sprondel

It is a 22-step crescendo, starting with Harmonika 8' (I), Dulziana 8' (II), Dolce 8' (III), Aeoline 8' (IV), Liebl. Gedackt 16' (P), II/I, III/I, IV/I. The last ranks coming in are the chorus reeds 16-8-4 on I, the open 32' and the 32-foot reed on the pedal, and the Tuba on II. A stoplist and some pictures are on http://www.sauerorgelbau.de/berlinerdom.pdf (See Hermann J. Busch, Die Wilhelm-Sauer-Orgel des Berliner Domes, in: Ars Organi 44 (1993), p.231-238, here: p.236; and corrigenda in Ars Organi 45). Best, Friedrich

One might argue that it is neither -- "crescendo" is a musical term, and it means "growing". To remember this sometimes helps if one struggles with all the different means of realizing it -- e. g. stop-by-stop build-up, or terraced as in a Cavaillé-Coll, or in a mixture of both ways. I have heard players who managed to arrive at that same "growing" effect without moving a single shade or stop-knob -- just by subtle phrasing. You can even get a Crescendo out of articulation -- on the organ, a sound usually, and within certain limits, appears the louder the longer it lasts. Try it with your heavy 16-foot pedal reed. Best, Friedrich P. S. I have heard the C-C terraced crescendo described like a six-layer cream cake. Pedal, G. O. and Pos., plus and minus "anches", form six "fondants" of bisquit dough, while the full Récit adds the cream to even out the steps. I thought the description was delicious.

As a starting point, you may use http://www.users.dircon.co.uk/~oneskull/3.6.03.htm Stephen Bicknell's article on "Cavaillé-Coll's four fonds" has been refered to on this forum repreatedly, I am sure, but it still is a brilliant read and tells, at least, a lot about what can not be achieved on any other organ but a Cavaillé-Coll. Best, Friedrich

To throw in another modern case design: I do like the look of the Rieger at Clifton Cathedral, Bristol -- even though this organ must have shocked British organists quite a bit back when it was built, and probably still does. http://www.cliftondiocese.com/images/clift...edral-organ.jpg A better photograph and a drawing are in "The Classical organ in Britain", vol I, pp. 82 and 134. Best, Friedrich

Is that "Auerbach" or "Amorbach" (see URL below)? http://www.nostalghia.de/images/amorbach.png Best, Friedrich

Sorry, my mistake. I checked again, and the swell pedals on both consoles move all shutters, front and back. I don't know if this results in poor projection, but anyway the organ is held in high esteem by everyone who played it. Best, Friedrich

Oh yes. And not a bad one. That's an important difference. I have never forgiven them to have started this disgusting "Beck's Gold" stuff. Best, Friedrich

This beautiful Rieger http://www.rieger-orgelbau.com/dbbilder/ro...jakob-1-g-h.jpg (and, for some more views and a stoplist) http://www.orgelsite.nl/kerken42/rothenburg.htm at Rothenburg, Germany, appears to cope reasonably well without compromise. It is built as a four-story tower: The large swell box forms the base of the instrument; above it, there is the built-in main playdesk and the divided Rückpositiv; then comes the Brustwerk box; then, on the uppermost level, the main case for the Great and Pedal organs. The front shown in the first picture faces the nave. The Swell and Brustwerk shutters, when controlled from the main playdesk, open in the same direction. The back wall of the main case is formed by wood pipes that help to project the sound into the nave. There is a second, free-standing console with two manuals and pedal facing the chapel behind the organ. From there, the Swell and Brustwerk are played, together with a secondary pedal division in the same position as the Rueckpositiv, only facing backward. This results in a flexible two-manual organ for accompaniment of small services. The shutters, when controlled from the two-manual console, open to the chapel. This is the kind of engineering Joseph von Glatter-Götz and architect Jakob Schmidt were acclaimed for. Best, Friedrich

