Tonal Demonstration - 17 Rank Symphonic Pipe Organ
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- Опубликовано: 10 фев 2025
- Jack Bethards and Nigel Potts demonstrate the 15 stop, 17 rank Schoenstein organ at Christ & St. Stephen's Church in New York City. Jack, president of Schoenstein, explains the tonal characteristics of each stop and Nigel, organist and choirmaster of the church, plays short examples from the organ and transcription repertoire. You will see and hear how the stops fit into tonal families and then combine to create a musical color palette that the organist uses to “orchestrate” the music. The Schoenstein Double Expression system is illustrated. Other organ design principles that can make a small instrument sound like a much larger symphonic organ are explored.
Extracts used in this Tonal Demonstration are:
Opening: Elgar - Organ Sonata in G (slow mvt)
4:00 Whitlock - Scherzo from Five Short Pieces
4:20 Pierné - Cantilène from Trios Pieces
5:20 & 5:52 Haydn - Clock Pieces
6:30 Brahms - Es ist ein' ros' entsprungen
7:28 thru 9:28 Bach - O Mensch, bewein
10:48 Elgar - Nimrod
13:13 Wagner - Prelude to Act 3 from Die Meistersinger
14:15 Widor - Adagio from Symphony 5
14:57 Pierné - Cantilène from Trios Pieces
16:02 Elgar - Nimrod
19:03 & 20:02 Guilmant - Sonata 8 in A major (4th Mvt)
23:09 & 24:05 Elgar - Sea Pictures
24:46 Bach - Prelude in A major (BWV 536)
25:05 Daquin - Noel Grand jeu et duo
25:45 Bonnet - Lamento from Douze Pièces
26:45 Wagner - Prelude to Act I from Tristan und Isolde
28:00 Bairstow - Prelude on Veni Emmanuel
28:46 Wagner - Siegfried
29:17 Bach - Aria from Suite No.3
30:12 Franck - Cantabile
30:42 Hollins - A Trumpet Minuet
31:05 Bliss - A Royal Fanfare
31:45 Hymn - Old 100th
33:50 Elgar - Nimrod
Here is a link to the specification list:
www.schoenstein...
Nigel Potts recorded a commercial CD of Wagner & Elgar on this organ with Mezzo Soprano Sarah Rose Taylor.
The CD includes the Prelude from 'Tristan und Isolde' and the 'Wesendonck Lieder' by Wagner, and 'The Angel's Farewell' and 'Sea Pictures' by Elgar. Full details of the CD or to order, can be found at:
nigelpotts.com/...
For more information about Schoenstein Organs, please see:
www.schoenstein...
As superb an example of both a unified instrument and a symphonic instrument (of ANY size) as I have ever heard. The narrative is excellent for both seasoned professional and novice alike. The playing is simply wonderful. I can tell that Nigel loves both his music and his instrument. I get the impression that not a lot of contrapuntal music is used in the church's music program, hence the more symphonic design of the instrument. A pleasant change from what I hear in some Protestant churches. I think this instrument would also do well in a Catholic church, whose liturgy is similar. I have been a Catholic organist (as well as a theater organist and in Rock bands) for decades, and I admire what Nigel does with the instrument. I would love to hear him play a service sometime.
When the pipes for this organ were delivered on a cold winter's night, I and my family waited outside our church. I had the flu and was running a 102 degree fever, but I would not have missed that moment. I helped carry the pipes in from the eighteen-wheeler that delivered them, and placed them in designated places around the church. I will never forget that night, or the many wonderful moments since that our organ provided. Godspeed to Nigel and Sarah on their southern journey.
These are the kinds of organs I wish were recorded for hauptwerk.
The tonal flavors this organ has at its disposal is truly wonderful. The mic placement and sound recording was so professional and clear. This instrument has to be one of the great organs now in existance. Thank you so much for demonstrating it's wonderful sounds.
The bass on this organ sounds incredible. Nothing like it.
Great organ building is alive and well in the hands of Jack Bethards. Really wonderful to hear.
There are hundreds who the trade of organ building is in fine hands.
Most impressive 17 ranks, highest quality voicing etc.
Nigel's demonstration/playing is the perfect fit for this lovely instrument. Thank you Jack and Nigel.
