Goulding & Wood Pipe Organ Builders cover feature

Goulding & Wood Pipe Organ Builders, Indianapolis, Indiana, Fortieth Anniversary; Saint John’s Episcopal Cathedral, Knoxville, Tennessee, Opus 52 

The year 2020 was indeed an historic year for many reasons. As the calendar page turns to another year, it has become somewhat easier to see in retrospect that 2020 contained reasons for celebration even amidst a time of pandemic and stress. For Goulding & Wood Pipe Organ Builders of Indianapolis, 2020 marked forty years of operation and afforded a chance to look back at the arc of the company’s history. The capstone of this anniversary year was the completion of the firm’s Opus 52 organ for Saint John’s Episcopal Cathedral of Knoxville, Tennessee. This project is built on a solid legacy of organ building from the Indianapolis workshop.

John Goulding and Thomas Wood joined forces in 1980, combining shared experiences at the E. H. Holloway Corporation and individual backgrounds with Gratian and Holtkamp organ companies on the part of Mr. Goulding and, for Mr. Wood, experience at Indiana University School of Music including participating in the creation of its first electronic music laboratory while also serving as curator of organs. While from very different backgrounds, both men shared a lifelong love of the organ, its music, and the ideals of corporate worship. They inherited a particular understanding of the organ reform movement, then in its full maturity, and Mr. Goulding’s mechanical innovations including a unique windchest design, tremolo action, and schwimmer wind regulators. These raw elements formed an impressively strong foundation for the new firm, and the company quickly built a reputation for excellence and sophistication. 

Within the first six years of operation and first ten projects, the firm had expanded to the Chicago and Washington, D.C., metro areas. Installations in Durham, North Carolina, and Atlanta, Georgia, soon followed, establishing a trend toward a significant presence in the Southeast. In the years that followed, Mr. Goulding and Mr. Wood built a strong team of like-minded organ builders who shared a solid commitment to building electro-pneumatic-action organs with the artistry and refinement usually associated only with mechanical-action builders. Musically, this achievement flows in large part from the firm’s exclusive windchest design. As an electro-pneumatic slider and pallet windchest, it marries the time-honored benefits of common key channels with the flexibility of remote key action providing for movable consoles and flexible coupling and control systems. The efficiency and simplicity inherent in this system have long been recognized for their contribution to the long-term viability of an instrument. Slider chests have few working parts to wear out, and when the time for major maintenance comes, access and scope of work are optimum for easy restoration. One of the specific design considerations for Mr. Goulding was ease of long-term renewal, so that an institution will not be saddled with exorbitant costs typical of many refurbishment projects.

As the organ reform movement began to shed some of its excesses and musical taste returned to more substantial ideas of tonal architecture, Goulding & Wood integrated the lessons learned about chorus structure with the aurally based craving for generous fundamental and variety of color. Already by 1989, this marriage is seen fully developed in the layout of the organ for the Church of Saint John the Evangelist located on the other side of Indianapolis’s downtown from the Goulding & Wood workshop. The stoplist of this two-manual organ comprises a wealth of 8′ stops, a wide variety of reed colors, and a carefully balanced scheme of principal choruses that allows organists to create plenums of several different levels of dynamic volume and tonal intensity. This organ was in some ways a working out of tonal ideas that laid the groundwork for the much larger instruments in the Cathedral of Christ the King in Atlanta and Christ Church Cathedral in New Orleans. Brandon Woods, the firm’s voicer beginning with Opus 6 (1984), grew in his understanding of tonal structure and mastery of unifying the voice of each organ specifically for the acoustical environment in which it is placed. An assiduous student of past voicers, Mr. Woods relished restoring old pipework, particularly in the renovation projects the company undertook on instruments from many different builders and eras. He brought the lessons he learned from observing other voicers’ work to bear on his own treatment of pipes, both flue and reed. As the sole voicer, Mr. Woods exerted a strong bearing on the company’s musical personality. 

