Frauenkirche, Dresden

[Vox Humana]

Does anyone have a specification for the new Kern organ, please? I could not find one on Google.

 

From what I did find it sounds as though the original Silbermann specification has been reproduced with the addition of a fourth manual containing a Romantic French Schwellwerk. However I assume the voicing is not really as disparate as this might suggest if taken at face value. Does it work?

[Vox Humana]

Drat! I should have looked in the obvious place:

http://www.kernpipeorgan.com/Dresden/Dresd...composition.htm

 

[John Sayer]

Does anyone have a specification for the new Kern organ, please? I could not find one on Google.

 

From what I did find it sounds as though the original Silbermann specification has been reproduced with the addition of a fourth manual containing a Romantic French Schwellwerk. However I assume the voicing is not really as disparate as this might suggest if taken at face value. Does it work?

 

 

I heard it twice last year and was impressed. A generous, effortless sound, with the new Récit successfully integrated into the whole. The other addition to Silbermann's specification, of course, is a 32ft reed, which the great man himself never built. There are a couple of CDs available of the instrument.

 

The restored Frauenkirche itself is absolutely amazing - a vast, light, airy and very theatrical space, not at all what one would expect of a Lutheran church.

 

Equally impressive were the large crowds queueing for an hour or more to attend the Orgelandacht (prayers and short address with organ interludes) at noon each day. The church must have been 3/4 full - something one can't imagine happening in this country.

 

JS

[bazuin]

I offer no judgement of the instrument, it sounds well enough on disc.

 

The discussions about whether or not to reconstruct the Silbermann organ, or to build a new universal organ based loosely on his concept was a fascinating one. Many of the arguments and counter-arguments from the mid 1990s are preserved in the archives of PIPORG-L. These include many interesting posts by Ibo Ortgies, one of Europe's leading organologists who argued for a Gothenburg-style multi-disciplinary reconstruction project.

 

http://listserv.albany.edu:8080/cgi-bin/wa?S1=piporg-l

 

and then type 'Frauenkirche' into the search box.

 

Greetings

 

Bazuin

[Mark Taylor]

The September issue of Diapason highly recommends Samuel Kummer’s new recording of Vierne’s third and fifth symphonies on this organ. The gist of the review is:

 

1) that Kummer is a remarkable interpreter of Vierne, and

2) that the Kern organ is surprisingly good in this repertoire.

 

I have not yet heard the CD.

[Vox Humana]

http://listserv.albany.edu:8080/cgi-bin/wa?S1=piporg-l

 

and then type 'Frauenkirche' into the search box.

Thank you. Most interesting reading.

 

On the one hand, since Silbermann's three-manual had somewhat run to fat in its old age, notably gaining two extra manuals (one of them a swell), I find it hard to see Kern's four-manual "Silbermann +" as being as inappropriate as some would have it portrayed.

 

On the other, since the building was reconstructed from the original plans, it does seem a shame that the opportunity was not taken to replicate the organ that Silbermann (or, rather, his firm) originally supplied. There are certainly firms that could have done it.

 

Anyway, the deed is done.

[heva]

Thank you. Most interesting reading.

 

On the one hand, since Silbermann's three-manual had somewhat run to fat in its old age, notably gaining two extra manuals (one of them a swell), I find it hard to see Kern's four-manual "Silbermann +" as being as inappropriate as some would have it portrayed.

 

On the other, since the building was reconstructed from the original plans, it does seem a shame that the opportunity was not taken to replicate the organ that Silbermann (or, rather, his firm) originally supplied. There are certainly firms that could have done it.

 

Anyway, the deed is done.

 

What would be the need for a Silbermann copy, when having a real one (is it?) available in the Domkirche not so far away?