Barber Adagio for Strings from the Mother Church

The Mother Church shares the unfortunate tendency of many American churches/concert halls to smother the reverberation with carpet &, I seem to recall, cushioned pews. The result: a huge room with acoustics more suited for chamber music.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• pipe
• organ
• Barber
• Adagio
• Strings
• orgue
• orgel
• Mother
• Church

[silverstartrucker]

Excellent. Did Virgil Fox ever record this on the Wanamaker, or any other organ?

[a55b47]

Not that I'm aware of. There was only the one Virgil recording at Wanamaker's (as far as I know), & this isn't on it. And I don't think he recorded it @ Riverside -- but old Virgil recordings seem to pop up occasionally that I've never heard ;-) And I've been a Virgil fan for almost 50 years

[a55b47]

Thanks for the inside info. My bad.  As long as it takes to edit these things, though, I'll have to let it stand.

[bfdpowers]

I can't believe I live right down the street from this building and have still never been inside. Now I must go. Great performance.

[a55b47]

Well, I lived in Washington for 20 years before I visited the White House ;-) No organ there, though.

[a55b47]

I think (& I may be wrong about this because it's been about 15 years since I visited the place) that it also has carpeting in the aisles. Another pet peeve of mine ;-)

[tippymugs]

In the church where I'm organist I was recently asked if I wanted a cushion on my bench when they cushion the pews, and I replied, NO! I slide my ass around too much for that!

[reallyharried]

These strings are beautiful! And thank you for the shots of the interior. I thought the exterior was stunning; never made it inside. It's drop dead gorgeous!

[hornplayerchris]

I love when the pedals come in at the climax: 5:18

[TMusic5]

Absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. I can't describe the feeling I get from listening to this- it's almost like meditation but more complex. Thank you for posting, excellent video.

[MrBooker39]

Contrary to some of the negative comments others have posted, I think this organ is pretty spectacular...especially in Dr. Richner's hands. I like his tempo..."Adagio" doesn't mean "like a dirge" which is how this piece sometimes sounds! Incidentally, Richner was a world-class Mozart pianist; I heard him once at Town Hall, NYC. I remember the NY Times gave him a rave review.

Thanks for posting!

[MrEvanston]

Beautiful building and organ ......Especially, the pipe arrangement for show. Will visit when I come to Boston.

[ACQUAARIA]

anyway or anyhow,

very, very nice, one of my favourite music pieces played on that fantasic pipe organ in that outstanding church ... building where You won't find any "cult".

God is Love ... for sure. recently I dicovered another wise "whistle-blower" like Mary Baker Eddy. Its Jiddu Krishnamurti. His conclusion as well is that the only Thruth is the real existance of LOVE - outside all of our "limitations" ...

[PennnSmith]

I heard this played in a movie theater. Platoon, I think it was called. About how foolish young men do whatever their government tells them to.

Thank God things have changed since back then. Today, no young men would think to waste their lives in a war halfway across the world, just to keep the military-industrial profits flowing.

[kensingtonpalace]

unfortunately, it's now the norm :(