About Fisk's "Kowalyshin servo-pneumatic lever", see http://www.cbfisk.com/fisk_files/organs/spl.pdf About Vincent Willis's floating lever, see http://www.willis-organs.com/Floating.html Both devices track the finger movement and make it possible to apply attack differences in playing. The main difference between the two is that the Kowalyshin device is basically an advanced version of the Barker lever, which means it interrupts the course of the mechanical action in order to bring a stronger source of energy into it. I have tried it at Lausanne, and it works very fine. It is quick, silent and, to all accounts, reliable and easy to maintain. The Floating lever leaves the action intact, i. e. there is an uninterrupted connection between key and valve. It is called "flaoting lever" because the lever doesn't have a fixed fulcrum. The servo device adds power to the movement triggered by the finger. The mechanism is engineered quite ingeniously. I have never, however, tried an organ that uses this kind of device. I hear the Willis firm still offers to build it. Both devices were designed, as far as I know, for slider-and-pallet chests with large and/or multiple valves on heavy wind. Of course, they would work fine on all kinds of actions, be they heavy because of valve number or size, wind pressure, or distance. I don't know, though, if finger-tracking servo devices would be useful on cone-valve chests. Would a slow opening of the valves be desired in those? Best, Friedrich

Are there any well-made, fairly recent CD recordings of the instrument? I found a photograph of the beautiful case on the choir screen in an organ calendar back in the 1980ies, and was deeply impressed. This kind of placement, by the way, seems to be the dream of most organ builders who undertook the difficult task to provide an apt organ for a cathedral space. Josef von Glatter-Götz, when designing the organ for the Muenster at Freiburg, wrote about that in an ad in ISO information; and in the competition about a new instrument for Cologne cathedral back in the early 1990ies, many builders favoured this idea, but weren't allowed to develop it due to restraints from the cathedral architect. There is a beautiful drawing by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, the eminent 19th-century German architect, that illustrates his vision of an organ resting high on a cast-iron bridge in the westernmost choir bay at Cologne -- in a gothic revival case, but with Pedal towers, Positive case in the railing and all. Now that would have been a spectacular organ! Best, Friedrich

Maybe a glance at our "stylus phantasticus" thread would be useful. The F#-Minor is a very typical example for a piece in that manner. Variety is wanted, as well as sudden changes of mood, colour, dynamics, and pace. Do not hesitate to use drastical means to make Buxtehude's point -- which is, to move the soul of the listener. Any North-German praeludium that does not make your listeners' jaws drop, at least at some point in the piece, did miss that point. The beginning of the F#-Minor sounds good, e. g., if played on a big Rohr Flute; from there, you could change to Diapasons 8 + 4 for the pedal point passage, with an edgy pedal sound. Fugal passages often sound good on flutes, toccata sections with some brighter sounds. Sometimes using a mixture without an 8-foot diapason, based on just a Gamba or Stopped Diapason plus Principal, can be a good effect, at least for a short while. The concluding toccata sounds quite attractive if played as a rush-and-sparkle of mixture sound over a dark reed; texture not being of much importance here any more. Of course I do not know if this would work with the kind of instrument you play. Maybe some contributors know Jean Guillou's recording of Bach's D-Minor toccata in Saint-Eustache. The Van den Heuvel organ is as far from a Buxtehude organ as any, but Guillou really got the knack of the "stylus phantasticus". Be it in good or bad: Your jaw just drops. Best, Friedrich

Gooood question indeed. In general, my answer would be Rachmaninov's 2nd piano concerto (I always feel a bit dirty after having listened to it). I don't know of any organ work that has the same high-level combination of artful meanness, appallingly plain harmony and theme construction, refined vulgarity and an overall appeal to the lowest instincts. Of course, there is the motto to the Whitlock sonata "On hearing the second Rachmaninov in spring", but I am not sure if he means the piano concerto or the symphony. And the sonata I find much more interesting than both. Ah -- I know! Elgar's transcription of Bach's the C-Minor Fantasia and Fugue. Admittedly orchestral music, but also a tasteless abuse of a very dignified organ work. As well as sheer diabolical fun. Best, Friedrich

