SlowOrg

The only organ builder I was aware of until now to use trackers made from carbon fibres is Claudius Winterhalter from Germany. I know of two of his organs having carbon trackers (Klosterkirche Alpirsbach and the famous Wieskirche). If I'm correct this solutuion is supposed to be especially good for spaces with increased humidity (?). Here's how such a tracker action looks like (the rollers are obviously made of metal): Wieskirche Alpirsbach M

This might also be useful: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Orgelpf...n_Bauformen.png You'd have to fill in the stop names and descriptions, though. Any questions? M

As I've just learnt from a German organ forum, this Saturday (March 26) "Radio Stephansdom" is going to broadcast live both the dedication of the restored Wöckherl organ (1642) in the Vienna Franciscan Church (at 11.30 AM, you can find some information about this oldest organ in Vienna here and here) and the new Rieger organ in the "Musikverein" (7.30 PM). Here's the link to livestream: http://www.radiostephansdom.at/live/stream/ As the concert in Musikverein is sold out, this should be the only opportunity for most of us to follow the opening recital. Recently, Rieger has also finally published the specification of this not so small organ: http://www.rieger-orgelbau.com/dbpdf/WienMusikv.pdf And the programme for both events: 11:30 Die älteste Kirchenorgel in Wien - die Wöckherlorgel aus dem Jahr 1642. 1. Konzert Roman Summereder (Orgel) Friedrich Lessky (Einführung) Abraham van den Kerckhoven (1618-1701): Fantaisie du 6ème ton la sonnerie de Ste. Gudule Sebastián Aguilera de Heredia (1561-1627): Obra de VIII. tono: Ensalada Heinrich Scheidemann (1596-1663): 2 versus super: „O Gott, wir danken deiner Güt’“ Diderik Buxtehude (1637-1707): Praeludium in F BuxWV 157 2. Konzert Michael Radulescu (Orgel) Wolfgang Kreuzhuber (Einführung) Michael Radulescu, Madrigali (2010) 3. Konzert Pier Damiano Peretti (Orgel) Arthur Saliger (Einführung) Francisco Fernández Palero (1533-1597): drei Intavolierungen aus Libro de cifra nueva” (1557) Veni redemptor, quaesumus/Ave maris stella/Mor me a prive Johan Kaspar Kerll (1627-1693): Toccata quinta Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643): aus “Primo Libro di Capricci” (1628) Capriccio sopra la Bassa Fiamenga Charles Raquet (1597-1664): Fantaisie (aus: Marin Marsenne, l’Harmonie Universelle, Paris (1636) 19:30 Live aus dem Großen Saal des Wiener Musikvereins Franz Schmidt: „Königsfanfare“ aus „Fredigundis“ Ensemble der Wiener Symphoniker Improvisation Peter Planyavsky J. S. Bach: Toccata, Adagio und Fuge C-Dur, BWV 564 Ludger Lohmann Franz Liszt: Präludium und Fuge über das Motiv B.A.C.H. Martin Haselböck Olivier Messiaen: L'ascension: „Alleluias sereins d’une âme qui désire le ciel“ La Nativité du Seigneur: „Dieu parmi nous“ Dame Gillian Weir Alexandre Boëly: Fantasie und Fuge B-Dur, op. 18 Charles-Marie Widor: Orgelsymphonie Nr. 5, 1. Allegro vivace Olivier Latry

... or "Specification" at the top However, you still have Nasard, Sexquialter or Dulciaan, which you could all use for the solo line.

I had no idea that there is a pp ending in any of the editions available. This obviously isn't the case here: http://216.129.110.22/files/imglnks/usimg/...thode-II-27.pdf Hope this helps.

I did as you suggested and it really seems that couplers have "reversed" names in Dutch. However, I also found the following type of couplers designation: Koppeling Manuaal aan Rugwerk, Koppeling Manuaal aan Pedaal (see this instrument, for instance). Doesn't this mean that the Richards/Fowkes statement about a Dutch tradition of coupling on the Rückpositiv is in fact correct (?).

