Carol Williams Interviews Peter Richard Conte

[Admin]

"On the Bench" with Carol Williams and Peter Conte at the Wanamaker Organ console at Macy's Philadelphia.

[AllenAnalog]

Thanks for posting that interview. Carol also spoke to Curt Mangel, curator of the Wanamaker organ and president of the Atlantic City Historic Organ Restoration Committee, Nathan Bryson, current curator of the Atlantic City Midrmer-Losh, and others.

The big news from Atlantic City is that there is a now a working electronic combination action on the 7-manual console for the first time since 1944 when the original one was wiped out by a hurricane. (The reality was that the original one, taking up several large rooms in the basement, only worked for a couple of years before that damp location caused it to become unreliable. Curt did misspeak when he mentioned the person keeping the original unit working - it was Roscoe Evans, not Roscoe Smith, who maintained the organ for many years.)

As the restoration project brings more ranks and divisions of the Atlantic City instrument online, a working combination action became a priority for the restoration crew so that the organ could be played without registrants hovering over the organist.

https://www.youtube.com/user/BellVideo/videos

As a bonus, here is Peter Conte playing the Atlantic City Midmer-Losh for one of the summer noon time recitals.

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

Like any of the great organs in the world, the acoustics of the room make the sonic experience of being there, immersed in the sound, unlike anything you can get with a recording played back on YouTube.

[myorgan]

My browser says the video was removed by the user. Hmmm. Sinister plot?

Michael

[AllenAnalog]

Veddy interesting. That video had a lot of background voices and off-the-cuff discussion before it got to the real interview so perhaps they posted the raw footage instead of an edited version by mistake. I'll keep watch to see if it returns to her channel. The other interviews are still there.

[AllenAnalog]

The Carol Williams interview with Peter Conte has been re-posted.