Exuberant organist tries full organ on Widor 6th Symphony

[tonewheelplayer]

There's no way such a large instrument could be recorded correctly. That would be like playing the entire organ through one single speaker on-site and saying the organ doesn't work right. lol

[HBK30075]

What a hideous instrument. You can make all of the "microphone" excuses you want. Every recording of it sounds equally as hideous.

[latribe]

@HBK30075 Not in real life. Have you heard "Hugh Potton Reubke"? Compare also "Jeremy Filsell Hollins" with the other recording of the Hollins and you'll find the sound remarkably close. Please comment negatively on those if you like - or positively as they, and this organ as an instrument of inspiration - in real life at least - desrerves.

[latribe]

@goferjoe1 Yes - this recording sounds horrible - but the organist is exuberant. See "Hugh Potton Reubke" and "JCM Reger" to hear what this instrument is capable of and please comment appropriately there. It is so frustrating that people only look for the bad and the mad and don't bother to seek out the good, let alone comment appropriately where they see good. Hear the Grand Jeu on "French Baroque Masterclass" - there are few organs in England that are properly capable of this. . .

[MasterOfPower52]

Mais vous êtes vraiment minables avec vos orgues en plastique !!

[latribe]

@MasterOfPower52 Voyez "Hugh Potton Reubke" pour ecouter cette orgue donner le mieux!

[mushudu51]

I hate this organ!!!

[latribe]

@mushudu51 Have you heard the videos of this organ properly recorded - "Hugh Potton Reubke" "French Baroque Masterclass" ?

[mushudu51]

@latribe Yes it's different I change my sentence: this registration is horrible!

[latribe]

@mushudu51 :-) Yes! Quite appropriate in relation to comments on registration on "Hugh Potton Reubke"!

[93mrpunkt]

The Room is much to small for this Sound.

[MANTLEBERG]

Hey...if its not you playing it? **** off dont even say it.

[kasyapa]

mad organist ... exuberant organist ...

[wurlitzer3]

This appears to be somebody's home-built electronic (Hammersmith or or Hammerwood something). For soem reason it gets lots of posts here and lots of people are somehow coerced into playing it. If there was a way to automatically delete everything on this "organ", I would.

[latribe]

@wurlitzer3 Well you wouldn't like it 'cause it's not a Wurlitzer. The sound of this recording is dominated by an attempt at creating French trumpets which are not intended to blend with anything and should not be drawn with full organ. When the tonality is reduced by automatic volume control of the camera, it does sound like an accordion and there are recordings of accordions sounding like organs. Please go to the good recordings referred to in comments below and comment sensibly there.

[wurlitzer3]

@latribe As I thought I said, I have heard many youTube posts on this organ. If homebuilt kudos to its maker. It sounds as good as most electronics. But even here on YouTube you can hear the differencte. nothing beats real pipes.

[latribe]

@wurlitzer3 Of course pipes can be better - but many are worse - and really you can't tell through video and camera compression and computer speakers: armchair travelling does not prepare you for how good this instrument is in actual real life.

[BeFrSc]

@wurlitzer3 For one who has played this instrument in concert I find this Organ a fantastic instrument, electronic or not, it is an experience to listen to and to play. Nothing will ever beat the sound of real pipes, everyone knows that, but its still an instrument worthy of being played, a lot of people do go "oh, it hasn't got any pipes so it must be crap" this isn't the case, go there, try it and see for yourself.

And just for future reference, latribe here on YouTube is the builder.

[latribe]

@BeFrSc Hi Ben! Yes - thanks for asserting first hand experience. A video such this cannot give an indication to the quality of the instrument. Take a camera into the organ loft of St Paul's Cathedral London, even just 20ft from the Tubas, and it will sound no better than this.

However, I'm not entirely the builder. At the heart of the instrument is the three manual instrument that served Londonderry Cathedral for a dozen years, where it was "remarkably effective". It's just a bit bigger now!

[GJmusique]

@wurlitzer3

I tend to agree. Videos of this 'organ' pop up everywhere, and I don't really quite understand why. It's full of gadgetry that's got really NOTHING to do with organ music and organs whatsoever and it does sound totally and utterly HORRENDOUS. But perhaps that's what you're trying to achieve..?

[latribe]

@GJmusique Why have you not looked at properly recorded videos such as "Hugh Potton Reubke" and "Latrobian Whirl" and "Filsell Hollins" and made comments there? This video is about an amazing organist, not the world's best recordings. This instrument is intended for total versatility of style, registration, temperament and period and enables the organ repertoire to be brought onto the concert platform.

[GJmusique]

@latribe

Intended for total versatility?

