OrganNet Report

Part 2

by Herbert Huestis & David Calhoun

 

Northwest Spaces

Physical, metaphysical, mental and spiritual; Concerts expand one's perceptions and test prejudices

 

A random survey around the convention seemed to reveal a tie vote for favorite recitals, between the paired events at Pacific Lutheran's Fritts organ and the Kynaston recitals at St. James Cathedral. The balance was tipped by the "Catholic Worship," the office of Lauds offered three times at the Cathedral, not most by the music, the ceremony, nor the incense ("not a fragrance-free corner"), but by the sermon of the Cathedral's Pastor, the Very Rev. Michael Ryan. Imagine a room of musicians listening intently to a sermon! Fr. Ryan suggested that, in a twist on the imagery of Donne, visitors and music in the place are made honest parts of the Sacrament.

The new Rosales organ was dedicated only two weeks before the convention, in a solo recital by Cathedral organist Joseph Adam proving the success of the marriage between old and new instruments in literature from Bach to Widor. The program featured a large solo work by Naji Hakim, The Last Judgment, on motifs from the windows around which the organ case is spaced on the theme, "As ye did it to the least of these, my brethren." Those who managed to be at the Cathedral at supper time on July 4th heard it in reprise; a virtuoso prelude to fireworks, of course, a sort of rondo returning to great bass clusters; a better work than the one with orchestra which ended the convention. I'd already heard the organ accompanying a professional choir the week before that, and was struck by the way Manuel Rosales has sprouted a new and different organ from the same tonal roots as grew the Hutchings-Votey in the gallery almost a century ago. If hubris can be said to have characterized the Fisk project, one can say that the Rosales work betrays a certain humility.

I can't add much to what has been said about the PLU Fritts, save that I find the work to be so blended in tone that I like to sit as close in as possible--and that the beauties of the sound bear that close examination. Neither quirky nor subdued, it is simply a work of great balance and maturity. A close third in favorite recitals was John Weaver's at the new Reuter organ at University Presbyterian Church. This church is only a few blocks from my home, and I've been there on a Sunday morning, as well as early on when I asked the organist how they were going to fit a tracker into this chancel. "Not a tracker," she said, "Absolutely not a tracker." I came to scoff, but left with praise.

The Northwest had for decades exactly one electropneumatic builder, with a sort of "American Classic" style, whose best work was heard in a Kimberly Marshall program with wind ensemble--but in reaction to which, the area has grown its strong "Baroque revival" tracker bias and trend. A Skinner, several Kimballs, a Kilgen, and an Austin are long gone; the Hutchings at St. James, possibly not the best of the lot, is all that remains of what the region has deemed an outworn style. In this vein, one very fine young teacher left the Weaver event steaming, outraged that such outdated playing should be allowed!

The pendulum swings, with a half-period of about thirty years; warm fundamental sound has come back even to "Baroque" organs. What we heard when John Weaver played this large Reuter organ seemed to me not to be highly colored; in the Brahms preludes we heard varieties and textures of gray, mauve, pastels--subtly varied and never extreme. The playing was skilled, tasteful, assured. The Bach transcription of Ernst which opened displayed a legato manner we simply don't hear around here; when was the last time I saw legato manual changes? Weaver's own Suite (1995) was followed by an encore, a paraphrase on "For All the Saints" and "When the Saints," whose themes are inversions of each other. Commissioned by the Reuter firm, the piece elicited requests for copies; it's in print (Boosey and Hawkes, I think) and appears on the CD Weaver has already made on this organ, available from the OHS. For our prejudice, we are admonished.

For the record, this Reuter organ was opened last winter by Dame Gillian Wier, as was, a couple of years back, a large Casavant across the lake in Bellevue, Washington, played by James Holloway of PLU in the convention's "Protestant Worship." On Sunday Dame Gillian made a pre-convention appearance at University Methodist Church, just down the street from home of this new Reuter organ, playing on the remains of a Kimball rebuilt by the local builder in the '70s. Despite the lateness of the program book, and thus of the ad for the event, a good house was present to admire the poised skills of another major figure.

Young Artists Edie Johnson and Paul Johnson shared a recital at the Church of the Epiphany's new Fritz Noack tracker, a finely made, chambered installation which does not speak very well into a not very hospitable room. My notes remind me that Ms. Johnson ended with Hakim's Homage to Stravinski, where a pulsing crescendo really wants an acoustic lacking in this parish church. She opened with a Handel concerto with lavish ornament and articulation, transcribed from an early barrel organ, in a stately manner reminding me of a Stanley voluntary. Mr. Jacobs played all Bach; a rhapsodic Praeludium and Fugue in a, preceded by the e-minor trio sonata whose first movement featured quite a lot of rubato which I thought not quite completely under control, and opening with the Sinfonia from Cantata #29 in Dupré's transcription, a broad orchestral sound which brought out the best of the organ's German side. This was really advanced playing from two already admired stars of the near future.

David Hurd's program on the Willis was a bit of a puzzlement. His opening Toccata served chiefly to demonstrate the under winding of the organ, a problem present since the low-bid 1987 installation. This organ was thrust upon the Jesuit-led parish before they were ready for it--it was an Organ Clearing House panic salvage from a redundant West End London church--and is still a bit of a mystery to the Jesuit-led congregation, who still ask "Is this a good organ?" Its virtues were clearer in a Mendelssohn f-minor sonata; one could imagine Felix playing on just such sounds. Sad to say, the commission by old friend Roupen Shakarian, "Inner Places for brass quintet and organ," was not a success. The inner movement was the best, with a night call and the sound of the Willis strings, but elsewhere the 20th-century brass utterly overpowered the gentle 19th-century pipes. Roupen, a widely heard conductor as well as composer, has always seemed an exuberant fellow; an introspective piece didn't reflect the qualities I know. The improvisation ending the recital made one regret the lost opportunity to have heard this playing on an adequately restored organ.

--DC

 

We often hear the term "in this space," in reference to lofty sanctuaries or cathedral churches. "Sacred places" are set aside in recognition of their special qualities of wonder, awe and spiritual power. Two such places exist in Seattle, and they are the cathedrals of St. Mark and St. James.

Christa Rakich's performance and playing ability was exquisitely matched to the justly famous Flentrop at St. Mark's Cathedral, Seattle. She seemed to innately sense the length of phrase for the magnificent acoustic of this formidable box of a room that was once a war-time armory. As sunlight streamed through the immense clear glass windows onto massive whitewashed columns, she spun phrases of Bach, Franck and Hindemith in perfect harmony with the space of the church and gorgeous sonority of the instrument. There are few places where one can hear neo-classic pipes with such a comely tone. Mixtures sparkle and pipe speech is transformed into a rich cusp of sound, announcing imminent warmth and generosity.

St. James Cathedral is not quite walking distance from St. Mark's. It is a much larger room with a vaulted ceiling and central dome of huge proportions. Like St. Mark's, it is a mystical place which invited the commission of a unique organ for the year 2000, just as St. Mark's Cathedral did in 1965.

Nicholas Kynaston must have wide experience playing English organs in immense cathedral spaces, because he presented a flawless performance on the two organs that occupy this large space. In reality, they are more than a city block apart. He played with such consummate rhythmic assurance, that one sensed only the acoustical union of the two instruments. And a May-December marriage it is.  Manuel Rosales completed this new organ for the chancel of the church just in time for the convention, yet it perfectly complements a 1907 Ferrand-Votey in the balcony! Scaling and voicing of the two organs give a "hand in glove" effect that is truly uncanny.

St. James Cathedral has such generous reverberation that a lesser organist could be trapped into "playing to the chancel," and letting chords fall like glass shards. Kynaston knew the formula for playing to the entire room with an immensely musical result. He gave a reading of mostly unfamiliar works--his choices seemed if anything, to add to the magic of the performance.

Another significant performance at St. James Cathedral was Bach's B-minor Mass, very ably conducted by Martin Haselböck with local choral and orchestral forces. Haselböck has a fluid conducting technique that is inspiring to watch. He is able to whip up crisp accents then relax as the music flows on, almost by itself. His is an innately musical approach which drives, but never forces the music.

A short conversation with James Savage, music director of this Cathedral Church, revealed that the new Rosales organ fulfilled the dreams of the late Howard Hoyt, who, as organist, pressed for such an instrument for some 17 years. Mr. Savage is justifiably proud of this accomplishment, which is surely the dream that Howard Hoyt nourished all that time.

--HH

Bookends:

Guy Bovet opening recital and Gala closing concert with the Seattle Symphony and Hatsumi Miura, Carole Terry and Marie-Bernadette Dufourcet-Hakim on the Fisk organ at Benaroya Hall

It is unusual for a major convention to bookend first and last concerts with one particular organ; however in Seattle the opening and closing concerts showcased the Fisk Organ at Benaroya Hall, the new home of the Seattle Symphony. It is far more common to exhibit important new organs with symposia of one form or another, where the weight of time bears less heavily, since the organs are finished well in advance of the event and not freshly minted just in time for a major assemblage.

We avoided a chronological account of the convention for a number of reasons, one of which was the somewhat controversial reception of this organ and the room in which it makes its home. We also point out that the immense success of this convention is the result of not one new organ in the city, but many. Seattle floats in a sea of new and impportant organs!

The Rosales organ at St. James Cathedral was, at convention time, just a few weeks old, the new Reuter organ at University Presbyterian a few months old, the Fritts organ at Pacific Lutheran University just a year old, and Martin Pasi's organ at Lynnwood just five years old. There were also some very significant organs that were not heard because the rooms were too small to house the crowd: John Brombaugh's landmark instrument at Christ Church, Tacoma, and Paul Fritts' new organ at the Church of the Ascension come to mind.  In a word, the sophistication of the organ culture in the Northwest is legendary and the task of building a new organ there might be compared to composing opera in nineteenth-century Italy. There is formidable competition!

I would like to believe that the Fisk organ at Benaroya Hall is not a finished work, but might be subject to the artistic vision of its creators for some time to come. Some organ builders prefer to withhold performance on their instruments until the moment of "acceptance." I remember one episode, where as representative of a major organ builder, I waited for that "acceptance" while a local organist called all around the village, trying to find someone who would be brave enough to "accept" the organ! I much prefer the strategy I have come to know with the organ builders Martin Pasi and Paul Fritts--new stops are played in public, one by one, as they are installed in the organ. This seems to be a sure-footed way to test the organ in the room with and without an audience. I sincerely hope that the Fisk organ has begun this process of testing so that the necessary adjustments may take place.

--HH

 

Let me admit to some bias. I've known and admired Guy Bovet for a quarter century and more, and some aeons ago made a harpsichord for him. His brilliant mind and iconoclastic bent are givens; his ear and skills indisputable. All the odder, then, that in his recital on the monumental new Fisk which now completes the Seattle Symphony's two-year-old home, he managed to convince many a hearer, including me, that this is not a success.

In The Diapason of February 1982, Calvin Hampton laid out basics of organ for use with orchestra, including needs for sheer loudness, what Steven Dieck has called "a wall of opaque sound." That article was basic reference in early planning for the new hall. Local AGO folk had witnessed a "demonstration" of the organ in February, under odd ground rules: no literature, nor anything more than four bars, was to be played, and no sounds not considered "finished" were to be heard at all. We came away then with the impression of a Great geigen chorus heard through the wrong end of a telescope, a somewhat smaller Swell chorus, some interesting flutes, promising reeds, and one overwhelming Bombarde, setting the upper limit of the sound, the only register to involve the room at all--and an injunction not to discuss the evening, lest we offend. 'Twas said that since then the normal choruses had been brought up a bit--but for impact and presence, the organ still seems to depend on high-pressure "stentor" ranks.

The Seattle Symphony, in its former home, played on a large stage below a high scenery fly into a large opera house, sawing away to make themselves heard. The new hall was planned with as small a stage and as low a ceiling as practicable, placing the band at the mouth of a horn for maximum projection and accuracy. The players have been struggling to refine their sound downward in this efficient space. Musical Director Gerard Schwartz wanted the room to be relatively dry; in an exchange with M. Bovet, he remarked that he "really likes to hear the notes." That one can do; I've heard my harpsichord perfectly from the top of the back balcony. Smoothness and blend are other matters, as we heard the last night of the convention; but that's another tale.

The confined space below that ceiling forced a horizontal design to the organ; not encased, as the Flentrop at Rotterdam's De Dolen [The Diapason, June 1969,] but really in a room extending up behind the ceiling; far from our current thoughts about spaces for organs! The chests are spaced around this room in a way far from the classical encasements of the successful Fisks in Dallas and Yokohama; whoever remarked to me that this was an electropneumatic organ which happened to have trackers was not far from the mark. Although Fisk has the best record in North America with orchestral hall instruments, this might have been a project better built by someone else.

