Franck Pipe Organ National Shrine Adam Brakel (1)

Cesar Franck's magnum opus (at least for the organ) is performed by Adam Brakel, the Music Director & Prinicpal Organist for The Cathedral of St. Ignatius Loyola in Palm Beach Gardens, FL.


I have split it into 3 segments to fit YouTube's time limitations. Parts 2 & 3 will follow as soon as I can edit them.


Adam's performance is at the largest Catholic church in North America, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, on the campus of the Catholic University of America in Washington.


The instrument, one of Moller's largest, is a IV/157/172 behemoth built in 1965 & renovated/reconfigured a few years ago by Goulding & Wood. It is actually 2 instruments -- one in the Gallery (which we hear) & one near the altar.


Technical note: You might notice a change in the sound @ 4:03. The Franck piece was first on the agenda for the evening, & about 2 minutes into it, I realized that the microphone was too close to the organ case. So I re-positioned it at gallery level about halfway down the nave. Observant folks might notice that the camera/mic & tripod on the other side of the console magically disappear @ 3:40. ( The miracles of digital editing allow things like this ;-)


A great deal of the credit for editing this should go to my extremely busy daughter, Emily, who has guided me through the intricacies of using a new editing program (Sony Vegas, for those of you who are interested).

Category:

Music

Tags:

• pipe
• organ
• orgue
• orgel
• organo
• Franck
• Grande
• Piece
• Symphonique
• National
• Shrine
• Immaculate
• Conception
• Washington
• classical
• Adam
• Brakel

[accousticdecay]

This guy is amazing, and so are the organ and the church! I'd like to play one simple Couperin chaconne on this organ before I die!

[a55b47]

Adam played a few French Baroque pieces at the concert -- including the Tierce en Taille from Couperin's Mass for Convents. But I was having equipment difficulties about then. I think I did manage to record his performance of the Daquin Noel X -- I'll see if I can retrieve it from the depths of my digital library & upload @ some point in the not-too-distant future.

[gerardbedecarter]

A magnificent presentation of this glorious work!!

[gerardbedecarter]

@codeman2008 .... Yes, absolutely!

[codeman2008]

Absolutely one of the greatest pieces ever written for organ! I can't get enough of this piece!

[bombarde1701a]

I wish they made more recordings here.

[costamesaguy69]

Magnificent acoustics in that room. They lucked out; the 70 rank Moller I learned on (1968 vintage) was voiced very poorly, had uneven wind pressure, was crammed into the concrete chambers with pipe mouths speaking into walls, corners, etc. This has a lovely sound.