Digital Organ Choice

[FelixLowe]

How about registering this hymn, I'll praise my Maker while I've breath: http://www.oremus.org/hymnal/i/i209a.html?

Personally, I prefer the following:

Manual: Principal 8', Gedackt 8', Rohrflote 4', Twelfth 2/3' and Superoctave 2'
Pedal: Subbass 16, Gedackt 8' and Choralbass 4'
I'll praise my Maker while I've breath,
and when my voice is lost in death,
praise shall employ my nobler powers;
my days of praise shall ne'er be past,
while life, and thought, and being last,
or immortality endures.

Manual: Verse 1 registration + Sesquialtera II
Manual: Verse 1 registration
Why should I make a man my trust?
Princes must die and turn to dust;
vain is the help of flesh and blood:
their breath departs, their pomp, and power,
and thoughts, all vanish in an hour,
nor can they make their promise good.

Manual: Verse 1 registration
Pedal: Verse 1 registration
Happy the man whose hopes rely
on Israel's God: he made the sky,
and earth, and seas, with all their train;
his truth for ever stands secure,
he saves th'oppressed, he feeds the poor,
and none shall find his promise vain.

Manual: Verse 1 registration
Pedal: Verse 1 registration
The Lord has eyes to give the blind;
the Lord supports the sinking mind;
he sends the laboring conscience peace;
he helps the stranger in distress,
the widow, and the fatherless,
and grants the prisoner sweet release.

Manual: Verse 1 registration
Pedal: Verse 1 registration
He loves his saints, he knows them well,
but turns the wicked down to hell;
thy God, O Zion! ever reigns:
Let every tongue, let every age,
in this exalted work engage;
praise him in everlasting strains.

Manual: Verse 1 registration + Cymbel III (to play a variation)
Pedal: Verse 1 registration
I'll praise him while he lends me breath,
and when my voice is lost in death,
praise shall employ my nobler powers;
my days of praise shall ne'er be past,
while life, and thought, and being last,
or immortality endures.

Words: Isaac Watts, 1714
Music: Old 113th attributed to Mattaus Greiter, c 1500-1552; from Strassburger Kirchenamt, 1525
Meter: 88 88 88

 

[FelixLowe]

Review the hymn singing at Princess Diana's service with this hymn: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu83WQdQ7-Y. But I have slightly different ideas for registration, as follows:

The King of love my Shepherd is

Manual: Principal 8', Gedackt 8', Octave 4', Nasard 2 2/3' and Superoctave 2'
Pedal: Subbass 16', Gedackt 8' and Choralbass 4'
The King of love my shepherd is,
whose goodness faileth never;
I nothing lack if I am his,
and he is mine for ever.

Manual: Verse 1 Registration
Pedal: Verse 1 Registration
Where streams of living water flow,
my ransomed soul he leadeth,
and where the verdant pastures grow,
with food celestial feedeth.

Manual: Principal 8', Gedackt 8', Octave 4', Nasard 2 2/3' and Spitzflote 2'
Pedal: Subbass 16', Gedackt 8' and Choralbass 4'
Perverse and foolish oft I strayed,
but yet in love He sought me,
and on his shoulder gently laid,
and home, rejoicing, brought me.

Manual: Principal 8', Gedackt 8', Octave 4', Nasard 2 2/3', Spitzflote 2' + Mixture IV
Pedal: Subbass 16', Gedackt 8' and Choralbass 4'
In death's dark vale I fear no ill
with thee, dear Lord, beside me;
thy rod and staff my comfort still,
thy cross before to guide me.

Manual: Principal 8', Gedackt 8', Octave 4', Nasard 2 2/3', Spitzflote 2' + Mixture IV
Pedal: Subbass 16', Gedackt 8' and Choralbass 4'
Thou spread'st a table in my sight;
thy unction grace bestoweth;
and O what transport of delight
from thy pure chalice floweth!

Manual: Quintedena 16', Principal 8', Gedackt 8', Octave 4', Nasard 2 2/3', Spitzflote 2', Mixture IV + Sifflote 1' (to play a ocassional descant on top of the Soprano)
Pedal: Subbass 16', Fagotto 16', Gedackt 8' and Choralbass 4', with the Great coupled
And so through all the length of days
thy goodness faileth never:
Good Shepherd, may I sing thy praise
within thy house for ever.

Words: Henry Williams Baker (1821-1877), 1868
Music: Dominus regit me (John Bacchus Dykes, 1823-1876) Meter: 87 87

 

[FelixLowe]

Hear this version of The King of Love My Shepherd Is played on a Johannus: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqO8pNSXohY.

