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#1
Today is the debut of the restored "Left Stage Chamber"... a section of this instrument which hasn't been properly playable for decades-- A major milestone in the restoration of this instrument... Currently there is an archive of a "live stream" available on Facebook via the "Pipe organs of Boardwalk Hall" page...https://www.facebook.com/BoardwalkOrgans/videos/1153804061352550/

Eric
KB7DQH
#2
Jack Woodward

At last year's Miss American pageant, the Midmer-Losh pipe organ in Boardwalk Hall was played >before< the live TV coverage began. Hopefully tonight the world's largest pipe organ will be heard by the millions that tune in to watch Miss America - nationally televised on ABC at 9 p.m. EST. The organ, built into the walls and ceiling of Boardwalk Hall, is in incredibly excellent performance mode.
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The instrument is in the process of being fully restored – a 10-year, $16 million project. What will be heard is twenty percent of it's total capability. That 20% can make the floor shake! Hopefully ABC will allow a time slot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNzPEG2pUU0
29 mins · Edited · Public
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Jack Woodward
This is from someone in-the-know, from a post yesterday:
"Steven Ball, staff organist at the Hall, will be playing. The part about hoping ABC will broadcast it has to do with timing and whether they run on time for the beginning of the broadcast. I did hear they are willing to let it (be) broadcast if things run on time and smoothly. I believe it's an on the spot decision, live in the moment."
Unlike · 2 · Reply · Report · 25 minutes ago
#3
Organ concerts / The Flentrop at 50...
September 11, 2015, 01:30:09 PM
Friday October 2, 7:30 pm
Michael Kleinschmidt presents an organ recital to mark the 50th anniversary of the Flentrop organ. The program will include some pieces performed by E. Power Biggs in the inaugural recital.
St. Mark's Cathedral, Seattle, $18/$12

http://www.organmatters.com/index.php/topic,84.0.html


Eric
KB7DQH
#4
Organ concerts / Farewell Organ Recital by David diFiore
September 11, 2015, 01:24:39 PM
Friday September 11, 8:00 pm
Farewell Organ Recital by David diFiore
Celebrating his 44 years of service at UTUMC.
University Temple United Methodist Church
1415 NE 43rd St, Seattle, WA 9810. Reception follows.

Eric
KB7DQH
#5
C. B. Fisk Opus 140...

Plymouth Congregational Church

Seattle Washington...

"First Sounds"  tonight on "The Organ Loft"... Dedication this  November... Voicing in progress......

Tonally, this is going to be a very french instrument, primarily "romantic" in the style of Caville-Coll, however with significant elements in the spirit of Dom Bedos and  Cliquot :o 8) 8) 8) 8) ;D ;D ;D

info@plymouthchurchseattle.org to reserve a seat for the 3 May 2015 reopening ceremony... as the "worship space" has undergone a major renovation (removing carpet, adding tile, swapping the pews for chairs, reinforcing the walls and changing their shape to improve the acoustic to add reverberation time and add clarity to the spoken and sung voice ;)

Eric
KB7DQH
#6


http://www.ebay.com/itm/7-rank-Kimball-Boxcar-Pipe-Organ-/271607786833?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f3d15ed51

Quote
About The Project
Kimball "Boxcar" organs were the low cost, high quality solution for small rural churches throughout America.  They were designed to be easily installed and effortlessly maintained.  This one served faithfully for almost the entire 20th century before water destroyed the wind system.

We rescued it for a client, but the instrument never made it to the hoped for new home, so it is again available for purchase.

The pipework is in exquisite condition, being untouched from the factory (probably never even tuned).  The chests are in good restorable condition, the console is in fair restorable condition.  The wind system and the tubular pneumatic coupler relay are a total loss.  This is an easy conversion to an electro-pneumatic primary following a pattern that Kimball themselves used to convert these instruments.

GREAT (Manual I, 61 notes, Enclosed)
8              Open Diapason (17 basses in facade, metal-61 pipes)
8              Dulciana (metal-61 pipes)
4            Violina  (metal-61 pipes)

SWELL (Manual II, 61 notes, Enclosed with Great)
8              Stopped. Diapason (wood-61 pipes)
8              Gamba (metal-61 pipes)
4              Flute D'Amour (wood and metal-61 pipes)

PEDAL (27 notes)
16            Bourdon (wood-27 pipes)

COUPLERS   Great to Pedal, Swell to Pedal, Swell to Great, Super Octave
ACCESSORIES       Swell Expression Shoe
                                  Crescendo Shoe
DIMENSIONS        Footprint: 8'6" wide 5'8" deep (+ ~3' for bench and organist)
                             Ceiling height required:  11 feet           
- See more at: http://www.seanod.com/project/7#sthash.dayz9Ynn.dpuf

Eric
KB7DQH
#7
The following link was shared on the Facebook page of my local Classical music station and thought it relevant...

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/sep/21/pop-belongs-last-century-classical-music-relevant-future-paul-morley

Quote

    Culture
    Music
    Classical music

Paul Morley: 'Pop belongs to the last century. Classical music is more relevant to the future'

For years, this rock critic viewed classical music as pompous art of the past. Now, tired of pop, he explains why classical is the truly subversive form - and selects six favourite pieces to convert the unbeliever

   


        Paul Morley   
        The Observer, Saturday 20 September 2014   


During the 1970s and 80s, I mostly listened to pop and rock music, when even the likes of Captain Beefheart, Henry Cow and Popul Vuh were filed under pop. However far out I went as a listener, though, classical music seemed connected to a dreary sense of uninspiring worthiness that was fixed inside an ideologically suspect status quo, lacking the exhilarating suggestion of new beginnings, a pulsating sense of an exciting, mind-expanding tomorrow. There was something monstrous about it, as if in its world there were lumbering dinosaurs and toothless dragons, refusing to accept they were extinct. Next to Iggy and the Stooges and the Velvets, it sounded frail; next to Buzzcocks and Public Image, it sounded pompous. While I wrote for the NME between 1976 and 1984, interviewing stars from Lou Reed and John Lydon to Sting and Mick Jagger, I didn't think about classical music – it was from the past, back when the past stayed where it was and wasn't as easy to access as it is now.

I owned hundreds of albums and thousands of singles by the early 1980s, and then replaced them with thousands of CDs, many of them the same rock albums. Now I am rebuilding once more as compact discs become as anachronistic as 78s. I have a rapidly expanding virtual library – in my head as much as inside the cage of Google – that might date as much as the vinyl and CD libraries did, or might last me for ever.

I now listen to much more classical music than I do pop or rock and on the surface that might seem like a classic, cliched, late-life move into a conservative, grown-up and increasingly remote world. For me, though, it has been more a move to where the provocative, thrilling and transformative ideas are, mainly because modern pop and rock has become the status quo.

