To say the least, this discussion reminds one that pipe organs are individual and unique instruments. It goes without saying that building limits and other factors sometimes necessitate oddball measures to fit the damned thing into the space available.
A few posts back, I raised the question of whether a 64' stop has sound or is just there for reputation. It appears that the latter gets the vote. What's the point if they go beyond the limits of human hearing? And few places really have the room to put such monsters, anyway. So a "resultant" ends up being the result.
I've only been in the Crystal Cathedral once. It has a reputation for horrible acoustics (what's that about glass houses??), but I've heard several people carry on about the awesome sound of the organ. Which may raise the question of whether they know what they are talking about. Even Fred Swann, after he left, was heard to somewhat diss that organ. But he went on to FCCLA, which is an entirely different kettle of fish -- I've been to that one lots of times.
It still seems to me that there are organs around that reach the point of being too big for their own good. There is only so much you can do at one time, and the rest is largely "show". And when they are divided into different places (Crystal Cathedral and FCCLA), it raises the question of whether they are really one organ -- both of those have two consoles, and the ones at the Crystal Cath. are NOT identical.
BTW, both Crystal Cathedral and FCCLA have websites that go into considerable lengths about their respective instruments. You can esily Google the C.C. and the other is
www.fccla.org.
. You're right though, they're not the most attractive thing. There's a parish organ here that has mitered reeds in full view as part of the casing. I've always wanted to put a screen in front of them, they look intestinely ugly.