This organ has a wonderful array of sounds to chose from, even with just 17 ranks.
a pipe organ is built to last forever pipe organ is one of my favorite instruments
Pipe Organs have such a rich bass tone. The pedal sounds these organs produce are what subwoofers try to imitate but fail at ultimately.
True. Even the 32' resultant here sounds massive, and compared to a real 32' that's tiny
Shining Armor ... you're assuming that the real 32' you're comparing it to is designed to be big. Most 32' flues are voiced very softly.
Alex Fishburn Contrabasse 32', second loudest 32' in my organ
Shining Armor again, it's a case by case basis, depending on how each individual 32' in each individual organ is voiced. Saying "second largest 32' in my organ" doesn't really prove anything.
It's all down to how each installation is voiced.
A resultant 32' needs very suitable acoustics to work, and needs a quint rank with very little harmonic content and tuned pure. Most quint stops are derived from a 16' flute, hence why they rarely work properly.
Shining Armor slightly misread your comment at first, sorry!
Amazing sound from such a small instrument!! Kudos to Schoenstein for their quality work and instruments! Fantastic job Nigel!!!
Joseph Trotter They have great suppliers as do most in the organ building industry.
Brilliant tone, brilliant dialogue. Congratulations Jack and Nigel. Thanks to Peter Mintun for spreading the news of this latest triumph!
I just happened on this. Talk about a happy accident! That variety of rich sound from 17 ranks is absolutely astounding. Thank you so much for sharing this.
I just happened on this, as well.
1:05 Stop jambs
3:21 List of ranks by family
4:20 Some of the Harmonic Flute pipes
5:28 Stopped Diapason pipes
6:33 Various pipes
8:08 List of borrowed stops
8:20 Various pipes
10:05 Corno Dolce pipes
13:13 Gamba and Celeste pipes
14:20 Gamba and Celeste pipes (different angle)
15:36 Expression diagram
16:15 High and low pressure
18:21 Fake vs. real diapason tone
19:14 Diapason family pipes (wide shot)
19:47 List of 8' stops
20:59 List of diapason ranks
21:56 List of diapason ranks plus 16'
22:29 Diapason family pipes (different wide shot)
22:44 16' octave of the Corno Dolce pipes
23:19 Salicional pipes
23:52 Expression diagram again
24:06 Shoes
25:00 Third manual discussion
25:35 List of stops on the 3rd manual
28:07 Clarinet pipes
29:02 Flugelhorn pipes
30:17 Tuba pipes
31:10 Tuba pipes (different angle)
31:47 Full swell doxology
Outstanding result with such a size limitation!
Thank-you for such an informative and clear demonstration of different colours. I shall return to this video to remind myself of the nuances between very similar voices (whilst remembering that every organ is different!).
A most informative demonstration! Thank you for posting this.
Thank you for your comments. I have added above a link to the organ specification from the Schoenstein website and details of a commercial CD that I released of this organ in 2015, for those that may be interested.
The console does look larger than 15 stops because of the third manual, (which includes selected stops from both the Swell and the Great, and gives much greater flexibility to the organ), and the pedal division is borrowed from the Swell and Great.
Although the pedal is borrowed, it is worth keeping in mind that for an organ of 15 stops, this has four 16' stops - two flues and two reeds. (The 'base' of a perfectly shaped organ specification diamond!). I think I recall from my 2008 concert at Notre Dame de Paris that the organ there has just two flues in the pedal too...
Excellent presentation! Thanks for the clear explanation, wonderful playing and beautiful organ sound.
Jack Bethards is the greatest
super and seems so holy too, I love the pipe colors.
Just fantastic! Very well done and such wonderful explanations.
What a remarkable organ! One would never dream that so much color is coming from only 17 ranks! Both playing and narration are first rate. Congratulations to all!
Great to watch and listen.
V
Beautiful tone warm sound
Very informative video thanks
What a wonderful demonstration you guys. Thank you both
These type of smaller, symphonic organs are interesting to me, since the setup seems to be closer to a theater organ, than a traditional classical one. It’s unified, and seems to focus on getting the as many tone colors as possible from a limited number of ranks. Even the choice of ranks, with lots of strings, and imitative orchestral voices are similar to what you’d find on one. Heck, add a decent tremulant to the Stopped Diapason, and you've got yourself a Serviceable Tibia Clausa!
