Digital Organ Choice

[FelixLowe]

Diane Bish playing Edward Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance at the Canterbury Cathedral: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDXeWRwr84s&feature=related. I guess it is a Father Willis there.

 

[FelixLowe]

Hear this version of Ascribe Greatness to Our God The Rock heartily played on the 1877 Conacher organ in the workshop of Ireland-Shireby church organ builders (Lincolnshire, UK): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afC4OYFR1q4.

 

[FelixLowe]

Rodney Jantzi has uploaded a recent video of him playing his Content 2330 instrument -- this time -- the American edition of the chorale prelude on J. S. Bach's BWV 79, Now Thank We All Our God: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5wB_DAjOdI. As I've commented before, his Content 2330 to me sounds like South German Baroque sampling -- the kind of popular voicing you would hear from many places in Germany. Then, Content later proceeded some years ago to produce its D4000 series, which as I've commented before, shifted to the Central German Baroque tonal scheme, such as the Wagner Organ. The latest Content organs of the highest models such as its the D5000, D6000 and Classic Mondri Series organs are all of the North German (Danish) Neo-Classical school, in the style of Marcussen and Sons. It is quite nice -- the paradigm must have evolved from the Danish Baroque instrument such as the one restored at the Roskild Cathedral. The Danish Neo-classical school manages to keep many of the historical Baroque voices of the German variety, while streamlining the scaling of the "pipes" to ensure clarity and clean sounds. The resultant tonal scheme is one torn between a church instrument and a concert hall instrument. While Content's Danish voicing is admirable, the D4000 as demonstrated by the D4330 demo disk doesn't lag behind in quality. The mixture, being different is heard played more authentic when played live on a video on youtube. It is a Central German type of mixture timbre that suggests a spring or garden type of liveliness.

Curiously, none of the series released so far by Content are believed to be modeled on any genuine historical Dutch schools of organ building. The ordinary Dutch Baroque school was merely the Arp Shnitger instruments left from the past, as well as those made by Shnitger's apprentices. Those organs were topped up with either the Frisztche mixtures or the Arp Schnitger mixtures that had a little higher tin content than the almost pure lead Frisztche pipes. Many videos on youtube are available from The Netherlands featuring pipe organs of the Arp Schnitger tradition. And even Johannus' earliest lines, such as the Rembrandts and the Sweelincks don't feature those kinds of mixtures. They have different mixtures, which I suspect are a new breed made particularly for the their unique Neo-Dutch classical school. I have not personally heard those mixtures from any real pipe organs of Holland. So what I suspect has happened is that the timbres of these mixtures by Johannus are pure inventions of the digital organ company, that didn't originally have historical equivalents. I could be wrong.... Tell me if I am on this site. Or perhaps it may be that they were sampled from genuine instruments with later tonal schemes adopted. But in all honesty so far, I have not heard such a pipe instrument throughout my avid viewing many of the Dutch pipe instruments online. So I am relying on my daring intuition to say that they were timbres with a pure digital beginning.

Comparing the D6000 of Content with the earliest lines by Johannus, my feeling is that both Rembrandt and Sweelinck have registers that sound very secular. But to say that they sound like those innocent barrel organs on the streets would be an exaggeration. And the company would not accept such criticism. What I mean is the Danish tonal scheme of Content is overall slightly less secular than the Johannus' Dutch voicing in the Rembrandts and Sweelincks.

 

[FelixLowe]

Correction

Rodney Jantzi has uploaded a recent video of him playing his Content 2330 instrument -- this time -- the American edition of the chorale prelude on J. S. Bach's BWV 79, Now Thank We All Our God: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5wB_DAjOdI. As I've commented before, his Content 2330 to me sounds like South German Baroque sampling -- the kind of popular voicing you would hear from many places in Germany. Then, Content later proceeded some years ago to produce its D4000 series, which as I've commented before, shifted to the Central German Baroque tonal scheme, such as the Wagner Organ. The latest Content organs of the highest models such as its the D5000, D6000 and Classic Mondri Series organs are all of the North German (Danish) Neo-Classical school, in the style of Marcussen and Sons. It is quite nice -- the paradigm must have evolved from the Danish Baroque instrument such as the one restored at the Roskild Cathedral. The Danish Neo-classical school manages to keep many of the historical Baroque voices of the German variety, while streamlining the scaling of the "pipes" to ensure clarity and clean sounds. The resultant tonal scheme is one torn between a church instrument and a concert hall instrument. While Content's Danish voicing is admirable, the D4000 as demonstrated by the D4330 demo disk doesn't lag behind in quality. The mixture, being different is heard played more authentic when played live on a video on youtube. It is a Central German type of mixture timbre that suggests a spring or garden type of liveliness.

