Last
revised: 10 February 2010
Below
are many mp3 audio recordings of Prog Organ with a total playing time
over an hour and representing ten different organs. The ambience is on the "dry" side rather than "wet",
adjusted to approximate the ambience of the original
buildings. Do not expect the 10 seconds worth of St Paul's cathedral type
of reverberation washing around your ears which manufacturers impose so often on
their audio samples - they only do this to disguise the inadequate sound of their
organs. What
you hear here is the sound of accurately-simulated pipes in a realistic
acoustic.
All
the clips were recorded in real time by real players at a real
console, warts and all, not merely invented by somebody pratting around off line
with a MIDI sequencer as is so often done. The warts are effective
watermarks!
In most cases the
sub-headings below are links which will take you to other articles on this site,
where you can also access the same clips as well as
read more about the simulated organs they were recorded on. The
simulations are listed in an approximate date order (i.e. the date of the
simulated pipe organ).
Sennheiser
HD 650 phones & KEF Reference 104aB speakers are used for mastering.
1. Small
Digital Organ
This recording was made using
the classically-voiced 'Small Digital Organ' SoundFonts. More details of this organ, including the stop list, can be seen if you click
on the link above.
Prelude on the hymn tune 'Halifax'
(W T Best) - 0.98 MB/1m 4s
Reflection
(Charles Wood) - 2.01 MB/2m 16s
2.
"Neo-Baroque" Organ
This
is a simulation of the style of "neo-baroque" pipe organ commonly
built in Britain and America in the mid-20th century. While the fluework
was voiced generally along Baroque lines, there were usually attempts to make
these instruments more eclectic by including stops such as French reeds and
strings together with undulating stops. Typically at least one department
would be enclosed, borrowing and extension was used, and the action would be
electric with a plethora of couplers and registration aids. The organ here
is of this type and it could reasonably be described as a two manual version of
the 1950's Harrison & Harrison organ at London's Royal Festival Hall.
Its synoptic disposition is:
Sw:
8 . 8 (celeste) . 8 . 8 . 4 . 2 2/3 .
2 .1 3/5 . IV
. 16 . 8 . 4 . Trem
Gt:
16 . 8 . 8 . 4 . 4 . 2 . 1 1/3
. IV . 8
Ped:
16 . 16 . 16 . 8 . 8 . 4 . III . 16 . 8 . 4
Usual
couplers.
Herr Christ, der eing'ge Gottes-Sohn. BWV 601. (Bach)
- 1.74 MB/1m 54s
3. St
George's Church, Dunster
These recordings were
made on a simulation of the Hill, Norman and Beard organ of 1962 at Dunster
church in Somerset. More details of this organ, including the stop list, can be seen if you click
on the link above.
A
Memorial Piece (Parry) - 1.80 MB/1m 59s
Andante in G (Charles Macpherson) -
2.9 MB/3m 10s
4.
"WurliTzer"
Virtual Theatre
Pipe Organ
These recordings were made using
theatre style SoundFonts based on real Wurlitzer pipe samples - a fully unified
Wurlitzer
virtual theatre pipe organ in two simulated pipe chambers. Click on the
link above for its tonal analysis.
Holsworthy
Church Bells (S S Wesley
arr. Pykett) - 3.45 MB/3m 46s
Since the day I met you
- 2.45 MB/2m 40s
5.
St
Mary's Church, Pilton
These
recordings were made on a
simulation of Robert Hope-Jones's organ of 1898 which still exists at Pilton church in Devon.
More details of this organ, including the stop list, can be seen if you click
on the link above.
Melody
for the Organ (Fox) - 1.89MB/2m 3s
Vom Himmel hoch BWV 606 (J S Bach) - 706 kB/45s
6.
Bellahouston
Parish Church, Glasgow
These recordings were made on a
digital re-creation of the Cavaillé-Coll organ installed here in 1874 but
long since lost. More details of this organ, including the stop list, can be seen if you click
on the link above.
Choral
No. 1 in E (extract - Franck) - 5.9MB/6m 31s
Andantino in G minor (Franck)
- 5.75 MB/6m 16s
(the
same piece played on a simulated English "romantic" organ is available
here).
7.
Protestant Church, Romanswiller, Wasselone, France
This
much-modified organ was built originally by Stiehr-Mockers in 1843, and you can
download its history here. These Prog Organ-compatible SoundFonts were derived from Joseph
Basquin's original font which contains some exquisite sounds (downloadable
as jeuxdorgues21.rar from www.jeuxdorgues.com,
though I have
re-looped and de-noised most of the original samples).
It is sometimes refreshing to
listen to a non-Cavaillé-Coll organ!
Song
Without Words ( M Moskowski)
- 2.25 MB/2m 27s
8.
Dorfkirche,
Fraureuth
These recordings were made on a
re-creation of Gottfried Silbermann's village organ of 1742 at Fraureuth, Saxony.
More details of this organ, including the stop list, can be seen if you click
on the link above.
9.
Neue Kirche, Arnstadt
These recordings were made on a
re-creation of J F Wender's organ of 1703 at Arnstadt, where the turbulent teenage Bach
was appointed as its first organist. More details of this organ, including
the stop list, can be seen if you click
on the link above.
10.
St Peter-und-Paul-Kirche, Cappel
These
recordings were made on a re-creation of Arp Schnitger's organ of 1680,
originally in the monastery chapel of St John in Hamburg but now at
Cappel. This was one of the organs used in the 1950's by Helmut Walcha for
his series of Bach recordings. More details of this organ, including the stop list,
can be seen if you click
on the link above.
Mein junges Leben hat ein End.
(extracts - Sweelinck) - 3.8 MB/4m 9s (about
1/2 minute from each movement)
Prelude in D major. BuxWV139. (Buxtehude) -
4.57 MB/4m 59s
Vom Himmel hoch, da komm' ich her. BWV 606.
(Bach) - 828 kB/53s
Heut' triumphiret Gottes Sohn. BWV 630. (Bach)
- 1.47 MB/1m 36s
Komm, Gott, Schöpfer, heiliger Geist. BWV 631. (Bach)
- 882 kB/56s
Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier. BWV 633. (Bach) - 1.68 MB/1m
50s
Ich ruf' zu dir, Herr
Jesu Christ. BWV 639. (Bach) - 2.06 MB/2m 5s
