Thanks. As an OHS member myself, I highly recommend its publications. Nineteenth century American organ building was, I think, equal to that of any European builders of the time. The Pilchers, Erbens, Johnsons, Hooks and others were magnificent instruments.

There's a new book on Johnson out, too, which should be of particular interest to those of you organists in the New England (for sure) and Mid-Atlantic (slightly less so) areas. http://www.amazon.com/Johnson-Organs-1844-1898-Barbara-Owen/dp/1512169552

Full disclosure: I know it's encyclopedic because I help out with the updates for the OHS database (database.organsociety.org)...to which you all should contribute!

This is not a loaded question. I think that most of you would be aware that I, myself, would find the stop list and tonal aesthetic of the organs we are discussing here disappointing and extremely limited as to the repertory they could present with anything approaching its relevant colour. This is not to say that I do not appreciate them for what they are, nor that I do not believe that they should be preserved and used. On the contrary, I would hope that they all should be preserved and remain useful in their churches.

So, I ask genuinely, what do you consider to be the strong points, the admirable characteristics, of these organs? What literature do you believe that they can faithfully play? Why would you prefer these instruments over a Fisk, Pasi, Flentrop, Skinner, Noack, Clicquot, or any other tonal aestheses? Notice that while I have stated a non-preference for Pilcher et al., I have not panned nor spoken ill of them, nor suggested that they are somehow undesirable. Please do the same with regard to any baroque or romantic revival instruments you may mention. Be positive. Why, without speaking ill of others, do you like these instruments over others?

Thanks, Charles -
I have perhaps played only three or four XIXth century American instruments. They were small, had only a few stops, and were in the eastern and New England part of the country. One was a Tannenburg at a Lutheran church in (I think) Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Their sound was very pleasant. I think the only kind of literature one could play on them would be English renaissance voluntaries and similar music (and, maybe Walter Piston's five wonderful voluntaries written for the restored Brattle (?) organ somewhere in New England). The organs that really make me wretch, though, are the sort that preceded the so-called baroque revival, among which I include my experience with our friend, Pilcher. I had no idea that Pilcher was such an old firm. The ones by Pilcher and similar builders which I have played typically feature scads of unification, few, if any, mutations, no mixtures, hooty reeds, and rather studiedly dull flue work with 'diapasons' that were incredibly hooty, having all the appeal of a ship's steam whistle. One could not satisfyingly play any sort of contrapuntal or early music on them. One could not properly accompany and English anthem on them. Yes, I suppose that they could well lead congregational singing, though without any delicacy or nuance or imagination. But one would be hard put to find preludes, voluntaries and such from the literature that would in any way resemble the way they sounded to their composers. It occurs to me that we may not be talking about the same sort of instruments. To be sure, the early XIXth century instruments that I have played and heard recorded do not fall into the same category as the limited instruments I have mentioned just above. Perhaps you could enlighten me more. I'm trying very hard not to speak ill of what I don't prefer and to appreciate it on its own terms. We would all be better off if we did likewise. I would prefer a bad baroque revival instrument over the early XXth century ones I have experienced. On the other hand, in the current issue of The American Organist is featured a new instrument by Goulding and Wood. The stop list is mildly impressive until one gets to the fifteen or so stops in the pedal, all of which are borrowings and extensions - not a single independent stop. This is shocking because I am very familiar with their instrument at St Meinrad's Archabbey and am quite fond of it. It is this kind of extraordinarily degenerate quackery that I associate with pre-baroque revival instruments. Do enlighten me further.

And, of course, you are right in that many instruments by the finest builders of our time cannot 'play everything' e'en though it is boasted that they can. I can be deliriously happy playing de Grigny and Titelouze all day long on most any Fisk or such, but would be frustrated at trying to play Langlais or Messiaen on one. On the other hand, I cannot imagine what one could not play on the Pasi at Houston Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart. Then again, the Pasi at Houston's First Lutheran is much smaller and very limited, though its limitations coincide with my repertorial preferences. The really nice thing about this school of builders, though, is that every single stop is a work of art in itself and in ensemble. One cannot begin to say this about some builders whom I shant name, nor about some early XXth century organs that I have experienced.

(If you ever get to Houston, you will indeed rejoice at playing our four Aeolian-Skinners. Christ Church Cathedral (which is the best), First Methodist, First Presbyterian, and Temple Beth Israel. The one at the Jewish synagogue is probably the least tampered with or altered. The one at First Pres was extensively re-worked by (I think) schoenstein (whom I can't abide) back in the nineties. And, of course, you will want to experience high mass at Walsingham.)

Exactly. Those large pedal pipes cost big bucks. Builders have to work within the money parishes have for an instrument, hence unification. I have a 13-rank Schantz that my parish bought in 1953. Yes, there is some unification. Before then, the parish had a reed organ from 1926 to 1953.

