Digital Organ Choice

[FelixLowe]

It came upon the Midnight Clear (Noel): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW8qG_SAg2g.

It came upon the midnight clear,
that glorious song of old,
from angels bending near the earth
to touch their harps of gold:
'Peace on earth, good will to men,
from heaven's gracious King.'
The world in solemn stillness lay
to hear the angels sing.

Still through the cloven skies they come
with peaceful wings unfurled,
and still their heavenly music floats
o'er all the weary world;
above its sad and lowly plains
they bend on hovering wing,
and ever o'er its Babel-sounds
the blessed angels sing.

Yet with the woes of sin and strife
the world has suffered long;
beneath the angel strains have rolled
two thousand years of wrong;
and man at war with man hears not
the tidings which they bring;
O hush the noise and cease your strife
and hear the angels sing!

O ye, beneath life's crushing load
whose forms are bending low,
who toil along the climbing way
with painful steps and slow;
look now, for glad and golden hours
come swiftly on the wing:
O rest beside the weary road,
and hear the angels sing.

For lo! the days are hastening on,
by prophet-bards foretold,
when with the ever-circling years
comes round the age of gold,
When peace shall over all the earth
its ancient splendors fling,
The whole world give back the song
which now the angels sing.



Words: Edmund Hamilton Sears (1810-1876), 1849
MIDI: Noel (English traditional, arranged by Arthur S. Sullivan, 1842-1900)
Meter: CMD

[FelixLowe]

It came upon the Midnight Clear (Noel): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW8qG_SAg2g.

It came upon the midnight clear,
that glorious song of old,
from angels bending near the earth
to touch their harps of gold:
'Peace on earth, good will to men,
from heaven's gracious King.'
The world in solemn stillness lay
to hear the angels sing.

Still through the cloven skies they come
with peaceful wings unfurled,
and still their heavenly music floats
o'er all the weary world;
above its sad and lowly plains
they bend on hovering wing,
and ever o'er its Babel-sounds
the blessed angels sing.

Yet with the woes of sin and strife
the world has suffered long;
beneath the angel strains have rolled
two thousand years of wrong;
and man at war with man hears not
the tidings which they bring;
O hush the noise and cease your strife
and hear the angels sing!

O ye, beneath life's crushing load
whose forms are bending low,
who toil along the climbing way
with painful steps and slow;
look now, for glad and golden hours
come swiftly on the wing:
O rest beside the weary road,
and hear the angels sing.

For lo! the days are hastening on,
by prophet-bards foretold,
when with the ever-circling years
comes round the age of gold,
When peace shall over all the earth
its ancient splendors fling,
The whole world give back the song
which now the angels sing.



Words: Edmund Hamilton Sears (1810-1876), 1849
MIDI: Noel (English traditional, arranged by Arthur S. Sullivan, 1842-1900)
Meter: CMD

Personally, I would prefer the first verse to go with a flute 2' (Spitzflote) instead of the Superoctave 2' -- the faintness is to do with the past tense. The glory was not as bright as if it appeared before one's eyes. So to depict the memory of it, it is necessary to sound less bright.

But Verse Two describes the present, for it says "Still through the cloven sky the come...." So it is necessary to draw the Superoctave 2' in addition to the flute 2'. It needs to sound energised in comparison with the first verse.

The third verse can opt out of the Spitzflote 2'.

The fourth verse needs to play a reharmonisation in a sad mode for the first few lines, but retains the registration of the third verse.

The final verse can deploy the Spitzflote 2' and Mixture IV to play the descant in addition to the extant stops.

[FelixLowe]

Two pieces made up the fixed liturgy during the Sunday morning services at the place where the Kleuker pipe organ was in Causeway Bay: Gloria Patri composed by Charles Meinke in 1844 (http://www.hopemillsumc.org/gloria.htm) and the other, an offertory, titled "All Things Come of Thee, O Lord" by arr. from Ludwig van Beethoven 1770 -1827 (No.665 found on this page: http://clarkston.netadvent.org/midi_hymns.htm).

During the latter years of the congregationalist church before renovation, there were some marked differences in the styles played by the two organists, the Yale/Cincinatti trained professor/organist and the virtuosic Royal College-trained organist. The former would play the two liturigical short pieces with somewhat identical full-organ registration, as always: some 8' 4' and 2' principals with the Mixture with the Swell shutters fully open, while the latter would go about them without the Mixture.

[FelixLowe]

Exceptionally grand presentation of an MTV on the St Paul's Cathedral choir and orchestra, and the congregation singing Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4d9RJMOP9Tw.

[FelixLowe]

If I don't get it wrong, it is a Content organ playing BWV 565. For a practice model like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKmpm...eature=related, it sounds very satisfactory -- one can almost hear individual pipes breathing with copious air in chords, and the Principal tones have the dignified quality without having to sound robust and fat. It is the most amazing brand I've ever come across thus far in the digital organ market. I do think the company put in much meticulous efforts not just in clothing each note with just the right amount of chiff, but also in designing the release. All in all, each note is so beautifully shaped. Even if one plays a Content with no pipe in it, it is as good as hearing the actual whistling of the real pipes.

[FelixLowe]

Sorry about the previous post regarding the brand, here is the Content organ played by Gert: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rOsA4B9kB8. The previous post about my portrait of the sound must be an old Johannus organ, if it is Johannus at all -- from the old samples they used of at least 10 years ago. Believe me, their old models emulate more authentic classical voices than the new line of organs.

[FelixLowe]

BWV 556 played on the Content Mondri Classic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHAvutwy-Tc.

[wljmrbill]

I think Gert will go far if he keeps up his studies...as I grow old nice to see young people taking up the organ.

