organs i played

Here is the list

Italian meantone Harpsichord

Muller, 1720s Leeuwarden

me playing the above instrument

Steenwijk, French early romantic. ca 1830

parish church in some village near Ootmarsum. 1660s, unknown builder

can you spot what is wrong with the facade pipes? Answer is below

unaltered action from 1660s

protestant church, Ootmarsum. 1780s by someone :)

Egbert and Geri Schoenmaker. Many thanks to them for letting me stay with them and for the tour of some of my favorite organs.

Huys, 1660 in Kantens, Nederlands

my little recording device

I had a wonderful 4+ hours with this instrument. The Schnitger in Uithuizen (pronounced somewhat along the lines of Out-howe-zen)

a pipe by Schnitger. Note the small band of metal added above the mouth of the pipe. This was b/c the pitch was altered in the 19th century, and they had to add metal to restore.

console of the Uithuizen organ

small regal organ. Pumped by hand

the Freytag in Nordbroek

me at the console of this organ (see directly below)

Martini! Picture not by me :)

house organ by Bernhardt Edskes

Martini!

Martini!

Martini!

Melle, organ by Vater in 1728?

Egbert over saw the restoration of this instrument. Fascinating sound and lovely instrument. One of my favorites

Italian chest organ

me at the norden Organ

copy of Silbermann in Vienna..

Rieger. Historically, a very important instrument in Vienna. But, again, nothing fantastic.

St. Ursula where Mrs. Glass studied!

St. Micheal's vienna. Half the facade

St. Jakobi, Hamburg. 90% original pipework

Waalsekerk Leiden. organ from 17??

Vater/Muller organ of Oude Kerk Amsterdam. This is where i had an epiphany in organ playing. really heavy action. 

1660 transept organ by Schonat. Really wonderful instrument

side of the instrument. It "wraps" around the pillar

the rather uninspiring Van Petegham organ of Vlaardingen. It had no spice to the instrument. Dull reeds and boring mixtures :)

now for my favorites.

Had to have another picture of the Martini Organ

and Norden

Picture not by me. Lovely facade, Eh?

the reeds of this organ will blow your mind away. Simply amazing.

And finally, the organ I tried very hard to play. Emailed till I was blue in the face. 

it just fits the room. perfectly. what else can I say?

total 21 organs + 3 harpsichords

It's very difficult to compare these organs. So many of them are built in different era's with different aesthetic and tonal goals. I tried to give a ranking in my last blog of my favorite instruments. Now, I'm going to rescind that and instead say this. To look at, the Muller organ of Bavokerk, Haarlem is the most wonderful, followed closely by Martinikerk. 

For sound, and this is judging on the basis of how it plays Bach (i'm not biased :) I think Martinikerk, Jakobikirche Hamburg, and Ludgerikirche Norden are the most convincing and best sound. Each of those instruments have a certain almost indescribable sound. They are simultaneously piercing and sharp but full and very round. At the same time, the Muller and Vater organ's that Egbert got me into play are also quite wonderful in sound. I think Martini is the best organ for Bach in the world for three reasons. Tonally, it is the instrument he was acquainted with in his youth. Secondly, it meets the aesthetic and case (a very important factor in sound) that Bach would have known. Thirdly, the instrument fits the room perfectly. Jakobikirche Hamburg is actually very small and the organ is simply to huge for it. After all, it is the largest extant Baroque organ in Germany and it's in a tiny little perish church. If it wasn't for that Jakobi might have been my favorite instrument.

Many thanks to the following people: Egbert and Geri Schoenmaker, Sietze de Vries, Peter Planyavsky, Matteo Imbruno, Jos Van der Kooy (for trying to help me play Bavokerk. Next time :) and of course, Dwain and Judy Glass for making this trip possible by their connections to Europe. It's been great, and Ill post a little more about what I did the last couple days. I also hope to get another picture update of organs I saw, churches that were pretty as well as scenery.

Stpehn