Curiously, none of the series released so far by Content are believed to be modeled on any genuine historical Dutch schools of organ building. The ordinary Dutch Baroque school was merely the Arp Shnitger instruments left from the past, as well as those made by Shnitger's apprentices. Those organs were topped up with either the Frisztche mixtures or the Arp Schnitger mixtures that had a little higher tin content than the almost pure lead Frisztche pipes. Many videos on youtube are available from The Netherlands featuring pipe organs of the Arp Schnitger tradition. And even Johannus' earliest lines, such as the Rembrandts and the Sweelincks don't feature those kinds of mixtures. They have different mixtures, which I suspect are a new breed made particularly for the their unique Neo-Dutch classical school. I have not personally heard those mixtures from any real pipe organs of Holland. So what I suspect has happened is that the timbres of these mixtures by Johannus are pure inventions of the digital organ company, that didn't originally have historical equivalents. I could be wrong.... Tell me if I am on this site. Or perhaps it may be that they were sampled from genuine instruments with later tonal schemes adopted. But in all honesty so far, I have not heard such a pipe instrument throughout my avid viewing many of the Dutch pipe instruments online. So I am relying on my daring intuition to say that they were timbres with a pure digital beginning.

Comparing the D6000 of Content with the earliest lines by Johannus, my feeling is that both Rembrandt and Sweelinck have registers that sound very secular. But to say that they sound like those innocent barrel organs on the streets would be an exaggeration. And the company would not accept such criticism. What I mean is the Danish tonal scheme of Content is overall slightly less secular than the Johannus' Dutch voicing in the Rembrandts and Sweelincks.

One correction would I want to make: the mixtures of Johannus' Rembrandts and Sweelinks are like those Content's D5000 or D6000 lines. They are in fact basically very similar, or even the same, things. This means that the Johannus' earliest digital lines have based their mixtures on the Danish Marcussen and Sons, also, like Content. Again, this supports the idea that Johannus' initial lines of organs were also not built to the true concepts of the historical Baroque Dutch organs. The best pipe equivalent that I can remember on youtube, that sounds closest to the Content's two lines and Johannus' earliest lines is this performance of Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan composed by Johann Pachelbel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZHcEG9HwsQ. The performance seems to have been recorded in Italy, but the organ is clearly a North German organ in the style of Marcussen and Sons. Despite the pipes shown in the picture, I wonder if it is a pipe or a Content playing in the audio. The webpage does not say what make the instrument is. But due to the clarity of sounds, it is probably a pipe instrument. Anyway, this instrument is best used as a comparison to explain how the earliest lines of Johannus are also of the style of the Danish Marcussen and Sons. At the moment, the real digital Arp Schnitgers are hard to come by, except through soundfonts, perhaps. Allen Organ says they have produced digital Arp Schnitgers, but the results have yet to be seen and heard.

 

[FelixLowe]

This morning I was reading posts in an organ bloggers' page commenting on the need for historically informed rendition of organ works on the various brands of organs, both historical and modern. Certain bloggers had enough mention of the Arp Schnitger organ, but admitted that they never really knew how an actual Arp Schnitger sounds. This is understandable because in all honesty, there is at the moment no digital organ made to popularise the Arp Schnitger tonal paradigm except Allen, that has boasted that it has an Arp Schnitger line. But we've never heard how the Allen-Arp Schnitger sounds thus far. Certain bloggers also went on to criticise the Metzler and Marcussen and Sons, saying they were too "international", lacking in the peculiar historical flavours and individuality.

The truth is, the true Arp Schnitger created for the North German region is unlike anything that we generally know about organs in terms of voicing. Its pale timbres and the secular sounds are too far away from what was generally adopted in South Germany and Austria, the seat of the Roman Catholic and palatial powers. But what is found generally in organ recordings and concert halls today as much as in the past was the projection from the South German tonal scheme. The Arp Schnitger's tonal paradigm, with Fritzche mixtures in particular, is considered too remote from even the Silbermann organs, which is also basically South German in character. Of course there have been many so called Arp Schnitgers, where old pipeworks had been recycled or they were simply altered after wars. But the true North German Baroque tonal ideal, which can still be found on many in Holland today -- even on organs which were built as late as the late 18th century -- are not being sold as any of the standards of today's digital organs available from Holland. The reason is simple -- there might not be a market for it because so few people have heard it that they might think the sounds they were hearing were fake, not how a church instrument should sound.

As such, I believe that the neo-classical standard of the Marcussen and Sons became the viable tonal paradigm now generally adopted by the Dutch digital organ companies such as Content and Johannus as a happy medium which Denmark created to resolve the situation of the great disparity between the sounds of the true North German Baroque of Arp Schnitgers and the South German Baroque Silbermanns. In the past, I believe Trost was trying to acheive that middle ground, such as the one in Waltershausen.

Personally I think that although there must have been some influences of the Danish Baroque ideal, such as the one in Roskilde Cathedral on the tonal paradigm of the Marcussen and Sons, I think the Marcussen and Sons was viably attempting to take into account all the essential elements of the German Baroque and Classical tonal paradigms, from the North to the South and typify an ideal in order to create a new standard which results in an instrument which may be used in the concert hall as much as in the churches.