If you are going to go back to the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s to find music that still sounds new and challenging – because then it was an actual risk to look and sound a certain way, whereas now it is the norm – you might as well go even further back in time, to the beginning of the 20th century, to the 17th, 18th, 19th centuries. Now, with all music available instantly, and pop more a nostalgic, preservative practice rather than one anticipating and demanding change, classical music comes to fresh, forward-looking life.

The alluring, addictive sound of pop does still evolve, but what is sung about remains more or less the same; the poses, controversies and costumes repetitive and derivative. It is machines that are now the new pop stars, the performers and singers like travelling sales workers whose ultimate job is to market phones, tablets, consoles, films, brands and safely maintain the illusion that the world is just as it was when there was vinyl and the constant, frantic turnover of talent, genre and style. There is today a tremendous amount of sentimentality in making it seem as though things are as they once were, a desperate future-fearing rearrangement of components that were hip 40 years ago. But pop and rock belongs at the end of the 20th century, in a structured, ordered world that has now fallen apart.

For me, pop music is now a form of skilfully engineered product design, the performers little but entertainment goods, and that is how they should be reviewed and categorised. The current pop singers are geniuses of self-promotion, but not, as such, musicians expressing glamorous ideas.

Most rock is now best termed trad. I like a bit of product design, even the odd slab of trad, and have not turned my back completely on entertainment goods, but when it comes to music and working out what music is for, when it comes to thinking about music as a metaphor for life itself, what tends to be described as classical music seems more relevant to the future.

Once you make it through the formalities of classical music, those intimidating barriers of entry, there is the underestimated raw power of its acoustic sound and an endless supply of glorious, revolutionary music, all

easily accessed as if it is happening now. Now that all music is about the past, and about a curation of taste into playlists, now that fashions and musical progress have collapsed, discernment wiped out, classical music takes a new place in time, not old or defunct, but part of the current choice. It is as relevant as any music, now that music is one big gathering of sound perpetually streaming into the world. If you are interested in music that helps us adapt to new ideas, to fundamental change, which broadcasts different, special ways of thinking and warns us about those who loathe forms of thinking that are not the same as theirs, classical is for you.


This is only a partial quote of the whole article...  however his thesis is compelling, and certainly for the "King of Instruments"... Pity the organ does not feature in the descriptions of the six pieces he selected to review in support of his thesis statement...

Eric
KB7DQH
#8
This fun bit comprises the tonal resources of an orchestra, pipe organ, 3 vacuum cleaners, a floor polisher and ... a rifle...  And people have this funny idea that Classical music is boring >:(
#9
Schiller Institute 30th Anniversary Conference, "Time To Create A World Without War,"  Presents Pathway Out Of The Global Crisis
June 16, 2014 • 3:57AM

Nearly 300 participants met in New York City on June 15 to celebrate the Schiller Institute's 30th anniversary, answering founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche's call on the urgency to build a "World Without War."

Among the institutional participants were a number of diplomats from Asian and African nations; journalists representing a half-dozen media from around the world; two NGO activists from Africa; and organizers from American veterans groups and other political movements.

The opening panel, chaired by EIR's Jeffrey Steinberg, opened with a Beethoven piano and 'cello sonata performed by My-Hoa Steger and Jean-Sebastian Tremblay. The keynote address was delivered by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, followed by presentations by Ramsey Clark (former U.S. Attorney General), Ray McGovern (CIA veteran and co-founder of VIPS), Wayne Madsen (journalist and author), Eric Larsen (professor and author), and video-recorded remarks from Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) and Terry Strada (9/11 widow and leader of 9/11 Families United Against Terrorism). About 45 minutes of Q&A followed the presentations.

The second panel, "The Eurasian Land-Bridge and the Schiller Institute's Role in Policy for a New World of Development," was chaired by Dennis Speed, and began with a Beethoven string quartet performed by the Dirichlet String Quartet. This was followed by a message of greetings from Sergei Glaziev (Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation), after which the keynote presentation was delivered by LaRouche Democrat and former candidate for Senator from Texas, Kesha Rogers. A message was then read from Tom Buffenbarger (President of the IAM union), followed by a presentation by Col. (ret.) Bao of China, who spoke on "The New Silk Road and the New Security Architecture for Asia." A message was then read from Ray Flynn (former Mayor of Boston and former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican), and Anthony Morss (conductor), spoke on classical culture. After greetings were read from Japan's Daisuke Kotegawa, state Rep. Andrea Boland of Maine spoke on the fight for Glass-Steagall. Nomi Prins's video-recorded presentation and Mike Billington's remarks on the World Land-Bridge closed out the panel. A lively discussion period followed.

The Schiller Institute conference closed with a beautiful evening concert featuring Bach's Cantata 102, Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 10, and Brahms' Op. 82, which is a choral setting of Schiller's Nänie, and was preceded by an introduction to the poem by Helga Zepp-LaRouche.


http://larouchepac.com/node/31062

Discussion ???

Eric
KB7DQH
#10
From our local DJ / In Memory of Peter Hallock...
June 02, 2014, 07:47:53 PM
...And as the kinks get straightened out, more of "The Organ Loft" programs will be made available via Soundcloud in addition to the "live" stream from www.king.org Follow the link ;) 8)   http://www.gothic-catalog.com/The_Organ_Loft_s/685.htm

Eric
KB7DQH
#11
Is now in a building about to be destroyed. :( >:( :'(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nP-C6jAujyQ

I became aware of this via a "like" on Facebook from one of our members...

QuoteDon VerKuilen liked this.
John Panning
6 hrs · Lake City, IA ·

If you or your church have ever wanted to own an unaltered example of the work of one of America's finest German immigrant organ builders, now is the time to act. Historic St. Mary's Church in Muscatine, Iowa, will be demolished this summer and a new home is being sought for its 1877 J.G. Pfeffer & Son organ. Here is the stoplist, taken from the OHS Database entry http://database.organsociety.org/SingleOrganDetails.php?OrganID=1203

GREAT - unenclosed, 54 notes (knobs each labeled 1M)
8' Principal
8' Melodia
8' Gamba
4' Octave
4' Flote
2-2/3' Quinte
2' Octave
Mixtur 3 fach
Manual Coppel

SWELL - enclosed and expressive, 54 notes (knobs each labeled 2M)
16' Bourdon Bass
16' Bourdon Discant
8' Principal
8' Gedackt
8' Salicional
4' Flote
2' Flautino

PEDAL - unenclosed, 25 notes
16' Sub-Bass
8' Octave Bass
1M Pedal Coppel
2M Pedal Coppel

http://muscatinejournal.com/news/local/for-everything-there-is-a-season--year-old-st/article_6a6d1ecf-8583-5abf-98f5-e3f2e84d4c1e.html

Eric
KB7DQH
#12
http://www.choralnet.org/view/441962
http://insanity.blogs.lchwelcome.org/2014/05/04/tributes-pour-in/
http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/2014/04/28/dr-peter-hallock-remembered-seattles-world-renowned-choral-musician/
http://www.jonathandimmock.com/peter-hallock/

Today at Saint Mark's Episcopal Cathedral the memorial services were held, and a special tribute Compline Service, followed by a special tribute to his life's work program on "The Organ Loft" are being broadcast on KING 98.1 FM www.king.org as I prepare this post.

