Wwhel21 wrote:hi Richard,
Thanks for the quick reply - I will check out the Rosales
To clarify a bit, I do use Menesterol - which is on the dry side - for much of my practice. I think at this point I'd like something a little more wet/ cathedral-like; I could always truncate the reverb on a "meatier" organ if necessary.
I'm working on a number of Bach prelude and fugues with more to come, so coverage of German Baroque would be desirable.
I guess my main concern is the scope of repertoire I'd be able to cover with the one larger instrument I'd like to invest in.
Best regards,
Bill
As an organ expert, long-time player and long time listener, my conclusion remains simple: an all-purpose instrument remains at all times a compromise, and for that reason they are often called "compromise organ".
Throughout history organ builders in different regions used very different approaches to building their organs, in terms of wind supply, wind chests, pipe alloys, pipe scaling, voicing, wind pressures, tuning pitches and temperament, and later action systems, etc.
The beauty of Hauptwerk is that for many of the historical literature, we have a rowing selection of appropriate choices.
It might be better to have smaller organs with proper historically accurate sounds, than one monster organ that supposedly does justice to music of all periods, which really is an oxymoron. It's really impossible to do that accurately.
Of course, much is to be said for a modern organ that is unified in style, truly musical and beautiful and which does better justice to music of past periods than an instrument that tries too hard to cover everything.
You could opt for several somewhat smaller organs to play your different style musics.
For Bach, you can consider Freiburg (Sonus Paradisi, 2 man./ped), or even Kreszow (Sonus Paradisi). Kreszow is wetter, but not too much (3 man./ped.).
For French baroque I recommend St. Michel de Tierache.
For Baroque/Roccoco/Classical Period/even early roman tic (up till ca.1820) music, I highly recommend Ottobeuren (OAM, Organ Art Media).
For North-German baroque: Stade or Steinkrichen (Organ Art Media). Stade is a bit drier; too dry for some.
A really dry organ is OAM's Waltershausen.
By the way, someone I think made a 3-manual extension of the Menesterol organ; not sure how this was done.
Have you at all considered really small organs, that are true beauties in their own right?
OAM:
Frechilla, Spanish baroque, 17th and 18th C
Duurswoude, FC Schnitger, 1723
SONUS PARADISI:
Claviorganum
Smecno, 16th C.
Rabstejn, 18th C.
Izola, Italian style 18th C.
Zlata Koruna, Czech, 1699
I personally cannot consider English type organs for European Continental music; likewise are we to play Bach on a French baroque organ? Or Buxtehude on a Cavaille-Coll (Oh, I've heard it done, and for a purist like myself, a bit hard to digest).
English and English-styled American organs are very different instruments. The music is so different.
The Rosales organ strikes me (correct me if I'm wrong) as a very loud organ in a small room, a typical American phenomenon (they have the money for large organs but not the nice church spaces and acoustical ambiance).
Augustine (Augustine Virtual Organs, or AVO) is a sample set maker, whose sets I am not familiar with. His latest offerings have many improvements over the earlier ones. You can try sets before buying them.
A Polish sample set maker to watch for, with FREE organs (yes, indeed!)
https://www.piotrgrabowski.pl/instruments.html should be on your list as well.
This is my take, but your mileage may vary....of course.
Good luck with the sea of choices....
Dr. Adrian de Groot, organologist