It does seem like the Theatre Organ was basically the natural evolution of the pipe organ that basically died on the vine, as it were, when silent movies when all talkie. That, and the home-pipe-organ-building-crash after the great depression and WW2, and the development of the electronic organ... Perhaps we're finally back on track to evolve the pipe organ into an even better and more capable instrument as was supposed to happen.
Very nice!
Jack directed me to this. I have my fingers crossed that Schoenstein will be building my church its next instrument.
Kyle Swann You better have donors with deep pockets.
Thank you all for your comments. As some people have requested, I have listed above all the extracts used in this video.
Really excellent demonstration.
Great job Nigel and a unique instrument. Thanks to you and Jack for the time and effort to put this together. Well done!
C'est magnifique! (Handsome feller, too;-)
agree with Branden. Although this organ has a well-designed complement, there are many affordable digital augmentations that can be implemented to enhance the breadth and texture composition. Good stuff.
Tremolo is an AM phenomenon ; vibrato is an FM phenomenon.
Matthew Hume In the case of pipe organs and the regular pulsation of the air, it is both AM and FM modulation
A lot to ask, I know, but is it possible for anyone to list the titles, composers, and time start for each piece excerpt? Nigel, you've done such a wonderful job of playing. And, thank you too, Jack for your exceptional narration.
+Super Awesome
All the extracts are now listed above. Thank you for your interest and kind comments.
I thought Salicional is a string rank. Why is it grouped with the diapasons here?
Awesome
Turn on RUclipss closed captioning and "Diapason" becomes "Diet Patient" . :-)
“Corno Dolce” is just a misnamed tapered Viole d’ Amour. A stringy Spitz Gamba in the upper scale.
wow that's what I call Small But Mighty
Doing more with less. Yay! It's a refreshing relief from the worst excesses of American civic organ culture.
En lo posible volver a hacer música en los velos pipe organ de los Templos con música Sacra. La música milenaria. La música que eleva el espíritu a Dios. Prf Carlos Numpaque
Nice sound, but I see more than 15 stops on that console. please explain.
+Rheinlander95 There are 15 unique voices, but there is a lot of "borrowing" in this organ. For example, it appears that just about all the pedal stops are borrowed from other divisions. Therefore you would see the same stop in multilple places.
When is the 32' resultant being used? Or what time
I thought only Gemshorn pipes had a conical shape at the top. Large at the mouth but smaller at the top.
There are several cone-shaped, or tapered, pipe ranks found in various pipe organs. I would imagine most except the erzahler, fugara, gemshorn, koppelflote, spillflote, and spitzflute, are actually pretty rare (or unique), but I really don't know, since I know more about theatre organs than classical organs. This encyclopedia is a good resource however.
Here are all of the conical or tapered flue ranks I could find in there:
www.organstops.org/c/ConeFlute.html
www.organstops.org/c/ConeGambaCeleste.html
www.organstops.org/c/ConeGedeckt.html
www.organstops.org/c/Conoclyte.html
www.organstops.org/e/Erzahler.html
www.organstops.org/e/ErzahlerCeleste.html
www.organstops.org/f/FlautoDoris.html
www.organstops.org/f/FluteAFuseau.html
www.organstops.org/f/Fugara.html
www.organstops.org/g/Gemshorn.html
www.organstops.org/g/Gemshornbass.html
www.organstops.org/g/GemshornCeleste.html
www.organstops.org/g/GemshornCornet.html
www.organstops.org/g/GemshornFifteenth.html
www.organstops.org/g/GemshornGamba.html
www.organstops.org/g/GemshornMixture.html
www.organstops.org/g/GemshornOctave.html
www.organstops.org/g/Gemshornquinte.html
www.organstops.org/g/GemshornTwelfth.html
www.organstops.org/g/GemshornViolin.html
www.organstops.org/g/Gemsrohrflote.html
www.organstops.org/h/HarmonicGemshorn.html
www.organstops.org/h/Harfpfeife.html
www.organstops.org/k/Koppelflote.html
www.organstops.org/k/Kurzflote.html
www.organstops.org/m/MutedViol.html
www.organstops.org/n/NasardAFuseau.html
www.organstops.org/p/PyramidFlute.html
www.organstops.org/s/Spillflote.html
www.organstops.org/s/Spitzflote.html
www.organstops.org/s/Spitzgamba.html
www.organstops.org/s/Spitzgedeckt.html
www.organstops.org/s/Spitzprinzipal.html
www.organstops.org/w/WedgeFlute.html
(plus also the flue form of the Oboe, invented by Mr. Haskell for the Estey organ company, has a cone or taper on the top, and a few Cornet mixtures found in certain classical organs apparently have tapered pipes).
