I knew that Bruckner will fuck up my mind, but I am grateful for that…

Lately I tuned my attention to organ music, in fact I’m listening a lot of organ music.  It might appear that my playback got to the point where it might do a full justice to organ music but it is a bit too simplistic view. Yes, I can play organ music with amassing tonal and scale impressively, in fact I humbly admit that never seen audio playing organ music so interesting. There is another side of it however. This side is that lately, in great part because Bruckner, I learned how to listen organ music and how to find colossal pleasure in very minute fluctuation of harmonies and in very infinitesimal dynamic shadows…

Pipe Organ music is always live and mostly not mixed. The nature of organ is the thousands pipes emit sound and sound is naturally mixed in acoustic space, crating with zillion natural intermediations a new tonal consciousness. A good sounding organ in good hands creates amassing firework of colors. They are not Rimsky-Korsakov type of colors; they are much better as they are not contrived or pulled out of ass.  I completely hypnotized by organ music.

I tend do not like American organs, even though they are the biggest in the word. Also, the American organs do not play soft. I love German and French organs – they are more complex and less showy. They have quality within themselves and I can spend a good hour to listen the space of old European cathedrals aroused by organ’s notes…  I am listening now a stunning CD by Professor Josef Werndl playing German Passau Cathedral organ. it is large, has over 17.000 pipes and it has such fantastic range of colors. The  CD is “Konzert auf der groessten Kirchenorgel der Welt”, feel free to try it…

There are many sourses for great organ music. This one is great:

http://www.aeolus-music.com/ae_en/Organ-music

There are many other.

It is VERY difficult to play pipe organ by audio. It is very much not about bass but about of quality of everything. I think now I can by a few accords on the recordings I know can make instantaneous judgment about a music capacity of playback.

guy sergeant wrote:

Look at the scale & range of what you are trying to reproduce.  It's also very difficult to record it.