The 10 Organs You Would Most Like To Play/hear?

[pcnd5584]

If you've been about a bit and seen what Cavaille-Coll did in different situations, and know, for example, of his refusal to match the number of stops offered by Schyven or Walcker at Antwerp Cathedral (C-C offered 75 stops, Walker 102 and Schyven 87, the jury asked him to increase the number of stops, C-C refused stating that his 75 stops would be perfectly adequate) then you can assert with some certainty that C-C would have built an organ of around 20 stops for the church in question.

 

I have indeed 'been about a bit'. I have played for a number of masses on the magnificent Pierre Schyven organ of Antwerp Cathedral. For the record, I do not regard it as either too big or too loud for the building. Consequently, I would not like to state with any certainty that a twenty stop organ would be adequate for Edinburgh Roman Cathoilc Cathedral (it is not merely a question of power, incidentally) - particularly with regard to the comment I made about the church in Cornwall - which appears to me to be considerably smaller than the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Edingurgh. In any case, there is a huge difference between seventy five and eighty seven stops as opposed to twenty or sixty three stops.

 

Christ Church, Port Sunlight springs to mind as a highly decadent PC organ (albeit a marvellous one - the specification has a Truro-like discipline). The Edinburgh organ is 20 stops larger and the church is approximately the same size (CCPS is longer, Edinburgh is higher and slightly broader).

 

Bazuin

 

Regarding Truro (which I have also played for both recital and service work), there was no particular 'discipline', regarding the size - simply lack of further money at the time, and some limitation on space. There is a little more room up there, but not much.

[pcnd5584]

I had meant to start another thread with this but....does the reverse of the above apply too - how does this work in a building of considerable size when one's normal expectation could be for something with twice the resources.. or more. There is a lot of talk about instruments being too large for their situation - can an organ builder/designer underestimate?

 

A

 

I am not sure, but I shall ask my boss - I think that he was organ scholar there a few years ago. Personally, I should not want this as a gift.

 

Incidentally, I think that the 32ft. reed from the former Walker organ may now be heard in Cape Town Cathedral.

[Colin Harvey]

I had meant to start another thread with this but....does the reverse of the above apply too - how does this work in a building of considerable size when one's normal expectation could be for something with twice the resources.. or more. There is a lot of talk about instruments being too large for their situation - can an organ builder/designer underestimate?

 

A

I really like the look of this organ on paper. It's captured my imagination in a way the Edinburgh organ also under discussion hasn't.

 

Size of organ isn't really proportional to the volume of sound it produces. A small but lustily voiced organ can produce an extraordinary amount of sound, quite capable of filling a large building. A good example of this is the choir organ at Alkmaar, which fills this large church to glittering effect, despite having no pipe longer than six foot and remarkably diminutive proportions.

 

It's quite possible to increase the power output of an organ's pipes by increasing the windways, etc, to give more sound. Small scales can be got round but there's a limit at which the sound from the pipes starts to sound hard and forced and its musical quality diminishes. However, a large building with gracious acoustics will be far more forgiving on an organ screaming its head off so that it's only at closer quarters that one realises how harsh the pipe speech actually is. So in summary the size of an organ isn't really an indication of how loud it's going to be.

 

Another factor is the acoustics. A small room with absorbant, dead acoustics is going to be a far harder proposition for the organ than one with gracious acoustics. I remember the story of Ken Tickell, trying out some pipes designed for Cheltenham Ladies' College (a remarkably dead hall) in Worcester Cathedral and found the pipes were far too loud for the larger building.

 

While there's nothing stopping a well designed small organ from being successful in a large space, I'm not sure large organs in small spaces have the same chances of success. Most large organ sounds need space and resonance for the sound to blend and any rough spots to be knocked off before it meets our ears. A 32' reed at close quarters never sounds pretty or that musical but in a large, resonant space it sounds simply thrilling with the rest of the organ. In addition, the pipes will need to be quietened down and there's a limit at whic the pipes are voiced so quitely that there are problems with speech and producing any musical interest in the sound. So the idea of an organ with 3 32's in a medium sized parish church with limited acoustics speaks more of ego than of good judgement and taste and I think this stands out enough on paper to justify comment.

 

Back on topic: 10 organs I would like to play (which I haven't yet) - the list is endless and I've made lots of omissions. I've only included organs I haven't played or heard in the flesh:

 

1. Sacred Heart Cathedral, Rochester NY - Paul Fritts Op.26

2. A tour of the organs of the Tierra de Campos, Spain, including Frenchilla and the work of Tadeo Ortega

3. Bovenkerk, Kampen, Hinsz organ

4. Martinikerk, Gronigen

5. Freiburg - Silbermann (and the organs of Rotha as well)

6. Hofkirche, Innsbruck - G.Ebert 1588

7. Usher Hall, Edinburgh

8. The Antegnatis of Brescia

9. St Sulpice (actually a tour of the Parisian churches would be ideal - including Notre Dame)

10. Berlin Dom - Sauer

[tiratutti]

Hello,

...

5. Freiburg - Silbermann (and the organs of Rötha as well)

...

only in case you are planning a visit: please travel to Freiberg.

 

Cheers

tiratutti

[pcnd5584]

I really like the look of this organ on paper. It's captured my imagination in a way the Edinburgh organ also under discussion hasn't.

 

Size of organ isn't really proportional to the volume of sound it produces. A small but lustily voiced organ can produce an extraordinary amount of sound, quite capable of filling a large building. A good example of this is the choir organ at Alkmaar, which fills this large church to glittering effect, despite having no pipe longer than six foot and remarkably diminutive proportions. ...

 

Well, indeed. I think that perhaps an unfortunate result of the installation of the Marcussen organ in Saint Mary's, Nottingham, was that, once again a good Romantic organ was disposed of. Now it may be that at the time the church authorities were told that it was on its last legs (although if the pipework was largely Walker, it is highly unlikely that this could not have been re-used in a structurally and mechanically new instrument). This would still have been cheaper than a brand new organ. Of course, the relative sizes of the instruments are a factor, but I cannot help but wonder whether another (good) organ was consigned to the scrapheap, perhaps because the organist of the time wanted something bright, exciting and different.

[Colin Harvey]

Hello,

 

only in case you are planning a visit: please travel to Freiberg.

 

Cheers

tiratutti

Oh, yes - well spotted. I'll probably be going through Freiburg (well Fribourg, of the Swiss variety) on the train in the next couple of weeks...