So it is kind of interesting to hear many shades and flavours from performances done on organs such as Content. I have heard people comment for instance on the inaccuracy of the American neo-Classical organ such as the Aeolian Skinner in portraying historical works; in a way Content is the same if one must be historically pedantic. But both standards are viable means to adequately perform historical works of many traditions of many periods. The American one is bent on the British traditional flavour, while Content more on the German historical voicing.

 

[FelixLowe]

CWM RHONDDA at PRINCE WILLIAM'S WEDDING

As you may recall on April 29 this year, Prince William's wedding features a song familiar to all in the anglophone world -- CWM Rondda on the hymn Guide me, O thou great Redeemer. Contrary to my guess, the organist played all three verses on full organ with almost identitical registrations. (I would guess he had not changed the stops at all). And if I don't remember wrong, he also introduced no last-verse variation to the harmony. So this makes me wonder if there is another theory at work that perhaps at the grandest and most formal ceremony to the highest degree, it would be better to play all verses straight, without any self-embellishment at the organist's will. Clearly the first-line intro, when played on the full organ with a mixture IV and a mixture III stop, immediately imparted a sense of grandeur fit for the occasion. Otherwise, I would have thought that the hymn could be played with two Principal 8' stops from two of the manuals and three Octave 4' stops from three of the manuals all coupled together (in order to augment the volume for a large congregation present). While this registration, I guess, may be suitable for the first two verses, the last verse may call for the extra Sesquialtera II (again together with the Twelfth 2 2/3' and Seventeen 1 3/5' coupled from another manual for the necessary volume).

 

[FelixLowe]

About the voicing of Metzler organ

I have just completed my reviewing two CDs on the Swiss-made Metzler, which was provided by the organbuilder -- namely the one with a pineapple cover called Bach: Organ Cornucopia featuring the Metzler of Pfarrkirche St Michael, and another Metzler built in Germany's Freiburg Cathedral. The first organ has all the German names for the stops, and the second one has all the French names.

I feel I wanted to drop a few lines here very simply that the two organs are not drastically different in tonal character, except for the Bombarde 16' which the French classical organ like to make it sound like thunder -- different from a German Posaune. In particular, I want to respond to an earlier remark I read some time ago elsewhere that both Metzler and the Marcussen and Sons are modern interpretations of the older German instruments to the extent that the historical flavour and nuances are lost. After reviewing the first CD on the Metzler built in Switzerland, I would have to beg to differ from the commentator. The Metzler in Pfarrkirche St Michael is very very Silbermannish. It is almost impossible to tell it from the original Silbermann. And Silbermann is a very very famous South German school, which people often distinguish from the North German Baroque school championed by Arp Schnitger. I would even say that that particular Metzler is more authentic and true to the Silbermann school than, for instance, the Austrian Rieger. The points of authenticity concern Metzler's Sesquialtera II and the Mixtures. It is clear that the Mixture and Cymbel are not only bright but glorious. Yet their volumes are not excessive. The Subbass and Posaune on the pedal are fat, round and rumbling, bearing all the originality of the Silbermann school. Once you hear the CD on many fragments of Bach's work, the Metzler is capable of bringing out the empathy, sympathy and the original sentiments of the Protestant era. So I personally don't feel the Metzler suppresses historical character of the German organ. In other words, the Metzler is very different from Content organ, for instance, which serves to preserve all nuances of the Marcussen and Sons, which is a reinterpretation of the Arp Schnitger school. The reinterpretation gives a younger, more lively voicing, with mostly rather narrow-scaled stops.

In conclusion, to me the Metzler organ is a living Silbermann.

 

[FelixLowe]

The differences of Gamba, Viola da Gamba and Dulciana

When we choose organs, we are sometimes confused over certain recurring stop names across a number of builders and brands, ancient and modern. In particular, just what are these -- Gamba, Viola da Gamba and Dulciana? There seems to have been a great deal of mix-up in the market over these stops? In Baroque Germany, you often find on historical instruments a Gamba on the Hauptwerk. And without any doubt, it is a softer Diapason stop leaning towards nasality by means of its narrow-scaled conical construction. And on other instruments of the same period, there appeared to be a Dulciana Principal 8' in Germany, which was later used also in Britain. And this one refers to a cylindrical construction of smaller scale. In other words, it is a softer Diapason adopted on the choir or swell.

But what is then the Viola da Gamba proper? It seems to me that as George Ashdown Audsley has discussed about this entry in his work titled Organ Stops, although he refers to a range of string-toned devices of varying degree of stringyness, to me the most proper designation is the cutting and pungent sound of string which British organists often employ during Easter for a number of mystical hymns designated for the occasion. That is the proper name for that voice, which some European organs have named Dulciana.

If you get hold of a copy of Andre Marchal's Zodiac recordings on his Bach Recital -- Studio Organ Demonstration, you would hear his Dulciana Celeste on track 19 As with other Celeste stops, it has the quality of space-age galactic voices. So in this connection, you would then go on to make a comparison with the Salicional by listening to some American Classic instruments where they have that and its equivalent Celeste stop. That stop, which they describe in organ literature as a "normal string tone stop" comprising Flute and String tones, may well be the name they have taken to use it to refer to what would be named as Dulciana 8' on other instruments. These two tonal elements are what it takes to produce the essence of a Diapason.

