ggw (05/17/82)
This is a short blurb about some nice organs to look at and listen to if you travel a lot and are interested. Durham, NC: (Duke Univ and environs) Duke Chapel Fleintrop: The last organ built personally by Fleintrop himself. A North German baroque style instrument. Installed in the Narthex of the chapel, I don't have the full specifications but the horizontal trumpets and the "solo" ranks are very good. St. Stephens Church: A French provencal style instrument with a good set of ranks and 4 very nice mixture ranks. This is a "Fleintrop" also, but from the workshop, not himself. The Church is very modern in architecture, and the white oak case for this organ makes quite a contrast. Still, a well voiced instrument in an excellent acoustic environment. Morristown, NJ: St Peter's Church: An electro-pneumatic Aoelian from the late 19th century. Being restored. An excellent example of an instrument designed for both congregational support and solo versatility. N.Y.City: Cathedral of St. John the Devine: Several instruments of varying designs. The great Nave organ absolutely shakes the cathedral when they use the 32' principals. Chapel of St. Hilda's and St. Hughes: A very good little organ in a freestanding case (tracker). The builder was an Austrian working in some workshop in the Netherlands. I spent 30 minutes with this little gem one Sunday afternoon. It makes me wish that I had more talent and time to play. Washington DC: National Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul (Espiscopal): They have an organ school at the cathedral, and about 15 organs scattered throughout the complex. The main Choir organ has a "tower" section suspended over the Chancel crossing with an angelic Vox Humana that defys description. There are many more instruments worthy of note in many areas. Even some better instruments in the areas I have described. but I make no claims of completeness. If network response to this article warrants it, I will endeavor to continue submitting occasional articles about the Organ, King of Instruments. Gregory G. Woodbury BTL PY 2K-332 x7287 (...!npois!eiss!eisx!ggw)
ark (05/18/82)
If you're in New York looking at the organ at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, don't forget to visit Saint Paul's Chapel on the Columbia University campus. It's a small chapel with a large organ -- about 5,000 pipes. Last summer they gave a series of free Bach concerts there -- an opportunity for local organists to show off. They were GOOD! The tracker organ at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center is also first rate. It's almost as large as the one at Saint Paul's, but it's usually invisible, being tucked in behind the panels at the back of the stage. For organ concerts, the whole thing is exposed. The acoustics of Alice Tully are superb for chamber music and rather unusual for organ music -- the hall is much less live with a much shorter decay time than the average cathedral! The result is that pieces sound quite different, with less lingering sound after chords are let up but with much more inner detail exposed to the ear. Anthony Newman is doing a series there this Fall -- I can't wait!
cjh (05/18/82)
I'm not an organist myself, but I would note the main organ in the Montreal cathedral as (at least) an instrument suitable for its huge environment---4 ranks plus pedal, which has 3 32' stops. The beast is over the Nave entrance, though, which mucks up the sound a bit (unless you're up there with it). As befits te lat home of E. Power Biggs, Boston has a lot of good organs, although some of them are in strange locations. A traditional favorite is in the Busch-Reisinger (Germanic) Museum at Harvard; unfortunately I've never heard it in concert. Old South (Congregaional) Church has a fairly new Flentrop with the trumpets en chamade; almost as much fun as singing with a full orchestra.
jcwinterton (05/18/82)
In the Toronto area are St. Paul's church on Bloor St. E., Timothy Eaton Memorial church in Forrest Hill and St. Paul's RC church at Queen & Power sts. There are many other fine instruments in town, but I have not heard them. (You would expect the place Healy Willan lived in would have good organs.) John Winterton.
death (05/18/82)
Of special note is the Newberry Memorie,Organ at Yale, the largest
instrument on campus & one of the nicest I have encountered in the
country. It was installed around (I think) the beginning of the
1900's, and upgraded around 1928 by Aeolian-Skinner.
It is a very lush romantic instrument, in a very live hall
(nothing besides organ really works that well in Woolsey because
of the reverberation). It has 8 divisions (great, swell, solo,
choir, orchestral, string, echo & pedal); the orchestral, string and
echo organs are multiplexed to "float" between manuals, and the
echo division is underneath the floor in the rear of the hall.
There are 166 stops, four manuals, and more than 16,600 pipes in
the organ, ranging from the echo voix celeste to the
32' contrabombarde in the pedal. The solo division includes
a harmonic trumpet and tuba mirabilis at 25" pressure, for
those of us who like volume, and a 64' resultant countrabourdon
in the pedal division which literally rattles the windows.
The only drawback to the instrument, from a performers standpoint,
is of course the placement of the console. The organ forms the back
wall of a 3+story hall; a stage juts out from this, and over the e
dge of the stage on the floor is the organ console. When playing
the instrument the sound sort of goes over and past you, so
you only hear yourself coming off the ceiling, or the back wall, or
wherever. I have had to stick pencils in the keys and walk to the middle
of the hall to check registrations at times; but despite thi
s it is a true thrill to play and to hear the instrument.
There is a Sunday Evening series presented through the school year,
so if anybody is ever through then it might be worth checking out.
On a totally unrelated note, a plea for correspondence: are there
any percussionists out there interested in swapping stories/information?
Mail away!
==bob
decvax!yale-comix!deathhal (05/19/82)
Another nice instrument in New York City is the medium size Italian instrument
in St. Peter's church (that's the little church on the corner of the CitiCorp
block at Lexington and 57th(?)). It has particularly nice reeds, and is
wonderful for Baroque music. There used to be noon time recitals every Monday
and Friday, but I don't know if they still have these.
Hal Perkins
{vax135|decvax|...}!cornell!hal