Digital Organ Choice

[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

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 (Ret)]

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/2008/Alps_Organs/alps_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.

 

[FelixLowe]

My latest research in organ pipes have come up with results that the Salicional and the Lieblich Bourdon may be used to construct a small residence organ, with the Salicional sounding even quieter than the Gamba, but is a diminutive form of principal tone. The Lieblich Bourdon is the Lieblich Gedackt, but it sounds more like a soft Bourdon than the original Gedackt. The Salicional pipes can even be used to create a Kleine Mixture stop.

In the past I have seen in a second hand pipe organ trade website that sold pipe organs on smaller scales. I suspect they were organs which utilised these stops.

What a lot of people would not admit is that the Salicional 8', often described as the "normal string tone", is in fact the principal tone at 1/3 the volume of the Great Diapason. They are both shaped the same, being cylindrical. But the brightness can be adjusted by the proportion of zinc added to the metal admixture. In fact, a normal Salicional is already a principal tone in its proper proportion of string and flute tones in it. Because of the softer volume, the matching flute to go with a Salicional for the purpose of a practice organ would be the Lieblich Gedackt. The Gamba is voiced more nasally, but much too loud for this organ. So the matching string stop, if required, would be the modern Dulciana which must be keenly voiced, like the electric rock guitar at times for comparison purposes in certain cases I've encountered.

For this Salicional/Lieblich Gedackt-based practice organ, I recommend three matching reed stops: the Holzregal as Oboe, the Knopregal as Cornet (= Flute 8' + Nazard 2 2/3' + Terz 1 3/5') and the Bible Regal as Trumpet.

 

[FelixLowe]

My latest research in organ pipes have come up with results that the Salicional and the Lieblich Bourdon may be used to construct a small residence organ, with the Salicional sounding even quieter than the Gamba, but is a diminutive form of principal tone. The Lieblich Bourdon is the Lieblich Gedackt, but it sounds more like a soft Bourdon than the original Gedackt. The Salicional pipes can even be used to create a Kleine Mixture stop.

In the past I have seen in a second hand pipe organ trade website that sold pipe organs on smaller scales. I suspect they were organs which utilised these stops.

What a lot of people would not admit is that the Salicional 8', often described as the "normal string tone", is in fact the principal tone at 1/3 the volume of the Great Diapason. They are both shaped the same, being cylindrical. But the brightness can be adjusted by the proportion of zinc added to the metal admixture. In fact, a normal Salicional is already a principal tone in its proper proportion of string and flute tones in it. Because of the softer volume, the matching flute to go with a Salicional for the purpose of a practice organ would be the Lieblich Gedackt. The Gamba is voiced more nasally, but much too loud for this organ. So the matching string stop, if required, would be the modern Dulciana which must be keenly voiced, like the electric rock guitar at times for comparison purposes in certain cases I've encountered.

For this Salicional/Lieblich Gedackt-based practice organ, I recommend three matching reed stops: the Holzregal as Oboe, the Knopregal as Cornet (= Flute 8' + Nazard 2 2/3' + Terz 1 3/5') and the Bible Regal as Trumpet.

But of course, is it really that easy to find a builder to make the Knopfregal these days? What I know is that there are American organs that have something called the Harfenregal. I have not heard what it sounds like, but Audsley's description of it is that it speaks with a chiff that resembles a plucked string. So that may be a great way to add chiff to a residence organ.

 

[FelixLowe]

My latest research in organ pipes have come up with results that the Salicional and the Lieblich Bourdon may be used to construct a small residence organ, with the Salicional sounding even quieter than the Gamba, but is a diminutive form of principal tone. The Lieblich Bourdon is the Lieblich Gedackt, but it sounds more like a soft Bourdon than the original Gedackt. The Salicional pipes can even be used to create a Kleine Mixture stop.

In the past I have seen in a second hand pipe organ trade website that sold pipe organs on smaller scales. I suspect they were organs which utilised these stops.

What a lot of people would not admit is that the Salicional 8', often described as the "normal string tone", is in fact the principal tone at 1/3 the volume of the Great Diapason. They are both shaped the same, being cylindrical. But the brightness can be adjusted by the proportion of zinc added to the metal admixture. In fact, a normal Salicional is already a principal tone in its proper proportion of string and flute tones in it. Because of the softer volume, the matching flute to go with a Salicional for the purpose of a practice organ would be the Lieblich Gedackt. The Gamba is voiced more nasally, but much too loud for this organ. So the matching string stop, if required, would be the modern Dulciana which must be keenly voiced, like the electric rock guitar at times for comparison purposes in certain cases I've encountered.