Recently I had a discussion with an organ builder about a two-manual organ with a Rückpositiv, which he is currently planing. He wanted to know what I thought about a HW-RP manual coupler (with the coupled manuals being played on the first manual/RP). His argument was that a lot of organists are simply more used to playing on the first manual, so it would be more comfortable to have both manuals coupled on the lower keyboard. Although I was aware of organs with such a coupler, I was convinced that this type of coupler was used rather by accident, so I suggested that he should stick with the usual solution: RP-HW (I-II). However, today I came across the description of this Richards/Fowkes organ, where the following is stated: The Rückpositive also has the distinction of having the intra-manual coupler connect the Werk to the Positive in the Dutch tradition rather than the more normal Positive to Werk. Obviously this allows for the coupled manuals to be accompanied on the Hauptwerk, which might be somewhat useful in certain situations. Still I would be curious to know more about this "Dutch tradition". Anyone? M

During my regular "inspection" of organ builders' webpages I've found a detailed description of the new organ for Monaco Cathedral on the homepage of Manufacture d'orgues Thomas. Some googling afterwards brought about this interesting piece of information: The new organ was presented to the public on March 5 and it will be transported to Monaco by the end of this month. The assembly is supposed to take two months and voicing of the instrument is to be finished in mid November, just in time for the Fête Nationale. The organ with 74 stops has nearly 7000 pipes (2/3 of which are still from the old Merklin instrument), is 12 m high and weighs 20 tons (with the supporting metal structure alone weighing 7 tons). Organ blessing/dedication is to take place on December 8 2011, whereas the official opening is planned for spring 2012.

Just a small contribution to the question, how much sense does it make to restore pneumatic organs (knowledge of German required): As shown in the clip, this is a Walcker organ in the Christ Church (Christuskirche) in Heidelberg, Germany. The work is being conducted by the Lenter organ company. Electric action, added in the 1950s, has been given up for the original tubular pneumatic. As part of this, a new pneumatic console was built - reconstructed according to original plans still available. Cost of the restoration: 390.000 € Some more info here: http://www.ekihd.de/gemeinden-heidelberg/c...lcker-orgel.htm and here: http://walckerfreunde.de/wb/pages/intro.php Not being that much of a friend of pneumatic action myself I'd nevertheless say that this project makes a lot of sense. Can't say though, whether this is also the case in Shrewsbury Abbey.

I was already waiting whether anybody will bring this up. Although - as far as I know - this system cannot be used with the sort of soundboards used for tubular pneumatic action (?), I think this is the type of action that will eventually make any kind of electro pneumatics obsolete. I know of two companies that offer electromechanical action systems: NovelOrg from Canada and Eltec from Italy. The system works as an exact translation of key movement into pallet movement, for which special sensors and proportional magnets are used. One of the main obstactles preventing a wider usage of this system is of course its price: if a "normal" pallet magnet costst some 20-30 € a piece, proportional magnets can cost as much as 150 € (or even more). Of course, there's still a lot more electronics used, not just the magnets. One of the most recent (as well as prominent) realizations of this system can be found in the great Pasi organ in the Sacred Heart Co-Cathedral in Houston, Texas (dedicated on October 2 2010), which utilizes the NovelOrg system. The company has a number of videos on their homepage demonstrating the electromechanical action as compared to the standard tracker action. you can see how this thing works in the Houston organ.

I also tried to find some information about this instrument, which turns out to be one of the most important German romantic instruments from the late 19th century. In Mühlhausen, better known for its Divi Blasii Chruch, where Bach was organist for a short period of time, a support society has been founded in 2009 in order to fund the restoration of this instrument (estimated cost: € 750.000) - more info here. Unfortunately the website has no details about the organ, but I found the following on the homepage of Christian Scheffler, who's in charge of the restoration: Mühlhausen, Marienkirche - 1. Bauabschnitt Restaurierung der Sauer-Orgel 1891, mechan. , Kegellade, Barkermaschinen, III/P, 61 Register This obviously explains the moving coupled keys.

Doesn't this particular instrument actually have mechanical key action (with the keys of all three coupled manuals moving)? Although the music would obviously work just fine on a pneumatic instrument as well, this example perhaps wasn't the best choice (?).

Some prices you have over there... I don't know a single parish in our country that could afford something like that. So I guess we must be quite happy to get pretty decent new organs (from domestic organ builders, to be exact) for some £8-9K/stop. It is of course a great pity that under these circumstances organ builders from elsewhere stand little chances of being able to contribute to our organ landscape.

What about the Bärenreiter edition? Anyone using it? Although I don't know it myself, it does appear to be useful for choir+organ performance; organ part is written on three staves (there's a score sample on the Bärenreiter website). I'd be interested to know if anyone, who's been playing the Requiem more often, has compared it to the Rutter edition. Peters and Carus both seem to be using the 1900 full orchestra version (no organ solo versions here, only piano reduction).

Not wanting to sound petty and being aware that this is more or less irrelevant to the topic - the German name of the town in which Rieger established its original workshop is actually spelled Jägerndorf (here is a short introduction to the place).

Talking about Czech organ music and organists from this country, one shouldn't forget to mention Jaroslav Tůma, organ professor at the Prague Academy of Music, as well as one of his successful students, Pavel Kohout. Their websites offer lots of additional information. I had the pleasure of meeting and listening to both of them - truly fine musicians. As well as all the others, who've been mentioned here.