Seattle organ fans have been spoiled, maybe, by a number of wonderful matches of organs with unusual rooms; Benaroya concert hall isn't one of them. Maybe elsewhere one would find this organ wonderful. Other observers, who moved about the hall, found the effect to vary widely. The room had been praised for the well distributed, if not blended, sound of the orchestra in every seat. Barbara Owen, for one, reported the sound from lower side seats not to be loud, and Richard Campbell, critic for the daily paper, commented at length on the organ's uneven sound about the room. Michael Barone reports that on tape the organs sounds just fine. For me, forward and back, it was mostly crude and LOUD; loud enough to be industrial, to threaten hair cells in the inner ear. Charles Fisk, on leaving a career of bomb making for organs, remarked (I paraphrase) that "the only way an organ can hurt anyone is to fall over on him." He was wrong.

Bovet played for the last Seattle National Convention in 1978; a program of French and Spanish music, on an organ of the most severe North German school. Before beginning, he offered a brief demonstration of the stops "so that you can hear the organ before the magic of performance converts it into something it was perhaps never intended to be." There was no such magic this year. Like Ron Weasley's broken wand (of Harry Potter lore), Sunday's recital backfired. The early days to follow were filled with speculation, as some who read the Internet organ gossip columns will know, about Bovet's intent, even possible malice. Bovet is heavily involved in a much larger forthcoming Fisk, for the cathedral in Lausanne, and some thought he was sending Fisk a message. I had one chance to corner him to ask--but he headed the other way.

My sharpest commentator suggested to me the obvious: that what we heard was the demonstration; that, finding the organ of too little interest to inspire artistry, Bovet just let us hear what the organ really was. It might be so. The decision to open the recital with the St. Anne Prelude and Fugue played, not on the normal choruses, but on the solo stentor division, began the controversy. Steven Dieck, president of the Fisk firm, was still shaking his head two days later: "We never, ever, imagined that anyone would ever do that." Add to that such minor details as a couple of timing errors with the combination action, and one knew that at the very least we were not hearing the skill and subtleties which are Bovet's usual virtues.

It was, typically for Guy, an unusual if not an odd program, pairing familiar Franck and some of Bovet's stock Balbastre with Alain, Karg-Elert, and some of Bovet's own "compositions." We heard some lively playing on beautiful flutes and a somewhat Germanic Franck, but not the promised " . . . refined, colorful world of the German Romantic organ."

I find that I have, on tape, an interview with Bovet from the House of Hope Fisk, in which he can be heard to say, "I'm not a composer, but I compose anyway." I take him at his word. His pieces, some of them now rather famous, I suspect of being tests for the listener. These three "Tangos ecclesiaticos" did let us hear unusual sounds, but not the attractive side of this multi-faceted personality. However heard, it was an oddly disconcerting beginning to a fabulous week of music.

-- DC

 

The opening recital of the AGO Seattle 2000 convention by Guy Bovet provided no Mozartean cadences to go gentle on the ear. Rather, he threw the organ into the hall in a brutal embrace. So began AGO Seattle 2000 with a Fisk organ that duels with orchestra, rather than augmenting it. Who said the organ was required to exceed the power of an orchestra? Surely, this is a misconception, carried to its absurd conclusion at Benaroya Hall, Seattle.

Perhaps Bovet found himself in the infamous court of the emperor with no clothes, where the only alternative, given the obligation of performing the opening recital, was to "tell it like it is," pull out all the stops and let 'er rip. The angry sound that ensued succeeded in driving more than a few listeners to the far reaches of the hall. It was a simple matter of finding a back row and inquiring if there was an empty seat. There, one could hear the organ with a more rational perspective, but surely, something is wrong when the best seats in the house are in the back rows!

--HH

 

The final event featured organists Hatsumi Miura, incumbent at the Fisk organ in Yokohama; Carole Terry; and Marie-Bernadette Dufourcet-Hakim. I was pleased by several personal touches: Dr. Terry's playing of the Copland Organ Symphony was underwritten in memory of Northwest native Leonard Raver. Playing in the augmented percussion section were Matt Kozmirowski, whose earliest gig in Seattle was with Raver at St. Mark's, and Paul Hansen, son of beloved Edward.

The concluding concert with the Seattle Symphony had been prefigured the night before the convention opening, when in the official premiere of the Fisk organ (sold out a year in advance) James David Christie of Boston opened with the Bach Prelude and Fugue in G, BWV 550, and later the last movement of Guilmant's Symphony No. 1 in d. Bovet played a Handel Concerto in F, Op. 4, No. 4, and the Pièce Héroïque of Franck. Carole Terry, consultant on this project and named "Resident Organist and Curator," offered a Haydn Concerto No. 2 in C, and the world premiere of David Diamond's Symphony No. 10, begun a decade ago but lately completed to include the organ in the last two movements. The debut was broadcast and recorded. I can report from the wireless that Bovet's playing of the Handel displayed all his usual witty use of rubato and some quite beautiful flutes, and convincing Franck. Christie's playing was bravura; he was able to stay on to play the complete Guilmant for the Symphony's subscription audience after the convention. Terry's was straightforward; the Diamond was long and rather dull. (Maestro Schwartz has been a long-time supporter of Diamond; doubtless a recording will appear.)

Schwartz' faults as conductor do not run to over-subtlty. A trumpeter, he demands full-out playing from his brass, with matching brightness elsewhere. All the music for the Finale was of this model; a former conductor of Seattle's orchestra is quoted [I paraphrase again] "People don't like music; they like the noise it makes." [Wasn't it Beecham who said this? If not, never mind.] In Robert Sirota's commissioned In the Fullness of Time, with a tuned bell ostinato, the orchestra submerged the organ at the end. On the other hand, I noticed that in the Poulenc Concerto the ascending string figure was obscured by organ tone.

The whole concluded with Hakim's Seattle Concerto in three movements; big and splashy in the manner of Stravinsky, it quoted Night on Bald Mountain a couple of times, contained a Slavic march, and ended with a great noise with an echoing cheer from the audience. One anonymous Bostonian said that this convention was the first to exceed the high standard set in 1976. As a local, I think that visitors had a good view of the reasons the Northwest takes pride in its organ culture, along with some shortcomings. The weather was hospitable; for the first time in living memory, it didn't rain on the fireworks, either on the 4th of July or from the organs.

--DC

Reflections on the "Seattle Organ Culture"

As an epilogue to a review of the AGO Seattle 2000 convention, it seems mandatory to recognize the overwhelming presence of an organ culture in the Pacific Northwest that is most unusual and compelling. The organ is a vibrant instrument here, full of mystery and charm and more than anything else, known to hundreds of thousands of people in the area.

This all began with the installation of the now famous Dirk Flentrop organ at St. Mark's Cathedral in 1965. Perhaps audiences were captivated by the unique space and spiritual energy of this church; perhaps it was the acoustics; perhaps the beauty of the instrument--most likely all these qualities lead to enormously well attended weekly concerts, year after year. One cannot forget that this came about while Peter Hallock was Cantor of St. Mark's. He has left this legacy to his successors.

The Pacific Northwest, once dubbed "Tracker Alley" by John Hamilton (from the University of Oregon) is simply full of wondrous sounds of the organ from a variety of gifted builders. John Brombaugh moved out west from Germantown, Ohio to be part of it. Martin Pasi encountered these famous organs when he visited as a guest of David Dahl, recently retired professor of organ at Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma. Dahl has singlehandedly "professed" the qualities of finely crafted organs to church after church in the area and as a consequence, left an indelible mark on the history of organ art in this place.

Edward Hansen created the now famous "noon recitals" at Plymouth Congregational Church in Downtown Seattle. Most convention goers knew him as past president of the AGO. Locally, he was revered as a professor at the University of Puget Sound and looked up to by his students as a moral and spiritual icon by which they could set their compass. These disciples have gone on to major posts in the organ world, but more importantly, they have become moral and spiritual icons for their students.

Randall J. McCarty worked tirelessly to bring pipe organs to countless churches in the Northwest, especially through auspices of the Organ Historical Society and Alan Laufman's Organ Clearing House. As a performer of early music and instructor in harpsichord at Pacific Lutheran University, he influenced students and local organists year after year. A testament to his influence in the area is the fact that after his passing, local interest in the organ as a musical instrument gained momentum, rather than losing it. Perhaps this whole phenomenon is like the space shuttle--once it goes into orbit, it stays there.

The "Seattle Organ Culture" gives way to the "Northwest Fusion Organ," as organ building goes from strength to strength in the Pacific Northwest. It might be said that it has entered its second generation. Edward Hansen was succeeded by Steven Williams as organist of Plymouth Congregational Church, and chair of the AGO Seattle 2000 committee. David Dahl has been succeeded by James Halloway at Pacific Lutheran University. Melvin Butler is successor to Peter Hallock at St. Mark's Cathedral. Joseph Adam carries on the memory of Howard Hoyt as organist of St. James Cathedral. And my co-reviewer David Calhoun walks to a great extent in the footsteps of his late partner Randall McCarty. It is a second generation organ culture now, and as such, has become world class, resting squarely on the shoulders of those who created it and their able successors who foster it today. It is time to reflect on this magnificent legacy.              HH

by Herbert L. Huestis

It seems like eons have passed since personal computers appeared in our lives--but it has only been a little over a decade since I bought my first grey box with a green phosphor screen--a 1984 Kaypro. It was built like a truck, was a great word processor, made no fan noise, and the cursor did not blink. Unfortunately, this super typewriter was considered obsolete in three years, and I replaced it with a "PC" with a fan so loud I thought it was going to take off. Nowadays, when I acquire a computer, I kill the blinking cursor and fuss with the fan to make it as quiet as the old Kaypro. So much for "keeping up!"

Today, the Internet challenges us as much as those first computers did. Kenneth Matthews writes to Piporg-L from San Francisco:

All right. If someone will explain to me, I promise to pay attention this time. I can't figure out (or remember) where Osiris actually is . . .

--Kenneth (spinning my wheels in cyberspace) Matthews

Ken's problem is not unique on the Internet. There are thousands of offerings, but you have to know where to find them. The Osiris Archive is no exception. Ken is trying to keep up, too.

There is so much activity on the OrganNet (Piporg-L) that most "cyber-organists" are panting to keep pace. Piporg-L started with 40 subscribers and has since passed the 600 mark. I long resisted Windows software, thinking I could avoid clicking on icons in favor of the ten commandments of DOS. Finally, I gave in so I could "surf the net" when Piporg-L joined the World Wide Web with their own "web page." This "hypertext" presentation of Piporg-L includes a link to the Osiris Archive as well.

What does all this mean?   Well, it means that you can load "Mosaic" or "Netscape," set your sights on http://albany.edu/~piporg-l or http://osiris.wu-wien.ac.at/ftp/pub/earlym-l/organs

and a page will appear on your computer screen to guide you through the OrganNet (Piporg-L) or The Osiris Archive.

From these "web pages" you can investigate a variety of organ topics from the Organs of Glasgow, to over six hundred specifications in the Osiris Archive. This is a big jump from just a few years ago, when this whole business was just getting started.

Here in a nutshell, are a few corners of cyberspace that organists can enjoy:

Piporg-L: Pipe organs and related topics

http://albany.edu/~piporg-l

The Piporg-L web page will introduce you the contents of the list, starting with a quick guide to searching the archives, biography files, the Osiris Archive, and recordings of organ music in the CD-Connection catalog.

Osiris Archive

http://osiris.wu-wien.ac.at/ftp/pub/earlym-l/organs/

The Osiris Archive web page describes how to search for over 600 organ specifications in the Osiris database. It lists help files that answer the most frequently asked questions about the archive--how to search for files, upload and downloadspecifications and how to volunteer to type new specifications for the archive. Last but not least, it provides a link to The Diapason Index --some 14,000 entries from the annual reviews that are published each year.

The Osiris Archive is growing daily with submissions from all over the world. The archive is located at the Vienna University of Economics and is part of the Earlym-L archives (a sister list to Piporg-L).  As hoped, it contains not only organ specifications, but playing impressions, recording discography and builders' notes. This material is kept in a free form database and is listed by organ builder, site, city, country and date of construction.

The Diapason Index

http://osiris.wu-wien.ac.at/ftp/pub/earlym-l/organs/diapason.index

The Diapason Index may now be searched online from the Osiris Archive web page, or may be downloaded into your own word processor. These files are "comma delimited text files" and may be imported into your favorite database program, such as Dbase or FoxPro.  Downloading the file takes a bit of time --usually about 20 minutes if you have a fast modem.