 

[FelixLowe]

When we choose organs, we are sometimes confused over certain recurring stop names across a number of builders and brands, ancient and modern. In particular, just what are these -- Gamba, Viola da Gamba and Dulciana? There seems to have been a great deal of mix-up in the market over these stops? In Baroque Germany, you often find on historical instruments a Gamba on the Hauptwerk. And without any doubt, it is a softer Diapason stop leaning towards nasality by means of its narrow-scaled conical construction. And on other instruments of the same period, there appeared to be a Dulciana Principal 8' in Germany, which was later used also in Britain. And this one refers to a cylindrical construction of smaller scale. In other words, it is a softer Diapason adopted on the choir or swell.

But what is then the Viola da Gamba proper? It seems to me that as George Ashdown Audsley has discussed about this entry in his work titled Organ Stops, although he refers to a range of string-toned devices of varying degree of stringyness, to me the most proper designation is the cutting and pungent sound of string which British organists often employ during Easter for a number of mystical hymns designated for the occasion. That is the proper name for that voice, which some European organs have named Dulciana.

If you get hold of a copy of Andre Marchal's Zodiac recordings on his Bach Recital -- Studio Organ Demonstration, you would hear his Dulciana Celeste on track 19 As with other Celeste stops, it has the quality of space-age galactic voices. So in this connection, you would then go on to make a comparison with the Salicional by listening to some American Classic instruments where they have that and its equivalent Celeste stop. That stop, which they describe in organ literature as a "normal string tone stop" comprising Flute and String tones, may well be the name they have taken to use it to refer to what would be named as Dulciana 8' on other instruments. These two tonal elements are what it takes to produce the essence of a Diapason.

Indeed, there is very good reason to believe that many of the German Gamba were in fact conical, rather than cylindrical. Now there have been examples indeed on cylindrical Gamba. A page in The Cambridge Companion to the Organ, for example, illustrates pictorially various construction of stops, ranging from the Open Diapason, through to the Gamba and the Krummhorn. As a matter of fact, the book does say the Viola da Gamba is cylindrical. Yet if it is cylindrical, what then is the difference between it and the Dulciana Principal or the Salicional? I believe that the difference lies in the metallic content of the two. Contrary to many's belief a Principal in those day was only 20-25 percent tin, and the rest lead -- unlike today's manufacturing where a Principal can contain up to 95 per cent tin. However, in those days a Gamba of the same form of construction on a smaller scale could have been made with up to 70 per cent tin. So if you chance to come across a Baroque German Gamba, what you would notice is that although you may not hear the slightly horn-like quality of a Diapason in a Gamba in question, you would find that it has a lot of upper-partial overtones. Strictly speaking, a Baroque German Gamba does not sound like a string, but is quite bright. And that brightness leads many to think it is the stringy quality of the stop.

In the Anglophone world, however, for a long time since after 1800s, stops called Viola da Gamba and Viola d'amour were introduced to Britain. And there are good reasons to believe that they are of conical construction, much like how a Gemshorn would sound. A Gemshorn 8' is what has been described as having both stringyness and reedyness. In fact, in the past I had an Alhborn Classic Module of 20 organ stops, which included a Gemshorn 8' and its Celeste. And very clearly, the so called reedy quality is nothing more than a more pronounced Geigen or stringy quality, and the nasality in it has been described as "reedy". And what I believe is the case for the Anglo-American usage of the Viola da Gamba is actually the same type of construction adopted. The variation in degree of pungent and cutting quality of the Geigen stringyness depends on the steepness of the construction of the pipes. For example, when steepness decreases and they are made them into fat spitz pipes, they become the Spitzflote or Spitzprincipal, depending on how much they rid the stops of stringyness and how much they expand the fluteyness. The so called Flute 8' on some Baroque or classical organs is exactly the Spitzflote or Nachthorn 8' of Germany. And also, in the French- styled Cornets of IV or V, the pipes in them are the Spitz flutes except the 8' pipe in the Cornet V, which is a chimneyed Bourdon.

 

[FelixLowe]

