Digital Organ Choice

[FelixLowe]

I don't know what's wrong with Content that it doesn't always want to demonstrate its full organ on those demo discs. There are only a few pieces that allow one to appreciate the clarity and power of the instruments, for example, on the demo disc on their D5000/D6000, Kellner's Preludium in C and Bach's BWV 537 are the typical example. Also the florid passages ending Pachelbel's Partita on Was Gott tut, dass ist wohlgetan is another example that demonstrates the exceptionally Dutch full organ, probably because of the whistle-like Octave 2' drawn on the Great.

But the reeds on the D4330 produce very French quality, for example, the Fest-Fanfare in D-Dur by Damjakob. Also in Offertoire pour les Grands Jeux by Couperin, the effects are very French.

It seems to me that Content is the type of organ that doesn't just play organ music but it can bring alive authentic historical flavours and characters of the pieces.

The recordings on the Mondri Classics are, however, a little bit lacklustre. And I suggest Content redo their recordings. Now, one problem could be that the Mondri Classics, even the bigger one 1627, in fact lacks essential stops. The recordings lack stereophonic quality and there is too much echo, too. The recordings on the D5000/D6000 and the D4330 demo discs are slightly better in terms of the echo problem. Although Content's leaflet says their one-liner philosophy for Mondri Classics is their inclusion of most important stops, who is to say that the Cymbal II is not essential? In fact the 1627 has only one Mixture stop, Mixture IV. And as a matter of fact, if they already put in the Quint 1 1/3' and the Flageolet 1' on the Swell, then if they cannot increase the number of stop for the model, the Mixture should be the Cymbel II (or better still a Cymbel III if they can make one) on the Great to take the place of Mixture IV. Mixture IV is simply drowned in a myriad of mutations at full organ. Only the Cymbel II can add brightness when the Quint 1 1/3' and the Flageolet 1' are drawn.

Better still, if they can just add the Cymbal II (tuned louder) to the Great and keep the Mixture IV, that would make it an excellent model.

Also, if they changed the Mixture IV to Cymbal II or III, then the Flageolet 1' would be better made to sound Oktave 1', while the 1 1/3' can keep being a Quintflote.

[FelixLowe]

A little secret to share: the smallest complete stoplist can be like the following for a digital instrument. I can almost guarantee for you that this will sound really good and can be used versatilely for both French and German repertoire, and British, too, of course. Strictly speaking for a small space, you only need these 28 stops. But they must be arranged in this way to maximise the necessary stylistic combinations.

Manual I:
Principal 8'
Octave 4'
Nasard 2 2/3'
Octave 2'
Sesquialtera II
Mixture IV
Trumpet 8'

Manual II:
Quintaten 16'
Gedackt 8'
Voix Celeste II
Rohrflote 4'
Waldflote 2'
Conical Flute 2'
Larigot 1 1/3'
Sifflote 1'
Fourniture IV
Cornet V
Cymbel II
Fagotto 16'
Hautbois 8'
Cromorne 8'
Clairon 4'

Pedal:
Subbass 16'
Octave 8'
Bourdon 8'
Choralbass 4'
Posaune 16'
Trumpet 8'

[FelixLowe]

Recently, I reviewed a series of music on Mansell's website on Allen organs. It seems that the organ school that most impresses me is their Schlicker sampling. As I've written before, it is probably Allen's best apart from their American Classics, the Aeolian Skinner tradition that has bombarded much of the English-speaking world to date.

However, one school that I have spotted available from Allen, which they have not substantially advertised is their Chapel series, which I've found sound pretty rude. Now, the unison pitches and mutation stops seem to sound like the Herz organ of Germany, of the Rennaisance era. But Herz organs had far greater chiffs than Allen's Chapel, and the former's chiff was in a greater variety as well. And they carry special tone colours of somewhat between German and Italian schools, I believe. While that is all right, the Mixtures of the Chapel series leave much to be desired. They are not Italian nor German, and they sound too electronic. They sound flat and uncultivated. Maybe that's where the problem lies. It seems that the Mixture stops can affect the tonal quality of the entire organ. I guess they can be sold for more if they care to take the steps to change the Mixture samples.

Of course, so far the most civil and polite voicing seems to be Content organ.