Organ CDs

http://albany.edu/~piporg-l/organcds.@cd-conn

This spring, Ben Chi, co-owner of Piporg-L, posted an announcement that he had downloaded the organ catalog of The CD Connection, a well known catalog order firm. He culled out some 1,500 organ CDs and saved them on Piporg-L. To download this CD list by email, send this message to

[email protected]:

get organcds.@cd-conn

Be prepared for a moderate length download. This is a 27 page text file. Once you have loaded this file into your word processor, you may search for title, composer and artist, using your own word processor's "search" command. Prices of the organ CDs in this catalog are reported to be very competitive.

A Review by Herbert L. Huestis and David Calhoun

Perhaps it is a good idea to state right away that there are several goals which may be served by a report on the AGO 2000 convention in Seattle, Washington. The first is to validate the experience of those who were there, the second is to describe and interpret the events that took place for those who could not attend, and the third is to mention the word "millennial" only once! A convention report is like "Highlights of the Opera"--hopefully the important arias are there for all to hear. Alas, it is impossible to tell the whole story, and surely some events will be left out all together. This is the woeful experience of all reviewers; it is impossible to be in two places at once and sometimes impossible to be in the right place at the right time.

 

There were two of us rummaging around throughout the convention, looking for tales of human interest and analyzing events as we encountered them. David Calhoun (items marked DC) is a harpsichord builder and long time resident of Seattle; Herb Huestis (items marked HH) is a contributing editor for The Diapason. Their differing perspectives of various events (and sometimes the same event) offer the reader some interesting viewpoints as they look back on the AGO Seattle 2000 experience.

--HH

Planners would usually like their conventions to open and close with a bang. Sure enough, this one came in with a roar and went out with a mighty noise. For most participants, the most nourishing events will have been the weekday workshops, while the closing concert and especially the opening recital will linger as strange memories to mull. (I admit my bias; to quote Sean Connery paraphrasing Couperin, I would rather be stirred than shaken.) These "Bookend" events on the new Fisk organ at Benaroya Hall will be the subject part 2 of this article, and will be discussed in the November issue of The Diapason.

Seattle organ fans have been spoiled, maybe, by a number of wonderful matches of organs with unusual rooms. Added to the three major venues of our two Cathedrals and Pacific Lutheran University, the convention displayed at least two more fine matches: a new Reuter organ at University Presbyterian Church and the 1984 Paul Fritts and Ralph Richards organ at St. Alphonsus Church in Ballard.

--DC

 

Is there a "perfect match" of performer and instrument?

 

 

If there is a persistent conundrum in convention programming it is matching performers to instruments. How handy that most concert pianists are perfectly well at home on a Steinway or Bosendorfer! Not so with the organ. In some cases, the designated artist must zip their lips when confronted with the instrument lady luck provides.

 

Obviously, a given performer and program may fly on one organ and crash and burn on another. Who hasn't seen this happen? Suffice to say, several recitals heard at the AGO Seattle 2000 convention might have been far more successful had they switched from tracker to electric-action organ or vice versa. One wag noted that for Seattle's incredible and informed diversity of tracker organs, it remains "Skinner deficient"! There might have been some better matches of performer to organ had there been a few more "American Classic" organs available. All things being equal, I was struck by a very large number of "perfect matches."

 

There were some matches that were obviously not made in heaven, but under skilled hands worked out very well. One of these was a performance with the Seattle Wind Ensemble by Kimberly Marshall on a large Balcolm and Vaughan organ. This organ typified "tinklespeile" voicing, but Ms. Marshall used it so effectively that it embued a performance of Hindemith with surprising "authenticity." The organ accented the neo-classical textures perfectly and Ms. Marshall played with precision and panache. Organ and artist coalesced, perhaps not out of choice, but out of experience and intellect.

 

Another perfect match seemed to be a new four-manual Reuter organ and the organist John Weaver. Surely, he is one of the generation of organists who followed Lynnwood Farnam, Alexander McCurdy, Alexander Schriner, and in our very own generation, David Craighead. Weaver played entirely from memory and there is no doubt that a completely internalized repertoire could flow from his fingers in ways impossible for players whose eyes are tied to a score. His adjustment to this  very large, sumptuous and smooth Reuter organ was complete. After hearing Weaver's playing, one found oneself saying, "suppose so-and-so had also been able to play the Reuter--it would have been so fine." Weaver is an acknowledged master of the American classic type of instrument--of that there is no doubt. His sure performance remains indelibly etched in my memory.

 

Along with perfect occasions, one must mention what seems to be a striking omission. Surely, there should have been a concert in memoriam for the late Edward Hansen and even more surely, it should have been played by one of his students, and even more surely than that, it should have included the "St. Anne" prelude and fugue, a work which he played with great reverence and humility throughout his career. This gesture would have been more than fitting and its absence was sorely missed.

 

--HH

 

 

From the Heart:

 

 

James D. Christie plays a Fritts/Richards organ at St. Alphonsus Church, Seattle

 

 

James Christie gave a recital of early music at St. Alphonsus Catholic Church in Ballard, a Scandinavian suburb of Seattle. This is a unique organ made by Paul Fritts and Ralph Richards in 1984. Building this organ required a tremendous leap of faith for Fritts and Richards in that they took their study of the work of the old masters and translated it into their own masterpiece in a very contemporary building. It is an organ that has as much soul and spirituality as any of the models upon which they based their work.

 

Christie explained to the audience how this organ made him weep to play it! He explained that it was an immeasurable lifetime privilege to be able to give these recitals--this from an organist who routinely plays the Taylor and Boody organ at the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts.

 

Needless to say the music he played made a spiritual impact upon the listener, just as Charles Brown in his workshop on "The Organ as Mask" said an organ can do--if the player enables a musical instrument to become a channel of metaphysical as well as physical values. This recital was a special situation where the organist provided an unforgettable experience for the listener through his emotional attachment to both the music and the organ.

 

I met with James Christie to explore these feelings a bit further and was amazed at the depth he brings to the performance of both early music and orchestral music with organ. Tours with the Boston Symphony have provided some memorable vignettes which come to the fore in conversation and interview. In the presence of James Christie, one feels the power of emotion and the broad "romantic" gesture, that is a reminder of the late Douglas Butler. There is a sensitivity here that truly comes from the heart.

 

--HH

 

 

From the Pen:

 

 

Christa Rakich plays the music of Pamela Decker

 

Robert Bates plays the music of Robert Bates

 

 

Pamela Decker, assistant professor of organ and music theory at the University of Arizona in Tucson is, in real life, a bubbly effervescent person. One would think from the title of her work (commissioned by the American Guild of Organists for organ solo) "Rio abajo rio" that the dance movements Boliviana, Diferencias and Fantasia might be light and fanciful. Though the work is dedicated to the memory of William Albright, this is not so.

 

Christa Rakich gave the composition a rich and illuminating performance at St. Mark's Cathedral. The beloved Flentrop organ was as much at home with this contemporary idiom as any instrument could be. The first movement is based upon the hymn Venid, pastores, a Puerto Rican melody. The second movement is is a series of transformations of the hymn, Hosanna en el cielo, and the third movement is based on original themes and contains a complete tango, yet comes to an intensely powerful ending that culminates in an immense minor sonority. The final chords of the Fantasia leave the listener with a sense of astonishment that is monumental and compelling.

 

Robert Bates is such an inovative performer and composer that one approaches his works with a sense of anticipation that the composition will be significant, rather than the "bubble and squeak" class of contemporary music. Under the magnificent facade of the phenomenal Fritts organ at Pacific Lutheran University he placed two rather small speakers that transmitted an amazingly credible sound image of this pipe organ. Under Bates' hands, it was an organ playing with a digital refraction of itself.

 

How Robert Bates does this is some kind of Einsteinian wonder. He spins out the composition, then joins it with its mirror image like a contrapuncti in  the Art of Fugue. Somehow it all makes sense and the listener perceives a logic that underscores the work.

 

To say that Bates captivated the audience is an understatement. In fact, at the conclusion of the concert most of the audience refused to leave! Even when threatened with a clearing of the hall, these organists retained their seats in an act of civil disobedience that must be rare indeed!  To say the least, the next-scheduled recital by Bruce Neswick was very well attended. This is a true measure of the impact made by Robert Bates' playing of this exceptional organ made by Paul Fritts.

 

The closing gala concert of the AGO Seattle 2000 convention was highlighted by an award from ASCAP to the AGO "for its outstanding contribution to the art of music through commissions for the performance of new music in our time." The works of these two composers certainly represented a pinnacle of talent for modern organ music.  Their compositions are not to be missed!

 

--HH

 

 

For the mind:

 

 

Workshops on practice, harpsichord playing, Bach organs, countless workshop topics (and the sheer problem of getting around the city)

 

 

I contrived to get to three workshops. Charles Rus, newly appointed organ faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory, was assisted by my colleague Gary Blaise in a demonstration of the clavichord as the traditional practice instrument for organists. A more utilitarian instrument might have supplemented Mr. Blaise's exquisitely finished, tiny transposing example.

 

Barbara Baird of the University of Oregon introduced concepts of harpsichord playing, using mainly the method published by Nancy Metzger, now of Sacramento, to a good-sized class with many questions. Later Christoph Linde, long-experienced voicer now with Klais of Bonn, discussed the organs which Bach is known to have tested, his criticisms, and the current state and proposed renewal of some of them.

 

I counted an offering of ninety-seven workshops, not including the post-convention event featuring M. Hakim at an  Allen; nothing exceeds like excess. If there was a common complaint, it was the problem of getting around this maze of offerings. Busses were provided, of course; they left the hotel on time, but often before others returning from the previous events. In the midst there was no time to eat. I met one lady turning in an evaluation form marked with the most extreme negatives, based on a run of such bad luck.

 

In this way, the organizing committee was a victim of Seattle's exploding traffic congestion. There were other organizational issues; no list of enrollees was provided, handicapping professional contacts and social life. The sheer expense of Seattle's downtown hotels sent some registrants north to cheaper lodgings.

 

--DC

 

 

Theatre:

 

 

Charles Brown and "The Organ as Mask"

 

The Paul Fritts Organ at Pacific Lutheran University

 

 

Charles Brown has a talent rarely found in the organ world--he is a gifted story teller who is able to totally captivate his audience.  And so it was when he began a workshop on "The Organ as Mask," with a tale of a little boy dressed up as Batman, making Halloween rounds. Successive stories consisted of the tales of three organists and their discovery that the organ (like a mask) has tremendous spiritual as well as physical values. His thesis was simply that the the mask, as conceived in ancient, contemporary, and aboriginal societies, imbues the wearer with special attributes and, conversely, is a vehicle for special attributes to be channeled through the wearer--and the pipe organ, curiously, shares these attributes in its own way.

 

He showed how Batman could do good deeds once he enabled himself with mask and costume, but also that the good citizens of Gotham City could expect good deeds from the person who wore the mask. Masks both enable and channel spirituality in aboriginal societies and Dr. Brown made a leap of intellect to speculate that the organ as a "City of God" does the same thing. It enables spirituality to flow both into the organist and outward through the organist to listeners and all those who come into contact with the instrument. In a word, it has special powers. Charles Brown, organist of the United Church of Christ in Dallas, Texas, created theatre in this workshop space, captivated his audience with these stories and enabled his spellbound audience to see some very special relationships.

 

A Paul Fritts organ that is the embodiment of "The organ as mask" vessel of spirituality espoused by Charles S. Brown, is the monumental instrument at Pacific Lutheran University of Tacoma. This organ brings a transcendental quality to Lagerquist Hall at PLU--it is a phenomenon that must be experienced first hand to be believed. Proof of this was ample enough when audiences simply refused to leave the room to go to the next event. They wanted to see the movie again!

 

From the inception of this organ, there has been a term employed to describe it--the "fusion organ" of the Northwest builders. Long after a performance, the listener remains enthralled with the singing principals and gorgeously refined reeds, not to mention the extraordinary visual impact that some may see only once or twice in their lifetimes. From my perspective, it was magnificent theatre.

 

--HH

 

 

Dance:

 

 

Christopher Young plays a Martin Pasi organ at Trinity Lutheran Church, Lynnwood, Washington

 

 

Charles Fisk knew how important it was for the organ to dance both in the buoyancy of the wind system and the natural expression of lead pipes. He described the North German organ as " . . . a plain-faced girl in a dirndl who jumps up and asks you to dance." Those qualities are more than abundant in the Martin Pasi organ that resides in Trinity Lutheran Church, Lynnwood, Washington. This organ more than anything, wants to dance! Trinity Lutheran church was on the edge for convention planning, both in distance from Seattle and size of the room, but thankfully made it under the wire! Christopher Young played this organ and it danced to the music of J.S. Bach!

