Moog Music Forum

I love the sound of a good pipe organ, but they are very costly to maintain, so many of them fall into disrepair. Very sad, because a fully functional one is AMAZING in the hands and feet of a skilled organist.

I have some nice Virgil Fox CDs and he is one of the best players, but hearing a pipe organ in person (or FEELING one) is candy to my ears.

MC wrote:I have some nice Virgil Fox CDs and he is one of the best players, but hearing a pipe organ in person (or FEELING one) is candy to my ears.

Exactly. I knew a guy who was a huge fan of organ music and had a $19k sound system in his cathedral ceiling living room just so he could FEEL like the organ was there. It was only an approximation of the experience, though.

Indeed. I will remember all my life the experience of listening to a Casavant 6500 Pipes Organ at Montreal's Basilique Notre-Dame Church, when I was about 8 years old. The official organist was Pierre Grandmaison and he played some Bach. I had never heard anything as impressive before, or since then...

If you're ever in Holland check out the Fokker microtonal organ:







Now that requires even more dexterity than the usual organ (which is enough work as it is).

Wow! Microtonal...

And I thought playing regular keyboard was hard ?

thealien666 wrote:I will remember all my life the experience of listening to a Casavant 6500 Pipes Organ at Montreal's Basilique Notre-Dame Church, when I was about 8 years old.

I was there just a few years ago for a concert with the OSM.

Being blessed to live just a few kilometers from the Casavant factory, I spent most every Sunday of my childhood listening to one at the local church and of course at Xmas at La Messe de Minuit, where there was always a guest player. Not one like Basilique, a littlier one

Back when I was a practicing Catholic, the organist at my church was the same one that played organ in Brewer's Stadium. His playing was the best part of the service.

Mr Arkadin wrote:If you're ever in Holland check out the Fokker microtonal organ:

Now that requires even more dexterity than the usual organ (which is enough work as it is).

Certainly is a complicated Fokker, isn't it? One might call it a mind-Fokker.

I WANT TO PLAY IT, NOW!!!!!!!!!!!

That particular Fokker organ is 31 tone equal temperament if I recall correctly. The keyboard layout was designed by R.H.M. Bosanquet back in 1850. I've built a few instruments back in the 80's based on this same design.

Alas, it never took the world by storm and we still have 12 tone equal temperament as the default choice for most Western music.

Stephen




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Not a traditional type of pipe organ but certainly the biggest and most awesome.

Stalacpipe Organ

The stalactites are the "pipes".

Wow!

Personally I would have chosen the stalagmites instead of stalactites, though. Less risk of one falling down due to heavy sound vibrations...

Being anchored to the ground would certainly be safer but I don't recall hearing of any accidents with its current configuration. In any case I think the sonic qualities from hanging objects is superior to those mounted in the floor (at least with rocks and caves).