Quote
April 28, 2014 by Jonathan Dimmock

Peter Hallock, composer, performer, mystic, philosopher, and church musician, died yesterday afternoon at the age of 89. He died peacefully within moments of returning to his beloved home in Fall City, Washington. He was my closest friend and mentor of 25 years. What follows is a letter to him as he rests beyond the grave.

Hallock, baby!

Well, you did it! You've merged with the Light and are now a part of that great numinousness that you've always tried to communicate through your music. What's it like? Your astounding ability to communicate, through your music and through our countless conversations has awakened me to the profundity of that cosmic mystery; how glorious to think that you are now part of it. When I opened my eyes this morning, and the sun was pouring into my room, my very first thought was that you had enjoyed helping the sun up, out of its cradle, this morning – You, whose face always epitomized the radiance of the sun. When you left us, did you take one last cosmic journey over Mount Ranier – that place that you dearly loved? You always told me that you were a mountain man, and today I seem to understand that even more than before. And what about those sublime and fertile hills of the English countryside, and Canterbury Cathedral which formed you both musically and spiritually, did you take a farewell trip over those places to get one final blessing from that beauty? Or do I have it backwards? Perhaps it was you, yourself, blessing those places, that makes them so soul-enriching for the rest of us.

Now that you're on the other side, I find that I want to pummel you with questions: What are the secrets to gardening that perfect Japanese garden? Have you met Bach yet? You're probably still in the "Welcome to heaven" stage, but I'll bet you made a bee-line for John Donne. And you, who were the logical extension of French impressionistic music, must have been eagerly welcomed and thanked by Debussy, Ravel, and Duruflé. Am I right? But, knowing you as the introvert, I daresay you've opted to take your time with all of these things, and absorb the enormity of just where you are – right to the depths of your being.

And just what is your "being" now? On the one hand, I clearly sense your presence, and on the other hand, I deeply lament your passing from my sight. I look out my window at redwood trees, the sunrise kissing the mountains in the distance, the lichen-covered, ancient oak-tree out the back window, and they all seem to speak your name. How did you do that?

You know the old adage: You don't know what you've got 'till it's gone. Happily the two of us did, indeed, know "what we've got." Our friendship is, as we often commented, one of those rare gifts of grace. It's one of those friendships that only come once in a lifetime, and that, only if you're lucky. We were lucky! Thank heavens neither of us had hang-ups about being able to say how deeply we loved each other. Our mutual support of each other's charisms has blessed me beyond my wildest dreams. And although we were a generation apart, you were my Tom Sawyer, and I your Huck Finn.

We are no longer a generation apart, you and me, for where you are, there is no time; and where you still meet me, in the splendor of nature, in numinous music, in my meditations, I can join you in timelessness. Yet, at this very moment, my heart is broken open in grief. I yearn to listen to the music of Tallis right now, to your psalm settings, to men singing plainsong.

The older I get, the more I'm convinced that no two people can truly understand each other; the mystery of existence only moves in the direction of greater depth. Can we even understand ourselves? No, not on this plane. But how much gratitude I'm feeling that you helped me understand life, divinity, and beauty more than I possibly could have had I never met you. Blessed is the day we met!

Quote

Since Peter Hallock's death last Sunday, the tributes have been pouring in for this extraordinary church musician and mystic. Especially poignant and touching was the Office of Compline for April 27, 2014, which was sung at St. Mark's Cathedral on the very night that Peter died. You can hear the podcast by clicking here. Into your hands, O merciful Savior, we commend your servant Peter.  Acknowledge, we humbly beseech you, a sheep of your own fold, a lamb of your own flock, a sinner of your own redeeming.  Receive him into the arms of your mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints in light.  Amen.

From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Peter Hallock remembered: Seattle's world renowned choral musician.

From Dana Marsh, newly-appointed visiting faculty for Early Music at Indiana University: Peter was the great mentor of my teen years, during my last two years of high school. I owe him so very much. Heaven has been hugely augmented. A true visionary, mystic, musician, friend. He was a fantastic organ teacher; he understood French Classical music like few others. I remember going on hikes and having the most fantastic theological conversations. A prince of the very first order. I'm sorry only that I didn't get to see him at the end. Rest in peace, my friend.

From concert organist Jonathan Dimmock: He was my closest friend and mentor of 25 years. What follows is a letter to him as he rests beyond the grave.  Hallock, baby!

From Richard Sparks, who recorded many of Peter's works: Peter Hallock dies.

The official obituary has now been written by Jason Allen Anderson, Peter's successor as Director of the Compline Choir since 2009. I am quoting it in its entirety here:

scan0001-e1399217106699-102x150Peter R. Hallock—mystic, solitary, composer, organist, liturgist, and countertenor forever linked to Saint Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, Seattle—died of congestive heart failure on Sunday afternoon, April 27, 2014. He had just returned to his beloved home in Fall City, Wash., after a lengthy hospitalization. He was 89.

The youngest of five children, Peter was born on November 19, 1924 to George Oakley Hallock and Estella Rasmussen Hallock. Peter's brother George and sister Peggy preceded him in death. He is survived by his sisters Matilda Ann Milbank of Los Altos, Calif., and Barbara Hallock of Kent, Wash., and several nieces and nephews and a growing number of grandnieces and grandnephews.

PRH_Youth5At age five, Peter's parents enrolled him in piano lessons, and sent him, along with his siblings, to Sunday School and worship at Saint James Episcopal Church in Kent, Wash. At the age of 9, Peter had his first encounter with the numinous at Saint James; five years later, Hallock was playing the organ there. His organ teacher at the time was Clayton Johnson of Tacoma, Wash. Peter's sisters Tillie and Barbara would often trek to Saint James to hear Peter play miniature organ recitals on Sunday afternoons; whatever Hallock was doing, his sisters were always there. He was active and creative from an early age, not just in music, but also arts and crafts, weaving, letter writing, puppet theater, and soap box derby car racing.

scan0003After high school, Peter enrolled at the University of Washington (UW), but was drafted into the U.S. Army after only one year of study. From June 1943–February 1946, he served as a chaplain's assistant and sharpshooter in the Pacific theater during World War II. After the war, he re-enrolled at the UW and resumed organ performance studies with Walter Eichinger, composition with George McKay, and took music courses with Miriam Terry and Eva Heinitz, all of whom maintained a lifelong collegial relationship with Peter. Though Hallock had completed all required coursework by 1949, eighteen months of government-paid education remained, so Peter enrolled at the College of Saint Nicolas of the Royal School of Church Music (RSCM), then based in Canterbury, England. He became the first American Choral Scholar at Canterbury Cathedral, singing under the direction of Gerald Knight. In June 1951, he completed both the RSCM program and was graduated from the UW with a Bachelor of Arts in Music degree. Later, in 1958, he took the Master of Arts in Music degree from the UW.