The context of the term is actually a bit different. I don't have Athanasius Kircher's "Musurgia universalis" at home, but I remember his categorization: There is the "Church style" -- strict polyphonic writing, stylus antiquus --, the "Chamber style" -- music for dancing and entertainment --, and the "Theatre style" -- operatic music that is meant to move the soul of the listener. These styles can be applied to all kinds of musical writing, be it keyboard, violin, vocal etc. The "Stylus phantasticus" is the most extreme form of "Theatre style" in that it not only moves the "affectum" of the listener -- "affectus" being a somewhat mechanistic term for emotion --, but changes the affects often and drastically. An opera singer in an Arioso recitative, a violinist in a Biber Sonata, or an organist in a Praeludium can do that by permanently and surprisingly changing the pace, genre, and texture of the music, by applying all kinds of expressive ornamentation and modulation etc. Bruhns' E-Minor is the most extreme example for this kind of writing. Bach, in a way, never got it right, and apparently wasn't aiming at it. Look at his his E-Major Praeludium, that follows the five-section model of the North-German praeludium, but is not half as exciting as any Buxtehude toccata. Apparently, Bach always tried to find unity in variety. For example, the BWV 532 (D-Major) praeludium was as close to "stylus phantasticus" writing as he ever got; but still, he braces the three-section praeludium with virtuosic scales (the first, notoriously, for the feet) that designate the sections and bind them together. The G-Minor Fantasia, in a way, uses "stylus phantasticus" writing in that it changes the mood, pace and key quite unexpectedly in some places. Only the writing is confined to two or maybe three different textures (recitative, durezze ed ligature, and maybe pedal point toccata), where Buxtehude, Bruhns e tutti quanti would use five or six different kinds of texture, including dances, strict polyphony, chaconnes etc. Bach apparently wanted to avoid too much variety in order to create the piece as a whole, avoiding the danger of the sections falling apart. With the F-Major toccata BWV 540, he arrived at the longest "praeludium" type of piece ever known to organists, and he managed to use not more than two different kinds of texture (pedal toccata and concerto-style writing). Bach must have been more than glad to find a model like the Italian ritornello concerto, which allowed for as much unity and variety as anyone could whish for, without endangering the listener to lose track of the music in its entirety. Best, Friedrich

I was under the impression that double-languid pipes were a development of the Willis family -- didn't Vincent Willis provide a small army of these stops for Atlantic City? In case of Trost, I think he sometimes worked with double mouths rather than double languids. Anyway, it would be great to be left alone with the Waltershausen Trost for a day or two and try it out for colour and with different pieces of repertoire. Best, Friedrich

Then why not doing a «Flucht nach vorn» (a saying that means to tackle the enemy instead of fleeing him, even when seemingly being in the disadvantage)? Your mentioning of Reger's op. 73 might give an idea here. Karl Straube, when performing it for the first time in Leipzig (5 March 1905, two days after the actual first performance of the work in Berlin by his student, Walter Fischer), he played the piece twice, in the beginning and in the end of his programme, with some lighter pieces in between. He earned mixed reviews, but definitely granted his listeners a chance to get a feel for the music. Some reviewers, by the way, wrote that it took Straube an astonishing 45 to 50 minutes to perform the piece. So, if the performance is well-prepared, maybe with a short, spoken introduction and well-designed printed material, why not give it a try? I believe that Commotio, in a way, is much more accessible than Reger's op. 73. Best, Friedrich

It is on "Organ Fireworks V" and was recorded in 1993 at Turku Cathedral, Finland. Other pieces on that cd are Litanies, Mulet's Carillon Sortie, Mozart's Fantasia K 608 and Pomp and Circumstance No. 4. The organ, though big (Virtanen, IV/81, tracker, Trompeteria), seems to be a bit on the lean side. It has much fire, however, and suits Herrick's articulate playing perfectly. See a nice virtual tour of the cathedral, including the impressive case, on http://www.turunseurakunnat.fi/portal/turu...?kohde=8&mode=0 One good thing about Herrick's "Commotio" is that he doesn't just boom away from the start, but begins more in "poco forte" dynamics, allowing for the voice-leading structure to shine through the dense texture of the piece. I like this recording a lot. Best, Friedrich

Well, VH, there are people who even don't like cheese. I mean proper cheese, not the near-to-neutral Gouda-type kind. I even know one cheese-hater. A nice and intelligent chap otherwise. It is just one of those deep puzzlements of creation, like the flying ability of the bumblebee, I guess. Best, Friedrich

No, but it's impossible. You cannot prefer a stop to a piece of music. Best, Friedrich