Some of the previous organists did not help matters any. There is a Great 3-rank mixture that can cut glass. A previous organist wanted volume, so he had the mixture voiced louder. I found it overpowering. When I took the job in 2001, the first thing I did was remove bricks from the regulators that had been placed there to increase wind pressure - volume again. Sheesh! Can you imagine what that did to tone?

Currently, the console is being rebuilt by a very good firm in Louisville. Each rank of that 3-rank mixture is on a separate chest. After the rebuild I will have a voiced-down 2-rank mixture. The third rank is a really nice 2' principal that was not playable except as part of the mixture. It will be re-racked and become a straight 2' rank. A 32' resultant will be added, which is the best I could do with available funds. However, I am grateful for what will essentially be a "new" console with new pedals, key springs and felts. Also, a new combination action.

A teacher once told me that if I couldn't have the exact instrument I wanted, then make the best music possible on the instrument I have. Good advice.

Keep in mind that those principal pipes don't have the same brilliant sound after 60 + years of being played. That is true of all organs.

By the way MJO: did you know that the Ross King organ you you played your recitial on here is highly unified and has lots of borrowing?
If it had been a straight tracker i would have had about ten stops total.

If yall ever get to Dallas, you must play the huge new Jurget Sinclair at Christ the King. Truly one of the finest instruments I have played. I guess its like 80 ranks three ma all in the French Caville coll mould, tracker and with a lot of other baroque colors. The action is like silk. Each stop is totally beautiful.
Dallas now has I think at least five Frech Cav coll instruments that i know about...Where can you encounter this outside of Paris???

When was that left behind, Jackson? Even my small church organ has each manual based on a different principal pitch. Granted, there are softer 8' stops with it, I am not considering reeds since they tend to overpower other ranks.

MJO: You'll have to come over to Annunciation sometime when the renovated instrument is complete. The 16' Lieblich Gedeckt is back in working order, and even this adds gloriously to the ensemble. I don't expect you to *like* the instrument still, but it's worth observing that it has been years since anyone heard it play reliably and in working order.

Disclosure: I am not an organist. I was trained on horn, and sang as a chorister for many years in many places.

I come to praise an organ in storage somewhere in the bowels of Boston College, an organ that has been praised by some as the finest 19th century American organ, a Hook organ originally dating to 1863, with subsequent rebuilds:

http://database.organsociety.org/SingleOrganDetails.php?OrganID=5669

It is the organ of the former Church of the Immaculate Conception in Boston's South End (which architectural landmark is in the process of being turned into condos, though the landmark exterior will be mostly preserved (I think they will modify the roof somewhat in the rebuilding) than it's former Jesuit sister church several blocks away, the German national parish church of the Holy Trinity, which will look like a robot box with granite prostheses by the time the developers have their way with it).

Anyway, the above organ was one of those fabled organs that flatter Baroque, Classical, Romantic and modern repertoire, and of different national schools, as it were. And I managed to hear fine organists offer recitals to demonstrate that point, and though I lack a non-specialist's ears, they persuaded me.

Mind you, the organ suffered for lack of protection when the Jesuits gutted the interior of the church in the 1980s (causing, I was long later told, the greatest number of letters to the order's General on any issue in the memory of the order to date). It was partly restored in time for the Ignation 450th anniversary in the early 1990s; terrible winters of the mid-1990s caused a period when it was not played out of a misplaced fear it would jeopardize the stress roof timbers, but a sympathetic rector at the turn of the millennium undertook an understated but persistent campaign to bring the organ back into regular use for liturgy and concert/recital use, among other things. It's just too bad his vision was not extended as he had hoped.

We are in the process of making a recording of a reconstructed High Mass from 1898 using the 1894 Pilcher organ at St. John the Baptist in Dover, Indiana.

It really is all about the voicing. Nothing on the organ is strident, and the entire instrument goes together. On a small instrument especially this maximizes the possible color combinations. We rehearsed on a three-manual Felgemaker downtown before moving on location to the one-manual Pilcher, but I don't feel like I've had to give up any colors or effects I intended to achieve in the process. They're just very thoughtfully constructed instruments.

For all you Pilcherites, here's the Epistle Sonata from the project on the 1894 Henry Pilcher's Sons organ at St. John the Baptist, Dover, Indiana.

https://soundcloud.com/seanconnolly/epistle-sonata-take-2-good

By Ambrosius Roslin; know anything at all about him?

Had not heard of this composer. I wonder if the sheet music is available anywhere. Nice instrument. When I do a recital - less frequently than years ago - I try to include music from several periods and schools. This would be a good Romantic piece to play.