Among his many contributions to local and national church music traditions are the introduction of countless audiences in the United States, and the Pacific Northwest in particular, to the countertenor voice, and founding the chant study group that eventually became known as the Compline Choir—an ensemble that has led to a resurgence of interest in the Office of Compline. He also fought successfully for installation of the Flentrop tracker-action organ at the cathedral, making Saint Mark's the first Episcopal cathedral to have such an instrument. He developed the Advent and Good Friday Processions and introduced liturgical dramas at the cathedral. Perhaps his greatest contribution to church music was composition and publication of The Ionian Psalter.

HallockatKimballPeter began work as organist/choirmaster at Saint Mark's Cathedral on October 28, 1951, a position he held until his involuntary retirement in 1991. He was named Canon Precentor, the first layperson in the Episcopal Church to hold such a title; he received two Bishop's Crosses from two Bishops of Olympia, was named an Associate of the Royal School of Church Music, and was granted a Doctor of Church Music degree honoris causa by Church Divinity School of the Pacific. In 1992, at the invitation of the Rev. Ralph Carskadden, Peter became organist at Saint Clement of Rome Episcopal Church, Seattle, a position he held until March 2013.

Hallock composed over 250 works, from occasional church music to extended anthems, to dramatic works (sacred and secular), to music specifically written for the Compline Choir. To discover Hallock the mystic and composer, one need only experience his music in the "Holy Box" that is Saint Mark's Cathedral. It is that "Holy Box" that provides both a physical space and musical landscape in which to hear, process, and intuit Hallock's music. The texts Peter set provide vignettes of the metaphysical and mystical, from the poetry of Alcuin, to the words of the psalmist, to the poetry of Thomas Merton. Hallock married text and music in ways that allow listeners to experience something wholly unique, something beyond themselves, something numinous. Peter said it best: "Music is a conduit to the inner, spiritual person; and I think the road to God is internal." No piece of music was immune to revision, even those already published. His most recent compositions include Advent Calendar (2012), commissioned by the Compass Rose Society to honor Archbishop Williams on the occasion of his retirement, and Victimae Paschali (2014), a work that was undergoing final revisions at the time of his death.

PRH_Russia5The Ionian Psalter, Peter's largest creative work, was born out of a desire for greater congregational participation in Psalm singing. Hallock began composing the Psalm settings on October 4, 1981 and continued through the entire three-year cycle of lectionary readings. Later, he expanded the Psalter and created a customized version for use by Lutheran congregations and those following the Revised Common Lectionary. The Psalter's name is derived from Ionian Arts, Inc., the music publishing company founded in 1986 by Peter and his lifelong friend and business partner Carl Crosier.

10-1-06 5657At Peter's invitation, twelve men from the university and community began study of chant in 1955. This study group solidified into a choir that sang the Office of Compline on Sundays at 9:30 p.m. beginning in late 1956. Classical 98.1 KING-FM began broadcasting the service in 1962. Hallock once wrote of Compline: "The Compline service may find its best definition not in terms of what it is, but what it does, for the needs it fulfills for those who attend in person, the large radio audience, and members of the choir. For all of these it is part of a journey towards God. Such a journey must allow for definitions as varied as its sojourners with the promise of a goal as 'wide as sky and sea.'" Peter directed the Compline Choir until his retirement in June 2009.

As a soloist, Peter began to concertize as a countertenor in 1951, exposing audiences to that unique sound for the first time. The countertenor voice was so unusual in the U.S. that colleges and universities across the country soon requested performances—from the University of California, Berkeley, to the University of South Alabama. As a conductor, Peter's most memorable conducting might be his first performance of Handel's Messiah using period or replicas of period instruments in 1985. This period style performance was a first for Seattle; concerts sold out and critics raved.

IMG_1187As an organist, Peter's lasting legacy at the cathedral is the mechanical-action organ built by the Dutch firm D. A. Flentrop. Installation of the organ began in late 1964 and tonal finishing took place in July 1965. For the dedication, Peter composed Hail Universal Lord. Hallock believed installation of the Flentrop to be one of his greatest accomplishments: "I suppose the Flentrop might be my greatest accomplishment, provided we don't blow ourselves off the earth, it'll probably be there for a century or two."

PRH_SM1As a liturgist, Peter contributed something new to the Advent and Good Friday Processions held at the cathedral. He composed music for two choirs in dialogue (Cathedral and Compline Choirs), liturgical handbells from the firm Petit and Fritsen based in Aarle-Rixtel, Holland, and organ. Hallock's ultimate metamorphosis of the Advent Procession was in crafting the liturgy around the seven 'Great O Antiphons' and the setting each of the antiphons to music, using all the pomp and drama he could muster. As a dramatist, Peter produced liturgical dramas at the Summer School of Church Music held at Saint Mark's in 1965. Hallock was assisted by Ronald Arnatt (music director), Aurora Valentinetti (dramatic director), and Glenn White (sound engineer). This production team, minus Arnatt, collaborated on future productions in 1968, 1969, and 1975 for Hallock's Everyman and 1970, 1971, and 1974 for his Days of Herod.

PRH_patio_2013Hallock worked extensively within The Episcopal Church, having been appointed to the Joint Commission on Church Music in 1965; he also directed the choir for the 1967 General Convention of the Episcopal Church. His work with the Joint Commission on Church Music centered primarily on production of the 1973 Songs for Liturgy and More Hymns and Spiritual Songs. Embedded within Songs for Liturgy was the introduction of new, intriguing sounds, like handbells, percussion, and clapping and antiphonal congregational texts, into the worship space.

Though Hallock's music, creativity, innovations, and contributions to church music are notable, his greatest legacy is the community and family of musicians, mystics, solitaries, composers, weavers, theologians, humanists, agnostics, acousticians, "sound nuts", chefs, gardeners, nature lovers, and lovers of beautiful things with whom Peter cultivated lifelong friendships. Whether meeting him in the office, organ loft, or his home, following his direction in a rehearsal or performance, sharing a martini over lunch or dinner, exchanging letters or emails, weaving with him at the loom, hiking or walking with him along a nature trail, digging in the dirt with him in his Japanese garden, or collaborating with him on a recording or video project, it was the friendship that mattered most.

A memorial service will be held Sunday, May 18, 2014 at 5 p.m. at Saint Mark's Cathedral, 1245 Tenth Ave E, Seattle. Contributions in Peter's memory can be made to one of two 501(c)(3) designated charities; please note "Hallock Legacy" on your gift:

    The Compline Choir
    1245 Tenth Ave E • Seattle, WA 98102
    The Cathedral Foundation of the Diocese of Olympia
    1551 Tenth Ave E • Seattle, WA 98102

By Jason Allen Anderson, Peter Hallock's Biographer, Friend, and Caregiver
and second director of the Compline Choir (4 May 2014)


Eric
KB7DQH
#13
Well, in a few hours I am about to find out... Tonight in about 8 hours Cameron Carpenter will be playing the Watjen Concert Organ in the Taper auditorium of Benaroya Hall in Seattle... (but this Fisk is equipped with something called a "Kowalashin lever" IIRC ???)

http://www.teentix.org
Quote
Organ series: Cameron Carpenter
Music

Partner Organization

Seattle Symphony
Location

Benaroya Hall
Benaroya Hall
200 University Street
Seattle, WA 98101

Cameron Carpenter, organ

Bernstein /trans. Cameron Carpenter: Candide Overture

Mozart: Sonata in D major, K. 284

Dupré: Variations on a Noel, Op. 20 Bach /arr.

