Demo of St. Mark's Flentrop, Seattle

[SchnarrHorn]

Nice demo of various stops and stop combinations on the Flentrop organ. About 12 minutes.

George

[Philip Powell]

Nice demo of various stops and stop combinations on the Flentrop organ. About 12 minutes.

Correction: Mighty Flenthrop organ. My brother used to play there and the other organists would get offended if you didn't use "mighty" in its title.

[Larrytow]

Thanks for finding and posting that George. I was there back in 1973, and I think the organ was "fairly" new then. When Seattle had that earthquake some years ago ( can't even recall how many now ! ) I'm pretty sure the organ was damaged kinda severely. Good to see it back to working well and sounding fine.

Flentrop normally makes really nice looking organs, but what were they thinking with that music desk / rack !? It looks like a hunk of a shipping pallet, with a piece of plywood laying on it, propped up in there. The flamed copper pipes in the facade are very good looking - I've always liked those.

[myorgan]

Flentrop normally makes really nice looking organs, but what were they thinking with that music desk / rack !?

Larry,

It might be so the organist can get their finger behind the page to turn it. The piece of ply may have been added afterward. I thought I'd never played a Flentrop, but am reminded that I actually played one back in the early 1980s in Maine. I don't seem to remember the sound, as I had just started organ lessons a few months before that, and had very little to compare it to. The church burned, and I can't find it in the Pipe Organ Database-there are no organs listed for that city, even though I know there were at least 3 pipe organs when I lived there.

With the demo for this organ, I have to say I was disappointed with some of the stop sounds-they were a bit raucous for my tastes. I didn't say anything when this thread first started because eveyone seemed to enjoy the organ, but I didn't. Perhaps the recording was too close to the pipes in question, and that's what offended my ear? That said, I try to reserve judgment until I hear a few recordings of the same instrument, or hear it live so I can better judge the sound I'm hearing. The ensemble was much better than the individual stops.

Michael

[voet]

Larry,

It might be so the organist can get their finger behind the page to turn it.

That is what I thought when I saw it. Also, I wonder if the rack is hinged on top so it can be lifted. If so, you could have music behind the rack, which would be helpful during a service.

Larry,

I have to say I was disappointed with some of the stop sounds-they were a bit raucous for my tastes.

I have never heard this instrument in person. Nearly everything I have heard about it has been positive. However, I wonder how well it serves as an instrument to accompany choral music in the Anglican tradition.

[myorgan]

I wonder how well it serves as an instrument to accompany choral music in the Anglican tradition.

That was also my wonderment. Might be a nice recital/concert instrument, but I wondered about services.

Michael

[Larrytow]

When I was there in 1973 I only looked at it, but did not hear it being played, or have a chance to try it. My Aunt lived close by to the church, so it was a daytime visit to see the church mainly.

I was just 14 years old at that time, but even then I had a good idea of what it would sound like just from the builders reputation. It is a Neo Broke, Dutch built tracker after all.

[Larrytow]

I checked out a bit more about the earthquake and damage to this organ that I mentioned earlier in this thread, just to make sure I was recalling things correctly. Yup, it was in 2001 that they had the earthquake there. He is a link to some info about that.

https://episcopalarchives.org/cgi-bi...&article_id=13

[SchnarrHorn]

I have never heard this instrument in person. Nearly everything I have heard about it has been positive. However, I wonder how well it serves as an instrument to accompany choral music in the Anglican tradition.

Yeah, same thing in Chicago. Holy Name Cathedral (RC) has a 4 manual Flentrop. Neo Broke and one up on the St. Mark Flentrop - the Holy Name organ has a Neo Broke case as well, with the curly-cues and such in light oak. It doesn't really fit in a Victorian style church with dark wood work. It has a 32' reed in the pedal but no 32' flue. I was there for the dedication recital and a follow up recital. It certainly sounded nice, but how appropriate for RC cathedral music? Richard Proulx ruled the roost there at the time. He's been dead for 10 years already. Man, time flies.

The Cathedral had what every church needs - a loaded donor. At Holy Name, the main organ in the back gallery was, as I recall, some cobbled together thing with some pipes going back to the original Johnson organ from the late 1870's. It was in sorry shape by the 1980's. At the dedication, they wheeled in the donor in a wheel chair - this tiny, little old lady who had lived her entire life in the Cathedral parish. She had gone to the Cathedral grammar school as a girl. Anyway, she wrote the check for the entire instrument. If memory serves me (been over 30 years), the first piece played on the organ at it's dedication recital was "Happy Birthday" with everyone singing because it was the donor's birthday thereabouts. I think she was in her 90's at the time.

The Holy Name Flentrop below - don't believe it's ever been called 'Mighty' 😉

George

[voet]

There is another Episcopal church that I am familiar with that had an organist who spent a summer studying in France. He convinced a wealthy family to donate an organ in Classic French style. It was a beautiful organ, but not well suited to the music program of the parish. Namely:

1. The organ was installed in the rear gallery.
2. The choir was in the front.
3. The historic temperament that it was tuned in, while appropriate for the style of instrument, could not be used for many hymns.

Sadly, the organ was sold to a university and the family has no memorial to their departed mother in whose memory it was given.

Fortunately the parish now has a large instrument built by an English builder, but not every parish has the wealth to recover from such a fiasco.