Some might already know that a new Rieger organ has been installed (voicing underway at the moment) in the world-renowned concert hall of the Viennese "Musikverein". We'll get the first glimpse of the new instrument during the New Year's Concert on Saturday, however you won't notice any difference since the outer appearance of the instrument (apart from the new mechanical console on the balcony) remained unchanged. The inauguration concert that is to take place on Saturday, March 26th, at 19.30, will feature no less than five organists: Olivier Latry, Gillian Weir, Ludger Lohman, Martin Haselböck and Peter Planyavsky. No surprises here, obviously . Although there are still no technical details about the organ on the Rieger website, it seems that the organ will have 4 manuals, 84 stops and 6171 pipes, with the whole project costing 1,8 million €. Well, the Rieger opus list certainly hasn't been lacking instruments of this size recently... A noteworthy detail: the new organ will also have some pipes from the original 1872 Ladegast organ. Hope someone gets to attend this event and provides some impressions afterwards.

Flor Peeters' organ music does seem to be somewhat neglected - at least in this part of Europe it seems as though this composer were virtually nonexistent (at least that's my impression). Actually I just wanted to mention that there is a rather short and easy, but very nice and effective piece by Peeters in "The Oxford Book of Ceremonial Music for Organ", called Festival Voluntary (Op. 87). Anyone else playing this? How about some recommendations for those more "rewarding" pieces from people who play more of Peeters' organ music. Or was this already discussed in some other thread?

Altough I would assume that most of you would first check about tin production here, I would like to quote from Wikipedia, nevertheless: "The ten largest companies produced most of world's tin in 2007. It is not clear which of these companies include tin smelted from the mine at Bisie, Congo-Kinshasa, which is controlled by a renegade militia and produces 15,000 tons. Most of the world's tin is traded on the London Metal Exchange (LME), from 8 countries, under 17 brands." I really wonder whether someone has any more detailed information about this (?).

After listening to the recording once again, I can see what you mean. I don't agree completely, though. It is perfectly clear that - in order to place an accent on a note - the only means of doing that on the organ is to make the previous note a bit shorter. With this particular recording, however, it seems to me that the pause between c# and d is almost too long, which - in my ears - disturbes the rhythm and somehow accentuates both notes. It almost sounds to me as if the c# was on the beat, despite the fact that there is no obvious detachment before it and that the c# is played almost staccato. There are of course a number of other interpretations out there (also on Youtube), which I find far more disturbing. Then again, it probably isn't the intention of this thread to start any in depth interpretation discussions (although it seems that this is exactly what I've done ...).

Unfortunately yet another interpretation where the organist didn't understand that the stress in the first (and the third) phrase of the piece isn't - in my humble opinion - on the penultimate (lowest), but on the last note (a semitone higner). Or am I the only one to see that the former note is still a part of the second beat and the latter is already on the (stressed) third beat ...? Or doesn't the theory of "good" and "bad" beats in Baroque music matter with this kind of "free style" composition? Without having researched this forum, whether the interpretation of the beginning of BWV 565 has already been thoroughly discussed here, I wonder, how everyone else is playing this. The sound of the organ is awesome, thoguh, no question of that.

Although Passau appears not to have tilted manuals at first glance, I would say that some tilt can be seen on a couple of photos of the 5-manual Eisenbarth console. There are of course tilted manuals on the only two 6-manual consoles in Germany (Mainz Cathedral, Waldsassen Basilica). Tilting manuals also appears to be quite common on the larger Klais consoles as well as those by other German organ builders (see for instance this link that I've come across by chance).

I saw that part a couple of weeks ago on the Prosieben channel (Germany). The organ looked familiar to me right away (and I've also read before that the series was being filmed in NY) - it is the Klais organ in St. Peter's Lutheran Church, built in 1977 with 32 stops on two manuals. See a photo and the stoplist here.

Tomaž Močnik (actually "Orglarstvo Močnik") is one of the three "major" organ builders in Slovenia today. For a number of years he worked as a voicer for the Maribor Organ Workshop, but started his own business in the year 2000. He built some very interesting instruments and has recently been primarily focusing on the German Baroque as well as the French Romantic style. The organ in Velesovo is indeed a superb instrument, but there are also others that would deserve more attention. His current project is for a church in Höör, Sweden (click here for more info). Unfortunately, Mr. Močnik has no presentation of his company and his organs on the internet. One can still find some informationt, though, if you search in Google for "Močnik, orgle". This will, however, only result in a number of Slovenian websites, but will also lead you to some more photos. Tomaž Močnik has a brother, Damijan Močnik, who is a renowned contemporary Slovenian composer.