More organists and people.

Casavant Frères

E. M. Skinner after his study-visit to England. The REAL, Yankee "American Classic" organ. Am saying that *not* to denigrate the work of G. Donald H. in the slightest. I am saying it bc shame on us all to have let one of the finest, most doggèd, outspoken, true blue Americans ever born to woman die a slow, inglorious death. Oh well! Not the first time true glory passed away in unappreciated oblivion. ... only to be recognized for what she, he, it really was until scores of years later.

@@Geoplanetjane Agreed! Consistently the highest standard of workmanship, along with tonal directions all these years that--discreetly!-- joined up with worldwide focuses on the most fitting, the most musical out of historical "national" traditions of organbuilding. Am thinking of Cavaillé-Coll (and back again). Also Schnitger (via tonal director G. Brunzema and others) but then too both Gottfried and brother André (sic 😉) Silbermann (via Metzler in Switzerland). And only in Canada/Québec: the solid admission into the already rich mix of British scaling/voicing (alla Hill and Harrison and especially Willis). As if this were not enough, the deep participation in the so-called concept of the "American Classic" organ capable of playing with authority all the main schools of building and composition. Casavant to this day offers a worthy (I as US-American believe more serviceable) complement perhaps not to US-American EM Skinner, but clearly to Aeolian-Skinner. Am trying to be as patriotic as possible, but after years of thought and becoming involved in the restoration of Skinner op. 647, this is where I stand. Personally of course. And I must not be the only one judging by the dogged preservation of the many Casavants here "down south.". Also judging by the steady flow of new contracts here in the US, as recommended by organ committees going into a given project with the attitude "money matters less than going for the best of the best." My 2 cents RE: Casavant Frères Ltée! Mark (AZ)

Cavaille-Coll perhaps?

Balcony is where the bass forms. Yes! But I moved around a lot just see what it sounds like everywhere. Really great instruments in great room!

Reuters are very nice organs, the Episcopal church I belong to put one in about 1979, it was a smaller 8 rank one but very bright in sound

Sound clouds?

​@scronx call them acoustic clouds. Have seen used before but these come out farther. From some angles only the edges show.

It just doesn't matter because the trumpets in anti overpower everything. Don't get used every registration because they will make your head explode. They are the loudest anti trumpets that I have heard.

There is something that is strangely supernatural about our job as an organist. Dr. Jan: can you confirm or is it just me?? Voilà: Let's say I am playing lasst uns erfreuen, or hyfrydol, or Christ the Lord Is Risen Today. You get the idea. It is a service where the Holy Spirit and every other good spirit is amply present. As organist I begin with coupled sounds that, when the room is totally empty, would shake the woodwork and make the windows visibly vibrate. A sound where a mere c major chord with low c pedal would scare the holy ba....out of the most hardened mafioso boss who happened to be in the room gathering his thoughts. The kicker? Already on verse one the registration was not enough. I can't hear my ,"king" of instruments even though the pipes are right above my head or only 20 feet from my left or right ear. Verse 2; piston 2: I thought I had added plenty of 8', reeds, and THAT mixture to lead the congregation. Not enough! So, piston 3 before its time on last 2 verse lines of the text. Piston 4; verse 3 and THAT overlay on the mind: "So what r u gonna do, Mark?" Right off: add 32' flue in pedal. Then progressively all reeds 16', 8', 4' in Ped. More reeds whatever I can get my hands on in the manuals. The human voices persist in drowning "me" (ha!) out. We are now at last verse. What now? The crescendo shoe! Start with 1/2 then slowly next verse line or 2: full tilt. Why can I still hardly hear the beastie?? So? What the 😈? Tutti III toe stud. Insanity! But can I EVER get ahead of the amassed human voices. All I can do now it play last verse line ritardando molto and and tryn-not-2b-gross portato all voices except soprano. The final chord is crushing. For 5 minutes there is this communal "did that really happen?!". Sometimes the next speaker is at first rather speechless. I mean "what can you say?" after such a thing??? ==== Am I bat.xyz crazy or what after trying my luck at describing this part of our job?

Hauptwerk!

Oh yeah I couldn’t agree more, Jeff. It’d be an awesome instrument to have for Hauptwerk

Isn't Rodgers out of business?

@@Paddydhistorian Rodgers is still in business

@@williammitchell1864 Thanks for the info.

This is a closely followed instrument. Admired globally. How many notes do you have? I have not played it but I know organist who have played it for decades. Cornopea is a skinner stop but I don't see it in the shop scaling notes for this organ. Even your thought you were getting a piece of it. Hope you didn't pay too much for it . Love to hear the stories about it!!!!

@@Barefoot12 there is an opus 1309 on the cc and says skinner. 61 notes

@FaSTurbo EM used this stop but was abandoned by AS by the 50s. People say a lot of things. Who did you get it from? This was not in the auditorium organ or the plans.

@@Barefoot12 All I know is that its from opus 1309 from skinner. That is was low cc says on the resonator.

@FaSTurbo who did you get it from? It's not in any documentation and organist that player it say it wasn't part of it. If it's not documented is half the authenticity. They are not from 1309. If they were you bought stolen stuff. Way too many people would have access to them that they would be a set of 61. You don't have docs where they came from. They are not from the auditorium organ. But you do have another story to tell

There's no adequate way to mic a pipe organ. Just the way they are.

As mr Johnson said in the middle, they had to set the microphones to the super loud Trompette en chamade, so everything else sounds kind of quiet...

Anyone who’s really trying to listen to the organ will be forced to turn up the volume pretty high. Then the speaking voices become too loud by comparison, and maybe a bit distorted. So I’d also suggest rebalancing it. If this makes the en chamade so loud they blow out people’s speakers (I didn’t get that far; I didn’t want to get an ad that would also be super-loud), some compression might also be in order.

@@kc9scott Brent knows that. Organ people are deaf for a reason. It's our intention that you actually go to them to hear them for real.

I have a copy of the shop notes for this. Great story! So Tommy Anderson prolly made the pipes.

There's no adequate way to mic pipe organs. No digital extensions here. The 32' develop on the balcony rail about half in the room. Jan knows that...Brent doesn't. Now you know. Wood pipes develop sound better than metal. Yeah if this had 32' bourdon it would sound differently. This has a few 16 wood flutes but not like the Kauffman center casavant. There is a 32' bombarde. The 32 you see are considered principal when this was scaled in the shop notes.

@@Barefoot12 maybe not with those mics, but that's a different conversation. They didn't mention the wind pressures, that's mostly what I'm curious about.

@@JIMD6370 Wind pressures are noted on the stoplist in the link in the description.

@@Sathrandur missed that, thanks.

This is one you just have to hear. It's not a temple space or organ. The sound kinds rolls around the space. It has been voiced noticeably louder as it matures. I listen to KZfaq vids amped and with a woofer that helps bring out the pedal work. It has plenty of bass in the sweet spot in the room. Good you found the pressure stats.

Tommy Anderson pipe maker.

Yes, it was.

Same organization, renamed and rebranded

It was. The level was set for the loudest stop. The big trumpet in anti they mention it a few times. Every organ is different. It's not like a studio recording.

The police were on the way to your house at that time, it was sounding at your end of things ;)

@@HobbyOrganist They actually lost the fight ;⁠)

@@HobbyOrganist you wouldn't believe it but they're all dead, they were bunch of crooked cops

But rebuilt by Aeolian-Skinner in 1954.

What about Riverside Church?