John Goulding, who oversaw the design and construction of the organs, was joined by his son, Mark Goulding, in 1985. The younger Goulding began first as the head chest builder, laying out and fabricating the slider chests. In time, he began overseeing installation crews and general shop organization. As the company continued to build larger and more complex instruments, the workshop saw a growth in size and sophistication. The addition of Computer-Assisted-Design supported the increase in refinement of mechanical and visual designs notably present in the instruments in Saint Meinrad, Indiana, and Greenville, South Carolina.

By the beginning years of the present century, Goulding & Wood had attained a national reputation of excellence. The founders were ready to pass along creative control to a new generation with the assurance that the company would continue to expand and develop along the trajectory they had established. In 2003 John Goulding and Thomas Wood retired, making the unusual decision to turn ownership of the company completely over to active members of the organ building team. The first project completed following this transition was the sixty-nine-rank organ for Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church in Dallas, Texas, an instrument that boasts two 32′ stops, four independent full-length open 16′ flue ranks, and extensive carved casework in the Georgian neo-classical style.

Prestigious projects followed, including installations at Ball State University in Indiana and Loyola University of Chicago. No less significant to the company’s development, organs in Germantown, Tennessee, Macon, Georgia, and Lexington, Kentucky, maintained the company’s evolution toward a tonal ideal that favors choruses based on rich fundamental tone, a wide palette of vibrant colors, and a seamless blend building to a thrilling tutti. Goulding & Wood continued to go from strength to strength, earning acclaim for each subsequent instrument. As a natural part of this evolution, the company attracted and trained young talent. Several woodworkers came from the Indiana University Herron School of Art and Design, and these young artists have discovered a newfound passion for the pipe organ. Organists also found their way into the shop, enriching the conversations about tonal design and musical goals for each project. The company suffered an unexpected and painful turn when Mr. Woods passed away in 2016 shortly after a cancer diagnosis. Fortunately, the voicing room was in good hands as tonal responsibilities passed to Jerin Kelly (a member of The Diapason’s 20 Under 30 Class of 2017), who had extensive background in woodworking and as a musician in his own right. Mr. Kelly has followed closely in the footsteps of Mr. Woods, excelling both at refurbishing pipework from other builders and placing his own stamp on new organs.

The Goulding & Wood team continues to pair veteran craftsmen, many with tenures at the firm of several decades in length, with a younger generation of artisans, eager to push the company further into the future. This combination of seasoned experience and fresh ideas continues to bear fruit in exciting ways. The results are manifest to an extraordinary degree in the organ for Saint John’s Episcopal Cathedral of Knoxville, Tennessee, the firm’s fifty-second opus-numbered project. A comprehensive tonal design that furnishes organists with abundant resources for service playing and faithful rendition of repertoire is housed within handsome cases adorning the church with a panoply of architectural detail. The ornate cabinetry, including a wealth of hand-carved detail, asserts a commanding presence that nevertheless complements the architecture rather than competes with it. Warm polished tin pipes with gilded mouths echo the brightness of the room, and bespoke features, such as the linen-fold panels, delight the eye. The beauty, in both sound and appearance, is built upon a mechanical layout that is as ingenious as it is elegant, ensuring not only uncompromised reliability but also access to every component. 

The Knoxville organ is in many ways a summation of the learning, growth, and hard work that the company has seen over its forty-year history, yet it would be erroneous to think of it as a magnum opus. The artists of Goulding & Wood are continually expanding their vision to achieve ever more refinement in all aspects of organ building. As they look forward to the next forty years, the team is eager to approach each project with enthusiasm, professionalism, and excellence.