 

[FelixLowe]

Review the hymn singing at Princess Diana's service with this hymn: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu83WQdQ7-Y. But I have slightly different ideas for registration, as follows:

The King of love my Shepherd is

Manual: Principal 8', Gedackt 8', Octave 4', Nasard 2 2/3' and Superoctave 2'
Pedal: Subbass 16', Gedackt 8' and Choralbass 4'
The King of love my shepherd is,
whose goodness faileth never;
I nothing lack if I am his,
and he is mine for ever.

Manual: Verse 1 Registration
Pedal: Verse 1 Registration
Where streams of living water flow,
my ransomed soul he leadeth,
and where the verdant pastures grow,
with food celestial feedeth.

Manual: Principal 8', Gedackt 8', Octave 4', Nasard 2 2/3' and Spitzflote 2'
Pedal: Subbass 16', Gedackt 8' and Choralbass 4'
Perverse and foolish oft I strayed,
but yet in love He sought me,
and on his shoulder gently laid,
and home, rejoicing, brought me.

Manual: Principal 8', Gedackt 8', Octave 4', Nasard 2 2/3', Spitzflote 2' + Mixture IV
Pedal: Subbass 16', Gedackt 8' and Choralbass 4'
In death's dark vale I fear no ill
with thee, dear Lord, beside me;
thy rod and staff my comfort still,
thy cross before to guide me.

Manual: Principal 8', Gedackt 8', Octave 4', Nasard 2 2/3', Spitzflote 2' + Mixture IV
Pedal: Subbass 16', Gedackt 8' and Choralbass 4'
Thou spread'st a table in my sight;
thy unction grace bestoweth;
and O what transport of delight
from thy pure chalice floweth!

Manual: Quintedena 16', Principal 8', Gedackt 8', Octave 4', Nasard 2 2/3', Spitzflote 2', Mixture IV + Sifflote 1' (to play a ocassional descant on top of the Soprano)
Pedal: Subbass 16', Fagotto 16', Gedackt 8' and Choralbass 4', with the Great coupled
And so through all the length of days
thy goodness faileth never:
Good Shepherd, may I sing thy praise
within thy house for ever.

Words: Henry Williams Baker (1821-1877), 1868
Music: Dominus regit me (John Bacchus Dykes, 1823-1876) Meter: 87 87

It may in fact be better to put the Superoctave 2' back (without taking away the Spitzflote 2')starting with "Thou spread'st a table..." in order to add slightly more brightness to the cheer about those words, and let it remain there for the final verse as well.

There may also be a need for Cymbel III instead of the Sifflote 1 for the last verse to push it up to the climax. The Quintedena 16 for the last verse is really optional. With regards to the 16' voices, some of the big cathedrals favour including them for purely heigtening the climax aesthetically with some rumbling. In a cathedral in OZ, they even had it for the last verse of a petitioning one, such as when an organist there played Be Thou My Vision. So I really think it is a device to add grandeur to bring it to the close of any hymn. Usually, however, they have the Bombarde 16' on it, if it is not a North German-style organ. For a North German organ, the Fagotto 16' is sometimes used. But I often feel that the more seemly use of the 16' reeds often has to do with the architectural style of the building. The rumbling reeds match the copious space, arches, dome, and apses. Without these, the grandeur seems only imitative and artificial.

 

[FelixLowe]

Hymns Fasntasy O Thou, in Whose Presence - Hymn Improvisation on Allen's 4-manual Organ: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKhvdtn7tKw&feature=related.

You can assess some of Allen's colour reeds in this video, which I already found quite satisfactory with the MDS Expander II -- the old version of the current Allen Vista.

 

[FelixLowe]

Review the hymn singing at Princess Diana's service with this hymn: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu83WQdQ7-Y. But I have slightly different ideas for registration, as follows:

The King of love my Shepherd is

Manual: Principal 8', Gedackt 8', Octave 4', Nasard 2 2/3' and Superoctave 2'
Pedal: Subbass 16', Gedackt 8' and Choralbass 4'
The King of love my shepherd is,
whose goodness faileth never;
I nothing lack if I am his,
and he is mine for ever.

Manual: Verse 1 Registration
Pedal: Verse 1 Registration
Where streams of living water flow,
my ransomed soul he leadeth,
and where the verdant pastures grow,
with food celestial feedeth.

Manual: Principal 8', Gedackt 8', Octave 4', Nasard 2 2/3' and Spitzflote 2'
Pedal: Subbass 16', Gedackt 8' and Choralbass 4'
Perverse and foolish oft I strayed,
but yet in love He sought me,
and on his shoulder gently laid,
and home, rejoicing, brought me.

