Don Hustad Organ Used for Rodgers Recording

[myorgan]

Does anyone know what model Rodgers Organ Donald Hustad used to record his album: Don Hustad Plays The Majestic Rodgers Organ? Most of the pieces from that album (if not all) come from his compilation in the collection: The Complete Works of Don Hustad. Of course some of his works aren't in that compilation, but most are. That recording gave me great insights into the registrations the composer would use.

Which brings me to my question, I've always wondered what model organ he used for the recording. Was it a Rodgers 990 or some other model?

Michael

[toodles]

The back cover indicates it is located in the 1st Christian Church in Wichita Falls, Texas. The stoplist and console would be a custom model, as far as I can tell. Here's a link to the back cover image, though fuzzy, you can read it: https://img.discogs.com/zj6QGjTXYz7T...-8137.jpeg.jpg

[myorgan]

Thanks, Toodles. The *Bay listing shows the back cover even more clearly, but the model isn't listed. I wonder how much different it is than a 990-or is there another model that's closer?

Michael

[toodles]

Here is the 990 Brochure. Heritage 990.pdf

You can compare the stoplist with the back cover image (use zoom to enlarge to read the stoplist for the custom organ); looks like the pedals have a softer reed chorus in addition to the usual trompette base chorus (16 Fagotto, 8 Krummhorn, 4 Rohrschalmei); swell has some extra and different reeds; choir looks to have a larger reed selection and additional flues. Also, would have the expanded 32 ft pedal stops that were optional on the 990, and the fanfare trumpet option.

Really, no other models through the late 1970's would be closer to a custom model than the 990 as it was the largest stock model up until about the 925 and 350/950 models. The sound would probably be pretty close to the 990 as the full organ combinations would be about the same--the stop difference would be more apparent in softer registrations where the alternate reeds would provide more variation in tone color.

[myorgan]

Excellent information to have, Toodles. Thank you for the analysis too, as it helps non-Rodgers people put a frame around the voicing differences between the two models.

Michael

P.S. I wonder what the Viole/Viole Celeste & Unda Maris II on the Choir would sound like together?

[toodles]

The combined celestes would be a warm mish-mash of undulation--analog organs were excellent at sloshery, as one commentator once dubbed celestes. Even better than most digital organs' celeste voices. Rodgers usually used a soft diapason for their string celeste voices, so the effect wasn't quite as bright as true string celeste--virtually the same way Allen did it in the analog years--and it's really a very nice celeste effect. The flute celeste voices on analog Rodgers organs was stellar.

One prominent theatre organist dubbed the flute celeste, "the voice of God"--and I agree, when he is whispering. Although it doesn't follow most pipe organ designs, I always have believed the flute celeste is the best celeste voice to have if you can only have one--you can always add a string to have a brighter celeste and still maintain the undulation. Most organists disagree with me, but I maintain my opinion.

[Darth-Car]

Like Toodles says, based on that picture Don's organ is no garden variety Rodgers for the time. it definitely has a larger stop set than even the fully optioned 990.

The 990 is an interesting instrument that really does not like to have all of it's stops pulled at one time. It just gets to heavy to play with hardly any decent sound, or intonation at all remaining. More channels of audio may have helped, or even the option of tube powered amplifiers over the solid state units of the time period.

To play a 990 well, and get the best sound out of it, you have to think like a minimalist using smaller stop sets, with plenty of pitch diversity between the manuals. Couplers on the 990 can be your friend if used in sparing moderation. It's unfortunate that the optional stop set really gave little to the instrument, other than a higher price tag, because for playing purposes they are worthless very harsh, loud reeds; and if you follow them into the foot board division, even the Rodgers factory sub-woofers can not handle the intonation.

[beel m]

My wife's church has a 990. It sounds OK in a large building, but one must remember there's extensive unification and borrowing (the whole Swell division except celestes comes from one tone generator, for example) and the G/C/P flutes are just sine waves. So, you have to register carefully.

[Darth-Car]

The 990 never sounded good in the church. You had to over register it to get a proper amount of sound in the building, and the 990 just can not go there. It has to be carefully registered, by a minimalist. It sounds way better here at home where it can play much more reserved. I would have loved to have heard a live Virgil Fox Heavy Organ concert. Black Beauty was the first iteration of the 990. The 990 pretty much was designed voice wise by Virgil Fox.

