Celebrating Musical Instrument: Grand/Church Organ

[amirm]

I must say, I have a love hate relationship with Organ music. I always liked the Organ as a child and had a dream of playing. Then again there are a lot of boring organ music out there.

So this thread is not about any organ but the grand, massive in scale that when put combined with a great score and musician, is just heavenly. It is remarkable that they can play such an instrument with multiple keyboard, countless dials and switches, and foot pedals.

I think it would be sacrilegious to start this type of thread by using anything other than Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor (BWV 565). It is well known to all whether one is into classical music or not.

Here I present two versions with the first showing this marvelous instrument in action and the second, just the music:

1) Played by organist Hans-André Stamm on the Trost-Organ of the Stadtkirche in Waltershausen, Germany.
Toccata et fugue en ré mineur BWV 565 de Johann Sebastian Bach, interprété par Hans-André Stamm sur l'orgue Trost de la Stadtkirche, à Waltershausen, Allemagne.

2) Performed by Hannes Kastner (https://www.amazon.com/Masters-Classical-Music-J-S-Bach/dp/B000001VU7)

I must say the best rendition of this track I have heard has been on large horn speakers. My system simply can't do justice to it.

 

[amirm]

Now this back story of Hans Zimmer's creation of the delightful, absolutely delightful soundtrack of the movie Interstellar. Amazing how the large organ sounds modern and fits like a glove to a science fiction movie. Definitely worth a watch:

"There is something human about it because it needs to breath to make sound." How aptly said....

 

[amirm]

Now different covers of the Interstellar soundtrack, this one with lovely close ups of the Piano hammers:

Performed & Produced by David Robertshaw at St John's Church, Rastrick

 

[amirm]

Love this rendition too given the close up shots of the organ:

 

[amirm]

And a nice short documentary on the largest organ in the world:

The Wanamaker Grand Court Organ at Macy’s in Philadelphia is a 7-story-high contraption bigger than most people’s houses, even rich people’s. The vast maze of 26,677 pipes and baffles and bellows and wires and wooden stairways lies hidden behind what many of us have always thought was the Wanamaker Organ.

"Organists are part octopus." Love it.

 

[amirm]

And now for something completely different, Bohemian Rhapsody Played by 100+ year old fairground organ

 

[amirm]

Another wonderful composition by Hans Zimmer, the soundtrack to fascinating movie Inception: Performed again by Dave Robert Shaw

 

[amirm]

Nice (amature) rendition of Transformers soundtrack (Arrival to Earth):

 

[amirm]

Dutch organist Gert van Hoef playing Conquest of Paradise (vrije orgel-improvisatie). Lousy recording but still nice:

 

[amirm]

Game of Thrones - Main theme on church organ, piano and cello

 

[RayDunzl]

Who needs horns?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/31/house-with-huge-organ_n_6077830.html

https://www.google.com/maps/place/1...8f402f1c86b344!8m2!3d42.9744127!4d-85.6957346

 

[RayDunzl]

My paternal grandfather was pastor at this church:

I was probably exposed to it as early as age 1 or so, when we showed up from Atlanta on vacation.

Can't find an un-lit picture inside, which is the mental image I have, organ practice with the stained glass sunbeams making sparkling multicolored dust-motes in the semi-dark spooky religious atmosphere.

 

[NorthSky]

Good stuff regarding the film 'Interstellar' and the music composer Hans Zimmer.

The organ music love is like your first flight:

There is nothing more free and exhilarating:

After you pierced the sound's barrier it's like flying high all above the highest plateau, part of the Classical Opera music and chorals...the human voices.
It's like the music for the angels in the sky, the wind pipes of thousands sounds.

Many find it boring because they aren't accommodated yet to the adaptation of this master art of the organ listening.
But I can assure you that when you're ready it's like multiple orgasms.

Take your time, choose carefully your organ selections and after a certain number hours of flying you'll gain the highest rewards. ...Good luck.
It's like being reborn again from our Mom's belly to the world of wonders when we were between 16 and 29. ...Immortal youth.

It is for me anyway, without the shadow of a doubt. ....Organ, Chorals & Opera.
If you can reproduce the best and largest churches in your ultra high end room @ home, you are above the rest, suspended and floating on clouds above the surface of the planet. ...Like in a hot air balloon. ...The new immersive sound bubble of audio nirvana, the holy grail of eternal happiness.

 

[fas42]

Organ sound is very challenging to reproduce because of the complexity of the harmonics, and the tremendous levels of reverb - highly satisfying to get right ...

 

[NorthSky]

I sure agree with you Frank. And this thread is an excellent one, because of the multiplicity and complex paradigms of all the science behind the organ.
It's like an architectural map of elaborate constructions and measurements. There are no other musical instruments that much scientific and humanly emotional, among the human chords. And the power is out of this world...radically. It's like a Ferrari with one thousand Horsepower under the hood, or a Bugatti with one thousand and five-hundred Horsepower and with twenty-four cylinders, and a Bose sound system inside...cassette and CD player (AM/FM radio), with one hundred and sixteen drivers (subs and woofers and tweets and mids), including an acoustic/interior car equalizer from TRINNOV (99.1.16-channel).

 

[amirm]

FYI this is the system/demo room at CES 2016 that beat mine on Bach's Toccata (Believe High Fidelity, Aries Cerat):

 

[RayDunzl]

I bet those have a lousy spin-o-rama readout.

 

[amirm]

I bet those have a lousy spin-o-rama readout.

Yeh the parts fly out of them if you spin them too fast....

 

[Frank Dernie]

My school music teacher, a small rotund man, used to play this for all school functions that took place in the Parish Church.
He was a great guy.

 

[fas42]

Was looking for a piece done on the Sydney machine, and discovered this,

Gives a good sense of the beast, and an interesting personal perspective on the organ instrument.