 

The Fritts organ at Pacific Lutheran University can be described as an instrument of superb elegance, and in contrast, it might be said that the Pasi organ wears with the comfortability of an Eddie Bauer flannel shirt. (Martin Pasi was Paul Fritt's pipe maker for five years.) One never tires of the Pasi organ and somehow it plays the music of Bach with the authenticity of gut strings, natural horns and the rhythm of folk dancing.

 

In this Martin Pasi organ there is an intuitive affinity for the music of the master and fortunately, Christopher Young devoted the last half of his program to J.S. Bach. When Young drew the Cornet stop for "O Mensch bewein" the organ was on familiar ground. The Cornet sang and the wind ebbed and flowed like tides in the ocean.  The final selection was the G Minor Fantasia and Fugue, where the organ transported the listener back 300 years in a flash. This is a real Bach organ that can energize, entertain, and inspire.

 

--HH

 

 

A Measure of Time:

 

 

Improvisations of Bruce Neswick on the Paul Fritts organ at Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, and David Hurd on the Henry Willis organ at St Joseph's Catholic Church, Seattle

 

 

It might be said that an improviser has but one task--to make time stand still for the listener. When a melody is quoted and often recognized as a childhood hymn or familiar tune, it is a challenge to the player to produce a credible work. The improviser begins a dare with the audience: "Can they make this music come alive?"

 

The performer settles down to work and the listener waits, perhaps drifting off in thought while things get underway. Then it happens; time stands still because scholarship and preparation give way to inspiration and music fills the air. A transformation takes place and a composition-in-the-making takes flight.

 

Bruce Neswick's improvisation on Pacific Lutheran University's Fritts organ was based on the modal tune "Wondrous Love." Somehow, during a well crafted fugue on the beloved tune, time stood still and music flowed from his fingers in an act of both preparation and inspiration. Yes! This is how improvisations should be.

 

Neswick is an alumnus of Pacific Lutheran University and was, in a sense returning home. He explored all elements of the organ: wind, tuning, throaty reeds and spirited cornets. He captivated the audience with singing principals playing Lutheran tunes that were so much at home in that hall. He found a wonderfully lyric Oboe and united it with Pierne's Cantilena. Time stood still while this serpentine melody played itself out on this elegant stop.

 

Neswick's improvisation on "Wondrous Love," was structured so concisely that the audience could almost follow a mental score. Later, your scribbler could not resist putting the question to him: "Are the modal tunes harder or easier for improvisation?" Neswick pondered for a moment and said that for him they were easier. It was a self effacing response for one who is a master of the craft.

 

In a later recital at St. Joseph's Catholic Church, David Hurd presented an improvisation on the noble plainsong chant "Creator Alma Siderum." He began with a lofty plenum on the 1881 Willis organ--probably the only extant Willis instrument in the Americas. Hurd played the organ as if he were conducting a grand choir. "Creator of the Starry Night" was personified in bold brush strokes that prevailed to the end of the piece--then all that remained was the memory of a huge choral paean and the melodious, booming Ophicleide.

 

The memory of that organ remains somehow linked to the Gregorian melody in that magnificent Roman church. There is a fascinating story about the relocation of this organ from England to Washington State, replete with the usual deadlines barely met. A hasty installation neglected various aspects of a true restoration and the organ presently makes its home behind an oak cabinet that one day should be replaced with genuine Willis casework. Since this noble organ begs for an artful and sympathetic restoration, we must, as listeners, be genuinely moved to support any and all efforts to reclaim this magnificent instrument.

 

In his book "The American Classic Organ in Letters," Charles Callahan quotes Henry Willis' complaint that he was never able to build an organ in North America. A full restoration of this organ would give the opportunity to rectify Willis' grievance in some small measure.

 

--HH

 

 

 

Part 2 will appear next month.

 

by Herbert L. Huestis

The organ world of the Internet is indeed awash in web pages--a tangled mass of advertising with each "www.com" page clamoring for the "net-surfer's" attention. Some are merely informative sites, while the greatest share are "home pages" of organ builders and technicians. No one wants to be left out of the world wide web--there are books in every drug store promoting the benefits of advertising on the Internet. Someone behind every new web page is hoping for a bit of the largess that is promised by the purveyors of a new form of drug store novel: How to Succeed on the Web! What was once a vehicle for research and information is looking more and more like a topsy-turvy "yellow pages."

That being said, the situation will surely get worse before it gets better. Here and there one finds various sites that guide the earnest user amongst and between the "billboards," so they can find topics of real interest. The first bit of advice to organists who want to let their "fingers do the walking" on the Internet is to start with major "links" in the organ world, rather than trying to sort out the thousands of entries that are listed on the "search engines" like Webcrawler, Lycos, Yahoo, InfoSeek and Alta Vista.

Some links are found right where you would expect them--for example, The American Guild of Organists at http://www.agohq.org and the Royal College of Canadian Organists at http://www.capitalnet.com/~rjewell/rcco.html. Many fine offerings may be found at "Pipe Organs and Related Topics" at http://uacsc2.albany.edu/~piporg-l and of course, The Diapason at http://www.sgcpubs.com/thediapason.html and The Osiris Archive at http://osiris.wu-wien.ac.at/earlym-l/organs.

A most unexpected listing of pipe organ subjects appears under the "Nerdworld" banner at http://www.nerdworld.com.nw8061.html. Here the reader will find the American Pipe Organ Builders Association pages, resource pages for finding recordings of pipe organ related compact disks, and the usual organ builders' home pages!

Enough of internet jargon--perhaps it is useful to highlight typical people and places that serve as tour guides to this electronic malaise of competing "addresses." There are a few personalities who have emerged as leaders in "OrganNet" happenings. Here they are:

Ben Chi and Piporg-L

http://uacsc2.albany.edu/~piporg-l

The Piporg-L list remains as the most successful email gathering place for organ enthusiasts. The links presented here are logical and well organized. An evening spent perusing information and organizations here will be rewarding indeed.

Steve Fox and The Seattle Pipe Organ Scene

This is a fine example of "area" tours that are available on the net. Similar examples may be found all over the world. Armchair travelogues abound, and thanks to the web, world-wide commuters can plan the itinerary of any trip around organs of a geographical area. Steve can be found at http://www.eskimo.com/~sfox/seaorgan.htm.

Maureen Jais-Mick and AGO online

Ongoing columns in The American Organist serve as an excellent guide to OrganNet surfers. Its not a bad idea to clip out these columns and keep a little notebook of worthy places. Look for Maureen at http://www.agohq.org/-tao/agonline.html

Ross Jewell and Christopher Dawes of the RCCO

These two gentlemen are the "communications" department of the RCCO and their guide to the net is very focused and well organized.

Nerdworld

Nerdworld links are available in an extensive number of subject areas and topics of interest. This straightforward listing tends to highlight important organizations and associations and picks up important links that are hard to find elsewhere.

Here are a few tips to help unravel the morass of information you will encounter in a typical jaunt on the Internet.

Bookmark your interesting links

All internet software has long provided a means to "bookmark" points of interest found in an evening's surfing. That little mouse button called "add bookmark" can be extremely handy if you want to return to the scene of the crime to gather a bit more information later.

Saving documents

"Control-S" usually saves the document you are scanning directly to your computer. It's a sort of "quick ftp" meaning "file transfer protocol." That means you can almost effortlessly gather complete web pages and organ tours by "copying the file," or "saving as . . . "

Open a simultaneous word processor while you are "surfing"

It can be most helpful to open a word processor in your computer before you open your web browser. This means that if you come across an interesting address or site location, you can "copy" a bit of the screen text you encounter for future reference.

Keep a "link" notebook

This is the usual enjoinder to "organize your thoughts." It seems that "surfing" on the net suggests that the computer user is mindlessly floating from one bit of information to another, when in fact, we know that the human brain does not actually have to operate that way. Many folks are natural organizers in many aspects of their life, and once they sit in front of their computer, they have the option managing their time there, just they do in other aspects of their work and leisure. It's odd that people who would not take a motor trip without a planned itinerary will park themselves in front of the computer screen and mindlessly click the mouse without thinking "where am I going and what am I doing?"

Take heart. You can plan your computer commute the same way you plan other activities. As they say, "Just do it!" If you take the time to write down your preludes and postludes and choral anthem of the week--you can make a few notes of the sites you want to visit--that way you can reduce your computer time a bit, so that you don't raise the dander of the "computer widow (or widower)" in the other room. Bon Voyage!

Boston, Massachusetts

by Malcolm Wechsler

Wednesday, August 16

Imagine this. A church packed to the rafters with organists
from around the country, parishioners, and Boston organ lovers. An organ in a
stunning case fills the west gallery of the church. The chairs that fill the
nave have all been turned around so the audience can sit and gaze up into the
balcony. A priest steps forward to the railing and says simply, "Good
evening. I'm Fr. Thomas Carroll, rector of this church," followed by what
can only be described as tumultuous applause, shouting, and a standing ovation!
Do this on a regular basis, and seminaries will be overflowing with candidates
for the priesthood--but of course there is a special tale to tell about this
visceral reaction, and Fr. Tom Carroll, organist and OHS member, is the
deserving symbol of a happy ending to an almost sad story. It was in 1986 that
organists and OHS members learned from the organ journals, and later from
mainstream media, that this struggling parish was preparing to make serious
changes to its church. The interior of the building would be sufficiently
reduced in size (to make way for rentable office space) that its landmark
instrument would be rendered unusable. The nave would be vastly forshortened,
leaving a small "worship center." The great space would nevermore be
seen--the great organ would never sound into its intended space again. The OHS,
and later, architectural conservation and preservation groups in the city,
managed to convince the church to reverse its plans. Three ultimately removable
office structures were indeed built in the side aisles of the west end of the
nave, but the word is that plans are afoot to remove them soon. What is left is
by no means shabby. It's a glorious place. In other good news, this parish is
now growing and thriving, with many new members to enjoy the beautiful
architectural and musical treasures left to it by earlier generations.

In part, the OHS exists to honor, protect, and present great
instruments, so perhaps it is at the Church of the Im-maculate Conception that
we see this function at its best. It is therefore fitting that the convention
began and ended with concerts on E. & G.G. Hook Opus 322 (1863) / E. &
G.G. Hook & Hastings Opus 1959 (1902), played by two great musicians who
have supported the work of the Society and been heard in many conventions over
the years. Peter Sykes began the week, which ended with Thomas Murray.

When the pandemonium settled, Fr. Carroll offered a warm
welcome, after which Jonathan Ambrosino, president of the Society (and also
editor of this year's Organ Handbook and Convention Program), officially opened
the convention and introduced Scot Huntington, this year's convention chairman.
Peter Sykes then assumed the bench, accompanied by his registrants, Michael
Murray on the right and Stuart Forster on the left.

A lovely feature of OHS convention recitals/organ
demonstrations is the inclusion of a hymn in every program. It makes perfect
sense to hear instruments doing one of the jobs for which they were designed.
Sykes's chosen tune was Helmsley to the Advent text "Lo, He comes with
clouds descending"--what a fabulous big, rich, unison sound we made in a
splendid acoustic, to a rich, varied, and totally supportive accompaniment.

The first work on the program was Mendelssohn, Prelude and
Fugue in C Minor, op. 37, no. 1. The combination of Peter Sykes, Felix
Mendelssohn, the great Hook and Hook & Hastings, and the acoustic of
"The Immaculate," conspired for a most satisfying experience. From
Annés de Pélerinage of Liszt, we heard two Sykes transcriptions,
Ave Maria von Arcadelt (which demonstrated some of the lovely sounds of this
instrument), and Sposalizio (betrothal), based on a painting of Raphael. Next,
Six Fugues on B-A-C-H, by Robert Schumann. Played together, these works become
something of a satisfying larger sonata. After intermission, Grand
Prélude (from a set of eleven dedicated to Franck) by Charles-Valentin
Alkan, and Franck's Grande Pièce Symphonique (dedicated to Charles
Alkan). Peter Sykes played this spacious and wonderful work with both breadth
and fire.

Thursday, August 17

A marathon day

The day began with a lecture, "Time, Taste, and the
Organ Case," tailored here by Matthew Bellocchio to include some of the
famous Boston organs heard at the convention.

