The construction of a new pipe organ in Jørlunde Church

[wljmrbill]

INteresting thanks for update.. be nice to hear concert.. Are you performing the Inaug. concert?

[Frederik Magle]

You're welcome, Bill. I will be giving the first performance of a new work, I'm working on right now, at the inauguration which takes place at the high mass on October 25th. After that I will give the first solo concert on the organ on November 8th.

[wljmrbill]

Sounds Great..I wish you the Best of Luck.. I am sure it will be a great concert for all attending to hear you.... Take Care my friend

[Frederik Magle]

The official inauguration yesterday went very well. The church was absolutely packed, so they had to put in at least 50 extra chairs (only downside to that was that the relatively small church's acoustics did suffer from all the people, but that just mean the organ will sound even better on normal occasions).

The organ is now almost finished with just one week more of voicing to get the last details in place. Hence, it will be ready for my concert on November 8th.

But even at its current almost-finished state it sounds great!

At the Organ Inauguration Mass yesterday I performed my (like the organ) almost finished "Fantasia for organ "At blive" ("To become") as well as an improvisation for the postlude. The church's organist Gunnar Svensson performed a Choral Fantasia he has written as well as all the hymns. We took turns playing during the communion.

Here is a small excerpt from the end of "At blive", recorded yesterday on a Zoom H4 mini-recorder with built-in mic:
Download (mp3)

One of my goals with the organ's tonal design was for it to sound like a full and complete organ, capable of producing a larger sound than one would perhaps normally expect from 19 voices (21 with extensions). Not in regard to sound pressure, but rather in richness and "greatness" of tone, and I believe the organ builders Frobenius and their chief voicer Ole Høyer has succeeded in realizing that, as well as my other visions for the organ. I think they’ve built a great pipe organ, perhaps not in size - but in sound.

Let me know what you think.

[drwilx]

Sounds Great! Will you be releasing a "full" version?

Regards,

Dennis

Here is a small excerpt from the ending of "At blive", recorded yesterday on a mini-recorder with built-in mic:

[Frederik Magle]

Thanks, Dennis I plan on releasing a larger excerpt or perhaps even the full version after the concert on November 8th. The piece still needs a few "tweaks" here and there, so I will be working it this week.

Btw, I forgot to post the second video of the Basun 16' pipes (the full length Trombone 16'). Now with all the pipes installed, Gunnar Svensson (the church's organist, and a man of average height) stands in the background to show the scale:

+ YouTube Video

[wljmrbill]

Neat video.. Thanks...Look forward to a sound file of your concert on this instrument... Bill

[Contratrombone64]

You're welcome, Bill. I will be giving the first performance of a new work, I'm working on right now, at the inauguration which takes place at the high mass on October 25th. After that I will give the first solo concert on the organ on November 8th.

"High Mass" - goodness, I thought the Lutherans got rid of all those delightful Roman litergies?

[Frederik Magle]

"High Mass" - goodness, I thought the Lutherans got rid of all those delightful Roman litergies?

Well, the Sunday morning mass is called "high mass" - directly translated from "Højmesse" in Danish, but it really is just the normal lutheran mass.

[Luis Enrique]

Hello "Federico", I read all the post and I was expecting to read something about your concert on Nov. What was the program? Is there a way to listen some pieces ?
Best wishes
Luis Enrique

[Frederik Magle]

Hello Luis,

The concert on November 8th went very well indeed - the church was packed to the last seat and beyond

The program I played was:

Olivier Messiaen: Le banquet céleste
Johann Sebastian Bach: Toccata & Fugue d-minor (BWV 565)
Frederik Magle: Rhapsody for organ "Viva Voce"
Frederik Magle: Improvisation
César Franck: Choral No. 3 in A-minor
Samuel Barber: Adagio for strings, op. 11 (arranged for organ by William Strickland)
Frederik Magle: Fantasia for organ "To Become" (written for the new organ)
Charles-Marie Widor: "Toccata" from the 5th organ symphony
Frederik Magle: Improvisation (extra)

On December 21st and 22nd I did a marathon recording session in the church, where I recorded both "To Become" and "Viva Voce" as well as approx 8 hours of improvisations, from which I will select material for my next CD to be released this year.

I will post some "teasers" soon

[Luis Enrique]

Thanks Frederik, I will be expecting for your CD. Greetings from these warms mountains.

[Frederik Magle]

Here's a picture I've taken of the organ in its finished state:

[Krummhorn]

Gorgeous, absolutely stunning in appearance and design. A wonderful compliment of the old and the new ... like it has been standing there for many years.

I know you were involved right form the beginning design stages on this instrument, but wondering if you also had input on the case and pipe layout as we see it here?

[Frederik Magle]

Thanks, Lars.

I can't take credit for the stunning visual appearance which is the work of the architects Inger & Johannes Exner. Of course, they're created the design from my specifications for the organ, and I've had a say in certain details (such as the width and depth of the instrument which I had increased 10 cm on each side from an earlier draft to allow for wider pipe scales - and other technical things like that, e.g. the placement of certain pedal pipes, etc.), but the way they've realized it is their work of art.