Manual: Principal 8', Gedackt 8', Octave 4', Nasard 2 2/3', Spitzflote 2' + Mixture IV
Pedal: Subbass 16', Gedackt 8' and Choralbass 4'
In death's dark vale I fear no ill
with thee, dear Lord, beside me;
thy rod and staff my comfort still,
thy cross before to guide me.

Manual: Principal 8', Gedackt 8', Octave 4', Nasard 2 2/3', Spitzflote 2' + Mixture IV
Pedal: Subbass 16', Gedackt 8' and Choralbass 4'
Thou spread'st a table in my sight;
thy unction grace bestoweth;
and O what transport of delight
from thy pure chalice floweth!

Manual: Quintedena 16', Principal 8', Gedackt 8', Octave 4', Nasard 2 2/3', Spitzflote 2', Mixture IV + Sifflote 1' (to play a ocassional descant on top of the Soprano)
Pedal: Subbass 16', Fagotto 16', Gedackt 8' and Choralbass 4', with the Great coupled
And so through all the length of days
thy goodness faileth never:
Good Shepherd, may I sing thy praise
within thy house for ever.

Words: Henry Williams Baker (1821-1877), 1868
Music: Dominus regit me (John Bacchus Dykes, 1823-1876) Meter: 87 87

I have been thinking about the fourth verse where it says "thy cross before to guide me". The insertion of this object is unusual in the context of psalm 23, where no such thing was mentioned in the Scripture. In any case, the cross is interesting in multiple contexts. First one should note that it does not say "the cross to lead me", but as a guide/reference only. Secondly, the deity to whom the singers are addressing is Jesus, and that it makes some sense to interpretatively refer to the cross as "something to be aware of". However these explanations are forced and seem to labour the point. The lyrics would make better sense if one changes "cross" to "words".

 

[FelixLowe]

Hear this version of Organ Improvisation on Love Divine, All Love Excelling (Beecher): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn3Z8Kegd0w. But the organist blends this hymn tune with Radetzkey March, which causes one to scratch his own head: I don't see any direct connection between the hymn tune with the march song.

Anyway, it is another opportunity to hear the Allen organ.

 

[FelixLowe]

Love Divine, All Loves Excelling seems to me to be an exception in hymn playing in terms of registration. If you examine the verses, the lines look like a petition to God, with interspersed descriptive praises. Yet the hymn is seldom heard played with only 8' and 4' stops. It is usually (whether it be the Blaenwern or Beecher tune) played with registration for the first verse as: Principal 8', Gedackt 8', Octave 4', Nasard 2 2/3' and Superoctave 2' for the manual. In other words, it is played as some kind of a Credal/Praise hybrid. I guess the final verse can take the additional Quint 1 1/3' and Sifflote 1' also, or simply the Mixture IV.

For Blaenwern (such as in this performance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbCDB7RlL30&feature=related), it is definitely played more as praise song, and the starting verse is always played with some ebulliance and brightness.

 

[FelixLowe]

The affixed music file is supplied by Eminent USA organ, a brand that uses real-time tone generation technology: http://www.churchorgansales.com/emi...gan/eminent_digital_church_organ_features.htm.

Lo! he comes, with clouds descending,
robed in dreadful majesty;
thousand thousand saints attending
swell the triumph of his train:
Alleluia! alleluia! alleluia!
Christ the Lord returns to reign.

Now redemption, long expected,
see in solemn pomp appear;
all his saints, by man rejected,
now shall meet him in the air:
Alleluia! alleluia! alleluia!
See the day of God appear!

Yea, Amen! let all adore thee,
high on thine eternal throne;
Savior, take the power and glory;
claim the kingdom for thine own:
Alleluia! alleluia! alleluia!
Thou shalt reign, and thou alone.

Words: John Cennick (1718-1755), 1752;
as altered by Charles Wesley (1707-1788), 1758;
further altered by Martin Madan (1726-1790), 1760
abridged, 2007
Music: Helmsley tune (by Martin Madan, 1726-1790) played on an Eminent digital church organ
Meter: 87 87 87

 

[FelixLowe]

Erschienen Ist der Herrliche Tag, BWV 629 [1:1]: http://www.virtuallybaroque.com/track148.htm.
Canon at the octave in the Huvudvaerk Trompette and Pedal, this short Easter Prelude has an infectious bubbliness. Instrument: Marcussen & Son Organ / St. Stefanuschurch / Moerdijk (Noord-Brabant, The Netherlands) (1965) - Samples by Ariaan Hoogendijk

English-language text:
On earth has dawned this day of days
Whereon let all men give God praise!
For Christ is risen from the tomb
And on his foes declared just doom. Alleluia!
--Tr. C. S. Terry

 

[FelixLowe]

All creatures of our God and King (Easter Alleluia from Geistliche Kirchengesang, Cologne, 1623): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rU9T-lt9XdU.