Then on to the bus at about 10:15 to thread our way through
New York-style traffic to Most Holy Redeemer Church, East Boston. Well worth
it! Occasionally at OHS conventions, the program book says "Program to be
announced." This is never the result of indecision, disorganization, or
laziness. It's a signal that at any given moment, up to and including the first
notes of the recital, there is doubt about what will and what will not play on
the organ! In pretty bad shape, this instrument is, nonetheless, worth the
pilgrimage. Not only is it the largest remaining instrument by William Simmons
(1823-1876), but it is also the "oldest extant two-manual organ with a
detached, reversed console," quoting from the Organ Handbook. Kevin Birch
teaches at the University of Maine School of Performing Arts in Orono, and is director
of music at St. John Roman Catholic Church in Bangor, where he has developed an
important musical program, including the preservation of the church's 1860 E.
& G.G. Hook organ. For the convention, he developed a completely satisfying
program which demonstrated the capabilities of the instrument in its present
condition. The instrument is so dusty and dirty that it has not been possible
to tune it completely for a long time, so avoidance of upperwork was the order
of the day. There was lots of foundation tone, and excellent stuff it is, too.
He began with a fine performance of the Bach Pastorale, the perfect piece for
the circumstances, showing a few small but distinguished combinations of
sounds. All of the combinations were announced before he began the work. Next,
three beautiful organ pieces by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Arietta, Elegy, and
Melody, all from 1898. Birch found the perfect solution to the problems of the
organ's state of health by calling on a 'cellist friend, Jonathan Cortolano, to
play the melody lines, requiring that the meager functioning voices of the
organ play only accompaniment for the most part. With a really beautiful 'cello
tone, this enterprise was a great success. 

Birch had promised to demonstrate some of the notes of the
Oboe that were working, and did so charmingly with a bit of Jesu Bambino by
Pietro Yon. After this, an early 18th-century tune (Sweet Sacrament) found in
Worship III to the text "Jesus, my Lord, my God, my All." We had a
great sing, and took full advantage of a very nice harmonization. This is the
organ upon which, in 1975, Thomas Murray recorded the Mendelssohn sonatas,
recently reissued on CD. It is only through many volunteer hours by Richard
Lahaise that we were able to hear any of this marvellous but sadly neglected
instrument.

Next, on to Most Precious Blood Roman Catholic Church in
Hyde Park, to hear Stephen Roberts on the 1892 Carlton Michell instrument, much
of which was probably built by Hunter in London, and which was originally in
St. Stephen's Church in the South End of Boston. Originally tubular pneumatic,
it was electrified by Richard Lahaise when moved to Precious Blood in 1956 and
fitted with a new console. Franz Schmidt, Toccata for Organ (1924); the hymn
Ave Verum Corpus to a 14th-century plainsong tune; Everett Titcomb, Communion
Meditation on "Ave Verum Corpus." It was helpful to have sung the
entire plainsong melody before hearing Titcomb's work based upon it. The
program ended with the brilliant and brilliantly-played Allegro Vivace from the
Widor 5th Symphony.

Then, on to Christ Church Unity (Sears Chapel) in Brookline
for a fine recital by Andrew Scanlon, winner of the 1999 Boston Chapter AGO
Competition for Young Organists, and a student of Ann Labounsky at Duquesne. He
also has studied with John Walker, John Skelton, and David Craighead. Currently
organist and choir director at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Export,
Pennsylvania, he was one of the six young organists chosen to play at the New
York National in 1996. This Sears Chapel has a rather handsome exterior and a
somewhat disappointing interior. The organ is chambered in the west gallery,
with an attractive facade with stenciled pipes, but is a smallish gem (nineteen
stops) being asked to speak down a rather long carpeted nave filled with
thickly cushioned pews. It is all a bit distant, sadly, but the instrument, E.
& G.G. Hook from 1862, is intact and well cared for, and was presented on
this occasion with the handsome OHS plaque. Bach, Prelude and Fugue in C Major
(545); Mendelssohn, Second Sonata: Grave and Adagio; Trumpet Dialogue from the
Couperin Convent Mass; Allein Gott by Dudley Buck; a Rondeau and Deo Gracias by
Joseph Wilcox Jenkins (b. 1928), lovely, modal, spirited stuff, perhaps
somewhat in the Hindemith mode.

The afternoon ended with two rather amazing events. At the
United Parish in Brookline we were all impressed by Peter Krasinski and
Aeolian-Skinner opus 885 and much more. First, we were welcomed in a recording
by Ernest Skinner himself, apparently from a welcoming speech he made to an AGO
gathering at some point very late in his life. It was loud and clear, and a
stunning opening, with no warning whatsoever! But there was more. After singing
"O God our help" from the hymnal in the pews, there was a program of
two works--not your usual organ recital. First, Peter and the Wolf, transcribed
by Peter Krasinski, narrated by a woman from the church's Board of Deacons who
had earlier graciously received an OHS Plaque for the organ. This was clearly a
new translation from the Russian, beginning more-or-less thusly: "Peter
lifted the heavy rolltop, and threw the switch, activating the great Spencer
blower." And then we had Peter being hustled inside, to escape the evil
Clarinet. And then, with Peter, we cowered in the face of "Evil hunters,
seeking unaltered Skinner organs!" It was all so perfectly done--the
narration was really dramatically delivered, and Peter Krasinski--what to say?
The transcription, the performance, the organ--it was nothing less than
fabulous--requiring a chapter of its own in any history ever written about OHS
Conventions We Have Known. For a bit more icing on an already rich cake, Peter
Krasinski's own transcription of von Suppé's Poet and Peasant Overture.

At the end of the afternoon, the astonishing, amazing--whatever--computer-driven
Boston University Symphonic Organ, hosted by its creator, Nelson Barden. The
whole thing had its genesis in a small Skinner (opus 764) instrument in a
Rockefeller mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut. When the organ was disposed of,
it was to become one of the organic wonders of the world. Further donations of
house and other organs kept the thing growing to its present size, and it now
lives in its permanent home on a great balcony overlooking a large kind of
banqueting hall. On screen, one can see what the computer operator sees on his
monitor up in the balcony: the four keyboards plus a short one for the
pedalboard laid out, surrounded by lists of all the stops available--colored
lights indicate which keys and which stops are playing. We heard a performance,
electronically recorded, of Carlo Curley playing Fiddle Faddle, Edwin Lemare
playing the Bach "Jig" Fugue, and lots of other goodies. An exciting
aspect of this is the ability to reproduce here the many performances committed
to paper rolls in Germany in the 20s and 30s, at a time when sound recording
was not yet totally viable on location, and, of course, the immense resources
of this instrument make possible just about any registrational requirement.
After the great show, most of our large party took advantage of being able to
walk right through this marvel, to see, under glass, the whole thing operating.

After dinner, off to The Mission Church to hear Julian
Wachner on Hutchings Opus 410 of 1897, sounding out of its great west gallery
case into a superb acoustical space. Bach, Pièce d'Orgue; Mendelssohn,
Prelude and Fugue in C Minor; Cantabile from Widor 6th, played on a gorgeous
Oboe; Duruflé Prelude and Fugue on ALAIN. After intermission, we were
driven hastily back to our seats by a fabulous improvised fanfare, using the
splendid, if un-Englishy, Tuba; then the Boston premiere of Les Trés
Riches Heures (An Organ Book of Hours) by Marjorie Merryman--the six movements
are entitled 1. Procession, 2. Dialogues, 3. Cycle of the Year, 4. Rebellion,
5. De Profundis, and 6. Celebrations. The evening ended with "Holy Holy
Holy" to, of course, Nicaea. After the hymn Wachner went into a pretty
wild improvisation on Nicaea.

 

Friday, August 18

Promenade day

Friday began with a lecture by Barbara Owen on "The
Hook Years," not an overstatement when you realize what an enormous number
of instruments that workshop turned out each year in the mid-1800s. Then the
convention traveled to Hook Country, Jamaica Plain, and the lovely yellow home
of Elias Hook. We were split into three groups at this time, so that no church
was overly crowded--this meaning, of course, that each performer had to play
three times. My group began not with a Hook, but with Central Congregational
Church's Aeolian-Skinner opus 946 of 1936, a versatile and effective 14-stop
instrument. It can do anything asked of it and today, it met just the right
player to direct it. Possibly, this organ should not really function as it
does--after all, it is stuffed into a chamber on the north side of the
chancel--but the room is welcoming, and aided by 5≤ of wind pressure and
scaling and voicing to match, it reaches every corner of the room. This should
not suggest to anyone that it is loud--it simply projects very well in all directions.
The organ is entirely enclosed in one swell box. The program by Mark Dwyer: the
chorale Freu dich sehr; Pachelbel, Partitia on "Freu dich sehr";
Sowerby, Arioso; Bach, Trio on "Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend";
Darke, Fantasy, op. 39; Dupré, Placare Christe servulis. The splendid
playing of Mark Dwyer is no surprise to those who have heard him play. This
organ, on the other hand, was a total surprise: fourteen stops, and look at the
program it played, and all beautifully and essentially authentically!

We walked through pleasant streets with lovely Victorian
houses all around, to First Baptist Church, with its essentially unaltered 1859
Hook, for a concert by Lois Regestein: Hanff, Wär' Gott nicht mit uns
diese Zeit, using a registration which Hook had set as the plenum, just through
2' on the Great, without the mixture; Pinkham, Pastorale on "The Morning
Star"; three Haydn Musical Clock pieces, Minuet, March, and Andantino,
revealing the absolutely beautiful flutes on this organ; Respighi, Prelude on a
chorale of Bach; Ciampa, Agnus Dei (with singer Dianna Daly); Telemann, Trumpet
Tune in D; Brahms, Prelude in G Minor; and a rousing performance of the hymn
"Praise, my soul, the King of Heaven."

Another pleasant walk led to First Parish, Unitarian, for a
program by Gregory Crowell, director of music at Trinity UMC in Grand Rapids
and on the faculty at Grand Valley State University. The organ is E. & G.G.
Hook Opus 171 of 1854. In 1860 Hook added the Choir organ, which was apparently
prepared for in 1854. The program began with the hymn "Spirit of God,
descend upon my heart" to the tune Morecambe, and included the Mendelssohn
Fourth Sonata.

The last venue in Jamaica Plain was St. Thomas Aquinas
Church. Scot Huntington managed to give lots of his time to trying to get this
glorious 1854 Hook (moved to this church in 1898 and somewhat rebuilt by George
Hutchings) playing--it had not been heard in 20 years! This is a major part of
the OHS Convention History--the hours or weeks of time freely given by OHS member
builders to making ill instruments well enough to be heard at conventions. The
organ was permitted to remain there (west gallery) only because it looked so
nice. (It is indeed an unusually attractive case.) The new pastor welcomed the
OHS in a really fine speech that made it clear where his sympathies lie, and he
was roundly cheered. No doubt with his encouragement many parishioners were in
attendance, some of whom had ventured into the balcony for the first time to
see what the organ really looked like. Scot Huntington demonstrated the organ,
an-nouncing registrations as he went along, and even doing a creditable
performance of the "St. Anne Prelude." He then accompanied the hymn
"O worship the King" (Hanover), and many of the attending
parishioners were overwhelmed. The building is not without resonance, and to
hear 400+ musicians filling that room was impressive.

George Bozeman is always a major presence at OHS
conventions, this sometimes taking the form of an organ he has carefully
restored, but most often in the form of an interesting and somewhat unusual
recital. Here, he fulfilled both roles, playing on an 1860 E. & G.G. Hook
(Opus 283) of 32 stops (rebuilt in 1913), which in 1992 had "tonal
re-instatements and recreations; refurbishment and restoration" at the
hands of George Bozeman--at First Congregational Church in Woburn. The program:
Bach, Prelude & Fugue in G Minor (535); C.P.E. Bach, Sonata in A; the hymn,
"Eternal Spirit of the living Christ," to a strong, unnamed, tune by F.
William Voetberg; Franck, Choral in B Minor; four exquisitely registered and
played chorale preludes of Brahms: Herzlich tut mich erfreuen, Schmücke
dich, O wie selig, and Herzlich tut mich verlangen; three selections from the
Bartok Mikrokosmos; and finally Concert Sonata No. 5 in C by Eugene Thayer.

An OHS Boston Weekend

After a fairly energetic and busy Friday, the prospect of a
somewhat more relaxed convention weekend seemed a good one. Saturday began with
Jonathan Ambrosino's lecture entitled "Ernest M. Skinner & G. Donald
Harrison, Retrospective and Review." Ambrosino is president of the
Society, bringing a distinguished background in both communications and
organbuilding, and he is making his strengths very much felt throughout the
organization.

The first concert of the day was by Richard Hill at First
Parish in Arlington, one of the truly great recitals of the convention, on one
of its very best organs--an 1870 Hook (Opus 529) of fifteen stops, moved into
First Parish's fine modern building from a church in Philadelphia. The program
began with a hymn that rather set the tone for the rest of the program,
"Stand up, stand up for Jesus," to the tune Webb. The organ is tucked
in a corner in the front of the church, and has facades on two sides, and the
whole thing resonates like one big soundboard--it really is rich and full, and
beautiful besides. The Triumphal March of Dudley Buck is the kind of spirited
stuff that can really be effective in the hands of a strong and sure player
with spirit to match--really good fun. Then, by Amy Beach, a lovely work,
Prelude on an Old Folk Tune, very Irish sounding. The next piece was the kind
of thing that would keep a congregation around for the postlude, Toccatina by
George E. Whiting (1840-1923). The beginning was a bit reminiscent of the
Lemmens Fanfare. Next, David the King, based on a theme of William Billings, by
Gardner Read--a lament on the death of Absalom. Finally, the grand finale,
Allegro comodo, from Suite in D by Arthur Foote. This work might have suffered
from a lesser performance, but there was nothing lesser about what we heard--a
great ending, to much applause and a quick stand up!

