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Rieger Organ From Kanta and Late Romantic composite - new

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takatsa

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Rieger Organ From Kanta and Late Romantic composite - new

PostTue Feb 06, 2018 1:39 pm

I am happy to inform everyone that completed my two new sample sets.
Rieger Organ from Kanta (16/2+P)
The organ is located in the Kanta Catholic Church. Kanta is a district of Kézdivásárhely. Kézdivásárhely is the easternmost town of Transylvania. The Organ was made by Otto Rieger (Opus no. 418) in 1894, late romantic disposition is the original and relatively good condition.
The sample sets are available in wave format 48kHz/24bit, stereo, multiple loops (1-14) and multiple releases (3 levels). Equal, a=440 Hz. The reverb 2.5 s, reflects the original acoustics of the church. Hauptwerk v4.0 and higher supported for the Organ Definition Files.
The sample sets made in two forms.
1. Wet version (stereo recording space of the church)
2. Surround version (3 pairs of stereo recording up close (near) and at a distance (far) and in the background (rear).
Screenshots: Console, Original controls, Extended surround controls
Audio demos:
stereo/mix version: Pachelbel -Ciaccona in D
surround version; Howells - Ten pieces , Liszt - Nun danket alle Gott
More information.
(There are more audio demos and can be downloaded the demo of sample set).
Acknowledgements:
The following friends helped me to make and publish the sample set (in alphabetical order): Dominique Dantand, Gérard Lefranc, Nagy István, Enrico Sandrini and Adrian Wheal. If something's done well, it's thanks to them. Thank you for their work
Best regards, Augustine

Late Romantic composite (47/3+P)
I have two late-romantic sample sets: the Országh Organ from Bakáts square and the Rieger Organ from Kanta. I made a composite of these two.
Screenshots: Console, Controls, Left Jamb, Right Jamb,
Audio demos: Julius Reubke - Sonata on the 94th Psalm in C minor
More information.
Anyone who buys the Bakáts and the Kanta (Surround) pattern will receive this composite for free.

Best regards,
Augistine
Last edited by takatsa on Mon Oct 19, 2020 2:08 am, edited 2 times in total.
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lefranc22

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Re: Rieger Organ From Kanta and Late Romantic composite - ne

PostWed Feb 07, 2018 3:19 am

Very interesting sample-set for german late romantic organs lovers. Not too big. The stereo-mix version can be used 16-bit with the Hauptwerk Basic Edition. And the surround can be opened 20-bit with only 16 GB.
The Late Romantic Organ Composite is gorgeous and well balanced because, the acoustics of the two churches being very similar, very few corrections of the releases were necessary (and Augustine became a smart sample-sets maker :) ). Half way between nice, but too small instruments and huge machines needing a lot of power and money to be used, it can be entirely loaded 16-bit with 16 GB and sounding great in this configuration.
Dont miss the bundle Kanta and Bakáts. Its a good opportunity.
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adrianw

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Re: Rieger Organ From Kanta and Late Romantic composite - ne

PostWed Feb 07, 2018 6:49 am

Augustine kindly allowed me to beta test this set and Bakats its predecessor, so I have been playing them for a few weeks.

Both Kanta and Bakats are decent instruments which are enjoyable to play and both sound much larger and fuller than their respective specifications might suggest, but I have to admit that to make them sound their best I found one is (and must be) constantly aware of their limitations. If this seems to be "damning with faint praise", let me add they are both clearly labours-of-love by their creator, who is now after creating nearly 40 sets pretty good at this, and very inexpensive.

But I have been frankly surprised and delighted by the success of the new "Late Romatic Composite" organ combining both and becoming IMHO much more than the sum of the parts. I realise this is anathema to some, but for those of us more interested in playability and audible results than authenticity I would strongly recommend checking this out. And as Gerard points out, by happy chance the two donor instruments are very similar in acoustics as well as tonal philosphy so they make a comfortable pairing. At 47/3+P it hits the "sweet spot" for me. I have found its broad tonal resources wonderfully flexible and it is currently my organ of choice for a much wider range of repertoire than the "Late romantic" tag would suggest. Not only German (from Bach onwards) but also much of my favourite English repertoire sounds very good on it.

This composite sample set could not have had a better demonstration than Nagy Istvan's performance Reubke's "94th Psalm" on Contrebombarde, link above. A 25-minute roller-coaster of a piece. And this is actually a very fine, confident performance in its own right -- well worth listening to whether or not one is interested in the sample set.

- Adrian.
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einer_von_weitem

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Re: Rieger Organ From Kanta and Late Romantic composite - ne

PostWed Feb 07, 2018 9:05 am

The Kanta Rieger organ is surely quite limited but what attracts me is precisely what looks to be its unusual authenticity. To judge from the pictures on Augustine's website it is unaltered (whereas, a little unfortunately in my eyes, other, comparable Romantic instruments offered by Augustine such as the Angster organs at Ják or in the Catholic church at Körmend have been retrofitted with new consoles, actions and, I strongly suspect, some new stops -- I have been unable to verify the original specifications, which don't seem to be available anywhere). I also very much welcome being able to load the sample set of the original instrument separately from the extended version. In previous sample sets by Augustine I have found it frustrating that there is no way of telling original stops and couplers from added ones in the screen layout, which always reflects the extended version.