I should mention that certain early cylinder-operated fairground organs frequently had tapering open flute pipes in the melody, almost always made out of wood, which were called "Spitzflutes" by the organbuilders themselves in their catalogues. These were generally found in large (50 to over 100 keys) cabinet-type fairground barrel organs built by German builders like Gebruder Bruder, Wilhelm Bruder Sohne, A. Ruth & Sohn, etc. and usually found in instruments they built before about the 1890s (so, about the 1870s-1880s era).
Sometime in the 1890s, Mr. Gavioli's patent on the "frein" or harmonic brake for the mouths of violin pipes, ran out, and thus after this expiration, there was then a free-for-all among European and American fairground organ builders to start using wooden violin pipes in the melody section of their organs, so the wooden spitzflutes gradually (or suddenly) disappeared from new organs around the 1890s, and among fairground organ people, are a sound associated with the older large barrel organs, rather than the 'newer' (1890s-1930s) barrel and book organs.
What's the name of the first piece played
Holy Art Thou?
( Ombra Mi Fu) Handel Largo...... would be nice
cool synth
Leonardo Ferraz Not a synth.
Why are some of them pipes bent a the tops? Does that make them pipes louder?
+samueladams7 The reason the large pipes are bent is to retain their speaking length while fitting them in a small area. I.E if the chamber cannot fit a 16 foot pipe the pipe is bent to making it possible to fit the pipe in the small chamber. and some pipes are simply built that way
Quinn Riutta Almost.
samueladams7 There are two types of “bent” pipes. Those at the top are called hooded and helps focus the sound. This is often done with solo tubas and trumpets based on British designs. Other bent pipes, such as those looping around are called “metered.” Mitered pipes are to fit a full length pipe where there isn’t quite the vertical height to do so if they were left unmetered.
This is not a 15 stop organ. It looks like it has about 60 stops. What am I missing? Regardless, it all sounds beautiful, as I expected. But what would be so wrong with starting the O Mensch at the same spot each time? And finish the phrase. Just saying. Also, may I suggest you say in the info section that this organ is highly unified/borrowed. It would save us all a lot of confusion.
darren motise They are unified stops. In organ building terminology it refers to the number of parent speaking stops. A theater organ can have even fewer ranks and even more stops due to the borrowing and unification. This instrument uses the same principles to increase the versatility. Just because a console has a certain number of “stop knobs” does not mean it has that number of “speaking stops.”
One of my favourite videos demonstrating a pipe organ. First rate!! But, really! - a gamba is a gamba. It sounds like a pipe, not like a string instrument so let's not say it sounds like an orchestra.
Which pedal stop is being used with almost every stop?
Nevermind, it's probably the corno dolce
+Shining Armor
Bourdon 16'
+Nigel Potts ah! I was wrong
Great organ! Have you ever considered adding digital voices?
Whoever invents the technology to add reverberation to a pipe organ will be a millionaire. These dead spaces are absolute tragedies in the organ world. Just imagine how much better this organ would sound in a reverberant space. A live space is everything. People should be spending money on new CHURCHES before new organs. It would be a better investment.
darren motise It has been attempted before and has failed each and every time. It is as convincing as reverb on a digital organ in a small dry acoustic. No one is fooled by that trickery. It also doesn’t work with other instruments or voices sharing the dry space. The reality in this day and age with religion is you have one chance... one chance for a responsive room, and one chance for a decent organ. Blow any of those chances and it’s likely the church will be gone before you get a second chance.
I could liven that room right up with lots of bathroom tile everywhere (decorative naturally) and rip up the acoustic killer carpet then put lacquer on everything else! By God we will bump that acoustic up to 7 seconds ! Now I'm having real fun.! If this recording is reflective of the room it is sad that this instrument sounds as dead as a door nail in that space!
Umm is that really important?