On to Follen Community Church, the oldest church in
Lexington, boasting as one of its ministers Ralph Waldo Emerson. What a
beautiful place and beautiful instrument, both to see and to hear. E. &
G.G. Hook Opus 466 of 1869 was originally in a church in Stoneham, but was
given as a gift and moved to Follen Church in 1995. Erik Suter, with degrees
from both Oberlin and Yale, is now assistant organist and choirmaster at
Washington National Cathedral. The program: Pinkham, "Festive March"
from Music for a Quiet Sunday, which was commissioned by the church to
celebrate the instrument; Mendelssohn, Third Sonata: Sweelinck, Variations on Balletto
del granduca, for which organbuilder John Bishop operated the hand pump, which
really did make a noticeable difference--the wind was rather gentle and supple.
The program ended quietly with the Paul Manz Aria, which featured the Melodia
stop, living up to its name, and toward the end of the piece, an octave up,
where it was ravishing. The final hymn: "Come down, O Love Divine"
(Down Ampney). Suter launched into a quite cathedral-like improvisation on Down
Ampney which sent everyone out very cheerfully indeed.

Sometimes food claims a place on the list of OHS convention
memories. On this Saturday evening, we had an example of this, and what an
example! At 5:30 in the beautiful evening light we boarded a large and very
fast boat for Thompson Island, the history of which is complex and off topic
here, other than to say it is a quite large, hilly, and scenic place from
which, in the right spot, one neither sees nor senses the presence of the big
city so near. I have been to one clambake in my life, a small, private affair,
memorable for wonderful seafood and for good company. This was that experience
writ large; there was no end to the wonderful food. There were various salad
things, baked beans, a wonderful piece of steak, a large pile of steamed clams
and an enormous lobster on a separate plate. We were seated in a great tent,
with some outside places for those who enjoy mosquitos. At the end
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  we hiked down to the dock through the
cool darkness, and after a bit of a wait, our boat appeared to take us back to
the mainland, giving a gorgeous moonlit ride back to Boston Harbor.

On Sunday morning the Annual Meeting of the Society was
scheduled for 8:30. There were reports from all the committees carrying on the
work of the Society, including the Historic Organs Citation Committee, the
superb OHS Archives in a new home in Princeton, the Biggs Fellowship Committee,
the Convention Committee, the Publications Committee, and so much more. At this
convention about a half-dozen plaques were presented to churches that have
recognized the historic significance and musical importance of their
instruments and have continued to maintain them properly. This recognition,
plus the very presence of several hundred musicians in their church coming to
hear the instrument, sends a strong message of support and encouragement. The
Biggs Fellowship is a great program, and its ability to assist interested
people in attending a convention when they might not otherwise be able to do
so, has been greatly enhanced by a major gift from the estate of Peggy Biggs,
the wife of E. Power, who died recently. This year the convention was enriched
by the presence of four Biggs Fellows: Daniel W. Hopkins of Lockeport, Nova
Scotia; Ted Kiefer of Franklinville, New Jersey; Tony Kupina of
Montréal, Québec; and Daniel B. Sanez of Hollywood, California. A
visit to the OHS Archives in Princeton finds one in a place where one could
happily stay for days on end, exploring the amazing riches, holdings unequaled
by any other resource anywhere in the world. Many have studied there helped by
one of the research grants available through OHS. The Archives were bursting at
the seams in the old space in the Westminster Choir College Library, and
through gifts from business and arts organizations and individuals, the sum of
$85,000 was collected to make possible the move to new and spacious quarters.
Confident in the knowledge that OHS is important to all its members, important
enough that they are willing to help the organization financially over and
above the membership fees, a new fund has been established and announced at
this year's annual meeting. This endowment fund will help stabilize the
finances of the organization and enable it to expand its work in a number of
areas where money has been a bit tight. The goal is a half-million dollars, and
amazingly, a small group of officers and close friends of the Society has
already pledged the sum of $58,000. I hope anyone reading this who is not a
member of OHS will consider now joining. Try: . By
the way, next summer's convention will be in Winston-Salem, North Carolina,
June 21-28.

On this Sunday afternoon, there were some opportunities to
visit Cambridge organs and also the astonishing beauties of Mount Auburn
Cemetery, which for American organists and organbuilders, might be a rough
equivalent to an Englishman visiting Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey. Some
recitals were played in Cambridge, and some churches held special musical
events for conventioneers. I chose to stay close to the hotel before the great
evening event, a concert about which I almost fear to write, so controversial
was it. Catching all the buzz on the walk back to the hotel and in the exhibit
room later, there seemed to be no agreement whatsoever about the instrument,
the player, her registrations, the music she chose--even what she wore! That
Cherry Rhodes is the consummate concert artist cannot be in dispute. Nor can
one deny the historicity and significance of the enormous 1952 Aeolian-Sinner
organ, much upgraded and changed both mechanically and tonally over the years,
but still bearing the stamp of the makers, working under consultant Larry
Phelps. Beyond that, I heard those things that I thought I rather liked being
roundly condemned by some, and those things that I thought I did not like being
roundly praised by others. If nothing else, the organ is a great amusement.
There is much to gaze upon, with all manner of pipes mounted in all kinds of
arrangements. There is nothing to suggest the historic structure of The Pipe
Organ, perhaps even less so than in some of the exposed organs of Walter
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  Holtkamp, Sr. Looking at those, one
usually knew what was where. Not so here in the First Church of Christ,
Scientist, known familiarly as The Mother Church. The great heaps of pipework
are not identifiable without some sort of guidance. The exposed pipework speaks
into an enormous space, seating about eight thousand people, and amazingly, it
projects fairly well, coming to the listener's ear, I think, with the aid of
the various domed shapes in the building. It is capable of gentleness and also
of bombast, all sounding to my ears just a bit on the thin side, and looking at
the pipework, one does have the impression of thin. I am sure I will pay for
this in some way, but I have to say that at the end of the first piece, a large
plenum with tons of mixture ranks in play caused me to say that I thought it
all sounded incredibly electronic.

The program (12 pieces, only two of which I had ever heard)
began with a piece that made use of the spacious layout of the organ, a work by
Frank Ticheli (b. 1958) dedicated in its organ arrangement to Cherry Rhodes.
Pacific Fanfare (1999) began very softly and finally did build up to live up to
its name, exploring the many reeds of various volumes on this instrument. This
was followed by the Sweelinck Bergamasca, using what is called the Continuo
division of the organ; Deuxième Légende of Bonnet, a beautiful
work; from the Vierne Pièces de Fantaisie, "Impromptu";
Méditation by Gabriel Dupont (1878-1914, an organ student of Widor);
Sportive Fauns, by the Yugoslav composer, Deszö d'Antalffy-Zsiross
(1885-1945), who studied with, among others, Max Reger. After intermission, the
obligatory hymn, "I love thy way of freedom, Lord" to a Hubert Parry
tune, Heavenward. The accompaniment was unusual, being almost a gentle wash of
sound much in the manner of some English Psalm accompaniments, very much in the
background. Then Four Pieces for the Mass by José Lidón; Clarence
Mader's "The Afternoon of a Toad"; and Variations on "Victimae
Paschali," by Jiri Ropek (b. 1922 in Prague).

Whatever misgivings people might have had about the concert,
at the end of the Ropek there was a spontaneous and essentially unanimous
standing ovation, and it kept going long enough that it was clear an encore was
needed, the lovely and quiet Salve Festa Dies by Marius Walter. Hailing the
festival day was a very gentle affair, but beautiful. And thus ended Sunday and
the weekend.

Monday, August 21

The recitals this day were part of an elective involving visits
to instruments in the Newton area. The alternative was the Mount Auburn
Cemetery, also available the previous day. A third choice was to do nothing and
ride a bus later to a concert at The Korean Church in Cambridge.

First stop: Church of the Redeemer, Chestnut Hill, Newton,
something of a cookie-cutter Anglican pretend Gothic building, of which there
must be thousands around the country. It boasted pretend Gothic acoustics as
well. Heard from the third row on the south side, the Noack organ was overpowering.
I suspect that this chancel installation caused the builder to push the
instrument so it could lead those in the back row of the church. Gretchen
Longwell gave a program that one might play on a North German-oriented
mechanical-action organ in a good room in an academic environment. The audience
was made up almost completely of organists, but the recital missed one of the
features of OHS programming--showing a variety of things the organ can do. Many
thought that we could have heard some Vierne, Mendelssohn, or anything else
that might show the Romantic possibilities which probably exist in this
instrument. The program: Buxtehude, Praeludium in G Minor; Boehm, Wer nur den
lieben Gott lasst walten; the hymn 
"If thou but trust in God to guide you"; two Schübler
chorales: Meine Seele and Ach bleib bei uns, both really well played; and the
Ernst/Bach, Concerto in G.

The next recital featured a new instrument built by George
Bozeman at Eliot Church (Congregational) in Newton Corner, Newton. The instrument
has rather active or flexible wind, a bit more so than wanted, as there was
clearly no room for the main reservoir right with the instrument--it is in the
next room--and even fitted with concussion bellows, things occasionally get a
bit bouncy. But the overall effect is very good. There is an amazing wooden 16'
Pedal Trombone, tremendously round and full in sound, not loud, and perhaps a
bit slow of speech, but really fun when it opens out. The recitalist was
Kimberly Ann Hess, director of chapel music and college organist at Stonehill
College in Easton, Massachusetts. The program: de Grigny, Veni Creator, played
with glorious ornamentation and clarity on a very sympathetic organ in
Kirnberger I; Schumann, Four Sketches from Opus 58; Bach, Toccata in F (BWV
540), including the most expressive playing of that long Pedal solo I have ever
heard; and the hymn "We are your people" to Sine Nomine.

Brian Jones has been featured at OHS conventions seemingly
forever. To be sure, his playing is always wonderful, but he gives more,
steeped as he is in the history of the instrument, the OHS, and New England
itself. Léfebure-Wély, Boléro de Concert; Concerto in D by
Charles Avison (1817-1953); Jongen, Scherzetto, op. 108, no. 1. The next and
final work on the program was dedicated to Alan Laufman, director of the Organ
Clearing House, who, as a young man, first turned pages for Jones for the same
piece quite a few years back at an OHS Convention on The Cape. Jones gave a
spirited reading of the Bach Prelude and Fugue in A Minor (BWV 543); and
finally the hymn, "How shall I sing that majesty which angels do
admire," to the tune Coe Fen.

Next on the schedule was Nancy Granert at The Korean Church
(formerly Pilgrim U.C.C.) in Cambridgeport, Cambridge. The 22-stop Hutchings instrument
of 1886 was not very telling in a fully carpeted room, unfortunately, and the
program began with three early works that just did not make sense on the
instrument and in the non-intimate environment: Spanieler Tanz of Johannes Weck
(early 16th century), Mit ganzem Willen wünsch ich ihr of Paumann, and
Kochersperger Spanieler of Hans Kotter; then two Bach settings of Liebster
Jesu, the first on the really warm Open Diapason, and the second using the
Dolce Cornet for the cantus, quiet but pungent. We then sang the chorale, with
a chance to sing harmony in the middle stanza. Then George Chadwick,
Canzonetta; Frank Donahoe, Impromptu. We finally heard the (rather
underwhelming) full organ in the Arthur Foote Prelude in C. Nancy Granert is
now organist at Emmanuel Church (Boston) and Temple Sinai (Brookline), and is
on the faculty at the Boston University School for the Arts. The audience stood
all around the walls, around the altar, and in extra seats in each of the
aisles. The organ did not have a chance, but Granert put in a valiant effort,
and it was clear that she is an excellent player.

