News:

If you have difficulty registering for an account on the forum please email antespam@gmail.com. In the question regarding the composer use just the surname, not including forenames Charles-Marie.

Main Menu

Atlantic City Convention Hall Organs

Started by barniclecompton, October 11, 2010, 02:00:04 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Contrabombarde

Does anyone know what is happening with this behemoth? I went to the Association website only to find the domain had become a vendor of e-cigarettes!

Out of curiosity, are there any organists with arms long enough to reach the seventh manual or turn pages? Has it ever been played? I've often wondered. (I recall an article some years ago in Organists' Review about the Wanamaker organ in which the console was described as very comfortable and surprisingly easy to reach the sixth manual, but seven?)

David Drinkell

As far as I know, no one who has played it considers that the seventh manual is out of reach.  The manuals are inclined - the top ones steeply - to bring them into easier reach. I remember seeing one account which suggested the organ would be easier to play if it had eight manuals rather than seven!  Significantly, virtually all reports of the sound of the instrument seem to be favourable, some making particular points about the principal choruses and the general effectiveness in a building which is large enough to have had a helicopter flown in it.  Now that there looks to be a good chance of the whole beast being restored and playable, it will be interesting to see what people think of it.  Emerson Richards was, after all, a very knowledgeable and imaginative person and it is unlikely that his plan would have resulted in an intractable monster.  I believe he later regretted using so much extension and duplication, but the basic scheme appears to be a brilliant essay in dealing with a vast space.

Incidentally, there is another seven-manual console, if not actually built yet but at least in the final design stages.

http://racolby.com/pages/instruments/castro-theatre.html

Midmerlosh

Hello Again,
     Please reply with any information, photos, audio, etc. of William Jackson, the first Atlantic City Convention Hall organist. Mr. Jackson was city organist for 10 years. My wife is the daughter of Mr. Jackson. The magnificent Convention Hall organ is being played Monday - Friday at 12 noon. This half hour concert is followed by a 1/2 hour tour of the rooms of pipes. Concert and tour are both free. 20% of the organ has been restored and another 15% hopefully by the Fall. 10 million dollars is needed to complete the restoration. The sound is truly magnificent! Thanks so much.