When G Donald Harrison of the American Classic Aeolian Skinner said in his monumental recording titled Studies in Tone, which introduces the listener to a range of stops of the classical organ, he was being extremely subtle in his thoughts about America and Britain and their relationship. First of all, the range of stop he covers does not exceed the range of organ voices known to a European. Anyone who knows those names would know that they are mere imports from either Britain or Germany. The mixture stop he demonstrates in track No. 2, towards the end of the track, plays Der Tag, Der ist so Freudenreich, which features the Fourniture IV, although Harrison does not spell out that fact that the mixture is four ranks of Spitzflote flutes. The Nason Flute, which he talks about is in fact the Kleingedackt 4' much used in Germany during the Baroque era. When the stop was adopted during the Georgian era of Great Britain, it became called the Nason 4'. Normally this is seldom found on a manufactured organ of eclectic style of today, but can be appreciated using an pipe organ clock -- one of those expensive de luxe items meant to decorate the mantelpiece. Some, having this stop, has labelled it as Gedecktflote 4'. But at least one stop, which has the origin in the United States, is perhaps the Tuba Mirabilis, which Harrison made no mention of in his record. What he demonstrates in Track No. 10 on Jeremiah Clarke's Trumpet Tune seems to be the Festival Trumpet. It may be another name for the Military Trumpet or State Trumpet. According to Organ Stops by Audsley, the Tuba Mirabilis was by a guy called W E Haskell of Brattleboro, Vermont. This is what we hear from Allen Organ's earlier sound samples when they used it to play William Boyce's Voluntary in D, or When Morning Guilds the Sky. That stop is a midway between a Clarinet and a Tuba. The Clarinet itself of course did not appear in Britain until after 1800s. Earlier during the Georgian era, there was only the Cromhorn adopted by the British organ.

Anyway, without being too explicit, Harrison was concluding the whole recording by including a fragment of BWV 650 in track No. 10, but topped it up in the next final track with a fragment of BWV 552.

 

[FelixLowe]

Small hints about the Swell reeds and the Quintaten

After drawing up dispositons for four organs, I have decided to work on the fifth, which will require minimum stops to play most repertoire. And a major point of consideration is how one should include reeds on the swell. There is no doubt that for the Great organ, there is always a Trumpet -- for the majority of modern and ancient instruments alike. And how about the Swell? Most Baroque instruments have a Vox Humana, a Cromorne and an Oboe. The Oboe is divided into two classes, according to Audsley, the soft trumpet type and the horn-like type. Now after studying a demo disk provided by Phoenix organ of Great Britain, I have finally come to decide that a Cromorn is in fact a combination of the Quintaten 8' and the trumpet-type Oboe. And, a Vox Humana, the general German class, that is, is in fact acheived by halving the volume of a Cromorne. And that would mean leaving the Swell box half-open to attain the tone. And in the case of acheiving the necessary solo voice for a number of Advent preludes, when the tremulant is drawn, that would be as close as you can get from a vibrating Vox Humana. So it is essential that an Oboe of the soft trumpet-class be included. And I have also found out that if you desire an Oboe-Schalmei 8' or Rankett, but you want to save money, you can combine the Fagotto 16 and the Oboe 8' to acheive it. So it seems that the most important reeds are the Fagotto 16' and the Oboe 8'.

And another case which Andre Marchal mentioned in his Zodiac recording demonstrating his studo organ is that if you don't have a Nazard 2 2/3', but want to attain the tone of a Cornet, you can still do so with the Quintaten 8' by having it combine with Terz 1 3/5' and drawing a stopped flute 8' together in order to give it some body.

To attain the sound of a horn-like Oboe, like the Anglo-American Oboe, simply combine the trumpet-type Oboe with Viola da Gamba 8', and this is more or less you would hear at Easter. To accompany mystical hymns for Easters, they use this registration and add Spitzflote 4' to strengthen the chorus without affecting the timbre. And by combining the trumpet-like Oboe with Viola da Gamba (the pungent and cutting type) and a soft flute, such as a Gedeckt 8', you will basically have attained an equivalent of Gemshorn 8' even when there isn't a Gemshorn on your organ.

 

[GoneBaroque]

Just a personal aside; the information in this thread is what attracted my interest to the Forum.

 

[FelixLowe]

The best policy for employing the Gedeckt

In many brands of organs, you can find the Gedeckt 8' starting as the first stop on the Swell. But in the British organ you seldom find such nomenclature because they use the term Stopped Diapason. On many British organs, like the Phoenix organ, in particular, they employ two Stopped Diapasons -- one on the Great immediately following the Open Diapason 8' and another starting the stoplist of the Swell. The American organs follow the French and some traditions of the Dutch school by employing the Rohrflote 8' on the Great and the Bourdon 8' on the Swell instead. What exactly are the differences? Factually, some pipes of their Rohrflotes are Gedeckt pipes and some are not. I shall explain these slowly after undergoing some painstaking studies.

First of all, a prescription of stoplist for the Thomas Dallam organ at Worcester Cathedral of 1613 gives the stoplist which required a "Stopt diapason of wood of 8' on the Chaire organ. And for the Great, the prescription specified "one recorder of metall, a stopt pipe." This example is drawn from The Cambridge Companion to the Organ.

If we assume that is the prototype for the British organ in the days to come, we know that the one on the Great is a full set of covered pipes at half length. But the rank on the Chaire or modern Swell organ is not covered, but chimneyed rather. If they are chimneyed, why don't they call them Bourdon or Rohrflote? The reason is that on many American, French or Dutch instruments, the Rohrflote or Bourdon means that part of the ranks are wooden chimneyed pipes and the rest metal chimneyed pipes. Whereas in the case of British organs, it seems that the whole rank of stopped pipes for the Swell is made of wood. If so, another name for that would be the Holzgedeckt 8'. But because this is a German name, they generally don't want it. Ten years ago I had an Ahlborn Classic module, which featured 20 stops. They placed the Holzgedackt 8' on the Great. And I think they sold it as a specialty feature because none of the other three models of the same series featured such a stop. Instead, they placed the Flute a Cheminee (Chimney Flute or Rohrflote 8') on the Swell. And now looking back, there is a reason why they did that. While the timbre of the Holzgedackt is unique featuring loud chiff for the soft reeds, such as, the Corno di Bassetto 8', they might consider the Chimney Flute sounding smoother. There is no problem of course when it comes to the Festival Trumpet.