Cameron Carpenter: Etude on the Prelude from Cello Suite No. 1 in G major, BWV 1007

J.S. Bach: Trio Sonata for Organ in G major, BWV 530

Demessieux: Six Etudes for Organ Liszt /trans. Cameron Carpenter: Funérailles In addition to the above pieces, Cameron Carpenter will perform several improvisations of his choosing. "Carpenter is already the most gifted organist in many a generation. And he's only just begun." — The Los Angeles Times. Performance does not include the Seattle Symphony.

Stay tuned...

Eric
KB7DQH
#14
A provocative title, yes? This refers to an event which occurred during a rehearsal for The Compline Service, remembered as one of the "craziest events" which had taken place over the many years, since 1956 when this service was first offered at Saint Mark's Cathedral in Seattle, Washington. The longest-serving member of the Compline Choir has recently published a book about his experiences, now available through www.gothic-catalog.com  entitled "Prayer as Night Falls--Experiencing Compline" authored by Ken Peterson, who began his experience in 1964.

He was interviewed by Roger Sherman and the interview broadcast as part of the 619th edition of "The Organ Loft"... 

For years the service was sung in an empty, dark cathedral, with perhaps a spouse of one of the choir members present, then about the time the new Flentrop pipe organ was installed (1965) the service was discovered oddly enough by the population of "hippies and flower children" many of which would listen to the service while lying on the floor, staring at the ceiling... And immediately following Compline one of the choir members would demonstrate the organ "to the delight of many young people"... Most of the remaining "crazy events" surrounding Compline usually were the result of the after-compline organ demonstrations as at the time "anyone who wanted to play the organ could play it" ;)

Personally, my "experiences with Compline" began as a child as my Mom and Dad would tune in on Sunday evenings to hear the broadcast, which has been carried on KING FM www.king.orgsince the early 1960's.

Eric
KB7DQH
#15
I have been hearing a goodly number of promotions of this event on the local classical music station so I figured I would do a web search for a bit more information, rather than simply looking it up on the Seattle Symphony webpage, and.........

http://www.teentix.org/calendar/event/organ-series-joseph-adam


QuoteOrgan series: Joseph Adam
Music

Partner Organization

Seattle Symphony
Location


Benaroya Hall
200 University Street
Seattle, WA 98101

Joseph Adam, organ


Dupré: Prelude and Fugue in B major, Op. 7, No. 1
Vierne: Symphony No. 4 in G minor, Op. 32
Liszt: Prelude and Fugue on B.A.C.H.
Saint-Saëns: Prelude and Fugue in B major, Op. 99, No. 2
J.S Bach : Passacaglia in C minor, BWV 582


Seattle Symphony Resident Organist Joseph Adam performs works by Saint–Saëns, Bach and more. World-class organists meet the magnificent Watjen Concert Organ — a marvel of old world craftsmanship and modern technology.
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8) 8) 8) 8)

Eric
KB7DQH
#16
New Pipe Organs / Royal Opera House, Muscat, Oman
December 27, 2013, 07:59:56 PM
Quote
The pipe organ has been called the King of musical instruments. After the concert at the ROHM last week, there are many who would say that the pipe organ is not the King – it's the Emperor.

The origins of this mighty instrument lie in the simple reed pipes that were played in ancient Greece and associated with the Greek god, Pan, whose realm was the wilds, nature's fields and forests, shepherds and their flocks.

In the third century BC in Greece, a water organ known as the hydraulis was invented. Water power from a natural source was used to push air through the pipes and the music was played on a keyboard. Eventually, in Roman amphitheatres, the hydraulis was played to add excitement to competitions and performances.

By the second century AD, bellows were used to pump the air through the pipes; and, in the thirteenth century, portable organs were popular for both sacred and secular music. In the fourteenth century, large organs were known in Germany, some of which had bellows that were operated by as many as ten men.

During the Renaissance when construction became more sophisticated and tonal colour more varied, pipe organs spread throughout Europe where they were used in cathedrals and for the grand balls of aristocrats. The popularity of this by-now magnificent instrument reached a zenith in Europe in the glory of the Baroque period of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a golden age for the pipe organ.

The era of silent film in the early twentieth century brought a resurgence of organ music which proved effective in creating atmosphere, propelling action and emphasizing dramatic moments. Today, the pipe organ is still the preferred liturgical instrument and it would be hard to find a cathedral in any part of the world without one.

A Royal Pipe Organ

A focal point in the splendour of the concert hall at the Royal Opera House Muscat is the utterly magnificent pipe organ that reigns over the stage from the back of the concert shell. The pipes, numbering 4,542 and ranging in size from an astounding 9.75 metres to a miniscule 1.18 centimetres, are made of gilded metal decorated with beautiful zouag painting in regal colours and geometric patterns. The pipes are encased in an intricately carved wooden cabinet featuring classic Islamic decorative motifs.

Although the pipe organ blends seamlessly into the wood of the concert shell  and weighs some fifty tones, it is moveable on rail tracks, as the shell separates from the proscenium when the stage changes from theatre to concert mode.  It is one of the few large pipe organs in the world designed with this capability.

This very special organ contains four keyboards and seventy stops or mechanisms that control the flow of air to a row of similar pipes, and thus produce a particular kind and quality of sound. Stops are usually named after the orchestral instruments with a sound similar to the one that they produce – such as the flute, trumpet, violin or horn.

A set of three especially wonderful stops have been named 'Solo Royal' and they produce: 1) the sound of tubular bells; 2) an unusually bright, crisp timbre; and, 3) an exceptionally fine flute voice.  Overall, the organ has a beautiful warm sound which reverberates and fills the entire hall with a tangible richness.

The ROHM organ was purpose-built by one of the world's finest pipe organ manufacturers, the Johannes Klais Company established in 1882 in Bonn, Germany. The process started with the careful selection and cutting of trees and included customised metal casting and in-house manufacture of parts. The details of the creation of the ROHM pipe organ were explained in a fascinating talk by Philipp, great-grandson of the founder of the Klais Company, at a symposium held in conjunction with the concert.

Voice of the Great Hall

In the moments before the concert began, the vast organ stood in silent splendour, the gold of its pipes glittering under lights, as everyone waited for the sound to break out and give the great hall its rightful voice.

As French soloist Marie Bernadette Dufourcet struck the keyboards in the Allegro Vivace movement of a symphonic piece by Charle-Marie Widor (1844-1937), it was as if musical peals of thunder began to roll through the hall like the streaming heavens - all-powerful and full of glory.

