Pipe Organ at National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception Pastorale (2)

[tenney1119]

I certainly don't find the room reverb to be too short at all. Both this piece and the Dukas sound wonderfully reverberant. Certainly the equal of Ste Ouen.

[lustful2]

I adore this Moller organ ! The Church also similar in byzantine style to that of Westminster cathedral where i from in the uk. That pastorale by Roger Ducasse is awesome. Not a work I play very much but it shows off t he tonal range of any instrument when well played such as here. Well done.

[jdcrash7]

This is the biggest reading of this piece that I have heard. Spectacular. The Bombarde 32 is obscene and I love every single Hz of it! Glorious performance on a glorious instrument.

[trompettechamade1]

@jdcrash7 The Bombarde 32 was called the Trombone 32 until the recent rebuild when, I believe, it was scaled back a bit. When the full organ was playing, there were 2 solo voices that dominated the rest of the sound; the Pontifical Trumpet and the Trombone 32 (just as loud). It has been likened to the Queen Mary coming in to dock! Mr. a55b47 probably remembers it from back then.

[trompettechamade1]

@jdcrash7 About 40 years ago, I was in the organ loft with a friend and Mr. J. Reilly Lewis, a truly excellent Organist in DC. We decided to try Rackmaninoff's Prelude in C# minor on it. The pedal 32s were silenced on for the 1st 2 notes (A, G#) but were added to the full organ for the low C#! The efect was electric! The 32' Trombone (as it was called before the 2003 tinkering) shook the place! I do believe that the recent re-buiild scaled it back a bit and renamed it a Bombarde 32.

[belamoure]

What monumental lace of sounds and harmonies you managed to play- like an imminent snowstorm on Las Vegas! Beautiful Church.

[a55b47]

Well, I can showcase instruments in the Washington, DC, area, because that's where I live. And we do have several worthy instruments in superb acoustical environments, like the Shrine & National Cathedral. The problem with the majority of great American organs, though (& I've voiced this complaint elsewhere) is that they're in rooms that don't do them justice. We just can't compete with all those great European organs in big stone rooms.

[latribe]

Certainly the National Shrine does compete with anything in Europe, indeed and with two organs! And one of the very best of European organists! You are really lucky over there!

However, with the weak pound we hope you're going to be able to come over to England from the city of the home of Latrobe architecture in the US to the house in England which was Latrobe's first . . . and hear the organ over here perhaps when Jeremy next has leave to come back . . .

Thanks so much for this video

[a55b47]

The weak pound? You mean it's weaker than the dollar? ;-) My teen-age daughter keeps bugging me to take her to England, & I tell her," Wait until you don't have to pay 5 dollars for a Tube ride." I hear GB's prohibitively expensive even for the British. When you factor in the exchange rate, I'm surprised we're sending anyone across the pond ;-)

[trompettechamade1]

@a55b47 Thanks for sharing this excellent video; I have been attending the Shrine's Summer Recital Series on and off for decades, and am familiar with the sound of this instrument. You manage to capture the sound of the instruments you record and post very well indeed. I plan to go to more concerts if i can avoid getting caught by the blasted speed camera on Micihigan Avenue westbound approaching N. Capitol St. It already got me once, and it's the greatest detriment ot my attendance!

[a55b47]

@trompettechamade1 I'm with you on the speed camera. It's already zapped me once ;-)

[trompettechamade1]

@a55b47 The National Presbyerian Church also is a rather good venue for organ concerts, but I miss the original beautiful Romanesque building on Connenticut and N (?) they used to have. Maybe they didn't want to compete with St. Mathew's Cathedral so they sold it, only to see it replaced by another bland box, ons of many in that area! I should declare them anathema for that!

[trompettechamade1]

@a55b47 Have you heard the Organ in the new National Pres Church on Nebraska Ave? How is it? I call it the new one because I sorely miss the beautiful old Rmanesque one that used to stand on the corner of Conn. Ave. & M, where a non-descript office box now stands. Some things should never be allowed to happe; this was certainly one!

[Capricornboy]

Thank you for your beautifull videos showcasing american pipeorgans.