In other words, personally I think that depending on what kinds of reeds you have on which manual and if both the metal Gedeckt and Holzgedeckt should exist on the same organ, then their positions should be dictated by the kinds of reed stops they support. The metal Gedeckt has the advantage of smoother blending ability because of softer chiff. It is indisapensable for a number of Bach pieces and a classic voice for any repertoire.

About a year ago, I obtained the D5000/D6000 demo disk from Content organ of the Netherlands, clearly I don't believe they have any fully wooden stops for any of the Bourdon or Rohrflote for their continental versions. But what is interesting is about their Rohrflote 4' on the Positive division of their three-manual instruments. Their Rohrflote 4' is a full wooden stop, probably except the highest notes, which usually have to be simply small open metal pipes, anyway.

 

[Clarion]

The best policy for employing the Gedeckt
In many brands of organs, you can find the Gedeckt 8' starting as the first stop on the Swell. But in the British organ you seldom find such nomenclature because they use the term Stopped Diapason. On many British organs, like the Phoenix organ, in particular, they employ two Stopped Diapasons -- one on the Great immediately following the Open Diapason 8' and another starting the stoplist of the Swell.

Felix,

"You can never have enough Diapasons!" And to that end, it is not at all unusual for English organs to offer as many as five diapsons on a single manual!!

When you mention Phoenix Organs, I suspect that British, Irish and Canadian organs are unique to their own culture. For instance, 75% of the ranks on my Phoenix were captured from well known organs located within about an hour's drive from my home.

Although on my meager 3/44, there are only three 8' diapasons on the Great, compared to five or so on many larger English organs; Phoenix offers a good array of appropriately voiced diapasons, ranging from three or so on the Great, to lighter Principals on the Choir, and rather prominent horny solo offerings on the Swell. The unfamiliar horny Swell diapason took the most effort to become accustomed to, but in time I've learned to love it!!

 

[FelixLowe]

The best policy for employing the Gedeckt
In many brands of organs, you can find the Gedeckt 8' starting as the first stop on the Swell. But in the British organ you seldom find such nomenclature because they use the term Stopped Diapason. On many British organs, like the Phoenix organ, in particular, they employ two Stopped Diapasons -- one on the Great immediately following the Open Diapason 8' and another starting the stoplist of the Swell.

Felix,

"You can never have enough Diapasons!" And to that end, it is not at all unusual for English organs to offer as many as five diapsons on a single manual!!

When you mention Phoenix Organs, I suspect that British, Irish and Canadian organs are unique to their own culture. For instance, 75% of the ranks on my Phoenix were captured from well known organs located within about an hour's drive from my home.

Although on my meager 3/44, there are only three 8' diapasons on the Great, compared to five or so on many larger English organs; Phoenix offers a good array of appropriately voiced diapasons, ranging from three or so on the Great, to lighter Principals on the Choir, and rather prominent horny solo offerings on the Swell. The unfamiliar horny Swell diapason took the most effort to become accustomed to, but in time I've learned to love it!!

Oh, yes, Clarion, I noticed that it's been the case for British organs. Two Diapason stops were found on the 1695-97 St Paul's Cathedral, London. One of the stop features two ranks. So I assume there were three ranks of what were labelled Diapason. But the British even called some of the flutes Diapasons, anyway -- the Gedeckt and the Holzgedeckt are also Stopped Diapasons. There is not a lot of literature to explain what differences there were between the Diapasons within a stop of multi-rank Principal stops. For example, Audsley says a Clarabella 8' also has the Diapason quality as well. The Waldflote 8' has both some horn-like tone and a flute. So perhaps that might be used as a Diapason? So there are many many many Diapasons on the British organs if you just look at the names. For another example, for the St Paul London organ I just mentioned, Barbera Owen lists the first stop of its Chaire organ as Quinta Dena Diapason 8'. Here is another. So what do you think that means? Everything is Diapason!? It seems, however, that in at least some of the British organs built after 1800 was the situation changed. There must be a factor to do with the necessary loudness at the beginning. Some of the earliest Reformation instruments in the Rhineland, c. 1550s, were built in this way. It might, I suspect, have to do with the power of the wind system, as well as the size of the space the organs had to serve. Now, another factor is that in the case where one Diapason serves each manual of a four- or five-manual organ, what the Anglo-American school seems to favour is always the presence of similar nature of stop with slightly different amplitude where a subtle contrast is made. For example, even for a smaller two-manual instrument, they always insist on a Principal 4' on the second manual and a Fifteenth 2'. But in other national traditions, the contrast they want is not always one about volume, but a tonal contrast. So they tend to have a Gemshorn, Nachtorn and other high-pitched mutation flutes. In fact, the Worster Cathedral organ I mentioned recently is one of early examples prescribing a Squealor Sifflote 1'. But since then not many British organs desired such a stop in the Georgian-Victorian era when the Sharp Mixture III was installed. But on sizeable Town Hall installations of today you could still find such a stop of 1'. It is essentially a North German Baroque design, which is used for the 8', 4' and 1' combination, as well as for acheiving a quieter Mixture effect.

