Jordan Hall, NEC, Massachusetts

[Philip the organist]

Does anyone here know anything about the organ in New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall? I was searching Google a while ago and I found mention of it being in an unplayable state. Is that so?

[twnelson]

Re: Jordan Hall, NEC, Massachusetts



Sad, but currently true. For an organ+orchestra concert late last year, one of the local groups that uses the hall had to rent a digital from M&O.

-- Tom

[Guest]

Re: Jordan Hall, NEC, Massachusetts

I think it's more than "currently unplayable". It's permanently unplayable. When the hall was renovated several years back I think parts of the organ were either walled off, removed or otherwise disposed of. They refinished the facade so it would look prettty, so it looks like the intent was to have it revert to decoration.

[Philip the organist]

Re: Jordan Hall, NEC, Massachusetts



[quote user="jim109"]I think it's more than "currently unplayable". It's permanently unplayable. When the hall was renovated several years back I think parts of the organ were either walled off, removed or otherwise disposed of. They refinished the facade so it would look prettty, so it looks like the intent was to have it revert to decoration.[/quote]

This from a "top music school??" [:(] Hard times....

[Guest]

Just saw this thread in a Google search. I attended NEC during the renovation and designation as an historical landmark.
When I first arrived at school and saw the facade I thought of how cool it would be to hear that organ. Well, that never happened. Sometime in the '70s the organ was shut off never to be used again. The chamber was always open while I was there and because of that it was also quite a mess.

The organ itself is/was (you might want to sit down for this) an E.M. Skinner. Later on Aeolian-Skinner work on it and replaced some pipes. The story I was told as a student was that it never really sounded good so there was no reason to keep up the maintenance. Another story I heard was that the organ professors did not like that the organ was not a tracker and did not have a pure baroque sound.

Anyway, the console was under the stage at the front so the organist could face the organ while playing. Restoration would most definitely be impossible. A new organ would have to be built.

[thevanderploegs]

"Well, we got this organ, but it's not exactly what I would've built so we'll let it rot...!" Fine attitude.

[Westminster]

The organ was occasionally used when I was a student in the 60's. This was something of a project back then. First off the console had to be brought out from under the stage. This required the stagehands (not regularly on staff. so $$) and the electrician (he was on staff - kept very busy converting the building from the 400v(?) DC of the subway). Contacts are phosphor bronze, so the organ had to be played several hours to get the dead notes out. Understand first of all that this is a very busy hall. It was not then nor would it now be available for any kind of regular organ use of this - or any other - organ.

The organ was originally by Hutchings, with subsequent changes largely by Skinner. I wasn't aware of changes by A-S, and if there were they weren't very significant. The organ was fairly good of genre, but hardly ideal for almost any repertoire. I did hear one of my classmates play the Willan IP&F on it to very fine effect - this was certainly its niche. The organ would undoubtedly enjoy a more favorable opinion these days than then, but I seriously doubt this is any less a fad than the generally low regard it had back when I was a student. There was discussion of replacing it back then. I know that Donald Willing had discussions with (at least) Josef von Glatter-Götz and Fritz Noack. My distinct impression at the time was that it would have been replaced had it not been for the machinations of the then Alumni Director. Instead the hall was left - rightly or wrongly - saddled with an instrument of little to no interest to the faculty and students of the department. I know, too, that there was extreme resistance to any modification to the visual appearance, in part for acoustical concerns. Any new organ would have had to be behind the existing façade - not exactly where organ builders' heads were at the time.

It needs to be remembered, too, that the organ department at NEC was discontinued several years ago, as have those at Boston University and the Boston Conservatory as well, just in the Boston area alone. I believe that at this point the only school in the Boston area offering an organ major is the Longy School in Cambridge.

[jskumro]

Wow this is interesting and disappointing. I often wonder why universities seem to snicker at the "American Romantic" or perhaps even the "english" tonal dispositions of organs. I believe a similar issue has arisen with the 4-manual Skinner in Kilbourn Hall at Eastman. Last time I was there looking at some of their organs, one of the students told me it was not playable, and was not favored by the organ faculty-- Though a restoration was "planned."