[FelixLowe]

BWV 541 performed on a rather small practice model by Content: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLUSOP94MRs. Without doubts, Content exceeds the tonal quality of Johannus models of 10 years ago. If I am not wrong, the Content featured at this link is a D4000 series. It has a kind of ringing of its golden, lively and gardenesque Cymbel that resembles the East/Central German Baroque organs made by Wagner. This ringing is different from Content's D6000 series and Mondri Classics, which seem to make use of the Cymbel that has a more transparent character -- often featured on Danish classical pipe instruments such as those made by Marcussen and Sons.

The only thing regarding Content is that their line of organs have the Mixtures and Cymbels of the type found in North German organs only. It would be interesting to see if they would offer them in the Central German or South German styles in future to give their customers a wider range of choices. Often times, it is the Mixture stops that discern one ancient national style from another within the broad German school. But those styles are harder to emulate because they often contain more pipes sounding together. For example, the Cymbel/Zimbel are often a three-rank stop, not two. It would be interesting to see if the company would do pipe-by-pipe sampling for such Mixture stops and channel spread out the sounds to as many speakers as possible in the amplifier. It could be a costly exercise. But if they can do so successfully, they would further distinguish themselves in the digital organ market.

[FelixLowe]

Toccata from Widor's Symphony #5 performed on the Content organ: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo3w9nPfhck. The organ model number is D2330.

[FelixLowe]

Toccata from Widor's Symphony #5 performed on the Content organ: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo3w9nPfhck. The organ model number is D2330.

When I was reviewing this clip above, I was wondering to what I could compare the voices. Finally, I've decided that it is a closer digital representation of the Kleuker organs (This is a clip playing the BWV 564 fugue on the Kleuker: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YHGcbnrCms). D2330 is no longer available from the current line of products on Content's website. And I wonder if the samples from the D2000 series had been taken from the Westphalia region of Germany -- some kind of South German instruments, with slight influences from the North German Baroque school. It is South German but decidedly characteristically Protestant. The D2000 seems to sound perfect for those who love the more neutral South German voices, which seem to be the standard for many concert halls around the world. Moreover, the chiffiness from the D2330 seems to be more delicately and inserted with just the right amount. I just wonder if its Quint 1 1/3, otherwise known as the Larigot, is of a narrow-scale Principal voice, which was adopted throughout the North of Brabant in the early Baroque period. Such voice makes a better characteristic voice in ensemble playing with some shrill qualities. However, today's digital organs normally feature a whistling flutey Quint 1 1/3.

If the organ in the clip attempts to emulate a South German instrument, it has done almost a perfect job at that.

All in all, Content's development of its line seems to be its working ten years ago on South German Baroque tonal resources (D2000), gradually up to voices from Central German Baroque organs (D4000) and finally to the Danish classical organs (D6000).

One thing I have noticed about Content is that the chiff they inserted in the initial attack of each tone is not acheived by simply adding a consonant-like chiffy clicking sound to it, but they seemed to have worked delicately on the initial phase of characteristic generation of the tones after that clicking, and they worked on the characteristic decay of the tones of each stop at the release of the keys as well. I believe these factors contain most secrets about the realistic timbre of their organs.

[wljmrbill]

Felixlowe.. THanks I enjoyed the clip. Great sounding instrument.

[FelixLowe]

A new webpage has been identified from Eminent Organ of the Netherlands, which sports a commercial slogan: "True to Nature; You will be Inspired". The question to ask is: True to what and whose nature? Also, the brand boasts of being "the only choice".

After I've reviewed some of the sound clips on this page: http://www.eminentorgans.nl/files/index.php?id=81, I have found the voicing to be in the North German classical style in a Dutch manner, similar to Johannus' diction of about ten years ago. It has good whistling quality of the higher registers of the Principal voices, and its prominent articulation (chiff) is in the North German Baroque style. But the whistle quality gives it away that its organs are voiced faithfully to the manner of the Dutch classical organ.

[FelixLowe]

I find this Eminent Amadeus 20 organ to have quite an exemplary stop list which can meet quite sufficient demands in many situations: http://www.eminentorgans.nl/files/index.php?id=78. The only thing is that the Larigot is missing.

[Ntalikeris666]

BWV 541 performed on a rather small practice model by Content: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLUSOP94MRs. Without doubts, Content exceeds the tonal quality of Johannus models of 10 years ago. If I am not wrong, the Content featured at this link is a D4000 series. It has a kind of ringing of its golden, lively and gardenesque Cymbel that resembles the East/Central German Baroque organs made by Wagner. This ringing is different from Content's D6000 series and Mondri Classics, which seem to make use of the Cymbel that has a more transparent character -- often featured on Danish classical pipe instruments such as those made by Marcussen and Sons.

The only thing regarding Content is that their line of organs have the Mixtures and Cymbels of the type found in North German organs only. It would be interesting to see if they would offer them in the Central German or South German styles in future to give their customers a wider range of choices. Often times, it is the Mixture stops that discern one ancient national style from another within the broad German school. But those styles are harder to emulate because they often contain more pipes sounding together. For example, the Cymbel/Zimbel are often a three-rank stop, not two. It would be interesting to see if the company would do pipe-by-pipe sampling for such Mixture stops and channel spread out the sounds to as many speakers as possible in the amplifier. It could be a costly exercise. But if they can do so successfully, they would further distinguish themselves in the digital organ market.

Yes indeed, the instrument playing is a D4000.
Its kind of hard to identify the exact origins of the Cymbal mixture used in content organs. The model i have has a Cymbal II which is concluded out of a 1 1/3 rank and a 1 1/4 rank. Its really nice when combined with flutes, or with the mixture IV on the great.

By the way, just to make clear the D2000 series are at least 10 years old! But still they sound quite good!
The latest Content Series are the D5000 and the D6000.
The D4000 though use the same technology with slightly different samples.