—Goulding & Wood Pipe Organ Builders

 

GREAT (Manual II)

16′ Violone 61 pipes

8′ First Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Second Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Violone (ext 16′) 12 pipes

8′ Harmonic Flute (1–12 Bdn) 49 pipes

8′ Bourdon 61 pipes

4′ Octave 61 pipes

4′ Open Flute 61 pipes

2-2⁄3′ Twelfth 61 pipes

2′ Fifteenth 61 pipes

1-3⁄5′ Seventeenth 61 pipes

1-1⁄3′ Fourniture IV 244 pipes

8′ Trumpet 61 pipes

8′ Festival Trumpet 56 pipes

8′ Tuba (Ch)

Tremulant

Chimes (digital, 37 notes)

SWELL (Manual III, enclosed)

16′ Gedeckt 61 pipes

8′ Geigen Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Gedeckt (ext 16′) 12 pipes

8′ Viole de Gambe 61 pipes

8′ Voix celeste (GG) 54 pipes

4′ Octave Geigen 61 pipes

4′ Traverse Flute 61 pipes

2′ Octave 61 pipes

2′ Piccolo 61 pipes

2′ Mixture III–IV 223 pipes

16′ Bassoon-Oboe 61 pipes

8′ Trumpet 61 pipes

8′ Oboe (ext 16′) 12 pipes

8′ Vox Humana 61 pipes

4′ Clarion 61 pipes

8′ Festival Trumpet (Gt)

8′ Tuba (Ch)

Tremulant

CHOIR (Manual I, enclosed)

16′ Dulciana (ext 8′) 12 pipes

8′ Open Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Second Diapason (Gt)

8′ Chimney Flute 61 pipes

8′ Dulciana 61 pipes

8′ Unda Maris (TC) 49 pipes

4′ Principal 61 pipes

4′ Spindle Flute 61 pipes

2-2⁄3′ Nazard 61 pipes

2′ Octave 61 pipes

2′ Recorder 61 pipes

1-3⁄5′ Tierce 61 pipes

1-1⁄3′ Larigot 61 pipes

1′ Cymbale III 183 pipes

8′ Clarinet 61 pipes

8′ Tuba 61 pipes

8′ Festival Trumpet (Gt)

Tremulant

Cymbelstern (5 tuned bells)

Nightingale (2 pipes in water)

ANTIPHONAL

8′ Echo Diapason 61 pipes

8′ Diapason Celeste 61 pipes

8′ Stopped Diapason 61 pipes

4′ Octave 61 pipes

4′ Spire Flute 61 pipes

2′ Fifteenth 61 pipes

1-1⁄3′ Mixture II–III 171 pipes

PEDAL

32′ Violone (digital ext) 12 notes

32′ Bourdon (digital ext) 12 notes

16′ Principal 32 pipes

16′ Bourdon 32 pipes

16′ Violone (Gt)

16′ Gedeckt (Sw)

16′ Dulciana (Ch)

8′ Octave 32 pipes

8′ Stopped Flute 32 pipes

8′ Violone (Gt)

8′ Gedeckt (Sw)

4′ Fifteenth 32 pipes

4′ Cantus Flute 32 pipes

2-2⁄3′ Fourniture IV 128 pipes

32′ Contra Bassoon (digital ext) 12 notes

16′ Trombone 32 pipes

16′ Bassoon (Sw)

8′ Tromba 32 pipes

8′ Bassoon (Sw)

4′ Clarion 32 pipes

8′ Tuba (Ch)

Tremulant

ANTIPHONAL PEDAL

16′ Stopped Diapason (ext) 12 pipes

8′ Stopped Diapason (fr Ant 8′)

 

Normal complement of couplers

Three manuals, 70 ranks, 3,884 pipes

Photo caption: Saint John’s Episcopal Cathedral, Knoxville, Tennessee (photo credit: Ben Finch)

See the video of the Saint John’s Episcopal Cathedral, Knoxville, Tennessee, organ:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHVZxHGWpCQ&feature=youtu.be

Parsons Pipe Organ Builders, Canandaigua, New York, 100th Anniversary

This year, Parsons Pipe Organ Builders celebrates the 100th anniversary of its founding and five generations of Parsons family members who have made pipe organs their vocation. Although the manufacturing workshop was established later, the family has been involved in the trade since the late nineteenth century. 

