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A Sample Set Wish List

Existing and forthcoming Hauptwerk instruments, recommendations, ...
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cochereau32

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A Sample Set Wish List

PostMon Sep 05, 2022 8:44 pm

Hi Everyone,

I’ve been thinking of organs that I wish were available as sample sets. In writing this list I am bearing in mind that there are organs whose owners will never allow to be sampled and others which it may be exceedingly difficult for a variety of reasons. I’m hoping other people will reply and list their dream sample sets and perhaps producers will notice and give it some thought. Even better would be if there are members of the HW community or friends that could facilitate negotiations or connections to allow an instrument to be sampled.

-the Father Willis at Lincoln
-Kings College, Cambridge
-St. Pauls, London
-the Hildebrandt at the Wenzelskirche in Naumburg
-the Walcker at Riga. The other very fine sample sets of the Berlin Steinmeyer, Annaberg Walcker and Chemnitz Sauer have made me enamored with German Romantic organs!
-the Sauer at Berlin Cathedral
-the Aeolian-Skinner at St. John the Divine in New York
-organ of the Church of the Advent, Boston
-the Cavaillé-Coll at St. Sernin, Toulouse

These are organs that I think have special historical merit in their particular style of organbuilding. I’m looking forward to hearing other opinions!

Jon
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larason2

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Re: A Sample Set Wish List

PostMon Sep 05, 2022 9:55 pm

I agree there are many more organs that would be amazing if they could be sampled.

-Any one of the Spanish organs restored by Joaquin Lois Cabello, but foremost among them the Cathedral of Segovia, or the Cathedral of Salamanca.
-Any one of the many restored Mexican organs in Oaxaca and surrounding area
-The organ of the Cathedral of Mexico City
-Organs built by JB Fisk, Juget-Sinclair, and more organs built by Kenneth Tickell
-More Pre-victorian/Georgian English organs
-One of the many English Renaissance reproduction organs
-More Letourneau organs, such as the Davis Concert Organ at the Winspear Centre in Edmonton, Alberta.
-One of the reproduction Medieval regals such as the Apfelregal.
-Definitely more Cavaille-Coll sets, still my favourite builder!

I'm sure I could think of more, but these would be among my dream sets!
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bourdon

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Re: A Sample Set Wish List

PostTue Sep 06, 2022 1:48 pm

- Very interesting to discover wishes and tastes of the members of our community!
-->Let's say at first impulse, among hundreds of possibilities : Leens ( newrecording ), Norden ( St Lugderi), Alkmaar ( Laurenskerk), Marmoutier , Compenius organ in Frederiksborg castle...

( another instructive game would be to have only ONE desert island choice :-) )
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JulianMoney-Kyrle

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Re: A Sample Set Wish List

PostTue Sep 06, 2022 6:16 pm

There are quite a few that I would like to see sampled. I would start with the Grant, Degens and Bradbeer organ at New College, Oxford, as it is unique and in its own way very fine.

I would like the Metzler organ at Trinity College, Cambridge, used by David Goode to record the complete organ works of Bach. We already have a Metzler (at Poblet) from Organ Art Media, but this has no swell division and I would have preferred a slightly closer microphone position (or better, variable acoustic surround).

I have fond memories of the four-manual Hill organ in the College Chapel at Eton College when I was at school there, and also the Dutch organ in Eton School Hall, restored to its current form by Flentrop, under the supervision of Peter Hurford, after rescuing the 18th-century Dutch pipes from a 1924 Willis monstrosity into which they had become incorporated. I would love to see those sampled.

One of my favourite sample sets is the Tickell organ at St. Mary le Bow, from Lavender Audio. Having played (and thoroughly enjoyed) the four-manual Tickell organ at Keble College, Oxford, I would second larason2's suggestion of more organs built by Kenneth Tickell. There is indeed a relatively new Tickell in the Lower Chapel at Eton, built in the French Romantic style, though I have not heard it.

We can never have enough samples of Baroque organs, each one so individual and different from the others, though living in the UK I don't know any well enough to make specific recommendations.

The above are the instruments that immediately come to mind, but I would not say that this is an exhaustive list. There are quite a few interesting organs at Oxford and Cambridge universities, for instance, and it seems to me that such academic institutions are not constrained to any specific type of instrument, unlike the Church.
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Erzahler

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Re: A Sample Set Wish List

PostTue Sep 06, 2022 7:00 pm

A very interesting list of hoped for samples.
I would imagine the sample makers would like to know how many more samples members would be prepared to buy.
Say if all of the organs above were sampled how many members might buy any?
BTW there have been wish lists already in the past.
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larason2

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Re: A Sample Set Wish List

PostWed Sep 07, 2022 7:00 am

I would buy the sets on my list!
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robsig

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Re: A Sample Set Wish List

PostThu Sep 08, 2022 7:35 am

How about an authentic Italian harpsichord? There are wonderful instruments being made these days!

RS
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mnailor

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Re: A Sample Set Wish List

PostThu Sep 08, 2022 9:07 am

The type I'm missing most is 2-3 manual early English organs (or modern replicas) suitable for 17th and 18th century music, at least large enough to have a few reeds and a cornet. I'd really like to have a good English pre-Victorian in its real acoustic.