[FelixLowe]

I wonder if you have seen the German organ tour 2008 video clip, that brings viewers to hear and see some famous organs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqLPmhHV9nE.

[FelixLowe]

Christ is Made the Sure Foundation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tLn5...eature=related. You can appreciate the manual 16' tones, particularly the Bombarde 16' and the Fagotto 16' rumbling. It seems that this performance demonstrates better sound of their Conacher organ than their previous recordings on the same organ. Previous recordings were jarring once the Mixtures were drawn. So, I am not sure if the organ had been tuned prior to this recording. It does seem like that to me.

[FelixLowe]

I should add that if you are looking for the pure South German Baroque, maybe, just maybe, Hoffricter is superior to Alhborn. Hear the sample files here: http://www.hoffrichter-kirchenorgel.de/de/Index.htm. While Alhborn is Egedacker-oriented, an Austrian Baroque style, maybe Hoffricter is even more neutral in terms of projecting a standard South German outlook. This is because Egedacker is not really pure German, but half German half French -- the Superoctave 2' gives away that it is clearly French, although this was from the days of at least a decade ago.

But as I said before many times, Content is the best.

[FelixLowe]

How about this presentation from a St. James church on Christ is Made the Sure Foundation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-4yNMSV16M. Would like to invite comments on the organ and the presentation.

The organo plenum for the prelude should, theoretically speaking, stay with the first verse (no change of stops), but obviously the registration for the first verse has dropped to somewhat a flute chorus. Theoretically speaking, for Protestant churches, this would not be the case. This is gained from my listening experience from the church in Causeway Bay before. So I wonder if the church is an Anglican or Roman Catholic. For Anglicans, they normally play the prelude phrase slightly softer and then add a whole bunch of stops to the onset of the first verse. But this is not the case either in the video. The thing is, the video shows the church to be pretty neat, not many statutes around, so it doesn't look really like a typical Catholic church. The organ is clearly the American Classics tradition in the style of Aeolian Skinner.

The first verse is played non-legato, which makes it sound quite interesting.

The violin descant in the second and third verses is quite creative and refreshingly melodious (sounds like Bach, very German). When the organ returns on the last line, the harmony is particularly ambivalent sounding -- creating somewhat sensual dreamy feelings. In fact both verses are very sensually harmonised. This arouses feelings of being likened to Anglican singing. This leads me to believe that they are perhaps Anglicans. Roman Catholic churches, to my experience, do not always produce this quality of music in this age.

The fourth verse features quite proficient harmony writing -- a kind of last verse arrangement. This is typically Anglican in style.

They have missed out on the last verse -- the doxology to the Father and the Son, though.
Deos that mean they intended to bless themselves only, but not Father and the Son? But maybe their hymn book doesn't have that verse at all.

My conclusion is that they are likely to be Anglicans than anything else.

Christ is made the sure foundation,
Christ the head and cornerstone,
chosen of the Lord, and precious,
binding all the Church in one;
holy Zion's help for ever,
and her confidence alone.

All that dedicated city,
dearly loved of God on high,
in exultant jubilation
pours perpetual melody;
God the One in Three adoring
in glad hymns eternally.

To this temple, where we call thee,
come, O Lord of Hosts, today;
with thy wonted loving-kindness
hear thy servants as they pray,
and thy fullest benediction
shed within its walls alway.

Here vouchsafe to all thy servants
what they ask of thee of gain;
what they gain from thee, for ever
with the blessèd to retain,
and hereafter in thy glory
evermore with thee to reign.

Laud and honor to the Father,
laud and honor to the Son,
laud and honor to the Spirit,
ever Three, and ever One,
consubstantial, co-eternal,
while unending ages run.

Words: Latin, seventh century;
trans. John Mason Neale, 1851
Music: Westminster Abbey
Meter: 87 87 87

[FelixLowe]

After years of listening to organ accompaniment of congregational singing during primary schooling and secondary schooling, I often wondered about something: why did the organist at my primary school play with both hands on the lower keyboard for one verse and then for the next verse, she placed her right hand on the upper keyboard? When I went to Australia for secondary schooling, I had an opportunity to put this stupid question to an Anglican school Chapel organist one day after church service. I told him I used to watch from the church Balcony on Saturdays when we had our school assembly in the school chapel in Hong Kong. I watched the organist placing both hands on one keyboard and sometimes, another hand on the upper keyboard. What was the purpose? But the answer he gave me was equally stupid. He answered: "Oh, she did that because then she would not loose track of her playing -- to avoid playing more than the number of times than what the hymn requires. The alternate placing of hands on different keyboard serves as an indication to remind her which verse she is at."