We had heard four recitals already, and it was getting on
for 5 pm, but most did not accept the proffered escape bus to the hotel,
instead opting to hear Rosalind Mohnsen at the beautiful St. Catherine of Genoa
Church in Somerville, with its fine 1894 Jardine, and decent acoustic. Mohnsen
shared her program with a wonderful, expressive soprano, Maura Lynch, who added
a great deal of interest to the program. First, three Antiphons from the
Fifteen Pieces of Dupré, "His left hand is under my head,"
"Lo, the Winter is Past," and "How Fair and Pleasant art
Thou"; the hymn "Come Holy Ghost, Creator Blest" sung to a
pleasant minor-key tune from the Pius X Hymnal--written by Theodore Marier;
then Schumann, two of the Fugues on the Name of Bach. Ms. Lynch stepped forward
to the balcony rail and sang "The Flag of Prospect Hill" by J.W.
Bailey. We then sang an interesting cantor and response sort of hymn "Now
Help Us, Lord," with Ms. Lynch serving as cantor. Next, for soprano and
organ, Der Schmetterling ist in die Rose verliebt, op. 14, no. 2 of Henry
Hadley (1871-1937). Last on the program was Henry Dunham's (1853-1929) Fantasia
and Fugue in d, op. 19. Rosalind Mohnsen is director of music at Immaculate
Conception Church in Malden, and this was her 15th OHS convention recital.

Dinner on this evening was a barbeque at the Charlestown
Navy Yard. The food really was delicious, and we were only a short walk from
St. Mary Roman Catholic Church, Charlestown, where Dana Robinson played a
stunning recital. This church was one of a number of very old, large, Catholic
churches that have been recently re-stored. This was a great evening of great
organ music suited to the grand old Woodberry and Harris Organ of 1892 in a
fine acoustic. Parker, Introduction and Fugue in E Minor; a duet version of six
Schumann Studies for Pedal Piano (Opus 56) with Paul Tegels assisting; Franck,
E-Major Chorale; the hymn "Immaculate Mary" to the Lourdes Hymn; Widor,
the complete Symphonie Gothique. Dr. Robinson teaches at the School of Music of
the University of Illinois.

Tuesday, August 22

Tuesday the 22nd began with a lecture by Pamela Fox
concerning the Hook & Hastings factory in Weston, which involves more of
interest than might meet the eye. This was an attempt at a complete
"community of labor," with workers' cottages, a company-built
recreation hall, and other facilities. The move to Weston took place in 1880.

This was it--my first chance to hear the legendary
instrument at Old West Church, and its legendary organist, Yuko Hayashi.
Perhaps the experience of the organ was a bit underwhelming (to me) because we
have all heard so many wonderful instruments in a similar style that have been
built since this pioneer Fisk organ appeared in 1971. Many of these, I think,
surpass Old West in terms of color and clarity, an excellent example of which
we heard at our next stop. The program: Buxtehude, Toccata in D Minor; Bach,
Wenn wir in höchsten Nöthen sein; Clérambault, Suite on the
Second Tone. The Basse de Cromorne was something else, given the monster
Cromorne on this instrument, full of color and character. The Récit de
nasard revealed another monster, the Nasard itself--quite big and colorful in
combination. We did sing a hymn, "Now thank we all our God," in the
strange unison version found at number 396 in the 1982 Hymnal. Had anyone
turned one more page, they would have come to the harmonization
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  by Monk, following Mendelssohn's
symphony version, which would have been infinitely more fun.

Next First Lutheran Church, where Richards, Fowkes &
Company Opus 10 was in the final stages of installation, sufficiently far along
to allow William Porter to improvise his way through many combinations of
sounds. This organ, in its hideous Piero Belluschi building, should be a
fabulous addition to the Boston organ scene.

For the next program, Frederick Jodry V gave a really
interesting performance on a 1938 Wicks instrument in a fine acoustical
environment, Most Holy Name Parish, West Roxbury, the instrument designed and
voiced by Henry Vincent Willis. Wow! Broad foundation tone! Reading through the
very detailed stoplist provided, some features stand out. The Great has no
mixture, going only to the 2' Principal. There are, however, two Open Diapasons
at 8'. The flues are on 95mm of wind, but the Great Trumpet is on 145mm. The
Choir (enclosed--73 note chest) has a French Horn with its own tremolo. It is
on 140mm of wind, while the rest of the division is on 95mm. The Swell has flues
on 100mm, a Vox Humana which automatically engages its own Tremolo, on 105mm,
with the four other reeds on 140mm. The Pedal has a 16' Open Diapason and a 16'
Bourdon. All else is either borrowed or extended from somewhere. There is a
small sanctuary organ, but it is not working, and was not made available for
inspection. The program: Woodman, Little Partita for Easter; Chadwick,
Pastorale, demonstrating a truly wonderful Harmonic Flute;
Léfebure-Wély, March; the hymn "The Strife is O'er" at
an incredibly fast clip. The program finished with a really interesting
Postlude on a Theme of Palestrina by Dudley Buck.

One of the happy-making experiences of this convention has
been seeing quite a few ornate, very old, Roman Catholic churches that have
been newly loved and spruced up with great care and taste. Saint Patrick Church
in Roxbury is not one of these, possibly lacking the enormous amount of money
required for a major fix-up. It does have rather nice stations, set in small
tabernacles, perhaps two or three feet high, and lighted indirectly from above.
The room is disfigured by ugly loudspeakers stuck all over the place. The organ
is an E. & G.G. Hook & Hastings from 1880, rebuilt by Hutchings in
1893, adding a Barker lever to the Great and its couplers. The pipework and
chests are original Hook & Hastings, but the Choir organ was added by
Hutchings. It is visually reminiscent of the Covington Holtkamp that has been
discussed on Piporg-l, with exposed pipework in a pleasing pattern--rather
remarkable for its time.

In this church, Kristin Farmer played one of those
"Program will be announced" events, again of necessity, given the
precarious condition of the organ. Kristin and her organbuilder husband John
Farmer have donated countless hours to getting this organ up and playing for
the convention. After the organ received an OHS Plaque, we heard the following
program: Langlais, Hommage; three Dupré Antiphons; Meditation from
Thaïs; and a Gigue by John Bull. The Langlais really worked on the instrument,
which is quite beautiful doing mystic bits, and also capable of some richness
as the volume rises. There is a strong and independent 16' Open on the Great.
In the Dupré "I am black but comely," the Flute had a
wonderful open sound. The John Bull Gigue was played rather full out, and the
upperwork was irritatingly out of tune, sounding for all the world like a
supercoupler forcing into play pipes that have not been noticed (or tuned) in
years--but there is no supercoupler. At the end, we sang "Glory, love, and
praise," to the pleasant tune "Benifold," by Francis Westbrook
(1903-1975).

It was getting on for tea time, and at First Parish
(Unitarian) in Roxbury the convention split into two groups: one group going to
the recital and the other to what was billed in the book as a
"reception." This meant not high tea, but various cool drinks and
cookies out under the trees in back of the church. The recital of one hour and
ten minutes (surely the longest daytime event of the convention) took place on
a rather anemic instrument in a totally dead acoustic in a quite large
building. (The building is quite beautiful, if greatly run down, but a grant
has apparently been secured and further funds are being sought for its
restoration.) Robert Barney gave another performance of the Brahms Prelude and
Fugue in G Minor, which was effective in the space, followed by another good
choice, the Hindemith Second Sonata. But nothing could overcome the effect of
the hour, the hopelessly dull acoustic and the instrument. There was a certain
amount of merriment when folks realized the hymn to come was "Sleepers
Wake! A voice astounds us." But wait, there was yet more to come. The
Reger Fantasy on Wachet Auf really did not belong in this building, on this
organ, and for that trivial matter, at this time of day. Two people were sound
asleep in my pew. We ran, not walked, to the waiting buses.

The evening venue was Holy Cross Cathedral. Anyone, in New
England at least, who receives mail at all, has probably had a mailing from Leo
Abbott concerning his ongoing effort to restore this most wonderful instrument
in a glorious space. The instrument, Hook & Hastings from 1875, is simply
enormous, with all mod cons of the period, including Barker lever to the Great
and its couplers, pneumatic stop action, eight mixtures, and imported French
reeds from Zimmerman, some with Cavaillé-Coll shallots. It was
electrified around 1929 by Laws. Henri Lahaise and Sons have been working
steadily to keep it going, while doing restoration work as time and funds permit.
Along with lots of AGO members and other members of the Boston musical
community, in addition to lots of parishioners, we were a huge audience to hear
four well-known organists in a program that became even more remarkable than we
were led to expect.

George Bozeman led off with some charming Pepping Chorale
Preludes, ones from the Kleines Orgelbüch. Julian Wachner, who had given a
full evening recital earlier in the week, offered the Bach Dorian Toccata and
Fugue. The Toccata was a bit thick for the registration and building, but the
Fugue was magical, with a hardly noticeable but very real build-up that left
one breathless at the final cadence. Next came Wachner's transcription of El
Salon Mexico of Copland. I guess there are cannon shots in the score, and Leo Abbott
was ready in the balcony with an enormous bass drum, which he struck with
immense authority. At the first blow, the whole audience rose quite visibly
just a bit off its seats. Peter Sykes began the second half with a stunning
performance of the Reger Fantasy and Fugue on BACH. This was our first chance
to hear the organ full out in a major piece of organ literature. It was totally
tremendous, and the audience response was enormous. Leo Abbott assumed his
familiar bench at his familiar reversed horseshoe theater organ console (long
story, but the thing works!), and led the hymn "The Royal Banners Forward
Go" (Agincourt Hymn), with lots of wonderful fanfares and interludes. He
then gave a magnificent improvisation on Salve Regina, which, among other things,
was a great tour through the instrument. After the last chord had died away,
there were whoops and cheers, and an audience completely on its feet. What a
night!

The final great day

Wednesday, August 23

On this last day, it was hard to
refrain from commenting on the weather. With the exception of one evening of
some rain, the days were cool, sunny, and dry. One's impressions of a
convention are somewhat tempered, I think, by whether one has or has not sat in
broiling hot churches with perspiration pouring down. We had essentially none
of that.

This day began with a lecture on
"Organ Pedagogy in Boston 1850-1900," and included a discussion of
the personalities, the publications, and institutions of the period. To attend
a Friday noon recital at Trinity, Copley Square, is to learn that this organ
culture remains very much alive today. It will be you and about 299 others in
attendance! The AGO chapter is one of the largest and most active in the
country.

For the first two concerts of
the day we were split into two groups, so today's performers each played twice.
Our group began at First Baptist Church in Framingham at 11:30 with a totally
satisfying event. The church is the oldest in the area, clearly well-loved and
well kept. Victoria Wagner gave a program of organ works and songs in which she
accompanied soprano Nancy Armstrong. The organ is gentle, the room not resonant
but small and clear. The idea of this combination organ concert and song
recital was just right. The instrument, William Simmons of 1853, 17 stops, is
lovely, but not perhaps compelling enough to carry a full program on its own.
Like the church, it has been well cared for, and was presented with an OHS
plaque before the music began. The program: Handel, Voluntary XI; two Purcell
songs, "We Sing to Him" (Harmonia Sacra) and "Tecum principium
in die virtutis" from Dixit Dominus; the hymn "Rock of Ages" to
"Toplady"; James Woodman's song, Rock of Ages. Next, the premiere of
Peter Sykes's "Arise my love" for organ and soprano, a truly lovely
addition to the repertoire for voice and organ. The perfect finish to this
lovely event was Festival March, by Christian Teilman. Victoria Wagner is
director of music at Trinitarian Congregational Church in Concord, organ
instructor at Regis College in Weston, and on the piano faculty at the Noble
& Greenough School in Dedham.

It was lunch time. If you were
in Group A, you ate at St. Andrew's Church, Wellesley, but Group B, of which I
was a member, ate at Village Congregational, also in Wellesley. There were no
concerts scheduled for these churches--only the use of their facilities for the
meal. Then onward to the Chapel at Wellesley College. The complications of the
keyboard require quite a bit of time and understanding. There are split sharps
and a "short octave," and nothing quite feels like what one is used
to at home. But the whole thing represents the kind of creative adventure,
unique, I think, to the questing and curious mind of Charles Brenton Fisk. I
need to quote a bit of history from the ever-helpful Organ Handbook: "In
1972, Wellesley College signed a contract with C. B. Fisk for a two-manual
organ based on Dutch models, c. 1620. Inaugurated in 1981, this organ and its
design underwent considerable evolution in the decade leading to its fruition.
From the beginning, it was intended that a specialized instrument, built
‘in the spirit of uncompromising authenticity' would allow students a
European experience in America." The Pedal Posaune was added in 1983, as
were carved pipeshades. Additional Pedal stops were added in 1987, and the case
was oiled and gilded in 1992. At the other (east) end is an Aeolian-Skinner
instrument which is, in fact, used for accompanying the choir and congregation
up front.