@Stephen Schmidt I agree. A very large space with a lot of reverb can indeed be awe-inspiring with a large organ, but also make it very hard for that organ to 'enunciate' crisply due to the reverb being a constant in the room (an acoustical phenomenon- not something one 'turns on and off'). I think both 'crisper' or 'drier' AND 'livelier' or 'wetter' acoustical environments have their place with pipe organs (not to mention live singers, bands and orchestras of all kinds). Frankly, I think the dry environment works well with this particular organ. In a very live room, it can be hard to tell specific details about the actual timbre of certain ranks, since they get "lost" in the room.
Did someone say 15 stops? It looks like much more than that just on the right stop jamb. A 3 manual organ with only 15 stops is about as impractical as it is rediculous. That's 15 registers, 17 Ranks and many more stops. By the way it is an absolute NoNo to take a mutation stop from a unit rang. It will be out of tune because the register - base rank will be tuned but the 2-2/3 is a 12 above and will not be in tune. This is especially annoying in the upper octaves. Salicionals are members of the String family - not the Diapasons. Good for you - daring to install a Stopped Diapason in the first place and calling it so as well. The organ has a very nice sound for a highly unified organ. Altogether this is a very nice job, Elgar - excellent choice. Beautiful sound. Well done !! This should be an amazing example
Not many people play the 4th movement of the 5th symphony. No Crescendo??? Good for you - Diapason, not this pustulant infection of the German Prinzipal. To bad these European builders did not understand the principals you speak of regarding the tonal construction of 8' and the essentials of the upperwork. Jack - it is the Dulciana that is part of the Diapason family. You said it - strings for the Salicional. is a string. Dulciana is the small scale Diapason. By the way - you have more than 40 stops, not 15.
robert shaw really? How do you know?
Trust me, I know. This organ is unusual in that it has a nice sound though unified. Many builders try this and fail miserably. Mr. Bethards is a knowledgable person. One thing we can say - better a unit organ than none at all or - one of those things that use recordings of real organs to make their sound. Pipe organs, regardless of age are never obsolete, like any other musical instrument. But electronic technology is obsolete almost as soon as it is developed.
I think he knows how many stops his organ has. It's borrowed. (unified, which I always thought was a bad thing. Apparently not, I suppose)
You have no idea what you're talking about. They're called digital organs. And the technology they use is called "sampling" and that does not become obsolete. It's been the same for 15 years. And so has speaker and audio system technology. Digital organs are now built to accommodate any changes in scientific improvement.
@@djmotise 15 years? That's a joke, right? How many years has REAL organ tech been around? Audio amplifiers have changed radically with pulse width modulation, etc. When current amp tech like pwm and other hi tech like sampling is obsolete, there will still be wonderful pipes. The notion that current tech won't become obsolete is absurd. R&D labs are still keeping busy applying new science.
Is the 32' Resultant a digital stop?
+Ryan Booth
There are no digital stops on this organ. The 32' Resultant is from the 16' Boudon
Usually a resultant is made by playing the fundamental and fifth above it for each "extra low note" wanted. So for example, if one wants G in the 32' octave, but has no pipe long enough to produce it, the 'resultant' stop will be wired to play both the G AND D (above it) pipes in the 16' octave, for each G note played in the bass with the resultant turned on, giving (through sonic illusion) the 'impression' of a 32' octave G tone sounding faintly below the two 16' pipes playing together, even though no 32' rank actually exists. This stop is almost always made (*derived) using a stopped flute rank, like a bourdon. Since the notes are so low, the fifth is maybe not as noticeable as the "resultant" phantom low note, and with a well-scaled and voiced (and tuned!) 16' rank, it 'works'. Of course, this effect doesn't work as well in the higher octaves, nor is it needed, since most organs have actual pipes in the 16' octave and higher literally sounding all those notes, with no illusions needed.
Only the really big organs have actual 32' pipes (usually a large wooden stopped flute whose longest pipes are around 17' long or so... but sometimes a full-length open diapason, string, or even reed like a low trumpet / trombone or something else, whose longest pipes would be indeed over 32' long, accounting for the sounding length PLUS of course the mouth and foot of the pipe which add the 'extra length'). I would say it's probably unusual to find a classical/church/symphonic organ under about 35 or 40 ranks or so with a real 32' stop in it. There were only a relatively few theatre pipe organs built with real 32' stops, as well (Wurlitzer probably made most of those few that were made).