There is a good composite, SO's Georgian 55, but it's dry and hard for me to voice so that it would hang together like a real single instrument where the ranks breathe together. I'm just not able to make it work very well, so I feel like I'm playing a box of ranks with artificial reverb. My lack of experience is the problem, and others could probably make it sound much better. It is a very complete specification for the music.

The SO early English chamber organs are well done, but they're small and limited for a lot of repertoire. Switching samplesets between pieces is possible since they load fast. You can have a Cornet or a treble Hautbois by loading a different organ. Using MIDI direct, spare keyboards can have fixed registrations for accompaniments (when a divided stop isn't sufficient) or echoes.

The LA Hart 1809 organ is still useful for early English music in that it's a complete enough specification and sounds like a real instrument and pre-Victorian, despite some later modifications.
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Organtob

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Re: A Sample Set Wish List

PostThu Sep 08, 2022 9:34 am

I would instantly buy St.Pauls, London and St.John the divine.
Also on my wishlist:
- the hazel wright organ
- Girard College
- Royal Albert Hall
- Riverside Church
…yes, I really love the big ones ;)
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larason2

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Re: A Sample Set Wish List

PostThu Sep 08, 2022 10:11 am

Mnailor I agree the 1809 Hart (Little Waldingfield) is a very good organ, and I own it and play it regularly, along with the also excellent South Suffolk composite. The trouble is a lot of the added stops since 1809 are quite Victorian, and being limited to 16 bit and single releases, as well as having few reeds. I'm not complaining though, because it is great! (And cheap!).

I could probably make the SO Georgian 55 sound better, but I already have too many projects and too little time! For now I'm jusy enjoying it as it is! I agree a better specc'd two or three manual along these lines would be great.
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voet

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Re: A Sample Set Wish List

PostFri Sep 09, 2022 11:58 am

The E. M. Skinner in Yale's Woolsey Hall is considered by many as the best symphonic organ in the world. This should certainly be on the list.
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mnailor

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Re: A Sample Set Wish List

PostFri Sep 09, 2022 6:28 pm

A surround English cathedral organ would be nice. I was hoping Peterborough would add the nave perspective (already recorded), but it looks like close/dry is next up.
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IainStinson

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Re: A Sample Set Wish List

PostSat Sep 10, 2022 11:06 am

The wonderful Willis/Harrison in Durham Cathedral (with a glorious acoustic) would be certainly on my “to buy” list. I would also like the Phelps organ in Hexham Abbey but unfortunately that has been sampled for another virtual organ system and there seems little prospect of it being available in form which could be used with HW.

Iain
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organsRgreat

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Re: A Sample Set Wish List

PostTue Sep 13, 2022 12:22 pm

I’m in England, and that inevitably influences my interests. Three organs stand out as worthy of sampling, and as sufficiently individual to add something worthwhile to the range of Hauptwerk sample sets.

First, the 2 manual Frobenius in the chapel of Queen’s College, Oxford. During the 1970s I was living near enough to Oxford to hear the weekly lunchtime recitals there – a perfect organ in a perfect acoustic. Resident organist James Dalton’s performance of Bach’s E flat trio sonata was a joy I remember to this day.

“The College's famous organ, built by the Danish firm of Frobenius in 1965, set the standard for the classical organ revival in Britain, and remains one of the finest instruments in the country”.

Unfortunately I’ve never heard a recording in which it sounds as beautiful as it does live, so a sympathetically created Hauptwerk set would be particularly valuable.

Across the Atlantic – and completely different! - the 82 rank Wurlitzer in the Organ Stop Pizza at Mesa, Arizona. Although the size is exceptional for a theatre organ, the number of pipes – around 6,000 – is by no means unheard of in a church organ, and I’m sure our sample makers could make it manageable for Hauptwerk. The late Charlie Balogh recorded several CDs on this instrument which really make the most of it e.g.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_etmB0skN4

Back in England, one of the most individual organs ever built – the 4 manual, 41 rank dual purpose Hill, Norman and Beard/Christie instrument in the Dome concert hall in Brighton. Although used mainly as a theatre organ, it has enough independent stops to play the romantic repertoire too (not all the ranks are extended). Christie theatre organs sound quite different from the Wurlitzer and Compton instruments that were more numerous in the UK; this is arguably the firm’s best, with superb reed voicing and a really beautiful Harmonic Claribel. This recording is from a mono tape made in the 1960s, but gives an idea of the quality of the voicing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuiCnqp4CZw

I’m all in favour of wish lists for Hauptwerk – they give our sample makers an idea of the sort of organs that users would be interested to buy, and even if these particular organs don’t get sampled, maybe similar ones will be.
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marcus.reeves

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Re: A Sample Set Wish List

PostTue Sep 13, 2022 2:38 pm

organsRgreat wrote:Back in England, one of the most individual organs ever built – the 4 manual, 41 rank dual purpose Hill, Norman and Beard/Christie instrument in the Dome concert hall in Brighton.


Along similar lines, and not a Christie but a Compton (of which none are available for Hauptwerk?) what about the organ in Southampton Guildhall? Equally dual purpose and not long restored. A fine organ and example of Compton's work.

https://www.cinema-organs.org.uk/venues/southampton-guildhall/
Best wishes,
Marcus
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