All creatures of our God and King,
lift up your voices, let us sing:
Alleluia, alleluia!
Thou burning sun with golden beams,
thou silver moon that gently gleams,
Refrain:
O praise him, O praise him,
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

Thou rushing wind that art so strong,
ye clouds that sail in heaven along,
O praise him, Alleluia!
Thou rising morn, in praise rejoice,
ye lights of evening, find a voice, (R)

Thou flowing water, pure and clear,
make music for thy Lord to hear,
Alleluia, alleluia!
Thou fire so masterful and bright,
that givest man both warmth and light, (R)

And all ye men of tender heart,
forgiving others, take your part,
O sing ye Alleluia!
Ye who long pain and sorrow bear,
praise God and on him cast your care: (R)

Let all things their Creator bless,
and worship him in humbleness,
O praise him, Alleluia!
Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son,
and praise the Spirit, Three in One: (R)


Words: after Francis of Assisi (1182-1226);

 

[FelixLowe]

The affixed music file is supplied by Eminent USA organ, a brand that uses real-time tone generation technology: http://www.churchorgansales.com/emi...gan/eminent_digital_church_organ_features.htm.

Lo! he comes, with clouds descending,
robed in dreadful majesty;
thousand thousand saints attending
swell the triumph of his train:
Alleluia! alleluia! alleluia!
Christ the Lord returns to reign.

Now redemption, long expected,
see in solemn pomp appear;
all his saints, by man rejected,
now shall meet him in the air:
Alleluia! alleluia! alleluia!
See the day of God appear!

Yea, Amen! let all adore thee,
high on thine eternal throne;
Savior, take the power and glory;
claim the kingdom for thine own:
Alleluia! alleluia! alleluia!
Thou shalt reign, and thou alone.

Words: John Cennick (1718-1755), 1752;
as altered by Charles Wesley (1707-1788), 1758;
further altered by Martin Madan (1726-1790), 1760
abridged, 2007
Music: Helmsley tune (by Martin Madan, 1726-1790) played on an Eminent digital church organ
Meter: 87 87 87

Also, hear this version with a last verse arrangement performed in Germany: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-T8nig0DMw.

The type of sound is so familiar because it is almost the kind of Kleuker organ intonation, that I had been listening to in Causeway Bay.

I really what to know what brand this organ is. Still, slightly more chiff than this is preferred.

 

[weidenpfeife]

30er pedal midifizieren

hi at all !
i'm new in this community and search for help by integrat a 30er pedal in my pc organ ( sorry for my terrible english , i'm german ) the padal has electric connector on its back . on wira-electronic homepage are good ideas but i've problems with the 36pin connector of the panel .

 

[FelixLowe]

hi at all !
i'm new in this community and search for help by integrat a 30er pedal in my pc organ ( sorry for my terrible english , i'm german ) the padal has electric connector on its back . on wira-electronic homepage are good ideas but i've problems with the 36pin connector of the panel .

You should try Content organ of the Netherlands -- they sell readily made midi-transmitting full pedalboard which allows you to plug right to the sound module or computer.

 

[FelixLowe]

I still remember many years ago, when the Allen MDS-Expander II arrived one Christmas, one of the demo pieces in the device was this piece, a very lively, cute-sound trio:

Trio Sonata No. 6, BWV 530 [13:31]: http://www.virtuallybaroque.com/track092.htm.Three movements: Vivace (G Major) - Lento (E minor) - Allegro (G Major). Instrument: Schantz/Rodgers, (1966/2000) at First Baptist Church of Riverside, California recorded by Jonathan Orwig: Three movements: Vivace (G Major) - Lento (E minor) - Allegro (G Major). Instrument: Schantz/Rodgers, (1966/2000) at First Baptist Church of Riverside, California recorded by Jonathan Orwig.

 

[FelixLowe]

It came upon the Midnight Clear (Noel): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW8qG_SAg2g.

It came upon the midnight clear,
that glorious song of old,
from angels bending near the earth
to touch their harps of gold:
'Peace on earth, good will to men,
from heaven's gracious King.'
The world in solemn stillness lay
to hear the angels sing.

Still through the cloven skies they come
with peaceful wings unfurled,
and still their heavenly music floats
o'er all the weary world;
above its sad and lowly plains
they bend on hovering wing,
and ever o'er its Babel-sounds
the blessed angels sing.

