I thought I would be brave and start a new thread as the walking the line thread seems to have changed track!
LOL I have played a couple of organs like that, it isn't so bad with electro-pneumatic action. I have played a few organs where organ and console are far apart. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. One I play built in the 50's has the pipes at the west end and console out of the way in the east end and you barely hear what you are playing when playing something quiet. I like to feel at one with the instrument not remote.
Fair move! What have pipe organs to do with TSW2? Not much, apart from the fact that some are devored by bugs.
That tracker action was just plain wrooooong! Some inventions from mankind should be disinvented (if that was possible). Atomic bombs, Contergan, Donald Trump and ......... pneumatic tracker action. Cavaillé-Coll got it right in France as he only employed the Barker lever to easen the manuals. Steinmeyer, Furtwängler & Hammer ...... they all went down.
Seems like those ancient, giant church organs would be similar to modern U.S. freight locomotives in that they could put out sound that would register on seismographs.
THAT you can count on. The Sauer Organ of the Berlin Cathedral blows 120dB over your head. If you hit the fff button.
Tracker action when done well and when it isn't too heavy can be lovely to play. One of the organs I play with is a c1880 century Nicholson and it feels lovely. The much smaller later Nicholson I used to play used to make your fingers hurt.
A lot or organists I know are railway enthusiasts and I have come across a few train simmers who were organists so there must be a link somewhere
Standing beneath the giant organ at Liverpool Cathedral is something to experience, it makes the floor shake.
This is Bach played in a style many purists now wouldn't approve. The late Francis Jackson who died a couple of weeks ago aged 104 was organist at York Minster for many years.
Very well played. Nowadays they´re rushing through the pieces like there was extra money for finishing a Bach Fugue in half the time.
I believe the Liverpool Cathedral organ has the longest pipes (i.e. the lowest notes) of any organ in the UK. The lowest notes are pretty well subsonic - you feel them rather than hear them.
I was lucky enough to be able to hear this one, gratis, every evening if I wanted Harrison & Harrison, 1934, enlarged 1950 and 1968. Some Hill pipes from the 19th c. re-used.
I haven't managed to get over to Cambridge to hear it in person, somehow I have neglected to do so. It is a fantastic instrument though. You certainly were lucky I wish I had an organ like that on my doorstep.
Where this thread originated. Freiberg (Sachs.) still has 4 instruments from the saxon Silbermann. The Great Organ of Freiberg Cathedral always overshadowing her little sisters. Not that she´d fall short. It´s a marvelous instrument, largely original. Freiberg St. Petri 1735 - II/32. theorganist - If you want to visit german baroque preserved, this is the place to go. (Hint: Take an RE at Dresden Hbf ) Enjoy "The Wedge"
And when it comes to Neo-Baroque, this one I´d get my hands on. Lack of experimental spirit could not be the accusation. Overtone stops at full steam. Zwickau Cathedral Eule - 1966 - IV/78
Impressive specification esepcially the pedal section. It looks versatile, I shall look for some recordings of it. Thanks for that, hopefully next year if/when things have settled down I shall make the trip. Be good to ride on the trains in Germany too.
I'm afraid my only exposure to pipe-and-related organs is that formerly at The Grenada, Woolwich. My former landlord was the general secretary of the Cinema Organ Society - he has his own Hammond at home and in the town he has restored the Wurlitzer from Woolwich.
I would love to have a play on a cinema/theatre organ one day. Sadly there doesn't seem so much interest in them although I know of a couple of enthusiasts. There is an old Cinema not far from me in Cradley Heath which still has a Christie organ entombed inside. The building has been a bingo hall and had other uses over the last 50 years. I think the local authority, like the cultural vandals most of them are would like to see the building demolished and I imagine have no interest saving the organ, if indeed it is still saveable.
One of the nicer little bonuses of my area is a restored 1920s cinema in all its gilt garishness, complete with its original Wurlitzer which is played before the show on weekends.
We have one of those, too! It's called the Music Box, and it has a built-in pipe organ and a well-regarded house organist who provides live accompaniment when silent films are screened, as well as off-movie playing. https://www.npr.org/local/309/2019/...-quite-like-the-90-year-old-music-box-theatre
Really interesting. For me this was a bygone era. I just wonder: Where are the pipes of these organs stored?
That is a very interesting read. It takes a particular skill to be a cinema organist, I don't think I could do it.
Very little to offer here except that Harrison in Durham is one of the more famous organ makers. When I moved to Durham in 1981 we lived across from and a couple of hundred yards up the same back alley from the location they had occupied for well over a century- close enough for me in my back room to hear pipes being tested on a night when there wasn't a train going past. They relocated to Meadowfield industrial estate near Brandon now but are still going strong I believe.
I love Harrison and Harrison organs, the one at Coventry Cathedral is a wonderful instrument, not that I have had the pleasure of playing it and of course the Kings College Cambridge possibly their most famous one. They are one of the most famous British builders and one of the few still remaining. They look after many if not most of the large instruments in the UK. The northern builders in my opinion collectively turned out the best British organs in the late 19th and early 20th century. They were inspired by Schulz of Germany. The large four manual at Doncaster Minster is one of his and is a fantastic intrument.
For sure. I've been there when he played before a film, but the only silent film I've seen there was a restoration of Metropolis, which came with its own recorded score. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra turns this up to 11 with an occasional program where they screen a film and the orchestra plays the score live. I had a ticket for An American in Paris a few years ago, but of course the musicians' contract expired and they ended up going on strike that week, so it was cancelled. I'd also love to watch Star Wars this way; the renowned and mighty CSO brass section blasting the opening fanfare would definitely be a goosebumps moment.
Just to share this little master piece with theorganist and everybody who enjoys this kind of music. She does it very well IMHO. A nightmare of execution (not to say "pain ´n the arse") for every raising organist. Still, worth every effort to get it done. Enjoy!
A very good performance, interesting sounding instrument too. I haven't been brave enough to learn any of the Trio Sonata's yet.
I hear you. Difficult and time-consuming. Left hand alone, right hand alone, left and right hand together, pedal alone, left hand and pedal together, right hand and pedal together - finally all together. I had it many moons ago. But today not anymore. This needs rehearsal 8 hours per day. Life went into different directions, and then there´s also TSW ....
Tis true, I am studying for my grade 8 piano at the moment and trying to fit practicing the piano in with work, my organ playing, singing and my hobbies is difficult, much to my piano teachers annoyance! When I have completed my grade 8 piano I shall turn my attention to the organ again and learning some of these tricky Bach pieces as I don't play enough of his work.
