Naval academy pipe organ (huge)

[Contratrombone64]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xc3Zo...eature=related
Wonderful instrument - own a CD of it and love it.

[Krummhorn]

It is a gorgeous instrument ...
I could spend a few months just making friends with the console

More info on the USNA Music Department site, complete with stoplist and a few pics.

[rovikered]

What a monster ! No place for sensitive musical expression here.

[wljmrbill]

Thanks for post. Be nice to have a few hours(days) to practice in this one. Love the sound.

[Contratrombone64]

To the contrary, wljmrbill, the most idea instrument for delicate expression I think, read the specification (especially on the swell).

[Krummhorn]

I often wonder why most everyone hits the Sforzando at their first lick at an organ like this. The beauty of the instrument, imho, is not necessarily the tutti, but all the wonderful orchestral voices that individually make up the whole.

I always start out with the softest stops and then explore the solo stops and gradually build up to tutti. That's why I meant by saying I could spend a few months making friends with that organ.

[greatcyber]

No matter how you get there...it is a fabulous instrument.

[mathetes1963]

I often wonder why most everyone hits the Sforzando at their first lick at an organ like this. The beauty of the instrument, imho, is not necessarily the tutti, but all the wonderful orchestral voices that individually make up the whole.

I always start out with the softest stops and then explore the solo stops and gradually build up to tutti. That's why I meant by saying I could spend a few months making friends with that organ.

Right you are sir! Peter Richard Conte's recording @Wanamaker's of Elgar's "Nimrod" on his recording Magic demonstrates that point admirably.

@Contra- what CD of that organ do you have?

[dll927]

Krummhorn -- I'm sure it would TAKE a few months to make friends with that thing. But there are several competitors around.

I sometimes wonder about building such huge instruments. There are only certain "families" of organ stops, so there has to be a lot of repetition, even if it is in different divisions. And how much can you use at one time? I'm sure that no one claims all that is necessary to play the music. It often appears to be a matter of how much $$$ somebody has to spend and how much they want to boast about the accomplishment, if it is such.

[jhnbrbr]

I sometimes wonder about building such huge instruments. There are only certain "families" of organ stops, so there has to be a lot of repetition, even if it is in different divisions. And how much can you use at one time? I'm sure that no one claims all that is necessary to play the music. It often appears to be a matter of how much $$$ somebody has to spend and how much they want to boast about the accomplishment, if it is such.

I agree with you one hundred percent, dll!

[Contratrombone64]

There is a jolly good reason an organ might have four identical stops: the size of the space for which the music is intended may require the extra strength of comined tone. Sydney Town Hall is a classic example ... a large oblong hall and an enormous space to fill with sound. The Sydney Town Hall Grand Organ has quite a few foundation stops that are duplicated.

[dll927]

OK, four "identical" stops may make sense, but ten???

Most of you are probably aware that First Congregational Church in Los Angeles now claims to have the largest "church ogan" in the world. 40 years ago, when the Schlicker organ was put up in the rear balcony, I had season tickets for their concert series, usually about one per month. At that time the organ (which is actually at least two, because there was an original organ up in the front chancel) was a four-manual, and the church could easily be shaken at full volume.

Since then they have added considerably more, and it's now a five-manual with divisions sitting upon divisions.

The church itself is modeled after some English cathedral, and it is cathedral (cruciform) in layout. It is indeed an architectural gem (check it out on flickr, etc.) It sits at a "bend" in Sixth Street, the street actually bending around the building, and you can see it from quite a distance going west on Sixth St. To see it like that gives no idea of the organ(s) that are inside.

Incidentally, the church is not stone, it's reinforced concrete, and to the lower left side of the entrance, it says "erected 1931". It must have been a real boost to some contractor back in the Depression years. And it's not nearly as large as some of the European cathedrals, although it's not small, either.

Needless to say, they are somewhat picky about who they let play it. But there is certainly far more there than one can use at any one time.

[QFE]

Hi all,

The duplication of particular stop seems rediculous on a paper specification, but it generally makes sense in the grand scheme of a big instrument. (caveat: I'm not an exper on the American monsters, though it would be a blast to spend a couple of days on each one.)

Say, for example, a large English cathedral organ may have three or more diapasons on the Great. One will be the great fat tubby one used as a foundation for Hymn acc. ranging to a thin 'Old English' type more suited for a Bach chorus.

In the swell, there will be a useful diapason to act as the basis for a secondary chorus of a character totally unlike that of the Great diapasons. The swell trumpet will be a chorus reed rather than a solo stop, while a trumpet on the solo will be exactly that.

Where there is extension/borrowing, considerable skill needs to be exercised to alter the voicing in different registers. As an example, my first instrument had a bowel- shatering Trombone in the pedal (great fun!!),which was extended to provide the Great Trumpet. The problem was that the voicing was uniform throughout, so the trumpet was far too loud to use as a chorus reed to add to the Great (full to mixtures) and was almost too loud to be artistically accompanied by the secondary diapason chorus on the Swell.

As interesting as it is to hear these monster beasts on Youtube, you really do not get a good sense of the chorus design through generally poor audio recording and the limited (though often musically good) extracts played.

On the subject of consoles, five manuals is more than enough (IMHO) but additional floating divisions can be a positive nighmare; 'I've forgotten, is manual one the choir, or Positive... perhapse the nave bombarde division is there... Oh well, here I go BBBLLLAAAARRRRRRRR!!!!!'