I would like to share my questions, experience and tips regarding to the general crescendo in the context of different literatures, hoping new suggestions, and perhaps conflicting opinions opening the door to new solutions.
On the one hand, the general crescendo is possible in 3 ways: by expression pedals, by ‘Rollschweller’ (in Germany), or by a combination stepper. On the other hand, the romantic literature needs 3 different behaviours for the crescendo: the German music using very slow and long crescendos from the pianissimo to the fortissimo, the Anglo-Saxon music going faster between the extremes, and the French music going generally from the forte (demi-grand-chœur) to the fortissimo.
Let's begin with the German music. The Rollerschweller is more adapted for a huge number of steps rather an expression pedal. However, the enormous disadvantage of this system is the high difficulty for a quick change between the fortissimo to the pianissimo or the opposite. In this kind of music (Max Reger for instance) I prefer the stepper, but only if the console has pistons available from 'x0x' to 'x9x', because the repetitive use of the '-10' and '+10' buttons is not practicable, when we need a quick change between the extremes. If the sample set has an internal crescendo, I use 2 expression pedals: one for the Hauptwerk crescendo (32 steps) from piano to mezzo-forte and one for the crescendo system of the organ itself from the mezzo-forte to the fortissimo.
In the Anglo-Saxon music, an expression pedal is perhaps the best way to manage a crescendo.
In the French music, Cavaillé-Coll offers the system of double ventil-boxes (Appels d'anches) and the sub-octaves for a crescendo in 2, 3 or 4 steps. For a more gradual crescendo, I organise it from the forte (demi-grand-chœur) to the fortissimo, because it rarely begins from the pianissimo in this literature.
Any comments?
On the one hand, the general crescendo is possible in 3 ways: by expression pedals, by ‘Rollschweller’ (in Germany), or by a combination stepper. On the other hand, the romantic literature needs 3 different behaviours for the crescendo: the German music using very slow and long crescendos from the pianissimo to the fortissimo, the Anglo-Saxon music going faster between the extremes, and the French music going generally from the forte (demi-grand-chœur) to the fortissimo.
Let's begin with the German music. The Rollerschweller is more adapted for a huge number of steps rather an expression pedal. However, the enormous disadvantage of this system is the high difficulty for a quick change between the fortissimo to the pianissimo or the opposite. In this kind of music (Max Reger for instance) I prefer the stepper, but only if the console has pistons available from 'x0x' to 'x9x', because the repetitive use of the '-10' and '+10' buttons is not practicable, when we need a quick change between the extremes. If the sample set has an internal crescendo, I use 2 expression pedals: one for the Hauptwerk crescendo (32 steps) from piano to mezzo-forte and one for the crescendo system of the organ itself from the mezzo-forte to the fortissimo.
In the Anglo-Saxon music, an expression pedal is perhaps the best way to manage a crescendo.
In the French music, Cavaillé-Coll offers the system of double ventil-boxes (Appels d'anches) and the sub-octaves for a crescendo in 2, 3 or 4 steps. For a more gradual crescendo, I organise it from the forte (demi-grand-chœur) to the fortissimo, because it rarely begins from the pianissimo in this literature.
Any comments?
Luc