dll927
New member
Is there someone around who can provide a cogent explanation of why some people are still so fond of tracker-action organs?
There is currently a thread running about a "Dom Bedos" organ in Italy. The instrument sounds like some kind of anachronism. And it's supposedly new, if one accepts a different interpretation of the word. Right in the description it says that it is tuned to play only certain types of music and can't handle anything composed since about 1800. What's the point??
OK, we are spoiled and used to organs with all manner of electrical aids to make the organ a one-person orchestra. But it's a rather telling point that some tracker-action organs are built these days with electrical stop actions so stops can be controlled with pistons, etc. Sounds like some people can't quite decide which side of the fence to come down on.
The monster at St.-Sulpice may have been state-of-the-art in 1862, and as long as it is still quite playable, there is probably no reason to change it. But they did build a new one ages ago at Notre Dame. I sometimes suspect that powers that be have turned a lot of those old organs into historical monuments that nobody will dare touch as far as modernization is concerned. Fine and dandy, but it must take some getting used to playing them.
There is currently a thread running about a "Dom Bedos" organ in Italy. The instrument sounds like some kind of anachronism. And it's supposedly new, if one accepts a different interpretation of the word. Right in the description it says that it is tuned to play only certain types of music and can't handle anything composed since about 1800. What's the point??
OK, we are spoiled and used to organs with all manner of electrical aids to make the organ a one-person orchestra. But it's a rather telling point that some tracker-action organs are built these days with electrical stop actions so stops can be controlled with pistons, etc. Sounds like some people can't quite decide which side of the fence to come down on.
The monster at St.-Sulpice may have been state-of-the-art in 1862, and as long as it is still quite playable, there is probably no reason to change it. But they did build a new one ages ago at Notre Dame. I sometimes suspect that powers that be have turned a lot of those old organs into historical monuments that nobody will dare touch as far as modernization is concerned. Fine and dandy, but it must take some getting used to playing them.