• Welcome to the Pipe Organ Forum! This is a part of the open community Magle International Music Forums focused on pipe organs (also known as "church organs"), organists, organ music and related topics.

    This forum is intended to be a friendly place where technically advanced organists and beginners (or even non-organists) can feel comfortable having discussions and asking questions. We learn by reading and asking questions, and it is hoped that the beginners (or non-organists) will feel free to ask even the simplest questions, and that the more advanced organists will patiently answer these questions. On the other hand, we encourage complex, technical discussions of technique, music, organ-building, etc. The opinions and observations of a diverse group of people from around the world should prove to be interesting and stimulating to all of us.

    As pipe organ discussions can sometimes become lively, it should be pointed out that this is an open forum. Statements made here are the opinion of the poster, and not necessarily that of the forum itself, its administrator, or its moderators.

    In order to post a new topic - or reply to existing ones - you may join and become a member by clicking on Register New User. It's completely free and only requires a working email address (in order to confirm your registration - it will never be given away!). We strive to make this a friendly and informative forum for anyone interested in pipe organs and organ music.

    (Note: If you wish to link to and promote your own website please read this thread first.)

    Many kind regards
    smile.gif

    Frederik Magle
    Administrator

    Krummhorn
    Co-Administrator

Who has the best Organ

Ghekorg7 (Ret)

Rear Admiral Appassionata (Ret)
Hi JHC !
I allready started fantasising myself sitting in front of the console , playin' and enjoying the full 5.000+ pipes sound...

Thanks for the link, the organ look gorgeus !
Panos

P.S. Is it possible for somone to add to this site a sample tune ?
 

dll927

New member
It's a good thing you state that you are not an organist. Asking who has the "best" organ is like asking who has the "best" looks. You will get 107 answers citing 139 organs. But that Auckland organ looks like a winner.
 

JHC

Chief assistant to the assistant chief
I was just trying to be a bit humorous with the title
 

Corno Dolce

Admiral Honkenwheezenpooferspieler
The Auckland Organ is a beauty, and with the loving hand of Klais it is assured a place in organbuilding history and magnificence.
 

Contratrombone64

Admiral of Fugues
I was just trying to be a bit humorous with the title

Hi there my friend, what a fabulous new organ (or at least refurbishment). I especially like the idea of the Maori pipes, if only I could hear them in all their glory.

Also, the gravissima is interesting, shame they didn't bother building a full 64 foot stop, nevertheless, can't WAIT to hear it.

David
 

dll927

New member
How much does an organ depend on the company that built it?

The U. S. seems to have a number of relatively small organ builders that have probably never built a large instrument. Yet a church or whatever will zero in on a certain builder. Could it be largely over the price? And several of those small companies seem stuck on mechanical-action instruments.

There are, after all, certain characteristics that make an organ, or it wouldn't sound like an organ. How much does one company's 8' Open Diapason differ from another company's?

The fact that even people in the U. S. will go off to a foreign company seems rather interesting, Why?? Sometimes I get the feeling that certain companies have a prestige or an aura about them that seems to attract those in the "choosing" department. And most of the old-time American builders (Aeolian-Skinner, Moller) have long since disappeared.

It seems no secret, and this Auckland job seems typical, that organs get 'revised' every so often to keep up with the latest fashion. On the other hand, St. Sulpice is still basically what it was in 1862. Why do some organs never change, and others get the modernizing treatment?
 

JHC

Chief assistant to the assistant chief
I know of one Church that had a hand operated bellows organ ( I realise that is not all that rare) but the committee that runs the church replaced it with a small mod one, which seems a bit silly to me.
 

wljmrbill

Member
enjoyed the web site and history and info on the organ. maybe youtube will have a video of this organ one day. Thanks for link
 

pcnd5584

New member
It looks great, BUT...

does it sound like an English organ??

Not if Bath Abbey, Saint Lawrence, Jewry (City of London) and Saint John's, Smith Square are anything to go by....

It will probably be a good instrument (although if they are trying to re-create an English Romantic scheme, most of the compound stops need re-designing, and there are far too many mutations); however, the chorus reeds at Bath Abbey (for example) are now all rather similar to each other - and somewhat different from the way they sounded prior to the rebuild by Klais. I believe that the only stop which they left alone was the Solo Tuba Mirabilis.

It would be interesting to hear this instrument - but I am not expecting it to sound like the H&H at Saint Mary, Redcliffe - or King's College, Cambridge.
 

Bagnew

New member
It is a fantastic instrument, not an 'ugly' sound on it. It does not blast the audience, so much as bathe them in sound. I may have a chance to play it later in the year (!!!!). Thomas Trotter and the Auckland Philharmonia playing Saint Saens' Organ Symphony? It was truly magnificent. The Maori Stops are nice, the Koauau is quite a nice solo flute stop, with a bit of an edge, and the pukaea is a very nice reed, like a blend between a Cor Anglais and a French Horn (Cor Francais?). The Concert I attended (Saint Saens' Organ Symphony, William Walton's Coronation March, and Poulenc's Organ Concerto - Thomas Trotter and the APO) was recorded for CD, but I don't know when it's being released. Will let you all know when I know more!
 
Top