Then there was a sudden change as the music flowed gently like a running brook sliding on clouds into slow rivers. The mighty lion became a lamb. These were the first of the many moods of the organ that we would experience in the concert.

Next the audience was surprised by a jazz performance, which, at first thought, would seem antithetical to the organ, associated as it predominantly is with liturgy and grand ceremony. German soloist, Barbara Dennerlein, accompanied by percussionist Pius Baschnagel on drums, proved otherwise with an energetic, toe-tapping rendition of The Unforgettable. Barbara was demonstrably right when she emphasized the incredible versatility of the instrument. Half way through the first piece, it was easy to forget that Barbara was playing an organ, such was her skill in turning it into a sax, a trumpet, a trombone, a clarinet.

The Organ & a Very Fine Small Orchestra

ROHM's richly endowed program included the Ukrainian National Ensemble of Soloists 'Kyivska Kamerata', a very fine small orchestra that specialises in chamber music from all periods. Under the baton of Hisham Gabre, they began with Tomaso Albinoni's (1671-1751) Adagio for Organ and Strings in G Minor, featuring Omani soloist Rashid Salim Al Rashidy on the organ. With the orchestra ascendant and the pipes seeming to roll in from a great distance like waves on the shore, this piece had celestial overtones and gave me the sensation of riding a ship in the sky.

This was followed by Franz Liszt's (1811-1866) Fantasy and Fugue in the Name of Bach with the orchestra accompanying Giampaolo di Rosa on the organ.  Lebanese soloist and composer, Naji Hakim completed the program with his two of his own compositions, a concerto for organ and string orchestra and an improvisation on Omani themes.
From start to finish, the experience was both beautiful and sensational. The program seemed perfect at this point in the opera season and it gave us an even greater sense of pride in the Royal Opera House Muscat.
           

http://www.timesofoman.com/News/Article-27483.aspx

Eric
KB7DQH
#17
Quote 'Why are there so many buttons?'
By JAMES DRAPER
news1@kilgorenewsherald.com

NEWS HERALD photo by JAMES DRAPER NEWS HERALD photo by JAMES DRAPER Super Mario, edelweiss and supercalifragilisticexpialidocious – the repertoire of this week's East Texas Pipe Organ Festival featured more than fugues, fanfares and fantasias.

In his third year performing for local and cross-country music aficionados, organist Brett Valliant once again offered a pop culture pastiche for pintsized pipe organ pupils this week, welcoming more than 300 Chandler Elementary School students to St. Luke's United Methodist Church Wednesday morning. While playing renditions of familiar tunes on the church's Opus 1175 (another Aeolian-Skinner pipe organ designed by festival honoree Roy Perry in 1952), Valliant and festival organ tuner Steve Emery also allowed the children a quick peek behind the curtain of the 'King of Instruments.'

Valliant's annual accompaniment of a select silent movie – this year, Cecil B. Demille's 'King of Kings' featured at First Presbyterian Church Wednesday night – has become the three-yearold festival's highest-attended event, but he found an equally eager crowd among the 14 classes of second graders earlier in the day.

Chandler Elementary School second grader Cade Henry takes a peak at the inner workings of St. Luke's United Methodist Church's pipe organ Wednesday morning. NEWS HERALD photos by JAMES DRAPER Chandler Elementary School second grader Cade Henry takes a peak at the inner workings of St. Luke's United Methodist Church's pipe organ Wednesday morning. NEWS HERALD photos by JAMES DRAPER With 2,000 plus pipes, "In this organ the longest pipe is 16-feet-long," Valliant told the wide-eyed, fidgety audience. "The smallest one is smaller than a pencil."

Dozens of tiny hands leapt into the air as soon as the Wichita, Kans.organist invited questions.

"Why are there so many buttons?"

The pre-sets make it easier for the organist to perform complex pieces, Valliant explained, rather than having to constantly adjust settings.

"Which pipes make the really low sound?"

The low sounds are the white wooden ones, the organist noted, while the tiny metal pipes make the high sounds.

"The very biggest pipes are sometimes the softest," Valliant said.

Expanding the organ festival's events into the classroom is important, he added later, opening a wider musical world to the children.

"I think that they gain an awareness," he explained. Maybe one child in 1,000 will pursue the piano or organ and "With so many kids who don't go to church anymore where these organs are, this is a means of introducing them to an instrument that's so stationary they have to come to it."

Certainly, Valliant mixed classical pieces into his pop melody program for the kids.

However, "It's all about trying to get it into something they may have heard elsewhere in their world."

In order to reach audiences unfamiliar with the beauty of the pipe organ, performers have to create a special draw. Hence, the silent movie, Valliant said: it appeals to movie fans and cult film connoisseurs as well as history buffs who want to experience a style of show that faded from marquees decades before they were born.

"I think everyone who shows up ends up being pleasantly surprised at how the organ just fades away, it becomes part of the film score," he insisted. "It's a perfect marriage between something visual and something auditory."

Primarily employed as a music director and organist at First United Methodist Church in Wichita, Valliant splits his time with freelance work in other venues like Kilgore's pipe organ festival.

For fellow festival feature performer Joby Bell of North Carolina, the local event is one of the best ideas he's seen in a while. In its first two years, the Kilgore organ celebration – brainchild of First Presbyterian Church organist and choirmaster Lorenz Maycher – has already reached national and international audiences.

"It's helping keeping the word out about these fine instruments in this part of the world and their history," Bell said. "And they sound wonderful."

The programming developed by Maycher, his committee of volunteers and their guest performers has been amazing, Valliant agreed, unsurprised this year's festival sold out its first block of local hotel rooms for registered guests.

"I think it's gained a following for being good quality and (for the) really outstanding instruments this area has to offer," he said, all the handiwork of Maycher's predecessor, Perry, spread throughout multiple cities. "Every year it's gained attendance as the momentum has built."

http://www.kilgorenewsherald.com/news/2013-11-16/Front_Page/Why_are_there_so_many_buttons.html

8) 8) 8)

Eric
KB7DQH
#18
http://www.thespec.com/news-story/4179876-wanted-a-good-home-for-a-very-big-church-organ/

The organ is available "free to a good home" and the developer is willing to help with the relocation...

More about the organ...http://members.shaw.ca/radenton/For%20Sale.htm

Quote GENERAL INFORMATION FOR THE PIPE ORGAN in James Street Baptist Church, Hamilton, Ontario



            For more information contact.