One thing I still miss is being told on the website, for every sample set, what kind of action the original instrument has. But on the whole for me Augustine is going in the right direction!
My Hauptwerk recordings on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJu6YY ... XMA/videos
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einer_von_weitem

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Re: Rieger Organ From Kanta and Late Romantic composite - ne

PostWed Feb 07, 2018 11:32 am

Intrigued by this instrument, I was able to find out a bit more about it. Augustine says in his description that it was moved to its present location in 1986 from the "Saxon-Lutheran church in Beszterce" (Bistrița in Romanian, Bistritz in German). That cannot be right: this church turns out to possess an 18th-c. instrument by Johann Prause ( http://orgeldatei.evang.ro/organ/view/379 -- clicking on the photograph will enlarge it), with no mention of any instrument by Rieger ever having existed there. Bistrița appears to be a somewhat substantial town. The excellent organ data base of the German Protestant Church in Romania identifies the 1894 Rieger in question as having come from the village of Kleinbistritz (Dorolea in Romanian, Kisbeszterce in Hungarian). According to this entry ( http://orgeldatei.evang.ro/organ/view/519 ) it was "destroyed" in 1945, with the "remnants" sold in 1986 to the R.C. church in Târgu Secuiesc (Kézdivásárhely / Szekler Neumarkt) to be "integrated" in what the text suggests was a preexisting organ there. "Destroyed" may be something of an exaggeration if the "remnants" were saleable? And a 1986 document quoted at the bottom of the entry in the data base in fact describes the organ at Kleinbistritz as "usable" but "in need of repair". Certainly what we see in Augustine's photographs does not look as if any of it dated from the 1980s. The stop list given by the data base -- in a way that suggests it is the original specification -- is identical to that of the sample set, and the description of the organ case in the data base matches that of the existing organ. There is clearly some confusion here but it seems more probable to me that the original organ did essentially survive and could be made playable again as it originally was, than that what we have now is actually a composite of two instruments. (In his "History" of the organ Augustine mentions that in its present location it takes the place of an instrument dating from 1865 now itself transferred to a different church -- I'd quite like to know the details of what looks like a rather complicated story of swapping organs... :-) ) The data base states that the Rieger organ has cone-valve chests with mechanical action and that its condition is "good". It also, probably mistakenly, indicates the organ to have both a swell pedal ("schweller") and a crescendo wheel ("walze") when Augustine's photograph of the pedalboard shows only what looks like the latter.
My Hauptwerk recordings on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJu6YY ... XMA/videos
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takatsa

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Re: Rieger Organ From Kanta and Late Romantic composite - ne

PostWed Feb 07, 2018 11:43 am

I thank Gérard and Adrian for the important addition. Istvan Nagy really fantastic plays the Reubke work. That is why it was worth making the composite.
Einer_von_Weitem is right. I try to get a separate tab in the future for the original arrangement.
Unfortunately, the renovation of the Hungarian organ is almost always modernized. In this case, the original individual disposition will be lost and the romantic organ will be "neobaroque". The argument is that these organs are not very valuable, and by changing the disposition they will be more useful for the liturgy and concerts. There is some truth in it, but it is very sad.
However, in Transylvania and in the highlands of Slovakia, there are more organs in its original state. Such is the Rieger organ of Kanta and Buckow-Rieger in Komárom.
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takatsa

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Re: Rieger Organ From Kanta and Late Romantic composite - ne

PostWed Feb 07, 2018 12:05 pm

einer_von_weitem wrote: The excellent organ data base of the German Protestant Church in Romania identifies the 1894 Rieger in question as having come from the village of Kleinbistritz (Dorolea in Romanian, Kisbeszterce in Hungarian).

Yeah, so it's true, the organ comes from there, this is in my description misunderstood.
I found this on the Internet, it is in Hungarian, but it can be translated.
http://kantaiplebania.uw.hu/plebania.htm
http://www.kezdi.ro/kozelet/szazhusz-eves-az-orgona/
The organ does not have a swell pedal and tremulant, as I indicated in the specification.
The Saxon-Lutheran churches in abandoned villages are now full of wreckage or semi-destroyed organs today. These are typically small positive or one manual and pedal organs.
The Rieger organ of Kanta had a feverish fate as well. But now it is in good hands, and the Catholics of Kanta are very proud of their organs and are highly regarded.
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adrianw

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Re: Rieger Organ From Kanta and Late Romantic composite - ne

PostThu Mar 01, 2018 4:00 pm

I noticed today that the performance of Reubke's 94th Psalm by Istwann using the composite set tops the charts of the "month's most listened" with 400 listens on CCH. A well-deserved accolade for an exceptional performance in its own right, but also I hope reflecting the level of interest in this set. It deserves to do well.

A month on I myself am still finding new colours and - more importantly - still enjoying playing the composite set enormously. It really is amazingly versatile and "easy to live with".

My thanks to Augustine for his efforts.

- Adrian.
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Re: Rieger Organ From Kanta and Late Romantic composite - ne

PostFri Mar 02, 2018 12:35 pm

This set is on my "short" list. I have a birthday coming up...
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takatsa

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Re: Rieger Organ From Kanta and Late Romantic composite - ne

PostSat Mar 03, 2018 3:53 am

adrianw wrote: tops the charts of the "month's most listened" with 400 listens on CCH.

István plays great. And I'm inspired by the idea that István will play on my sample set. I will continue to quickly the Ziegler-organ sample preparation. :)
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takatsa

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Re: Rieger Organ From Kanta and Late Romantic composite - ne

PostSat Mar 03, 2018 3:58 am

Tweedle_Dee wrote:This set is on my "short" list. I have a birthday coming up...

When is your birthday?
Before your birthday look for me in private, because the birth date is associated with a small discount.:)
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Re: Rieger Organ From Kanta and Late Romantic composite - ne

PostSat Mar 03, 2018 10:43 am

Very generous for an already very reasonably priced set. Thanks!!

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