Gideon Levi Parsons apprenticed as a flue voicer with noted organbuilder John Wesley Steere and later married Steere’s niece, May Estelle Steere. Gideon continued his voicing career with John’s son, Frank, and later with Ernest M. Skinner, who purchased the Steere firm in 1921. The couple had two sons, Bryant Gideon (b. 1896) and Richard Levi (b. 1905). Both of Gideon’s sons apprenticed with the Steere firm, but only Bryant continued in organbuilding. Following in his father’s footsteps as a voicer was not an option for Bryant as tradesmen commonly held their skills closely for job security. Bryant worked in every department—from stacking lumber, shoveling sawdust, holding keys, and even began setting up organs on his own. However, when he returned to the factory, he was known as “the kid.” 

For a brief period prior to World War I, 16-year-old Bryant was hired by Professor Harry Jepson, head of the organ department at Yale University, to be curator of the renowned Newberry Memorial Organ, which he helped install. Originally built by the Hutchings-Votey firm in 1902, the organ was enlarged by J. W. Steere & Son in 1915. Bryant recalled that there was a secret button beneath the keys to activate the 32-foot reed so that only Professor Jepson could show the organ at its fullest.

Following time in the Navy during World War I, Bryant worked for the Bosch-Magneto Company in Springfield, Massachusetts, learning much about electricity (a concept quite new to organbuilding at the time). He then joined the Skinner firm, which by that time had purchased J. W. Steere & Son. Shortly afterward the factory burned, and Bryant moved with the firm to Westfield, where it took up shop in an old whip factory. Bryant was sent to Rochester, New York, to install the large organ at Kilbourn Hall at the Eastman School of Music along with the instrument in Professor Harold Gleason’s studio. While working in Rochester, Bryant met and married Ruth C. Blood, and they decided to settle there because he recognized the musical and cultural opportunities this community had to offer. Bryant’s Rochester career began with organbuilder Charles Topliff (himself a Steere alumnus), working with another Steere alumnus, Arthur Kohl. Bryant formed his own company in 1921 and continued to focus on service and restorations. To support his family during the Great Depression, Bryant sold vacuum cleaners door-to-door, among other things, while waiting for church work to revive.

While in Rochester, Bryant was curator of the four-manual, 129-rank Aeolian organ in George Eastman’s home—the largest residence organ ever built. Even those familiar with the founder of the Eastman Kodak Company are often unaware of Mr. Eastman’s fondness for organ music. His instrument had a Concertola Solo Music Roll Mechanism. Each Monday (even on Christmas Day), Bryant would arrive to check tuning and to set up the ten rolls for the week so that Mr. Eastman would be assured of music accompanying his breakfast. Each weekday, Mr. Gleason, who Mr. Eastman hired to head the organ department at the Eastman School of Music, would walk more than one mile down East Avenue from the school to play for Mr. Eastman’s breakfast promptly at 7:30 a.m. in the winter and 7:00 a.m. in the summer.

Bryant and Ruth had two children, Bryant Gideon, Jr., and Bina Ruth. Bryant, Jr., apprenticed with his father from an early age and later with the M. P. Möller Organ Company of Hagerstown, Maryland, installing many organs in the New York City area. Bryant returned to his father’s firm in Rochester following World War II where, in 1954, they incorporated as Bryant G. Parsons & Son, Inc. Bryant, Sr., retired in the early 1960s. The company grew and relocated to Penfield, New York, continuing with service and restoration work.

