Mormon Tabernacle Pipe Organ: Saint-Saëns Prelude

Thomas Murray recorded Saint-Saëns' Prelude #2 in 1989. I also uploaded, several weeks ago, a recording of this piece by Pierre Labric @ St. Ouen in Rouen. Labric took a much slower tempo.

The organ is considered to be the masterpiece of Aeolian-Skinner's G. Donald Harrison, who was also responsible for several other major instruments, such as St. Thomas in NYC & Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. It's V/147/206, & about as perfect a match between instrument & room as you will ever hear.

The recording is a CD made from an analog tape made from an air check made from a live concert -- with the invariable diminution of sound quality & the equally inevitable coughing person who shows up at concerts.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Mormon
• Tabernacle
• pipe
• organ
• orgue
• orgel
• organo
• Saint-Saëns

[SacredComposer]

Excellent rendition! I have a question for anyone out there. I have been trying to locate an album that I had came across at the Brooklyn public library many years ago. Unfortunately I do not name of it but it had beautiful recordings of brass & organ music mostly American patriotic type pieces but there one by either Shubert or Schumann that I really loved. If you any information or can refer me to a site please do! Thanks.

[a55b47]

The album that immediately springs to mind would be E Power Biggs' "Heroic Music for Organ, Brass & Percussion" on Columbia Masterworks (1962). I don't think it ever made it to CD, & I also don't recall any Schubert or Schumann. Columbia & Biggs produced another organ/brass album a few years later that had Gigout & Karg-Elert & Dupré -- but, again, nothing by the 2 Schus.

[jdcrash7]

A spectacular concert organist plays a spectacular concert organ!

[romandhug]

first I thought "dear! that's much too fast", but on second thoughts I revised my judgement, quite interesting actually...

[peteacher52]

Tempo doesn't matter as long as the performance sounds complete and convincing. This rendition had ticks in all the 'Good' boxes.

[josephR1938]

@SacredComposer

I just today received the music for this piece from Dale Music in Washington. Oy! It's a lot more difficult than what it seems. Thomas Murray is so great with this as he is with anything he plays. I had the privilege of a private concert by him a few years past on a new Schoenstein organ in Madison Wisconsin.

[v1x4g2]

Beautiful!

[AdmRomulus]

@chuchotarantino I know! I hate it when they do that during performances. Coughing is such a distraction, both to the performer and the audience.

[JackBlair2]

@OrganNLou SHADDAP

[OrganNLou]

Wonderful organ just wish their religious beliefs weren't so strange.

[organistable]

I love this piece and it could not be played by a better performer or a better organ. Thank you!!

[giovdan]

mmmmm, I prefer Labric interpretatio for this piece but this is another approach interesting.

I think this tempo is a bit to fast, compared to composer indications "Doux et calme, sans lenteur".

Ok, sans lenteur but not a "toccata"!!! ;-)

[FeikeAsmaFan]

Oh yeah, I like that organ!!