For this Salicional/Lieblich Gedackt-based practice organ, I recommend three matching reed stops: the Holzregal as Oboe, the Knopregal as Cornet (= Flute 8' + Nazard 2 2/3' + Terz 1 3/5') and the Bible Regal as Trumpet.

I believe the Dulciana is the diminutive form of the Geigenprincipal, and the result of combining the former with the Salicional results in the diminutive voice of the Diapason 8' + Viola di Gamba 8'. But in the condition of playing the normal scale stops, they might even enrich them with the Dulciana 8' in the Anglican setting. The favourite hymn or the like they like to play most often with that kind of registration, perhaps with the Octave 4' is such as this one: Come, thou Redeemer of the earth: http://www.oremus.org/hymnal/c/c308.html. They tend to use that kind of registration for Advent or Passion (the so called Good Friday). The tone tends to impart some ambivalence, mystery and reverence all at the same time.

 

[FelixLowe]

Personally, I really do think Content should redo some of the demo discs mainly because almost all songs are performed on heavy registrations, making it so hard for one to appreciate the true beauty of each individual stop. They should either include songs with alternate heavy and light passages or devote half of the discs on one kind of songs and the other half on another. There is a Martin Mans' performance which I find pretty illustrative of what I mean by that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VX6Y7sr-Jso&feature=related.

 

[FelixLowe]

My latest research in organ pipes have come up with results that the Salicional and the Lieblich Bourdon may be used to construct a small residence organ, with the Salicional sounding even quieter than the Gamba, but is a diminutive form of principal tone. The Lieblich Bourdon is the Lieblich Gedackt, but it sounds more like a soft Bourdon than the original Gedackt. The Salicional pipes can even be used to create a Kleine Mixture stop.

In the past I have seen in a second hand pipe organ trade website that sold pipe organs on smaller scales. I suspect they were organs which utilised these stops.

What a lot of people would not admit is that the Salicional 8', often described as the "normal string tone", is in fact the principal tone at 1/3 the volume of the Great Diapason. They are both shaped the same, being cylindrical. But the brightness can be adjusted by the proportion of zinc added to the metal admixture. In fact, a normal Salicional is already a principal tone in its proper proportion of string and flute tones in it. Because of the softer volume, the matching flute to go with a Salicional for the purpose of a practice organ would be the Lieblich Gedackt. The Gamba is voiced more nasally, but much too loud for this organ. So the matching string stop, if required, would be the modern Dulciana which must be keenly voiced, like the electric rock guitar at times for comparison purposes in certain cases I've encountered.

For this Salicional/Lieblich Gedackt-based practice organ, I recommend three matching reed stops: the Holzregal as Oboe, the Knopregal as Cornet (= Flute 8' + Nazard 2 2/3' + Terz 1 3/5') and the Bible Regal as Trumpet.

As a matter of fact, it is quite strange that if you look at most house organs or practice organs, there is no Principal 8' provided. Often even when the owner has opted for the Bourdon 16' to be built into their instruments, more often than not their Great manual only has the Gedackt 8'. Of course one may argue that a Gedackt 8' is only four feet tall, so the rank saves space. But a Salicional 8', while at eight feet tall, is the most space-saving principal tone that can be provided. The presence of principal tone in an organ gives the most basic ingredient of the foundation tone chorus, which is extremely invaluable to have. On the contrary, in my past listening experience at the Causeway Bay church, the Gedackt 8' was seldom played on its own in a chorus. There were instances where the Gedackt 8' was used to play a sentimental melodic line in offertory miniatures, but it was more often used to convey passages in an octave higher, meaning it would be as if they would with a Gedackt 4'. But in a house organ, the Gedackt 8' would be needed any way because of its function for the pedal as part of the Subbass 16'. As such the Salicional 8' and the Lieblich Gedackt 16' and 8' whose higher octave pipes include some kind of open flutes 2' constitute the most essential tonal makeup in a house organ.

 

[FelixLowe]

My research on a comprehensive house organ has reminded me of a stop called Ludwigtone. It seems that it may be a good idea for the dual pipes to be installed for the middle two octaves out of the five (a full compass is unnecessary) if one desires a Celeste rank. What I guess can be negotiated with the organ builder is whether those Ludwigtone pipes can be made to have two windpoles at the end instead of one. So two sets of relay can be used to control the rank. What I guess is that these two octaves of Ludwigtone pipes may be used to stand in for the Salicional and provide for the Celeste, while the rest of the octaves would be filled in by the Salicional pipes. It seems to me that these Ludwigtone pipes are twin Hohl Flutes 8', which yields some kind of Diapason tone. The corresponding Celeste effect by the other halves of the pipes would amount to a stop which may be called Unda Maris 8' if there is sufficient foundation tone in it.

Check out the construct of these pipes here: http://www.organstops.org/l/Ludwigtone.html.