During the years in which father and son worked together in Western New York, Bryant, Jr.’s wife Esther Bills gave birth to five children. The two sons, Richard Bryant and Calvin Glenn, worked with their father from a very early age to learn the trade. Eventually, having been raised and trained as organbuilders, both sons were anxious to join the family firm in an official capacity and to establish their own credentials. Ric and Cal, as they prefer to be known, purchased the company from their father in 1979. In tandem with maintaining the company’s service responsibilities, the two set their sights on establishing a reputation for fine craftsmanship both through the restoration and rebuilding of existing organs and in the design and building of new organs bearing the Parsons name. Since that time, the company has completed a full portfolio of projects. As president and artistic director, Ric oversees the tonal and technical design departments. Ric has served on the board of the American Institute of Organbuilders in several capacities and as president of the Associated Pipe Organ Builders of America. As vice-president, Cal is responsible for managing the service department and for coordinating activities related to installations. In reality, Ric and Cal work as equal partners to ensure the company’s success.

Parsons’ reputation as a builder of fine liturgical pipe organs began to grow under Ric and Cal’s stewardship and with the addition of key staff members. Duane A. Prill, a gifted musician from Van Wert, Ohio, joined the firm in January 1991. Duane had just received a master’s degree in organ performance from the Eastman School of Music where he studied with Russell Saunders. Duane’s postgraduate studies at Eastman were under the direction of David Craighead. After joining Parsons, Duane worked with head voicer Gordon Dibble and quickly developed his own notable style of voicing and went on to become the company’s tonal director. Duane’s collaborative work with Manuel Rosales and Jonathan Ambrosino, combined with his ongoing commitment to study and visit organs throughout the United States and Europe, has helped raise the tonal designs of Parsons instruments to new heights. In addition, his service as principal organist at Asbury First United Methodist Church in Rochester has driven Parsons to build instruments that strive for high-quality execution of church repertoire.

Peter H. Geise, also a gifted musician, joined the firm in 2004. He received a master’s degree in organ performance from the Eastman School of Music where he studied with Hans Davidsson. After receiving his master’s, Peter embarked on a one-year training period at the Göteborg Organ Art Center in Sweden. Now Parsons’ technical design director, Peter is responsible for the design processes related to the mechanism and casework for each project. By necessity, Peter works in a hands-on fashion with Parsons construction and installation crews to ensure that what appears on the computer screen translates precisely to what is being built. In addition to his work at Parsons, Peter serves as the minister of music at Lima Presbyterian Church, Lima, New York, also home to Geise Opus 2, a two-manual, 25-rank electric-slider instrument built with church volunteers under Peter’s direction.

Ric’s two sons, Matthew and Timothy, have committed their efforts and skills to the company as well. Both Matt and Tim have accumulated years of experience and work closely with Ric and Cal to manage the company’s day-to-day operations. Matt currently serves as the dean of the Rochester chapter of the American Guild of Organists and vice president of the American Institute of Organbuilders. He is also responsible for the firm’s affiliation with the Eastman School of Music where Parsons serves as curator of organs. Tim has been heavily involved in Parsons’ recent entry into CNC technology, which has greatly enhanced the firm’s capabilities in terms of both process and production schedule. Tim is also involved in the firm’s manufacturing and installation processes and is responsible for the company’s graphics department.

Parsons Pipe Organ Builders strives to help clients find solutions that are tailored to their specific needs rather than limiting clients’ options to a particular style of building. Known for achieving superb results, Parsons maintains its own tonal goals. However, the company believes strongly in taking a collaborative approach with its clients to ensure that discussions cover a broad range of possibilities.

The Parsons project list is diverse with new organs of both tracker and electric actions, historic restorations, and even an unusual commission for an artist in Soho, New York City. Particularly challenging and interesting was Parsons’ participation in the research project for Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, working with the Göteborg Organ Art Center (GOArt), in Sweden. This two-manual, 40-rank, mechanical-action instrument is an historic copy based on the tonal design of the 1706 Arp Schnitger organ that was located in the Charlottenburg Castle Chapel in Berlin.

