheiser HD 595? I just broke my old, old Sony headphones and have been dithering between the HD 595 and the HD 650. On Amazon the prices are $191 and $480 respectively (these days that probably works out to about £7 and £19). Realistically I'm going to get the 595s, but part of me is secretly hoping for a bad report ("contrabordun made me do it!").

     

    Justin

  16. I just stumbled across

    of our good host Mr. Mander visiting the Sydney Town Hall organ with Robert Ampt at the console. It is interesting to be a fly on the wall as they examine individual stops and choruses, search (nearly in vain) for tierces, and pay respects to the 64' Contra Trombone. By my lights it looks like a great way to spend an afternoon!

     

    Edit: Here is the specification for anyone needing a link.

  17. I enjoyed that programme but of course it's impossible to tell from an internet recording how the instrument sounds in that space. I am confused by one thing: About 24 minutes in Frederick Swann talks about stop pitches and says he will end the Franck Pièce heroïque with a 64' B in the pedal.

     

    I can't find any evidence of a "Bombarde Ravalement" or similar stop in the specification. Does anyone have details of this?

  18. I missed this topic when Britten was under the microscope last fall. By chance I have been listening to Rejoice in the Lamb this week at work (and getting chills from the watchman and his staff). The 13 January edition of the Pipeworks radio show has a recording from St. John's College, Cambridge which I have been enjoying as much for the lovely Mander organ as for the choral work.

     

    As for shibboleths... Will I be cast into the outer darkness for confessing my dislike of Für Elise? Wailing and gnashing of teeth would be far preferable to suffering though it again.

  19. Are there any reputable builders who use flexible plastic pipe for wind trunking? While practicing at a local church I happened to play a large diminished seventh chord (no, not that one) in both hands on the Great principal chorus. If I released and attacked more than two notes at once, the pitch of the entire division bounced and fluttered in a most nauseating fashion. A glance inside revealed the Great windchest was supplied by 5" corrugated pipe that appeared to be AWOL from a drainage ditch.

     

    On a separate topic, can anyone identify the bright green material supplying what I assume must be the Grand-Orgue and Positif Cornets at La Trinité? It looks so out of place compared to the other materials pictured. Is it a protective coating over lead, or have they replaced the original materials with something new?

  20. I knew I had seen information about this somewhere! The Positive, Recit and Solo Bombarde were moved around in 1903 according to Daniel Roth in this video clip (about 3 minutes into it). According the Daniel Roth it was the development of the repertoire using the Recit in Widor and Vierne that brought about the change.

     

    This site has some interesting pictures of the instrument, but gives the wrong date for the manual change--It was Mutin in 1903 as you said. Although the instrument has always had five manuals, the order has changed more than once:

    Clicquot (1781)
    V. Echo

    IV. Récit

    III. Bombarde

    II. Grand-Orgue

    I. Positif (de Dos)

    Cavaillé-Coll (1862)

    V. Récit

    IV. Positif

    III. Bombarde

    II. Grand-Orgue

    I. Grand-Chœur

    Mutin (1903)

    V. Solo

    IV. Récit

    III. Positif

    II. Grand-Orgue

    I. Grand-Chœur
  21. Very true, Davidb! I have often said that organ music is underappreciated because it relies on the unlikely nexus of three elements: A good instrument, a good performer, and good choice of music. (My goal is to bring 2 out of 3 together.) But as you have pointed out, good (informed, experienced) listeners are the fourth component.

     

    Sometimes there is a bit of blank space in our service bulletins. Has anyone on this forum written notes on the music for the congregation? For example, I can't imagine the reaction to something like Combat de la Mort et de la Vie from Les Corps Glorieux without some preparation (or warning). A few words explaining its imagery, the transformation of the theme of Death to that of Life, could change it from an oppressive to a sublime experience for many listeners.

     

    Vox, I was thinking of that very recording (PRCD 772) while writing this post. Even after reading about Jolivet's Hymne à l'Univers I still couldn't get into it. Maybe in time... I'm certainly willing to keep an open mind.

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