This is just too true. Organists and organ geeks tend to cherish in Widor's or Vierne's symphonies, but there are but a few movements in these that are, to my ears, in fact great music, able to hold up to contemporary instrumental music. Maybe there is a misconception in that some people think organ music answers to different criteria than other music. There in fact is nothing in Widor's op. 13 that lifts its head above mediocricy, even though some pieces are fun to listen to. Guilmant's sonatas -- no, there are no symphonies there, and just putting it into an orchestral score doesn't make a sonata that -- are mostly well written, some even elegantly; but there is more music in any of Schumann's piano pieces than in Guilmant (to whom Schumann was an idol). In the Reubke sonata, I find greatness in that he understood writing for the organ as well as improving on the Lisztian sonata model. There are few organ pieces that can claim to be equally cutting-edge. Brahms' A-flat minor fugue is definitely among them, the Elgar as well, and the Franck Chorals (but only few of the other organ works). Almost all of Reger's organ music is, of course. Someone said that, had Jehan Alain lived to write more music, Messiaen would have been an easy contender for him to pass. With cutting-edge you get a problem as soon as Duruflé is brought into play. Some call his music impressionist; but he was born ten years after Debussy had completed the Prélude pour l'après-midi d'un faune, and spoke his first words when La mer was created. So I admit that cutting-edge is not the only criterium for great music (which, to my ears, much of Duruflé's is); but many great pieces definitely are cutting-edge. But then -- were Bach's?* Who started this? MM? This is one question to get depressed over! Best, Friedrich * I think they were, but many think they weren't.

I think that would rather be K 594 which was written in 1790 immediately before K 608. The "other" F-Minor Fantasia starts out and ends with a lamento-bass figure, and has some fanfares in the middle section that were meant to point to the deceased's successes. I am not sure if K 608 was a mourning piece as well. I think K 608 boasts the most exciting counterpoint next to Bach's own. It is as dramatic as it is moving. Best, Friedrich

Always at your service, MM. That's what I am here for sjf1967: Nielsen, I believe, was a Dane. I too am fond of that piece of ultra-Buxtehude. A while ago, I kept looking for a recording of Commotio on a romantic organ; to no avail. My favourites among the recordings on modern instruments are Kevin Bowyer's (Odense cathedral, Marcussen) and Christopher Herrick's (Turku cathedral -- very bright though the organ may sound, the playing is just superb). Best, Friedrich

For me, it still is Reger's op. 73 variations. Never fell out of love with it. Best, Friedrich

I too have heard Dulcianas that are really quite boring -- soft to the point of having lost all character. I don't think there is any use, in any music, for neutral sounds. There is, however, a Dulciana 8' on the Schuke in my congregation's former church (I tend to boast with that organ which, after all, I haven't anything to do with any more, but then it is so beautiful an instrument). Karl Schuke specified it for the enclosed Positive; it sits next to an 8-foot Rohrgedackt. It is soft, but still exquisitely so, and has the most delicate of chiffs in the lower and middle ranges. It really is a sound to listen to for its own beauty. On the Great, there is an 8-foot Gemshorn that starts 'cello-like in the bass and becomes a rather big flute in the treble. Take that Gemshorn, the Dulciana for accompaniment, and the Pedal Subbass with the Great coupled, and you have a sound that is almost catholic in its sweetness (*gasp*). Would I go so far as to add the tremulant to the Dulciana? Smell the incense ... Best, Friedrich

Hmm -- either that wasn't me, or it was on another forum. It is an interesting topic, however, and I remember that I wrote something concerning it some time. Ladegast's bigger organs had a crescendo device that operated the stops automatically, but not the Merseburg one, which was Ladegast's first large instrument. In the large 1854 organ in the Marienkirche Lübeck, however, built by Reubke's Thuringian contemporary Schulze (father and son), there was a pneumatic device that opened the Swell shades automatically and apparently was provided as an alternative to the (also provided) spoon-shaped lever. Here, the shades would return to "closed" position when the organist's foot left the lever. Devices of this kind were rare exceptions only to be found in large instruments. I doubt whether Reubke would have known automatic crescendoes. His father didn't build any, not even in his largest instrument, a successor of which is currently under construction in Magdeburg cathedral, under Barry's attentive eyes. Best, Friedrich

I did not know it, and have just looked up the »lyrics« on the web. De mortuis nihil nisi bene, so I won't tell off the poet. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Willms (Oops.) Organ-related content, I admit, amounts to about the same as the Christian one. This is a rough translation: "When the red sea is on green wave, we freely leave (freely leave, freely leave ...) the country of slavery. When our tears flow backwards, then we stay here, because the country has changed. When the barbed wire grows red roses, then we stay ... When our dreams bear fruit, then we stay ... When the power lets down its arms in front of any child, then we stay ... When the clock sounds thirteen and time itself breaks, then we stay ... When the country gives us shelter, then we stay ..." Sorry, now I have to go to the bathroom (for the sake of my keyboard). Best, Friedrich