But in those days in Hong Kong, the organist I heard never changed the stops from one verse to another. She changed placing her hands on different keyboards, but the ensembles of stop choices were the same from beginning to end -- only a slight change in volume was detected. We almost never heard what organ reeds sounded like in those early days of schooling because she never added them to the ensemble, and certain never heard any Bach or Purcell preludes.

[FelixLowe]

A little secret to share: the smallest complete stoplist can be like the following for a digital instrument. I can almost guarantee for you that this will sound really good and can be used versatilely for both French and German repertoire, and British, too, of course. Strictly speaking for a small space, you only need these 28 stops. But they must be arranged in this way to maximise the necessary stylistic combinations.

Manual I:
Principal 8'
Octave 4'
Nasard 2 2/3'
Octave 2'
Sesquialtera II
Mixture IV
Trumpet 8'

Manual II:
Quintaten 16'
Gedackt 8'
Voix Celeste II
Rohrflote 4'
Waldflote 2'
Conical Flute 2'
Larigot 1 1/3'
Sifflote 1'
Fourniture IV
Cornet V
Cymbel II
Fagotto 16'
Hautbois 8'
Cromorne 8'
Clairon 4'

Pedal:
Subbass 16'
Octave 8'
Bourdon 8'
Choralbass 4'
Posaune 16'
Trumpet 8'

In light of the need for Principal 4' because of the absence of an Open Diapason on the Swell, I have taken out a pedal stop in favour of an additional Swell stop, and the revised stop list is this:

Manual I:
Principal 8'
Octave 4'
Nasard 2 2/3'
Octave 2'
Sesquialtera II
Mixture IV
Trumpet 8'

Manual II:
Quintaten 16'
Gedackt 8'
Voix Celeste II
Principal 4' or Viole 4'
Rohrflote 4'
Waldflote 2'
Conical Flute 2'
Larigot 1 1/3'
Sifflote 1'
Fourniture IV
Cornet V
Cymbel II
Fagotto 16'
Hautbois 8'
Cromorne 8'
Clairon 4'

Pedal:
Subbass 16'
Octave 8'
Choralbass 4'
Posaune 16'
Trumpet 8'

[FelixLowe]

Detlef Kleuker sold its organ to the Causeway Bay Church for quite a bargain. I heard it only cost HK$350,000 (about $US63,000) when the purchase order was placed in 1978. It was delivered in about a year's time. It was said to have been donated as a gift by a church member and owner of a local ice-cream company to remember his daughter.





Kleuker pipe organ in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. It was said to have 15 stops. But it looks like in the picture that it had less than that.

Now, the Kleuker organ that existed at the Causeway Bay Church is still a mystery with respect to what stops it had. From the picture, you can see that there are thirteen draw knobs. That, I believe, is exactly the number of stops, because I've seen foot latches, which I believe, were couplers. So the 13 stops are all tonal appointments.

When we have the stoplist of the Kleuker installed at CUHK, it is possible to guess what this organ has and has omitted based on that and personal listening experience.

I would guess what this organ has are the following:

Great:
Principal 8'
Octave 4'
Waldflote 2'
Quinte 1 1/3'
Mixture V
Cymbel V
Trompete 8'

Swell:
Gedackt 8'
Octave 2'
Sesquialtera II
Hautbois 8'

Pedal:
Subbase 16'
Bourdon 8'

I don't think they had the Posaune 16'.