Parsons is currently under contract to build new organs for First Lutheran Church, Cedar Rapids, Iowa (three manuals, 52 ranks, mechanical action, Scott R. Riedel, consultant); St. James by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, La Jolla, California (four manuals, 79 ranks, electric-slider action, in collaboration with Manuel Rosales; Thomas Sheehan, consultant); and St. Benedict Catholic Cathedral, Evansville, Indiana (three manuals, 57 ranks, electric-slider action). Parsons was also recently chosen to complete the research, documentation, and restoration of the circa 1841 Jacob Hilbus organ for the Organ Historical Society (Bynum Petty, archivist and consultant; S. L. Huntington & Co., collaborating).

Much has transpired since the firm built the first two organs in the 1,400-square-foot workshop in Penfield, New York. In 1986, the firm relocated to the current workshop in Canandaigua, New York, which was expanded to 21,000 square feet in 2005. The introduction of 3D CAD arrived at the firm in 1986 when it was one of the first to provide computer generated images of a proposed organ design in the context of a client’s architectural setting. The year 2019 brought the addition of a CNC machine and with it a new level of efficiency and accuracy in construction.

Of course, the value of any business that relies on craftsmanship and personal commitment to achieve the highest quality work lies with every member of the Parsons organization. That number has grown over the years from four to eighteen, and we are grateful to acknowledge the work of Derek Bommelje, Joseph Borrelli, Brian Ebert, Aaron Feidner, Aaron Grabowski, Eric Kesler, David McCleary, Jay Slover, Chad Snyder, Dwight Symonds, Bernard Talty, and Travis Tones. Ric’s wife Ellen and Tim’s wife Kate currently manage the office. Ric often mentions that the company’s success has as much to do with divine intervention as it does with having a sound business plan! Parsons continues to be optimistic about its future contributions to the fine art of organbuilding for generations to come.

www.parsonsorgans.com

Photo: Bryant G. Parsons & Son, Inc. truck fleet, circa late 1950s

Cover photos:

2010 (top left): St. George’s Episcopal Church, Fredericksburg, VA, III/55 tracker

2020 (top center): First Lutheran Church, Cedar Rapids, IA, III/51 tracker

2005 (top right): St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church, Monona, WI, II/30 tracker (Rosales/Parsons)

1985 (left center): Westminster Presbyterian Church, Houston, TX, II/9 tracker

1989 (right center): Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Atonement, Rochester, NY, II/26 tracker

2019 (bottom left): Hope Lutheran Church, St. Louis, MO, II/27 electric slider

2015 (bottom right): United Church, Canandaigua, NY, III/40 electric slider

Quimby Pipe Organs, Inc., is restoring the Skinner Organ Company Opus 323 organ at The Episcopal Church of the Messiah, Rhinebeck, New York. The organ comprises three manuals and 28 ranks. This video shows the process of the restoration in the Quimby shop; a slide show only, with no sound.

The pipe organ was built in 1920 and donated to the Church of the Messiah by Capt. Vincent Astor in 1921. The organ chamber contains three stories of pipes. The Skinner reputation was deservedly very high, and the company built organs for America’s finest churches and universities. This Skinner organ has all the essential elements: warm, rich foundation stops, accompaniment voices of great beauty (especially the Swell strings), and superb solo reeds (Tuba, English horn, and Flugelhorn).

A twenty-note tubular set of chimes, electrically operated from the console at both keys and pedals, was installed by the Skinner Company in July 1930, also a gift of Capt. Astor.   

In 2019, Quimby Pipe Organs entered into a contract with The Episcopal Church of the Messiah to remove the existing instrument so that restoration work can commence to the existing church building.  The pipe organ is undergoing a complete restoration, with completion in Spring 2021.

For information: https://quimbypipeorgans.com/

See also news of Quimby’s 50th anniversary: https://www.thediapason.com/news/quimby-pipe-organs-50th-anniversary

The company’s anniversary is celebrated as the cover feature of the February 2021 issue of The Diapason: https://www.thediapason.com/content/cover-feature-94