Maggie Steele   Realtor

905-308-1274



                                   OR



            R. A. Denton & Son, Organ Builders

            140 Mount Albion Road

            Hamilton, Ontario. L8K 5S8               

            Phone 905-561-1331

            Email radenton@shaw.ca

CONSOLE DESCRIPTION:

            The 3-manual Casavant drawknob console has an oak shell complete with roll top and bench.  In 1988 the oak shell was refinished and is in good condition, (mid brown colour).  The interior of the console is all original 1939 Casavant hardware including the coupler assemblies (key contact system for the manual keyboards), the electro-pneumatic pedal stop switches and pedal couplers, and the capture style combination action (adjustable, single memory pistons).  Some minor re-leathering of the pneumatics for the Full Organ piston and reversible pistons is required at this time.  All other console components are operating.  The manual keyboards are ivory and ebony, and the pedal board has maple keys.  This console requires wind at approximately 6" W.P. to operate.  All of the original Casavant stop draw knobs and tilting tablets respond promptly to the pistons.  The hardware in the console is showing some signs of wear; however it continues to operate well even after 73+ years of use.

            The console is 68" wide, 52" tall and 60" from the back of the console to the back of the pedal board, (add a few more inches for the organ bench).    The moveable platform (console dolly) is approximately 71" wide, 67" deep, and 6" tall.

            Although this pipe organ has not been the primary instrument used for worship at this church for the past 15 years, the organ has been played every few weeks.  The organ service log books covering the past 25 years are available.

THE CHEST ACTIONS:

            The organ contains Casavant standard Pitman electro-pneumatic action.  The action is compact and very reliable.  For most of the pipechests, the action is accessed from the bottom of the chests by simply unscrewing bottom panels.  All chest actions are still operating on the original leathers and felts circa 1939.  To date, only three valves in the pipechest for the Pedal Open Diapason 16' (notes #1-#12) have failed.  The valves in the main pipechests for the Swell, Great and Choir have not given any problems, however all the leathers on these valves are original and are now 73 years old.

GENERAL LAYOUT OF THE ORGAN CHAMBER COMPONENTS:

             The organ chamber is located at the front of the church on a second floor approximately 10' above the main church floor.  There is a large new open staircase on the front right-hand side of the church which should facilitate the removal of most organ components.  Once the organ façade is removed, the largest components could be lowered directly down to the main floor.

             The organ façade was part of the original S. R. Warren pipe organ built in 1891.  Originally stained a very dark brown, the wood of the façade (from now extinct species of Chestnut trees) was sandblasted during the 1988 church renovations and is now a light golden colour with a deep textured surface.  The façade pipes are made of zinc and have been painted gold.  Prior to 1939 some of these pipes did play, but they no longer function.  This façade is available with the organ.

            In its current layout, the four divisions (Swell, Great, Choir and Pedal) require an organ chamber with minimum dimensions 24.6' wide x 10' deep x 26.4' tall. Currently the organ chamber has a dropped floor in the middle of the chamber. Some minor changes to the length of the chest legs may be required in another installation. The Swell and Choir chambers could be lowered by several feet in a new location with minimal changes to the layout.

            The Swell division is on the left side of the chamber.  The Swell box enclosure is 10' 3"wide x 10'deep x 13'tall and is approximately 7' above the chamber loft floor. It is supported by five large posts (see diagram).  The expression louvers are located on the front side of the Swell box.  The space below the Swell box contains the main Swell bellows, Tremulant and various air conveyances.

            On the right side of the chamber is the Choir division.  The Choir box enclosure is 5.5' wide x 10' deep x 13' tall and is also approximately 7' above the chamber loft floor and it also is supported by five large posts. The Choir expression louvers are located on the front side of the Choir box as well as on the right side facing the Great division.  The area below the Choir box contains the Choir bellows, Tremulant, a couple of boxes containing switching for the 32' electronic reed base and various air conveyances.  The pneumatic action Chimes (20 notes A to E) are hung on the outside of the Choir expression box. These chimes are not Casavant but were an addition to the organ in 1991.

            The Great and Pedal divisions fill in the space between the Swell and Choir division.  Two layers of cross supports extending from the Swell posts to the Choir posts and form the supports for Great and Pedal wind chests.  The lower cross supports hold the pipechests for the Trombone 16' (32 pipes on a separate pipe chest), the Violone 8' (32 pipes on a separate pipechest), the Bourdon 16'/8' (44 pipes on a separate chest), and the Open Diapason 16' (notes #13 to #44 on a separate chest). These pedal chests are 10' long.

            Notes #1 to #12 of the Pedal Open Diapason 16' stop are located on a second separate pipe chests on the centre top level behind the Great division and above the walk way.  The Great division has two pipe chests which share a single primary action.  This action is located under the central Great walk board.  The Great pipechests are approximately 3' higher than the pipechests of the Swell and Choir divisions.

BLOWER:

           The organ blower is located in a room to the left of the organ chamber. It is a modern 3hp, 3-phase Zephyr Electric Organ Blower installed in 1992 and it is in very good working order.

SUMMARY:

            In general, the condition of the organ is very good considering its age.  If moved and installed carefully the organ should give good service for many decades to come.  Most likely re-leathering of pipechests and bellows will be needed in the future; this is normal procedure.  The organ's design is of the traditional romantic style of the 1930's period and was of the highest quality when it was constructed.  We would recommend this instrument to any purchaser who has the space and funds to install it.





STOPLIST SPECIFICATION



SWELL



16' Bourdon

8' Open Diapason

8' Stopped Diapason

8' Viola da Gamba

8' Voix Celeste

8' Aeoline

4' Flauto Traverse

2' Flageolet

III Mixture



8' Cornopean

8' Oboe

8' Vox Humana



Tremulant



Swell Sub

Swell Unison Off *

Swell Super





GREAT



8' Diapason I

8' Diapason II

8' Doppel Flute

8' Dolce

4' Principal

4' Wald Flute

2' Fifteenth



8' Harmonic Trumpet



Great Super

Great Unison Off *

Great Unison Off *

Swell Sub to Great*

Swell to Great*

Swell Super to Great*

Choir Sub to Great*

Choir to Great*

Choir Super to Great*



CHOIR



               8' Open Diapason                   

8' Melodia

8' Dulciana

4' Harmonic Flute

2' Piccolo



8' Clarinet



Tremulant

Chimes



Choir Sub

Choir Unison Off *

Choir Super

Swell Sub to Choir*

Swell to Choir*

Swell Super to Choir*



PEDAL



l6' Open Diapason

l6' Bourdon

l6' Lieblich Bourdon (SW)

8' Bass Flute (Ext. O.D.)

8' Stopped Flute (Ext. Bour.)

8' Cello



32' Contra Trombone

l6' Trombone



Great to Pedal*

Great Super to Pedal*

Swell to Pedal*

Swell Super to Pedal*

Choir to Pedal*

Choir Super to Pedal*



* Intra-manual couplers and Unison Offs are on tilting tablets.



