A new mystery organ to guess

I think the guess of Menesterol is probably correct, as this organ in so-called Dutch / North-German style didn't quite match the way the Dutch and North-German builders built organs, and today almost all new organs in old style also have historical tunings.

So, I was confused. but this Menesterol organ seems to fit my analysis of a divided trumpet stop very well! I think that was probably the give-away clue Eric was talking about in the Coomans piece. I am right?

I am also surprised that I was right about and old organ case with new interior pipe work.

Also, this German builder Gerhard Grenzing restored the Jodi-Bosch organ, and there is thus a connection between him and Jiri Zurek,. and voila, the guess of Menesterol must be a correct one.

And indeed, unity of spanish, french and german rolled into one!

Anyways, I rest my own case and vote for this organ, especially hearing the trompet reed in this piece:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBDwMZwuR4A

see also here for photos: http://www.duresme.org.uk/ABC/Menesterol%20StPierre.htm

The video clinches it, even though the sound quality is not great!

Apparently the Recit Dulzian is a 2006 addition - it replaced a "smaller" (4' or in tone?) regal.

- Adrian.

I am also surprised that I was right about and old organ case with new interior pipe work.

How new? From your photo link:

Valentin Rinkenbach 1840, for Temple, Colmar, Transferred and rest. Grenzing 1978

[EDIT] I've now found elsewhere that the original organ in that old case was destroyed by fire.

Paul

Well now, that does look like it fits the bill, doesn't it?

The key was indeed the divided trompette stop, which was the most distinctive thing about this organ versus so many others that would be similar in specification. It was very nice of Carson to create a piece that exploited the divided trompette and Spanish connection for the organ. Even so, it may have been very hard to find this specific organ without a few clues on location and builder. No matter - well done! A good team effort. Good ears all around.

And as before we had some excellent guesses and some nice organs to look at as candidates along the way.

A congratulatory (virtual) Bratwurst and Paella dinner with Bordeaux to all who helped unravel the mystery. Murph was first to name Menesterol, but (as in both prior contests) Adrian did much heavy lifting and many others helped out too.

Now the only remaining mystery is when that company will put Jiri's website back up so you can play it yourselves...

Until next time...whenever that is.

Where's the "does happy little dance" smiley when you want it?

It was your dinner hint that gave it away. The minute I saw a picture of St. Pierre, I knew it was right. The only way to explain the sound of the pedal 16 is if it is outside a case, within stone semi-circular apse. The mic position is probably close to the focus of the reflections from this, before diffusing into the room, hence the boomy early reflections not present in the rest of the organ.

Ah well, back to the St. Emilion.

P.s. What WAS the registration for the Cooman piece? Soubasse, montre, tr t, quinte, dolzian (Cymballe?)?

P.p.s. Bret, can we try the same with your new one?

Registration for the Cooman piece:

GO: Trompette 8 (D), Montre 8, Bourdon 8
Rec: Dolzian
Ped: Soubasse 16, Flute 8

Really good ears to be visualizing stop placement by early reflections. Impressive indeed.

Congrats,
Erik

[B. Milan]

P.p.s. Bret, can we try the same with your new one?

Sure, if you care to try and guess with no further information or demos for the time being!

Thank you.
(The day job is sound-big sound systems. Room acoustics become important (and never trust an architect!) when they get excited enough, even if the speakers are pointing at the audience).

Interesting registration. The montre has some definite stand-out harmonics.

Now, let me guess, Brett.........
Could it be 2 manuals plus pedal....... in Romantic style??
Can't figure out the stop list, though......

I am totally surprised by the correct guess of this smaller, not famous organ. I can understand that someone can recognize the sound of some famous and historically important instrument. But how can it be that Hauptwerkians may also recognize an instrument which is not from that cathegory? This is stunning. Thanks to all the participants, I congratulate to the winner and I will be sending the sample set to him if the winner sends to me the postal address.

With this sample set, I open the Francis Chapelet collection of instruments which we recorded about 2 years ago. There are Spanish types, this North German one, Italian types and one smaller French type of instrument. All will be gradually prepared for Hauptwerk. The wish of the owner of the organ was that these smaller sets may become simple study virtual instruments accessible to everyone, so when my web-pages open again, the price of this sample set will be set really low, fitting into the cathegory of the small instruments.

Of course, as it was pointed out already, the Menesterol sample set may sound best in one of the historical temperaments which are available in Hauptwerk, I recommend some variant of Meantone, perhaps the fifth comma. The original organ tuning is equal which perhaps does not give the most out of the instrument.

I still hope to re-open the web site soon.

I hope this organ will be included:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHoXn_dQQGY

@ murph

Congratulations!

@ Fazioli: Thank you.

@ Juri: P.m'd. Thank you.
And, also, looking forward to the other organs in this collection. The spanish ones look nice.

This set arrived today (again, thank you Jiri.).

It's Wonderful!!!!

Little details, like the difference in the voicing of the 3 bourdons, or noticing that the pedal flute8 is stopped in the bottom octave and open in the rest, the idio-synchracies of the pipe speech (in a good way, although the ped 2' is doing some funny wobbly things on the bottom e (and f)), the beauty of the dulzian+bourdon (think willis1 corno di basseto), or in fact the recit bourdon with any of the other recit stops (all work well!).

The "moist" set is my favourite so far. It's like sitting at the console (with the music stand removed!, think a brustwerk effect, yet you can tell the trumpet points up, as opposed to being hooded).
An absolute must to have as a practice organ for baroque/old english music. NOTHING gets forgiven, yet all sounds fab.
(Now I KNOW I have to practice a lot more ).
The set includes wet/surround, the afore-mentioned "moist" and a dry set. Definitely value for money!!

I will need to re-configure the living room to explore the full possibilities of the surround set. Further reports then.

Jiri's website is still down as far as orders and new instruments are concerned. Does anyone know when it's going to be fully operational again/ Do I understand a new design is in the works as well?