On the above-described Fisk
instrument, Margaret Irwin-Brandon gave a most elegant recital: Scheidemann,
Fantasia in C; Weckmann, Canzon in G Major; a choral prelude by Franz Tunder,
Jesus Christus, unser Heiland, der von uns, served in alternation to our
singing of the chorale in or with various harmonizations. Next, the Buxtehude G
Minor. While there is an electric blower for practice, in normal public
playing, the organ is human-pumped. One person can do it all, although there is
room for two at the pumping apparatus. One must carefully go backwards up a
short staircase, step out over a beam connected to one of the feeder bellows,
and glide down, propelled by one's own weight, on that beam until the bellows
hits bottom. At this point, one goes back up the stairs, and vigilance is
wanted to wait for the last-pumped bellows to rise almost to the top, at which
point one rides down on the other one. It's an exercise that adds a most
graceful visual component to the playing of this instrument. As you look at the
case, to the left, you see the pumper backing up the stairs, and then
ever-so-gracefully riding down quite slowly on the bellows, after which the
work is repeated. A couple of our Biggs Fellows had the honor of raising the
wind.

For various reasons I missed a
recital at St. Mary R.C. Church, Waltham, by Libor Dudas, music director and
organist at the famous Old North Church. The program included the Brahms A
Minor Prelude & Fugue, the Elgar Vesper Voluntaries, and the Franck Finale,
on an 1874 Hook & Hastings instrument, restored by Henri Lahaise and Son
during the 1990s.

The last concert of the
convention took us back to Immaculate Conception where, before an enormous
audience of conventioneers, AGO members, and Boston music lovers, Thomas Murray
gave one final fabulous musical memory. The whole program was a procession of
delights, all played in the elegant Murray manner and wonderfully registered
with great care: Guilmant, Sonata IV in D Minor; Reger, Benedictus; Schumann,
Three Studies for Pedal-Piano; Bonnet, Matin Provençale (No. 2 from Poèmes
d'Automne, 1908); Franck, Fantasy in A Major. We sang a rousing hymn,
"Praise the Lord, ye heavens adore him," to a grand Victorian tune
called "Faben," composed by the first organist of Immaculate
Conception Parish, who served until his death in 1875, John Henry Wilcox. Next,
three more of the Schumann Studies; finally, the Mulet Carillon-Sortie. And
sortie we did, back to the exhibit hall cum bar, for a last social time with
friends from far and near.

What a wonderful convention! I
hope this report might help some readers to consider making plans now to attend
next summer in North Carolina, from June 21st to the 28th.

--Malcolm Wechsler

Mander Organs, USA

 

The author thanks Mark Nelson,
William Van Pelt, Judy Ollikkala, and Anonymous for corrections and additions
to this article after its original Internet appearance.

 

by George Taylor

The late 20th century has not been kind to church acoustics. Good homes for organs are becoming increasingly scarce. Existing ones are under siege, as acoustically fine churches are spoiled all around us by misguided renovations often made, curiously, in the name of acoustical improvement. And sadly, what is usually offered today by architects for an organ environment in new buildings falls woefully short of the mark. While the problem is hardly a new one, it has never been more severe. Increased wealth and shifting tastes, especially toward comfortable interior furnishings, have lent the trend increasing force. The result is that poor church acoustics have become perhaps the greatest impediment to fine organ building in America.

For as long as anyone can recall in the organ building business, there have been battles over church acoustics with prospective customers. Organs are more sensitive to their surroundings than other instruments. Thus inordinate amounts of time have been and are being spent educating parishioners in the fundamentals of liturgical acoustics—not only for the sake of their investment in an organ, but for improvement of the entire worship environment. Looking back on it, we don't seem to have gotten very far. Sound absorbing carpets, pew cushions, and flimsy construction are far more prevalent today than they were 30 years ago, and ignorance of what is missing pervades the church. It would be easy to lose heart, for the road has become a lonely one. Yet, the occasional reminder of hearing an organ and congregation singing in a great space somehow keeps organ builders pressing toward the goal.

One can hardly blame parishioners for not understanding what constitutes proper acoustics in a church. Most have never encountered any good examples, let alone worshiped in them regularly. Two hundred years ago the accepted techniques of construction and furnishing for buildings, be they public halls or private homes, would have tended to create a favorable acoustical setting for organ music. In America today we seldom experience such naturally resonant spaces. Prevailing influences on architecture from cost cutting to modern building materials, aesthetic taste and energy conservation have so reshaped our aural expectations that if by chance a reverberant space appears, people hasten to tame it with acoustical absorption. Hopefully, a return to once assumed but now forgotten acoustical values can be brought about through education. To this end we can ask what makes a proper acoustical space for an organ and why it is so difficult to have one built and to keep it unspoiled.

The basic acoustical needs of an organ are simple enough. Apart from the musical quality of the instrument itself, two factors stand out as crucial to success. The first is the requirement that the room support and carry the sound of the organ well. The second is proper placement of the organ within the room.

Organ music, like choral and congregational singing, flourishes in reverberant spaces. Even one stop voiced by an amateur can sound full and beautiful in a lively, reflective space, while many ranks in a dead room strain to create a similar effect. Organ tone should linger in the room for between two and four seconds, decaying gradually without discernible echoes. It is not enough, however, to make the space merely reverberant. The response should be well balanced for all frequencies from 32 cycles to 8,000 cycles (corresponding to the organ's bass and treble pitches), so that the music is neither shrill, monotonous, nor muddy, but rather warm, full, and clear. Note that organs have a wider frequency spectrum than the human voice, and that therefore acoustics which are adequate for singing may not support the highest and/or lowest frequencies of the pipes. Meeting these acoustical standards from an architectural standpoint requires close attention to the shape and volume of the space, to the materials used to create it, and especially to the way the materials are used.

An organbuilder is usually called on to propose an organ for an existing church. Discussions almost always include suggestions from the builder for acoustical improvements. To foresee where these proposals may lead, an examination of the acoustical ideals of new buildings is helpful, for the same principles apply to renovations.

To determine a suitable shape for a church, one begins with examples of existing churches which are known to work well acoustically. Many of the best are older buildings which have proven their merits over the years. Organs developed in Europe where churches were generally rectangular in floor plan, often with transepts and side aisles. These buildings were tall in proportion to their floor area. Music developed freely above the heads of the congregation in space which had no other practical value than its spiritual power in music and vision. These churches were also relatively narrow, a significant feature in reflecting organ music off side walls, thereby blending and focusing the tone in a particular direction rather than allowing its energy to dissipate. Opposing walls were rarely completely parallel but were so shaped as to diffuse sound evenly rather than permit problematic flutter echoes and encourage  certain frequencies at the expense of others.  Vaulted ceilings, uneven plastered walls, chandeliers and other furnishings and molded details usually insured proper diffusion. Church architects today ignore these time-honored principles at great risk.

Sturdy material such as masonry and plaster characterize the construction of the best traditional churches. These materials have sufficient mass to reflect sound energy evenly. By comparison, weak panels of thin modern materials which drum when struck (for example, large expanses of glass, or gypsum board and plywood on widely-spaced studs) are no friend to organ tone.

Designing and building an outstanding space for an organ does not need to be prohibitively expensive. Architectural style is not so important, so long as the boundaries of shape and materials are heeded. A sympathetic architect who is not afraid to learn from successful models should have little trouble presenting a compelling design based on a simple shape. The wise use of ordinary construction materials can go a long way toward holding down costs. For example, concrete block and gypsum board can be used effectively, so long as they are made to be firm reflectors of sound. In the case of block this means sealing its pores. Old-fashioned plaster makes a fine interior coat. Several layers of gypsum board firmly anchored to a stronger wall behind work well.

Height in a church, on the other hand, does not come cheaply. It is exactly here than many a promising design is cut down to size, leaving the church acoustically and architecturally crippled. Organ music suffers from the loss.

Today's overriding concern with the conservation of heat regularly takes precedence over church acoustics on several counts. Thermal insulation, sound absorbent by nature, is most often installed just behind thin inner walls. Making such walls acoustically reflective does involve additional cost, but the problem can be solved if a solution is desired. Furthermore, people wish to save on fuel bills by avoiding high ceilings. They do not respond well to the suggestion that they might lower their thermostats instead.

This brings up the whole issue of comfort, which has become such a threat to liturgical acoustics. In the Middle Ages, significantly at the very time when organs first flourished, such furnishings as a church might have had were practical but hardly comfortable. Heating was unknown. Since then a standard of comfort has gradually replaced this, and with it has come the ubiquitous use of sound-absorbent fabrics for seats, floors, and sometimes even walls. The trend has now gone so far that the willingness to sit on a well-designed wooden seat in a cool church is fast disappearing, even among those who gladly spend an afternoon sitting on hard bleachers at a sports event. Curious, isn't it that while it would rarely occur to anyone to place sound absorbing materials near an organ, it is thought desirable to surround with fabrics the congregational singer, whose musical contribution is so much more to be encouraged and prized. Are we not becoming a nation of ever more effete church-goers, confused in our values, because there is no one teaching us otherwise? Could it be that our forefathers might have appreciated certain spiritual qualities of life more than we? We would do well to reflect on the remark that there is by nature something harsh and bracing about liturgical acoustics, not unlike the Gospel.

There are, of course, churches in which excessive reverberation needs to be controlled. Too many organ committees have been led to crusade for reverberation as an end in itself. The issues are not that simple, for there are many other factors touched on here which contribute to the warmth, resonance, and clarity of a church's aural environment. In planning for an organ the advice of a qualified acoustical consultant can be invaluable.

While the subtle pitfalls of room acoustics can never be completely avoided, they can be greatly minimized by obtaining experienced opinion. Many acoustical consultants are competent architects in their own right, capable of designing superior halls. Their advice should be sought in the early stages of design and then followed, not ignored by architects and contractors as is often the case. One caveat is in order: to be successful the acoustician must appreciate the difference between liturgical acoustics in which a congregation participates in making music and concert/lecture hall acoustics, in which an audience is there only to listen. Thoughtful review of the consultant's experience with other churches should reveal sensitivity to this point. With good liturgical acoustics the organ's needs will almost certainly be met.

Fortunately, there is no conflict between acoustical requirements for singing and for organs. This is hardly surprising, since a fundamental element of the best organ tone is its vocal quality, especially in the principal stops. It is this singing of organs which evokes in the layman the urge to sing. No other instrument has this unique evocative quality. On the other hand, organ tone is not limited to the vocal. It is also instrumental in character, and at times even imitative of other instruments. It is this dual nature of organ sound, both vocal and instrumental, which makes it endearing and broad in its musical appeal.

Many argue that clarity of the spoken word cannot co-exist with reverberant acoustics. This is one place where technology has come to the aid of music, for with a carefully-designed sound system it is now possible to maintain a high degree of intelligibility even in rooms which are extremely reverberant. Here again the advice of a knowledgeable consultant should be sought.

Assuming that every effort has been made to provide good acoustics for the church, the question of placing the organ within the room then arises. The importance of placement cannot be overestimated. Occasional compromises may be considered where acoustics are exceptionally fine, but they are still compromises.

Like a preacher or choir, an organ should project its sound directly to the hearer, not around corners. No minister would think of preaching without facing the congregation. The strange notion popular early in this century, that organs belong in chambers beside the church, has been recognized for its error. Any obstruction such as an arch or rood screen which separates organ from congregation is suspect.

Ideally, organs should face the long axis of the building. Clarity is lost when the organ is made to speak sideways across the width of the church, for in order to be heard in the nave it will have to be made unnaturally loud nearby. This leaves two options, namely, placing the organ on the front or back wall of the church. Of these two a rear gallery is usually the preferable location, for it puts organ and choir near the ceiling in a place otherwise unused except for windows and tower walls. Because organs are architecturally imposing, it is difficult to locate them discreetly in front of the church. Where possible that end is better reserved for the sacraments and proclamation of the word.

Organs sound best when they are placed high in the church. Sound which comes from above enjoys advantages over sound produced on the level of the hearer. Its dispersion is more even in the space. The tone is not absorbed so quickly as it travels back through the congregation. Also its steep angle of incidence on side walls discourages confusing echoes. For these same reasons public address loudspeakers are placed high above the heads of crowds. Many wonderful organs have been placed just under a ceiling which provides immediate reflection of the tone downward. The sound gains presence and focus from this phenomenon which we call early reflection. Like a pulpit soundboard the ceiling keeps the sound energy from being dissipated overhead. This effect is so prominent that pipes nearest the ceiling will sound closer to the floor than pipes below them in the same organ. Without a reflector above it an organ takes on an ethereal quality which can be quite beautiful but is musically less precise.

The pipes of the organ need a shallow wooden case around them. The case is the first reflector for the tone, a miniature room in itself. Its job is not only to protect the pipes, but to restrain and blend their many sounds into music and direct it into the church.

These then are a few guidelines for effective placement of an organ in a proper acoustical environment. There will always be exceptions, and organbuilders will forever strive to overcome their acoustical problems for the sake of their art. It is still the responsibility of churches and architects to provide the best possible environment for this peculiar craft, so costly in time and money, and so rewarding in its musical power. A church can ill afford less, for it will live with the results of these decisions far into the future.