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Has anyone ever heard the organ ofNotre-Dame in Paris? I had borrowed some CDs of french organ composers from someone at our church, and one of them was Vierne's symphonies, played on the organ at Notre-Dame. And it makes one hell of a noise! I can't stop listening to it, I love it so much! Surely it can't be good for your earsto play it full organ too much can it?
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Re: Notre-Dame
I heard it some years back when I was a lad. It does make one hulluva racket. Just splendid! Try to locate the Solstice three CD set Pierre Cochereau - l'organiste de Notre-Dame. It's great fun. He does an improv on "La Marseillaise" which has to be heard to be believed, and also a whacky performance of the Bach 9/8.
I noticed you're based in Surrey. Hope you get to Guildford on occasion. The cathedral is not much to look at from the outside, but the inside is magnificent.
Cheers,
Jasaon
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The Notre-Dame instrument played at FFFF has a sound-pressure level greater than that of the Concorde taking off. Imagine that in an enclosed space.Comment
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LolComment
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I've heard it in services and recitals, and have played it on numerous occasions.
It is indeed terrifyingly loud in the tribune, mainly from the ranks added under Cochereau's time. The the sound of the massed fonds is wonderful at the console.
No matter how ear-splitting close up, the sound of the organ is perfectly balanced down in the nave (just as it should be).Comment
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Ahhh, the miracle of large spaces - I got to get down to the nave next time I am attending an organ recital at Notre-Dame.
:-)Comment
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[quote user="soubasse32"]
No matter how ear-splitting close up, the sound of the organ is perfectly balanced down in the nave (just as it should be).[/quote]
Very well put. I did play the organ once -although I was too young to be taken seriously. (No comments, please.) Yet my mum was in the nave and she said much the same thing that you did!
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And diaphone32, your signature is pretty cool. Good on ya!
I have never heard a performance of the Enigma Variations that didn't benefit from organ drenched chords at the end of Elgar's masterpiece.
But of course I'm hopelessly biased.
Cheers and thank-you all!
Jason
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Maybe Soubasse 32 can help me on this: Is the Bourdon 32 on the Solo division a *synthetic* i.e. 16' + 10-2/3' or a 1/2 length? Did CC put it there or did someone else?
Just very curious...
Cheers,
Giovanni :-)Comment
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The organ by François Thierry (1733) had a 32' Montre on the Grand-Orgue.
The Cavaillé-Coll organof 1868 did not contain a manual 32' stop.
Louis Vierne's (titulaire, 1900-1937) dislike of manual 32' pitch has been documented.
The old console was replaced and the action was electrified under Pierre Cochereau in the early '60's. The 32' Bourdon was added to the Solo (ex-Bombarde)at that time, in order to have a classical Plein-Jeu of 32'. Jean Hermann started much of this work, but the 32' Plein-Jeu as we know it today is credited to his successor,Robert Boisseau.
The 32' Bourdon was originally 16' and as you suspected, the bottom octave is made of resultants (10 2/3'+16').Comment
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Merci Beaucoup Monsieur Soubasse 32
:-)Comment
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If it's louder than a concord taking off, then surely it must get to over 130 decibels. Isn't there a legal limit as to how loud sound should be in a public building or working place? I'm pretty sure there is in the UK, but I don't know what it is.Comment
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[quote user="diaphone32"] Isn't there a legal limit as to how loud sound should be in a public building or working place? I'm pretty sure there is in the UK, but I don't know what it is.[/quote]
I don't either, but are not the "State Trumpets" at St. John the Divine in NYC rather loud also?Comment
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When the organ was still working at St. John the Divine I'm pretty sure they had to warn people in the program that they would be using them! I've never heard that organ live, but both Riverside and St. Patrick's Cathedral have some rather deafening reeds. One time I was at a free concert at St. Patrick's and when the organist started playing them a sizeable portion of the audience got up and left!Comment
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Hold on! The organ at St. John the Divine is not working? Just goes to show how "out of it" I am over here. What's going on?
For sheer volume Westminster Abbey can hold its own. I've been to several Sunday Evensongs wherein the organ must have been loud enough to have been heard in Southwark! (Slight exaggeration of course, but you get the idea.)Comment
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