"Organ Transplant!"

[Thad E Ginathom]

(Credit to the BBC for that pun )

I could not decide which lounge to post this in. General? or AV? Well. it is about a musical instrument, and you can't get more audio than that. hyeah:

And what a musical instrument! A pipe organ with 8,000 pipes .

Royal Festival Hall organ returns after nine years (BBC News)

It's a vast beast of an instrument. Taking up the entire backstage wall of the Royal Festival Hall, the Southbank Centre's newly restored organ is a true behemoth, as much a feat of engineering as it is a musical force.

And at full tilt, it makes the very air shake, leaving you feeling as if your molecular structure has been re-ordered. The sheer size of the sound it can produce is astonishing.

"It needs to be louder than an entire orchestra", says William McVicker, the Southbank's Organ Curator, demonstrating the instrument's massive, full-throated tones with a passage from Jean Langlais's Suite Breve.

But this huge machine, which dates back to 1954 and comprises almost 8,000 pipes, is also built to play quiet, tender tones, all of which will be on display for Tuesday's gala, which publicly re-launches the organ.

(click the link above for more)

I have experienced just a taster of this instrument, in the high-power final minutes of Mahler's 2nd symphony performed live at this hall. Dating back to 1954 makes it just two years younger than I am. I wonder if any other members might have visited the Royal Festival Hall and heard ...or even seen, it?

I didn't know it had been out of action for so long recently --- but I'm happy to know that, fully restored, it is now to be reborn.



~

 

[denom]

Thad, if you ever get a chance to go for a live performance to any of the places with the famed 'organs' in the world, I would highly recommend you grab the opportunity with both hands.

My personal wish is to hear the organ in the Riga Cathedral in Latvia

Riga Cathedral - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Riga Cathedral pipe organ - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I learnt about this magnificent Riga Cathedral & its pipe organ thanks to frederik magle's

fantastic rendition of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor

Bach, Toccata and Fugue in D Minor - YouTube

Its in my bucket list of places to visit.

Some info on the makers of the organ
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walcker_Orgelbau

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

I've watched some youtube performances of famous organs, but that probably gives about 1% of the sound.

 

[denom]

Well what else did you expect from you tube??? :lol:

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Nothing. It always makes me laugh when people show off their hifi ...via youtube.

But ...you know ...just a taster

 

[jls001]

The other day I read in the newspapers that the National Centre For The Performing Arts in Mumbai had repaired their "lost" organ. The same report mentioned that there are some 3 or 4 churches in Mumbai which have working organs.

BTW, I have heard the organ at the Christ Church School chapel in Clare Road, in the Byculla neighbourhood of Mumbai. It was a huge enveloping sound. No amplification needed! Very unforgettable sound. IIRC, they were singing this hymn

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Certainly no amplification needed!

Also, I don't know if they were designed, or just evolved, to work in vast, echo-filled spaces, but they certainly do. Forget "room" treatment! :lol:

 

[GeorgeO]

Ive had the opportunity to listen to organ music a few times at St Patrick's Cathedral in NY, great experience!

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

To me, it is sad that church music has been reduced to something like a teenage pop band. One advantage (I'm not religious ) of church going in UK (at least) is that the old churches have, and use, pipe organs. Even for simple accompaniment of hymn singing, it is a wonderful sound. Even in a small village church one can experience a pipe organ!

 

[grubyhalo]

Nothing, to me, comes close to experiencing a pipe organ in it's full glory! I am hoping I'll get to experience the pipes at the Trinity Wallstreet sometime, hopefully the mechanical ones. Def. Tech. named a range of their subs Trinity, in tribute to the pipes in this church. Here's a list of places that have pipes in regular use in NY, if anyone's interested in a church-crawl. I know of only Andrew's Kirk in Chennai that has a decent-sized set of pipes that sees regular use. I guess for a pipe-organ fan, Youtube's the only option, around 95% of the time.

To me, it is sad that church music has been reduced to something like a teenage pop band. One advantage (I'm not religious ) of church going in UK (at least) is that the old churches have, and use, pipe organs. Even for simple accompaniment of hymn singing, it is a wonderful sound. Even in a small village church one can experience a pipe organ!

This is something that I have recognized and reconciled with over the years. The audience in most of the non-traditional places of worship would prefer the kind of music that resonates with them and/or do not care much for the traditional music. I suspect that this also extends to a certain extent, the 'pomp and pagentry', for a want of a better decription, associated with such traditional environments. As much as I would be enthralled to have the choirs from St. Martin-in-the-fields or the Oxford Christ Church singing in my sunday service, I've also found places with a punk-rock or 'un-plugged' bands, equally effective in connecting with their congregations. I guess in the end, it's all a matter of horses for courses...

 

[Naturelover]

Ah, its that kind of an organ!
And for a moment I thought you were getting new ears ::lol:.

On a serious note, thanks for the info. Real tour de force, this one.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

for a moment I thought you were getting new ears

:lol:

I wish I wish I wish. I'd look after them better than I did the old ones: promise!

No. Cochlear implants might make some sort of awareness of sound available to the truly deaf (ok, that's a miracle in itself) but so far as the fine mechanism of tiny hairs in our inner ear is concerned, nothing can make them work again, not in my lifetime, and maybe not even in my grandson's lifetime. Science has a long way to go on that. Apparently they are still discovering how those little hairs work!

Looking on the bright side: 95% of music is well within the frequency range I can hear