Yet with the woes of sin and strife
the world has suffered long;
beneath the angel strains have rolled
two thousand years of wrong;
and man at war with man hears not
the tidings which they bring;
O hush the noise and cease your strife
and hear the angels sing!

O ye, beneath life's crushing load
whose forms are bending low,
who toil along the climbing way
with painful steps and slow;
look now, for glad and golden hours
come swiftly on the wing:
O rest beside the weary road,
and hear the angels sing.

For lo! the days are hastening on,
by prophet-bards foretold,
when with the ever-circling years
comes round the age of gold,
When peace shall over all the earth
its ancient splendors fling,
The whole world give back the song
which now the angels sing.



Words: Edmund Hamilton Sears (1810-1876), 1849
MIDI: Noel (English traditional, arranged by Arthur S. Sullivan, 1842-1900)
Meter: CMD

 

[FelixLowe]

It came upon the Midnight Clear (Noel): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW8qG_SAg2g.

It came upon the midnight clear,
that glorious song of old,
from angels bending near the earth
to touch their harps of gold:
'Peace on earth, good will to men,
from heaven's gracious King.'
The world in solemn stillness lay
to hear the angels sing.

Still through the cloven skies they come
with peaceful wings unfurled,
and still their heavenly music floats
o'er all the weary world;
above its sad and lowly plains
they bend on hovering wing,
and ever o'er its Babel-sounds
the blessed angels sing.

Yet with the woes of sin and strife
the world has suffered long;
beneath the angel strains have rolled
two thousand years of wrong;
and man at war with man hears not
the tidings which they bring;
O hush the noise and cease your strife
and hear the angels sing!

O ye, beneath life's crushing load
whose forms are bending low,
who toil along the climbing way
with painful steps and slow;
look now, for glad and golden hours
come swiftly on the wing:
O rest beside the weary road,
and hear the angels sing.

For lo! the days are hastening on,
by prophet-bards foretold,
when with the ever-circling years
comes round the age of gold,
When peace shall over all the earth
its ancient splendors fling,
The whole world give back the song
which now the angels sing.



Words: Edmund Hamilton Sears (1810-1876), 1849
MIDI: Noel (English traditional, arranged by Arthur S. Sullivan, 1842-1900)
Meter: CMD

Personally, I would prefer the first verse to go with a flute 2' (Spitzflote) instead of the Superoctave 2' -- the faintness is to do with the past tense. The glory was not as bright as if it appeared before one's eyes. So to depict the memory of it, it is necessary to sound less bright.

But Verse Two describes the present, for it says "Still through the cloven sky the come...." So it is necessary to draw the Superoctave 2' in addition to the flute 2'. It needs to sound energised in comparison with the first verse.

The third verse can opt out of the Spitzflote 2'.

The fourth verse needs to play a reharmonisation in a sad mode for the first few lines, but retains the registration of the third verse.

The final verse can deploy the Spitzflote 2' and Mixture IV to play the descant in addition to the extant stops.

 

[FelixLowe]

Two pieces made up the fixed liturgy during the Sunday morning services at the place where the Kleuker pipe organ was in Causeway Bay: Gloria Patri composed by Charles Meinke in 1844 (http://www.hopemillsumc.org/gloria.htm) and the other, an offertory, titled "All Things Come of Thee, O Lord" by arr. from Ludwig van Beethoven 1770 -1827 (No.665 found on this page: http://clarkston.netadvent.org/midi_hymns.htm).

During the latter years of the congregationalist church before renovation, there were some marked differences in the styles played by the two organists, the Yale/Cincinatti trained professor/organist and the virtuosic Royal College-trained organist. The former would play the two liturigical short pieces with somewhat identical full-organ registration, as always: some 8' 4' and 2' principals with the Mixture with the Swell shutters fully open, while the latter would go about them without the Mixture.

 

[FelixLowe]

Exceptionally grand presentation of an MTV on the St Paul's Cathedral choir and orchestra, and the congregation singing Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4d9RJMOP9Tw.

 

[FelixLowe]

If I don't get it wrong, it is a Content organ playing BWV 565. For a practice model like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKmpm8S3lVg&feature=related, it sounds very satisfactory -- one can almost hear individual pipes breathing with copious air in chords, and the Principal tones have the dignified quality without having to sound robust and fat. It is the most amazing brand I've ever come across thus far in the digital organ market. I do think the company put in much meticulous efforts not just in clothing each note with just the right amount of chiff, but also in designing the release. All in all, each note is so beautifully shaped. Even if one plays a Content with no pipe in it, it is as good as hearing the actual whistling of the real pipes.