ELECTRO-PNEUMATIC COMBINATION ACTION:



4 Swell thumb pistons

3 Great thumb pistons

3 Choir thumb pistons

3 Pedal thumb pistons

4 Generals (toe studs)



6 Reversibles:

Swell to Pedal (thumb)

Great to Pedal (thumb, toe stud)

Swell to Great (thumb)

Choir to Great (thumb)

Choir to Pedal (thumb)

Swell to Choir (thumb)

1 Full Organ (toe stud)

1 Adjust

1 Release

2 Expression Pedals (Swell, Choir)

1 Crescendo Pedal

4 Meters: Wind, Full Organ, Voltage, Crescendo.


Eric
KB7DQH
#19
http://www.omaha.com/article/20131020/LIVING/131029972/1696&ct=ga&cd=ODMzODI2MDgxNjUxNTI3NjI3Ng&cad=CAEYAA&usg=AFQjCNGWmNK4wmlTrvoLb-KstAyCWLwqaA

Marie Rubis Bauer sits at the bench of an immaculate pipe organ three stories tall and summons forth sounds centuries in the making.

Bauer, 51, the director of music ministries for Omaha's St. Cecilia Cathedral, performs two versions of a piece by Johann Sebastian Bach. First, she plays in a "modern" tuning system: powerful, dissonant and slightly foreboding — the organ of masked phantoms hiding out in opera houses. Then, she plays the piece as Bach would have heard it in his time: lighter, sweeter and more delicate, like hundreds of piccolos in harmony.

This ability to switch styles and evoke some 700 years of sound — or play in two temperaments, in organ speak — makes the pipe organ that sits high above the west entrance at St. Cecilia a musical landmark in the United States. There is one other like it in the country, on the campus at Stanford University.

"In organ circles, this organ would be known on a world basis," Bauer said.

Over the next month, St. Cecilia Cathedral will celebrate the organ's 10th anniversary with a series of events, beginning with a free concert Tuesday night featuring Olivier Latry, chief organist at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

Latry, a world-renowned performer praised for his improvisation, also appeared at St. Cecilia during the year-long celebration of the instrument's installation.

Bauer recalls that when Latry arrived a decade ago, he spent hours and hours getting to know the organ before playing it for the public. It is an idiosyncrasy unique to an instrument that is architectural in nature. Organists do not travel with their instruments; they travel to them.

"Up until the Industrial Revolution, organs and clocks were some of the most sophisticated things that people built," Bauer said.

The innards of the St. Cecilia organ — officially known as the Pasi Opus 14 — illustrate her point. Behind the intricate wood shell that faces the congregation courses an elaborate mechanism of wood and lead capable of operating without electricity. An entire room to the north of the organ is devoted to the intake and output of air, providing the wind that gives voice to the 5,500 pipes.

The organ was designed by an Austrian named Martin from a Washington town called Roy.

Martin Pasi of Pasi Organ Builders researched, built and installed the $1.1 million instrument, a process that spanned five years and produced an organ that draws visitors from around the world. An artisan organ builder such as Pasi faces numerous challenges, starting with the acoustics of their environment. In this regard, the Omaha cathedral was ideal.

"As far as the sound goes, it's a beautiful room," Pasi said. "One can usually only dream about these kinds of things. I had the luxury of actually having one to work in like that."

Pasi returned to Omaha for the organ's 10th anniversary. He'll check to see if it requires any maintenance before taking in Latry's performance.

"My career wouldn't be the same without that instrument," he said. "It has always been extremely special to have had the privilege to build that organ."

Most days, the privilege of playing goes to Bauer, who came to St. Cecilia the year the instrument debuted. On Sundays, she arrives at the cathedral at 6 a.m. to practice for an hour before doors open, then plays at Masses into the early afternoon.

"It's life-changing every time I sit down (to play)," she said. "I'm a lucky duck."

Bauer grew up outside the small town of Lakefield, Minn., where her music-loving father listened to Bach as he milked cows and volunteered as the church organist on Sundays. She followed in his footsteps and then some, completing her education with a doctorate from the University of Kansas, a school known for training organists.

On a recent weekday morning, Bauer demonstrated the range, power and responsiveness of the St. Cecilia organ, manipulating the dozens of keys, knobs, levers and pedals that give voice to the instrument — or more accurately, voices.

"If an organist is doing their job, they're managing a large choir," she said. "Some would say orchestra, but because it's wind, I say choir."

She looks forward to this week's anniversary concert — though she recognizes a decade is a blip in the life span of an instrument built to last centuries.

"In the life this organ will lead, 10 years is just the beginning," she said.

* * * *

If you go...

What: Olivier Latry, chief organist for Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris
When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday
Cost: Free
Where: St. Cecilia Cathedral, 701 N. 40th St.
Information: cathedralartsproject.org

Eric
KB7DQH
#20
New Pipe Organs / Yet Another one...
October 12, 2013, 08:17:14 AM
A new Casavant being delivered to a church in Kirkwood, Missouri...



QuoteFirst Presbyterian Gets New Organ

Organ will be put together, played on Christmas Eve

by Jaime Mowers


   
   
Jimmy Pille (bottom left) and Chris Strode (middle) of McGuire Moving and Storage, and Philip DuFour (bottom right) of Casavant Freres organ company, move one of the larger organ pipes upstairs. The tin, copper and wood pipes, which range in size from two inches to 32 feet, will not only grace both sides of the sanctuary, but the back wall of the balcony as well. photo by Diana Linsley (click for larger version)
October 11, 2013
The sanctuary at First Presbyterian Church in Kirkwood has been turned into a construction zone as multiple pieces and more than 4,000 pipes for a new, top-of-the-line organ from Canada is delivered and assembled.

It's taken three semi trucks to bring the parts to First Presbyterian Church from Quebec, Canada, and professional movers to get all 4,357 of the organ's pipes in the sanctuary. Scaffolding is set up, plastic tarps line the pews and pieces of the organ have been carefully set aside for assembly.

Church services will be held in the fellowship hall for the month of October while crews assemble the organ, said Judy Roberts, co-chair of the church's organ committee.

"It will take the month of October to install the organ, and then the 'voicer' will come in and tune each pipe individually," Roberts said last week as the organ's massive, wooden console - where the musician sits to play the keyboards - was unloaded from the second semi truck.

Tuning the organ's 4,000-plus pipes is expected to take four to five weeks, Roberts added. The tin, copper and wood pipes, which range in size from two inches to 32 feet, will not only grace both sides of the sanctuary, but the back wall as well.

The church is getting a new organ because its old one was in need of replacement. However, the 1957 Wicks organ will find new life at a cathedral in the capital city of Apia in Samoa.

The new $1.72 million Casavant pipe organ will be played for the first time at First Presbyterian Church on Christmas Eve.

"Our old one was played for the first time on Christmas Eve in 1957, so we want to keep with the tradition," Roberts said.

Read more: http://www.websterkirkwoodtimes.com/Articles-Kirkwood-i-2013-10-11-190367.114137-First-Presbyterian-Gets-New-Organ.html#ixzz2hUKWzXvu
Follow us: @WKTimes on Twitter | WebsterKirkwoodTimes on Facebook
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QuoteHowever, the 1957 Wicks organ will find new life at a cathedral in the capital city of Apia in Samoa.

... And thus an "organ preserved" as well...

Eric
KB7DQH