But if you examine their construction, one really wonders if they are able to produce any Celeste effects because the requirement of a Celeste stop is that the two ranks in question have to be placed quite far apart to avoid their detuning due to their mutual empathy. So if you really want to find out, you have to find an organ that has this Ludwigtone stop to see if it works.

 

[FelixLowe]

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 and in 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'.

Actually I would guess what this organ has is the following arrangement. This is a more rational estimation. This is because it is hard to conceive the Sesquialtera was on the manual without the Octave 4' and the Waldflote 2'. But is it possible that the organ had no Nazard 2 2/3? But where would it be placed if it had only 13 stops. I have no idea, just waiting to see if I would get hold of the stop list.

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

Swell:
Gedackt 8'
Octave 2'
Cymbel V
Hautbois 8'

Pedal:
Subbase 16'
Bourdon 8'

 

[FelixLowe]

I would like to ask a question and see if there is an answer from organists. As I studied stoplists of North German organs, I notice that some organs in the High Baroque era have a Twelfth 2 2/3' on the Great, but at the same time, the Great manual also has a Sesquialtera II. My question is: is the principal rank at 2 2/3' in the Sesquialtera the same as the Twelfth 2 2/3', or is it in fact an additional rank? And if there are two separate ranks, the question is: are they characteristically different?

But if we look at the French organs, which normally don't have the Sesquialtera II, they have a Nazard 2 2/3' and a Tierce 1 3/5', and no question would arise on whether there is or there is no additional rank of the 2 2/3' rank.

 

[promusica]

Having purchased a Content digital organ for our school in Ireland, after much research, I have to thoroughly recommend these organs for domestic, school and church use. Voicing is perfect, as close to a real pipe organ as any other other digital organs that are out there. And for a fraction of the price of some of their competitors. Anyone who is considering buying a digital organ should check out these instruments.

 

[FelixLowe]

Now, the Allen organ company has published on its website that it is doing sampling for Arp Schnitger. One major characteristic of the true Arp Schnitger has been its unique Mixture stops. Its mixtures sound beautifully quaint and elegant and, I guess it contains thirds in it. The typical Arp Schnitger sounds the richness of its chorus with mixtures with some nice and clear metallic clanging, with a hint of gentleness and modesty, as in this presentation of Buxtehude's BuxWV 139: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yV9dGBBfGow. You could say there is a degree of melancholy and shades of brightness intermingled in the organo plenum. It is an ambivalent taste that is unique by itself and cannot be adequately described in words. In simpler terms, the chorus smacks of medievalness to it. All in all, the Arp Schnitger is in fact slightly French. But the French classical organs would rarely have their mixtures sound so loud. This video may be one of the best references to gauge Allen's Arp Schnitgers, when they start dishing out their new organs in the market. We want to hear if Allen can describe these characteristics in its final sampling. Certainly, to emulate the Arp Schnitger well, Allen may be forced to abandon some of the use of the mediocre speakers in favour of those that can produce higher frequencies, such as those capable of reaching 24-27 KHz, and this is estimated to be necessary because the delicate refined clangs of the polyphonic character of the Arp Schnitger mixtures cannot be adequately reproduced with the ordinary speakers.

If you compare this Arp Schnitger mixture with the true Medieval organ in Spain, you will notice that the true Medieval organ sounds a lot smoother, probably due to the more smooth and round principal tones, but the polyphonic mixture is quite similar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qccBF1beTmY. There is certainly similarity between this old Medieval mixture and the Arp Schnitger mixture. So you could say that Sherer, Lange, Fritsche and Arp Schnitger is the unbroken line of apprenticeship bringing the Medieval pipe organ into Protestant Germany. Remember, there is basically no difference between Protestantism and Catholicism except that the heads of the churches of the Protestant faith are the local monarchs and not the pope. Apart from the allegiance issue, there was essentially no difference in terms of most foundational Christian beliefs. But for the organ, Arp Schnitger is not the common standard of today -- it has been replaced by the Austrian Rieger, which is almost every concert hall's standard, so to speak. The Austrian Rieger features the ordinary mixtures you often hear on CDs -- the kind of mass- produced instruments in today's organ market. In terms of tonal character, you could say Silbermann is closer to Rieger. I guess Allen is reviving one important ancient standard for a wider range of customer choice -- the once commonly used organ voices of the Holy Roman Empire. But mind you, even Bach has been said to have composed with the Arp Schnitger instruments in mind.

In a way, the Arp Schnitger resembles the present-day "Silbermann organ" at Freiburg Cathedral, so that's why many people have said the Silbermann there is not authentic. In fact, the Freiburg Cathedral organ resembles more the Arp Schnitger design, particularly its mixture stops. Presumably this resulted from its numerous renovations down through the ages.