Music for organ and orchestra-synthetic orchestra track for practicing the organ part

[AllenAnalog]

I've posted about the Contrebombarde virtual pipe organ performance site in previous messages but something new has recently appeared that I find quite amazing.

Laura Belanger has created something called the Organ Symphony Assistant. She has created synthetic orchestral tracks that you can purchase for a select (and growing) list of pieces so that you can practice the organ part on your own before going to rehearsals with an actual orchestra. Of course each conductor will have his/her own ideas about the actual performance but this does give you an opportunity to work on a piece in advance and at your leisure.

https://lvbmusic.com/organ-symphony-assistant

Contrebombarde member Aarnoud, an organist in The Hague, has kindly shared his performances of two works using this technique:

Guilmant Symphony no. 1 - Introduction et Allegro: http://www.contrebombarde.com/concerthall/music/31888

Guilmant Symphony no. 1 - Pastorale: http://www.contrebombarde.com/concerthall/music/31969

Guilmant Symphony no. 1 - Final: http://www.contrebombarde.com/concerthall/music/32005


Cortège et Litanie Op 19 No 2: http://www.contrebombarde.com/concerthall/music/32030

[myorgan]

Larry,

Thank you so much for sharing this resource with us. For the past (ummm...) years, I've been purchasing CDs of notable orchestras to rehearse with. Often, the CDs are slightly off-pitch, and sometimes the tempo is questionable. This new resource of yours will be very helpful.

Thank you!

Michael

[samibe]

I do something similar when I work on duets. I enter the music into Musescore and work out how I want it to sound (tempos, dynamics, mix, etc.). Then I export different parts as MP3's at various percentages of full speed. The sound engine for Musescore isn't the greatest but it does a good enough job for helping me practice my part. Then as I practice, I can play along with my part, both parts, or just the other part. It also helps me figure out the audio cues to listen for to make sure I'm in sync. I've never thought to use a click track. I might give that a shot on my next one.

I will say that entering a duet into Musescore takes time (1-2 hours per page depending on the complexity). Considering that, I think Laura's prices are very reasonable. Especially, for how good the orchestral tracks sound.

Michael, I wonder if you could put the audio from your CDs into Audacity (or some other audio editor) and adjust the pitch and tempo a bit. I've used Audacity to slow songs down when I'm trying to transcribe them.

[myorgan]

Michael, I wonder if you could put the audio from your CDs into Audacity (or some other audio editor) and adjust the pitch and tempo a bit. I've used Audacity to slow songs down when I'm trying to transcribe them.

Sam,

Yes, I've done that, but as you already noted, it can be time-consuming. It's all a matter of the worth of one's time vs. convenience.

Michael