But it seems to me Clarion, that you are just being modest -- your 3/44 is by no means a meager entity. You are talking about 3/44 x 4 organs! That is almost like a concert hall installation!

 

[FelixLowe]

Stop Nomenclature and Calligraphic Print

Much discussion has been on the tonal aspect of the organ, but very little is discussed about how to compile a list of names that gives aesthetics to the disposition. Most organs manufactured today are using fonts for stop names such as New Times Roman. However, this was not the case when the instruments were built during Baroque times. Also, what should we do with foreign names, which commonly occur in stop names?

I have tried to juggle with names in a stop list such as the Great, but somehow found some names appear quite ugly in English. Holzgedeckt looks horrible in plain Times New Roman print. Should we use Fifteenth 2' or Superoctave 2'? Should we write out the whole long name Seventeenth or use the French name Tierce?

Finally, a principle was worked out whereby foreign names are retained, but everything is changed to the font called Old English Text MT -- a font which applies some artistic calligraphic finesse to some of those archaic names. The problem is, when foreign names are not used, and let's say we stick to Stopped Diapason, no one is able to fathom at first glance whether it is a metal or wooden Gedeckt. Of course, when certain German names require the dots in those names, they should be written in, otherwise they look worse in the list. When they are changed to Old English Text MT, the elegance would be restored.

For names like Seventeenth 1 3/5', it is better to be avoided. Tierce 1 3/5' is much preferred when a Sesquialtera II is separated into two stops. This is mainly because the name Seventeenth is too long, and the name plate would appear very long. This applies equally to Dulciana Celeste. So it has to be shortened to Voix Celeste. Notice that the Celeste requires no accent on the first e in Anglo-American instruments. It is supposed to have it on French instruments.

So once you apply these principles, you'll find the disposition lists quite elegant and neat.

 

[FelixLowe]

The Lammermuir organ -- a Scottish organbuilder adopts Ladegast tonality

Just recently, I discovered a Scottish organbuilding firm called Lammermuir. It builds pipe organs, but only the wooden pipes, while the metal ones are supposedly attained through outsourcing. I was initially attracted to some of the pictures it features on some really truly exquisite cabinet organs of about four stops, without any pedal. The attraction is mainly about some of its Georgian style furniture, which would make any living room really nostalgic. So I assume that its organs must be British-styled for their tonal schemes. Guess what? I then approached the builder -- a Mr Richerby -- through his enquiry contact site to seek any demo disc for preview. And they then sent one to me here. And in fact it is not a demo disc at all. It is a full record containing 20 tracks, some organ and some vocal. And guess what? It wasn't difficult for me to identify right away that it is not the organ with a British tonal scheme. I would have thought with its exquisite cabinet of Queen Anne or Georgian styled, one would expect some stops sounding like the Rodgers, which in my opinion is a copy of the organs of those eras. I would really love to attach a track or two from the Lammermuir here, if any technical difficulties of this website were removed, as formerly there had been a long time when I could not attach further sound files here.

Now, about the organ company, if you go to the Lammermuir website, they are pretty forthright right at the beginning in their introductory page that they have adopted the North German principles of organbuilding. However, almost all builders are somewhat influenced by the North German principles after the Organ Reform Movement since the 1950s, when builders around the world claim harking back to the Classical Era. And for the Lammermuir the easiest way to tonally identify the 22-stop organ at St Mary's Collegiate Church, Haddington is its similarity to the Ladegast organ at Merseburg Cathedral in Germany. The Ladegast is not covered by Barbara Owen's book titled The Registration of Baroque Organ Music, presumably because it was built towards the end of the Classical Era. Some people even call it a German Romantic. But because tonally the Ladegast, like the Lammermuir at St Mary Collegiate, is still tonally conservative it would be too much to classify it as that. It bears some ringing polyphonically stereophonic character of the Arp Schnitger, as a matter of fact. But the Ladegast does not have exactly the type of Arp Schnitger Mixtures, which many were suspected to contain thirds.

The Lammermuire disc provided to me features really close-up recordings of the organ, whereby you can hear some clicking sounds of stopped flute, presumably the Gedeckt. But if you can hear only some clicking at close-up, that tells you that it doesn't have loud chiff. It is not an ancient-sounding instrument. And that is the character in fact of a number of Austrian and German builders, such as the Egedacher and Silbermann of the 17th and 18th centuries. That's probably why some people suggested that Romanticism began with Silbermann. But that depends on what tonal comparisons are being made. Certainly, no one would agree that the Baroque Era overlaps with Romantic Era, for there is the Classical Era in between.