Well. There is no way this organ can compete with a real baroque tracker or french romantic organ. It just sounds plain ugly. It sounds even worse than most electronic sampled organs I have heard... I'm sorry for being quite harsh in my criticism, but I'm used to hear the real thing. And this sounds like a Casio toy...

[latribe]

@GJmusique The casio toy sound derives from the automatic volume control of the camera audio recording. Even the speech at the end of this video is mangled by the audio quality! Have you bothered to look up Hugh Potton playing Reubke or Filsell playing Hollins or "Latrobian Whirl"? Have you bothered to look at the De Grigny Grand Tierce and Grand Jeu videos labelled French Baroque Masterclass? Can you name five other organs in the UK where such a masterclass can be held?

[latribe]

@GJmusique Search "St Maximin camera can't cope" for another organ that you should be rubbishing on the basis of armchair enjoyment of video mangling.

[latribe]

The problem is not the organ but the recording medium with the camera microphone and automatic volume control overloaded by French Trumpets.

Search "Hugh Potton Reubke" for a proper sound recording and "Latrobian Whirl" for a piece played by one of the world's finest organists on this instrument and I'll be interested to hear your comments there.

Search also "Ben Scott Hammerwood" for some other good recordings

[thomasdeserranno]

C'est extraordinaire ce genre de vidéos et de commentaires! J'en ai mal au ventre!!! :-D :-D

[latribe]

:-) These videos were just opportunities to indicate a little of what the instrument is capable of. If you search "Latrobian Dionysian Whirl" you'll find what one of the most brilliant organists of the world can do with this instrument.

Also see "French Baroque Masterclass" for the Grand Jeu and Gross Tierce, unheard in England, and "Ben Scott Hammerwood" for a concert by a very talented young organist. Also "Medieval Baroque meantone" . . .

I hope with that your mal au ventre might recover.

[wlogburn]

He must have pulled the accordion stop. ouch

[latribe]

This is an effect of experiencing a large loud organ with many reed stops, exciting at high volumes compressed to the domestic audio level, and mistunings between multiple sections of the instrument.

Recordings of accordians can sound like organs - there are many examples on YouTube - particularly, from memory, of the famous pieces, Widor 5/5 or Bach D minor.

When tuned for a concert, this instrument is brilliant. Next concert 22 Nov 09 4pm Hugh Potton - Liszt & Reubke 01342 850594 to come

[Organ11]

What piece is this supposed to be?

[octavegeigen4]

This video is made of exerpts of the various movements of Symphony No. 6 for Organ by Charles-Marie Widor. The first part is the final measures of Movement 1, the Allegro, and the remainder is from the final movement, the Finale.

[2lipsonmy0rgan]

Never drink and play organ!

[moshchops]

Ha Ha Ha! I learnt this lesson some time ago...confidence 99%, playing abilty 1%.

[tommyupoo]

I spend my life trying to find an organ that can play 'everything' and here it is. I am going to play all the worlds organs withouth moving from my seat!!

[latribe]

:-) Well of course this is one perspective - but the real purpose of this instrument is as a concert instrument on which the whole repertoire of the King of Instruments can be performed - not merely as just another venue - but to try to raise again proper enthusiasm for this King of Instruments which is otherwise in danger of dying.

Many people have simply never heard an organ in their lives, nor heard a spine-tingling good organ, a good organist nor some of the awe inspiring music

[bladeboi2]

Yes - he certainly did "try" but it wasn' necessarily any good.

[latribe]

This particular organist is a brilliant memory man but not a professional - and he forgets to put stops in! The best players - and we have a few of the world's best players performing here from time to time, know how to handle the instrument well and the experience of the most complex areas of repertoire is superb.

Come and play it, or hear it for real, instead of making a judgment upon poor camera microphone and computer sound.

The instrument gives useful possiblities for experiment

[Ntalikeris666]

and why are you saying that?

[latribe]

Because how you register this instrument makes all the difference as to what it sounds like. A number of my pipe organ builder friends enjoy recordings of the best organists playing it because, as they say, it makes the hairs on the back of their necks stand on end. It's a very exciting instrument both to play, to practice on, and played well, to listen to.

[Ntalikeris666]

Ok, you may like it , i might not.

To me it sounds like a really high pitched and strange sounding instrument.

[latribe]

Probably a case of registration coupled with poor camera mic and computer sound. Have a listen to David Pitrches playing teh Pedals, or David Pitches playing Krebs.

The French Trumpets - the Moucherel Reeds and Gabrieli Clarion are really outrageous and overpowering, inspired by the baroque organ at Albi Cathedral. They are very effective but have to be used with other things very judiciously.

[Ntalikeris666]

it doesn even sould like pipe organ......