Get the new Reference Recordings "Organ Sensation" with the 17 year old prodigy Felix Hell. About the best recorded and performed organ disc I've ever heard, with Guillmant and Liszt showpieces that will literally shake your house down. I have a private recording that the man who designed my speakers made (he also builds organs) of him when he was 13 years old; the kid is a true phenomenon.
The Telarc disc you mention is pretty good, though Murray, while technically a great organist, to my taste lacks the fire and excitement some others (such as Hell, Christopher Herrick, Virgil Fox and Guillou) had or have. Since Murray never makes a mistake, though, he was the ideal organist for Telarc, particularly when they recorded direct-to-disc in the early days of the label. Delos also has a number of fine organ recordings; the one of David Higgs playing the inaugural recital on the Meyerson Center organ in Dallas is terrific, with plenty of bass on the Liszt BACH fugue. Finally (for now), the Dorian recording of Guillou playing the Jongen Symphonie Concertante has plenty of work on the 32 foot stops, and is a fine recording and performance. |
Another one with the Ruffati organ in Davies Hall is the Saint Saens Organ Symphony with (who else) Guillou and DeWaart on Philips. The second movement has some true 32 foot stops used throughout, although softer stops are used, not the Bombarde stops, so the sound is gentle. Interestingly, I don't think Guillou used those stops on his recording of the same symphony on Dorian (coupled with the Jongen mentioned earlier). The DeWaart disc also has Guillou playing the most unusual version of the Widor Allegro from his 6th organ symphony you'll ever hear, with a cadenza of his own at the end which a TAS reviewer said should be accompanied by the sound of Widor spinning in his grave! A couple of minutiae--(1) the Ruffati organ does not use pipes for its 32 foot stops, but rather an electronic tone generator (many of my organist friends prefer that, in that pipes of that size are tough to keep on pitch (what little pitch you can hear from those notes) and can sometimes shudder and create a racket), as in many current organs such as the one near me at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Newark; and (2) the Dorian disc with the Saint Saens and Jongen is a very good example of the adjustable acoustics used in the Meyerson Center Hall--the Jongen was recorded with the acoustics set to be more reverberant, as it's more a concerto featuring the organ, while the Saint Saens has the acoustics a bit drier in comparison, as the organ is part of the orchestra in that piece. On a good system, you'll hear that difference very easily. |
Eldartford, another SACD, relatively unreported on, with both good sound (and some deep bass) and a good performance is the Linn SACD of the Poulenc Organ Concerto (Gillian Weir is the organist). Shows off SACD's ability to capture ambience well, and a fun piece to listen to. Haven't heard it in multichannel, but I'd think it would lend itself well to that. I'm going to check my collection at home for more, but I will note that Christopher Herrick's recordings on Hyperion are uniformly excellent (his Organ Fireworks series, while not his favorite recordings for them, are a lot of fun and show off a lot of bass, and his Bach recordings are my favorites), and the Priory series of great European church organs is also terrific, with some better than others but generally very well recorded. Those interested in organ recordings of all sorts should check out the Gothic Records catalog (I assume they have a website under their name) and the Organ Historical Society website at catalog@organsociety.org. |
As far as 64 foot stops go, there are some organs that have them; I think the Washington Cathedral may have one, and perhaps the Wannamaker Organ in Philadelphia. There's supposedly a 64 foot stop and 8hz note used on the M&K Power and Glory LP, although that may be a resultant from two 32 foot stops; my system doen't go low enough to hear it, although I remember some queaziness in my stomach listening to it, so there may be some truth to the rumor.
On the use of an electronic 32 foot stop, we use a tone generator for the 32 foot stop of our small organ in my church. When we got the thing (it's really a large speaker, which you amplify with an amp with a level control), I put it on a wheelbarrow and wheeled it around the church working with our organist to find the spot it would best integrate with the rest of the organ. We wound up putting it above and behind the choir loft, adjacent to the church offices and a large meeting room. When our organist, who loves deep bass, set the amplifier to figure the proper level, he initially didn't realize how sensitive the driver was, and when he played the first 16hz low C he knocked all the pictures off the walls in the meeting room and offices and drove the church staff out of the building fearing that an earthquake had occurred (any of you had that problem integrating a subwoofer?)! It may be cheating, Texasdave, but it actually does work quite well, and is a nice alternative for an organ that doesn't have the space in its chambers for a true 32 foot pipe. |
The RR CD "Felix Hell--Organ Sensation" has a number of pieces where he uses the full 32 foot stops--tremendous bass. Try the Guillmant and Vierne pieces--the bass goes well below 32Hz, probably down in the high teens, low 20s. Not a particularly reverberant venue, but excellent playing (this kid is a true phenomenon) and, as always with RR, well-recorded with plenty of power. |
Marty, that is a good one, I've got it too. Marshall is excellent, and the Liszt is a good showpiece for deep bass. |
Let's revive this one for a second, I just listened to the recent Ondine SACD of the Philadelphia Orchestra with Olivier Latry playing the Saint Saens Organ Symphony, the Poulenc Organ Concerto and the Barber Toccata Festiva. Latry is a virtuoso organist, and simply seems to love the 32 foot stops on the instrument. Astounding bass in the last octave, down into the teens, I believe, with tremendous volume and power down there. Not sure if the CD layer does as well, but in SACD it is amazing. And the performances are very good as well all around--the Barber is a show-stopper. |
That Fox recording is a lot of fun, and it does have a good deal of bass. I found the CD to be a little dry, but the D2D (I have the Crystal Clear) is pretty good, even though it has a few wrong notes in it that were cleaned up on the CD. Fox was a master of using all the colors available on an organ, and while some organist friends of mine find them a little too much, others admire them. Closest thing to him right now in this regard is probably Jean Guillou, IMHO. |