Is this highly unified?
Yes it is. Isn't that considered an undesirable practice? Like Moeller?
darren motise Not really. It completely depends on how it is used. Theatre organs also use the practice. Given what schoenstein charges for an organ its a way to get lots of different colors and variety of sounds without having to pay 5-6 Million for a properly sized orchestral organ. Even still Schoenstein will charge just under 1 million for a small instrument as this... he does like his Rolls Royce...
@Stephen Schmidt It really depends on how the unification is achieved.
The organist looks like Ross Geller
With a touch of reverb added, unfortunately.
You mean, to the audio recording?
Tuba, a chorus reed? Surely he doesn't mean that...
Well it certainly isn't a color reed
It's a solo reed, not a chorus reed. What do you mean by a "colour" reed? I guess the American take on the Tuba could be different, but here in England (where the stop originates) it is certainly a solo reed.
Alex Fishburn In Jack’s context it’s actually a hooded trumpet and not an english tuba. The scale , shallot design, wind pressure, and shape Schoenstein used in this case is definitely not a Tuba as the British know it
@@praestant8 true ☺️
Sorry, but in my opinion i would rather have small one manual organ with 15 stops instead of three manual "unit windchest" organ with tens of transmissioned stops... You know, for proper sounding stops, it s hard to explain - for example: when you have a single Flûte harmonique 8' pipe with pitch at middle c, that same pitch pipe in Flûte octaviante 4' won't be the exact "duplicate" of the pipe - the scaling will be different. The 8' pipe will be "wider" than the 4' pipe. And that's the reason, why I don't like this type of organ - the sound is not proper...
Also, when you have the pipes of same pitch Trompette 8' from manual and pedal, the scaling will be also different - the pedal trompette will have very large scale, because it has to support the entire sound of organ, but the pipe from manual will be thinner... That can't be done in this organ
Why do people continue to post inaudible videos especially where audio is the main feature!?
Check your speakers, this is just fine.
I also hear everything fine. Check your computer, soundcard, speakers/headphones and also playback of RUclips in your web browser. Sounds like something might be going wrong on your end.
No thanks, I wouldn't touch an organ like that even if they offered me millions of dollars. It looks big at the console, but in reality it is disappointingly small. Too many extensions and too much borrowing, so loose a lot of independence in voices. I'll take a nice large digital instrument where everything is at least independent. You also couldn't pay me enough to play in a room with such dry, boring acoustics.
Yeah, you've already bragged how you will take a fake organ over a real one. You can keep it and have to replace it for double the cost every ten years. I'll take something modest that was built to last.
I'd rather have a hybrid or digital instrument with more flexibility and more independent voices.
TheJakeman789 And fake sounds despite how many you have.
All the electronic organ does is to remind you of what you don't actually have.
You could have gotten 10 times the organ for 1/4 the price if you would have considered a Rogers. CVD
+Charles Davis And at a tenth of the quality.
The truth is self-evident... in the ear. CVD
+Charles Davis Over a 100 year period you'd spend more on the Rogers..
Charles Davis I fear you don't detect the Breath of God that fills the pipes so gloriously here.
And you'd have gotten kicked out of the spelling bee if you spelled Rodgers like that. Besides, there are better companies, such as Walker and Allen.
too much draw from the wind chests....too much unification is not so good
Honestly, the actual setup seems closer to a Theatre Organ, than a traditional church organ.
Why do you need 3 Manuals and so many stops on a 17 rank organ? the nazard sounds like shit and the Full Organ too
WRONG. The organist does not have to orchestrate each and every piece. It's called registration, and the composer almost always indicates precise directions, and if not, the time period - such as the baroque - dictates. I'm surprised to hear such a basic lack of understanding spoken in a video about a reputable excellent organ company.
darren motise Remember that Jack is a business man trying to sell a product to the general public. He came from Proctor-Gamble management as memory serves. He may run an organ building company but it doesn’t mean he’s as conversant as an organist would be.
In the case of more romantic literature and transcriptions you have very little in the way of registration directions. Listen to the Elgar recordings of Tom Murray at Wolsey hall. I defy you to tell me the composers directed his registration which changes every few seconds.
You don't always have to follow what is written
Also not all sheet music give registration options