What a lovely organ, and thanks to MM for the historical setting. You speak as if you know quite a bit about this instrument, why?
As to GoneBaroque - I don't know the firm Frobenius, but if you mention some of the organs I might have heard them?
thanks - David
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I don't know a great deal about the Edinburgh organ, but Brindley & Foster, after the retirement of Charles Brindley, went very much the way of factory instruments: not that this was necessarily a bad thing, because they had a good working formula tonally, just as Henry Willis did.
I suppose one late period B & F instrument,(post 1900 or so... I will check on the dates and tidy this up a little), is much the same as another, and they all sound surprisingly similar and not at all bad by any means.
The fact that they moved away from the Schulze era, we can now see as a retrograde step, because the Schulze style had definite links going all the way back to Silbermann. The bold clarity of Charles Brindley was lost, (like that of so many others), in the pursuit of the orchestral organ, yet in spite of that, B & F still retained just enough of the German quality to render them musically interesting.
The fact that Foster was more an engineer, meant that he had a great fascination with all things technological, and the complexity of his pneumatic actions was staggering. It included a patent system known as the "Brindgradus" system, which had combination "stops" drawing pre-selected combinations, as well as a crescendo pedal which had similarities with the rollschweller found on German instruments. You can see these on the video of the Edinburgh instrument.
There was also a further interesting link apart from Schulze, in that Bridnley & Foster had on their staff a certain John Compton, and whether that inspired his incredible technical prowess and highly scientific aproach to tonal synthesis and unit organs, we shall never know, but like Foster, he wasn't afraid to "give it a go" if he felt it would work either tonally or mechanically.
I am indeed fortunate in being located very close to an early (re-built but still recognisable 1870's B & F instrument from their best period, and also to TWO organs similar to that at Edinburgh which are in good playing condition. This is where my first hand knowledge comes from, for I was an organ building apprentice at one time, and I was organist at the church where the early Brindley (voiced by Karl Schulze) is situated.
If I can find it, there is a YouTube clip of a small, early Brindley organ somewhere in Australia, and the clarity and boldness is absolutely startling.
An associated link with America is of course G Donald Harrison, who admired the sound of T C Lewis; who in turn, was completely besotted with the Schulze sound. Ex-Willis he may have been, but he turned away from the Willis style of chorus-work when he got to America. Charles Brindley would have approved of his work, I feel sure.
Anyway, to turn attention to all things Baroque, I play a small, but perfectly stupendous baroque-style organ in the UK, which has many admirers, and which has held me spellbound for over 35 years; speaking as it does into a musically perfect acoustic.
As for Frobenius, perhaps one of the very finest instruments built by Thomas Frobenius, is the medium sized two-manual at Queens' College, Oxford University here in the UK, which is just ravishingly beautiful.
As for Fisk, I have had the great privilege of playing the Harvard Memorial Church organ when I was slumming around there with a former American partner, and I DO like what Charlie Fisk did.....and also what Holtkamp did....and Skinner, and Harrison and so many of the modern builders. I have recently written about the American organ scene, (only really scratching at the surface) on the Mander Organs discussion board in the UK, after some members thought the msucial quality of American organs dubious. They needed to know the truth, and I hope I put them right by pointing out the fantastic quality of current organ-building in the US.
Love a good Wurlitzer too, and used to practice on one in London when I lived there.
Enough of droning on. I hope the information is of interest.
MM