What is special about the organ of this size at St Mary Collegiate is probably its quite complete manual disposition, including a Cornet III and a Koppelflote 4' and the Trompete on one manual, and separately a Nazard and a Tierce on another. The Great organ features Mixture V, while the Swell organ features a Scharff II-III, and the builder opted for a Cromhorn on the Swell -- the only soft reed there. The Pedal organ features the Open Wood 16', which is an old feature of German organs and much adopted by the English builders before the Organ Reform Movement. What is lacking however is a Choralbass 4' there, which is essential, particularly in view of the fact that there is no Schalmey 4' there. There is no 4' stop on the pedal. And this is regrettable.

In any case, I hope you enjoy my descriptions here, and I'll try to attach a music files or two from this Lammermuir and possibly from the Ladegast as well on another occasion to follow up on this message.

 

[GoneBaroque]

I finally found a link to Lammeruir's website on Gerald Giffords site but in the meantime I found this video with Neil Richerby discussing the restoration of the organ at Rosslyn Chapel. I don't know if you have seen it.

 

[FelixLowe]

Just recently, I discovered a Scottish organbuilding firm called Lammermuir. It builds pipe organs, but only the wooden pipes, while the metal ones are supposedly attained through outsourcing. I was initially attracted to some of the pictures it features on some really truly exquisite cabinet organs of about four stops, without any pedal. The attraction is mainly about some of its Georgian style furniture, which would make any living room really nostalgic. So I assume that its organs must be British-styled for their tonal schemes. Guess what? I then approached the builder -- a Mr Richerby -- through his enquiry contact site to seek any demo disc for preview. And they then sent one to me here. And in fact it is not a demo disc at all. It is a full record containing 20 tracks, some organ and some vocal. And guess what? It wasn't difficult for me to identify right away that it is not the organ with a British tonal scheme. I would have thought with its exquisite cabinet of Queen Anne or Georgian styled, one would expect some stops sounding like the Rodgers, which in my opinion is a copy of the organs of those eras. I would really love to attach a track or two from the Lammermuir here, if any technical difficulties of this website were removed, as formerly there had been a long time when I could not attach further sound files here.

Now, about the organ company, if you go to the Lammermuir website, they are pretty forthright right at the beginning in their introductory page that they have adopted the North German principles of organbuilding. However, almost all builders are somewhat influenced by the North German principles after the Organ Reform Movement since the 1950s, when builders around the world claim harking back to the Classical Era. And for the Lammermuir the easiest way to tonally identify the 22-stop organ at St Mary's Collegiate Church, Haddington is its similarity to the Ladegast organ at Merseburg Cathedral in Germany. The Ladegast is not covered by Barbara Owen's book titled The Registration of Baroque Organ Music, presumably because it was built towards the end of the Classical Era. Some people even call it a German Romantic. But because tonally the Ladegast, like the Lammermuir at St Mary Collegiate, is still tonally conservative it would be too much to classify it as that. It bears some ringing polyphonically stereophonic character of the Arp Schnitger, as a matter of fact. But the Ladegast does not have exactly the type of Arp Schnitger Mixtures, which many were suspected to contain thirds.

The Lammermuire disc provided to me features really close-up recordings of the organ, whereby you can hear some clicking sounds of stopped flute, presumably the Gedeckt. But if you can hear only some clicking at close-up, that tells you that it doesn't have loud chiff. It is not an ancient-sounding instrument. And that is the character in fact of a number of Austrian and German builders, such as the Egedacher and Silbermann of the 17th and 18th centuries. That's probably why some people suggested that Romanticism began with Silbermann. But that depends on what tonal comparisons are being made. Certainly, no one would agree that the Baroque Era overlaps with Romantic Era, for there is the Classical Era in between.

What is special about the organ of this size at St Mary Collegiate is probably its quite complete manual disposition, including a Cornet III and a Koppelflote 4' and the Trompete on one manual, and separately a Nazard and a Tierce on another. The Great organ features Mixture V, while the Swell organ features a Scharff II-III, and the builder opted for a Cromhorn on the Swell -- the only soft reed there. The Pedal organ features the Open Wood 16', which is an old feature of German organs and much adopted by the English builders before the Organ Reform Movement. What is lacking however is a Choralbass 4' there, which is essential, particularly in view of the fact that there is no Schalmey 4' there. There is no 4' stop on the pedal. And this is regrettable.

In any case, I hope you enjoy my descriptions here, and I'll try to attach a music files or two from this Lammermuir and possibly from the Ladegast as well on another occasion to follow up on this message.

Here is a clip from the Nicholaikirche in Leipzig of a Ladegast playing Bach: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9LuddF0c74&feature=related. The voicing is quite the same as the files on the Lammermuir. It is a fair representation.

 

[GoneBaroque]

Thank you for the posting. Well played on a good sounding organ in a beautiful setting.