[FelixLowe]

Now recently, but in fact not so recently, I got hold of a document that says that Silbermann is in fact French. I actually don't think so, although Silbermann has brought into the German organ building scene French elements. In an earlier page, I have attached the BWV 545 file performed on the "Silbermann organ" at Freiburg Cathedral. Now, for a start, how authentic is that Silbermann is cast into a deep question -- it may have been renovated many times over. Many people are saying that Silbermann is French, possibly only because of the composition of the Mixtures, which contained thirds or Terz in in them. But on the other hand, they comment very clearly that the loudness and brightness of those Mixtures are nothing like the softer versions found in French classical organs. So, I don't think this style is appropriately called the French style. But this style of German organ building is extremely rare these days. Even the Trost organs have not reached that kind of loudness and brightness. I actually don't think the Freiburg Cathedral of today is a distinctly Silbermann style also. In fact, it harks back to the Rennaisance times and early Reformation times, I think. I believe I read somewhere else that the Mixtures were new and were put in place during renovation in the last century. If so, they must be some kind of replica of Rennaisance stuff. I don't think there is much of that practice after the classical era. All that it does is to have many Mixtures or possibly some Cymbels drawn, where they all contain thirds, and these stops are voiced much louder than the French versions. That's all. But the French would never do it that way.

[FelixLowe]

Gottfried Silbermann's Fluework

by Colin Pykett

Posted: 1 March 2008
Last revised: 23 December 2009
Copyright © C E Pykett 2008-2009

Abstract. Gottfried Silbermann's organs have always been famed for their “silvery sounds”. This article reports the results of research which focused on some characteristics of his fluework in an attempt to see what this might mean and how his results were achieved. Using acoustic measurements made on a surviving Silbermann organ, details of how his Principals and Flutes were probably regulated are presented. They demonstrate how the acoustic power output of individual Principal and Flute stops varied across the compass, and how it compared with the other ranks comprising these two varieties of chorus work. These data are original, detailed and made available in the public domain for the first time. Suggestions are made as to how the results might be used in practice when voicing organs which are intended to have Silbermann-like tonal characteristics.

Full article: http://www.pykett.org.uk/silfluewk.htm

[Ghekorg7]

Hi Felix !

This is what I wanted for years ! Thank you for the link ! (You know I'm a G.Silbermann maniac).

Cheers
Panos

[FelixLowe]

You might like to check this European tour out to visit historic organs: http://www.matterhornholidays.com/20...lps_organs.htm.

[FelixLowe]

In my latest review of the demo songs recorded for the D4330 model, I noticed quite a special phenomenon of the Content organ. The overall organo plenum with reeds on seems to produce an effect of the presence of the Swell Clairon 4', even if no such stop is present in the D4330 stoplist. This effect is most noticeably present in demo song no.7, the Offertoire pour les Grands Jeux by Francois Couperin (1668-1733). As a result of this, it would be a smart idea to do away with the Clairon 4' in favour of the Cromorne and the Hautbois. What I guess is that the overall stringy or slightly horn-like qualities of the principal ensemble with the mutation stops have produced what I believe is the intrusive hallucination of the Clairon 4' in it when the full organ is on. It is the synthetic effect of the summing up of certain stops drawn together, particularly the principal tone stops interacting with reeds. As such I don't think it helps to include a Clairon 4' on the Content organ.

Also, one interesting effect I have noticed from the D4330 is observed when what I believe to be the summing up of the Trumpet 8' and the Fagotto 16' on the Great. The interesting solo effect of both stops drawn is equal somewhat to a Spanish Trumpet 8'. So even when there is no Spanish Trumpet 8' on the stop list, the actual effect is that the two can sound to make like one. And this is attested to by the first demo song called Fest-Fanfare in D-Dur on the D4330 demo disc.

For this purpose I do admit that the Fagotto 16' plays a special role: that it adds a 16' silvery flimsy line to the trumpet 8'; however, I would think that for the purpose of fulfilling Bach's requirement for a Fagotto 16' placed on the Swell, I would think a better choice would be the Double Trumpet 16' because the Fagotto 16' is too delicate and too soft for either outlining a continuo solo bass line or even for ensemble playing. The Double Trumpet 16' is available only in certain models of the D5000 series. Instead, I recommend the Fagotto 16' go to the pedal department, where when combined with the Subbass 16' and the Octave 8', it can bring out certain Jazz-like figured bass with clarity in the most thrilling way in Hymn accompaniment.

Although I've suggested synthesising the Cromorne by drawing the Quinteton 8' with the Hautbois 8', upon reviewing the demo song called Piece Caracteristique opus 75, I have noticed that the original Cromorne has a full body to it that maybe harder to emulate accurately by other stops. So perhaps it is sensible to include it because the sentimental stop is useful for certain manual solos in Bach' chorale preludes.