[toodles]

In my opinion, the 990 did not make good use of its tonal resources--as Beel indicated, the entire swell has a single set of oscillators, except for celeste voices. Rodgers organs of the 1980's did better with fewer sets of oscillators, and tended to have more individual keyers in the larger models. Also, it took a long time for Rodgers to adopt extensive use of phase shift tremulants (which they did in the 1980's models) which permitted sharing of oscillators without sharing of trems.

[beel m]

Small correction... Black Beauty had -14- tone generators and was, IIRC, keyed oscillators. The 990 has -5- of which two are just for celestes (Swell and Choir, one each).

[jordan312]

Curious addition to this thread. I had some extra time Thursday and Friday, so I took opportunity to transfer a couple of Don Husted LPs into the computer for CD preservation. (I have a recording studio and do a lot of LP and old RR transfers/restorations.) I transferred DH plays the Majestic Rodgers Organ (1973) and then DH plays Hymns on the Allen Organ (about 1965.) It was interesting to hear the same organists playing his own arrangements on the different analog organs. Both albums include his arrangement of "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling". The Rodgers was installed in a church. The Allens (TC4 and TC6) organs were set up in an organ studio in Chicago so probably had reverb added in the recording process. Quite an amazing difference in the two organs.

[myorgan]

And which did you prefer? Curious minds, and all that!

Michael

[jordan312]

Well, I really preferred the Rodgers. As both an engineer and and organist, I was trying to justify the differences of acoustics and recording, but the articulation of individual stops and the "fire" in the reeds were superior in the Rodgers. I am very curious how many sets of oscillators were in the Rodgers (which looks like a colonial version of "Black Beauty".) I know the Allen TC4 had four sets and the TC6 had six sets. We don't know if the Allen's were carefully voiced or if they were just floor model/demo units. Both LPs were released by WORD records.

[toodles]

For the larger models of Rodgers and Allen analog organs of that era, I prefer the Rodgers as well--Rodgers seemed to have a faster attack, which lent a liveliness to the sound that the Allen lacked. It was very nice on the flutes and principals, and gave a bite to the reeds. I even had an Allen dealer admit to me that he liked the Rodgers flute better than the analog Allen. Such heresy!:devil:

[myorgan]

Ditto what Toodles said. Allen's reeds have always been good, though-one of the things they do well. Except on the largest models, though, Allen only had Mutations, whereas Rodgers had Mixtures.

That said, though, when the digital era came, my preferences changed!

Michael

[jordan312]

What every organist wants to see...

[voet]

While this is an interesting specification, it would not be what I would like to see. The Great division is particularly anemic. It would benefit from having a 16' Violone or Principal, possibly a Cornet and I have never liked the idea of a reedless Great division. With 18 ranks of reeds it seems like they could have put a couple of reed stops on the Great division. I also feel that this spec would benefit from a bit more variety in the manual reeds. Rather than having three schalmeis, I would like some different colors like a Cor Anglais, French Horn or possibly a Regal.

Just my 2 cents.

[Darth-Car]

If that is a picture of the Rodgers from the record that may be the second performance organ made by Rodgers built Black Beauty. This organ was not as famous as Black Beauty but did do its fair share of touring, and I believe that there were several different musicians that toured with this organ.

[jordan312]

The liner notes from the record jacket read as follows "This recording was done on the Rodgers Organ installation at The First Christian Church, Wichita Falls, Texas." Now whether the organ pictured and described is actually the instrument used for the recording, it would be difficult to prove. It is a good sounding instrument considering the era.
I do like this console style. It has gravitas.

[myorgan]

Thank you for sharing the organ and stoplist. My cassette tape was too small to fit the entire thing on it! Mystery solved.

Michael

[myorgan]

In looking at the picture of the organ again, it makes me think the console was, indeed, designed for a church. It looks like it was designed to go in an organ pit rather than to be at platform/stage level. Hence the narrower bottom.

Michael

[jordan312]

With three 32' stops in the specs, I'm sure this installation had at least one and maybe two 30" woofers, in large enclosures. The quality of the pedal tone on the Lp is very impressive.

[jordan312]

Voet when I wrote "What every organist wants to see..." I was referring to the organ centerfold.

[voet]

I appreciate your post. It is an interesting spec. Thank you for posting it.