Blessing of restored Hazel Wright organ

[SchnarrHorn]

Streamed from Christ Cathedral, Garden Grove, California on June 10, 2022.

[aeolian pat]

Well it certainly didn't improve with age. Screechy reeds and screaming mixtures. But it was in tune , that must be a first.

[michaelhoddy]

It is at its heart a Whiteford-era 1960's Aeolian-Skinner married with a 1970's Rufatti, rebuilt by Rufatti, in a mostly glass building. Horses for courses.

[cham-ed]

One of the principal reasons for tuning problems are because of all the glass. Different chambers are at different temperatures. And that changes during the day as the sun moves. Fox recorded there but only at night.
It would have been nice if the bishop knew how to turn off his mike. You hear him making aside type comments to assistants. And while God hears his voice differently than we do, he'd never get a job as cantor.

[gtc]

It would have been nice if the bishop knew how to turn off his mike

For such an event, I would expect there to have been someone operating a mixing console.

[aeolian pat]

Is that a cipher at 28:04?

[SchnarrHorn]

No, more like from about 28:17 to 28:38. There are two guys in the choir who rush over. At the tail end, it sorta sounds like the pitch of the cipher wavers as its volume declines. Perhaps the cure was to power down the organ.

George

[Philip Powell]

I don't have any comments on the organ but I do have to ask why the hell the bishop has a phone on the altar where Catholics turn bread into the body of Jesus. You'd think this would have been a service for Catholics to take pride in...

[SchnarrHorn]

There would be no "questions" asked - only statements made.

This ---- YES!!!

One would think that a Doctorate in Canon Law would indicate - - well, perhaps not.

George

[Philip Powell]

Every time I see something like that, I sing this hymn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkTgYiMDRHY

[SchnarrHorn]

Hahaha - Philip, you are a riot! Just be careful what you ask for!! ;-)

[Piperdane]

I was not at all impressed with the Italian organist. For some odd reason he shied away from the bug 32' reeds which would have been appropriate for some of his selections.

The bishops microphone ruined the singing ... hello, wasn't there anyone at the mixing board?. The recorded sound could have been better too; I've heard other YT recordings of this organ and the sound was magnificent.

I thought the cathedral organist did a splendid job as did the choir.

[myorgan]

I was not at all impressed with the Italian organist.

I have deliberately not responded to this thread to see where it would go in a couple of days. While I was watching the organist, I had to keep reminding myself the Vatican organist isn't necessarily a concert organist. Rather, his principal job is to provide music for various Vatican services, or arrange for their musical needs. I daresay much of the repertoire played for the Hazel Wright Organ Dedication is not standard fare for Vatican services. I, too, did not find his performances particularly interesting.

Then comes the question about the role of the Vatican organist. My guess is that he would be expected to provide inspirational music before, during, and after services. This service was different in nature, calling for a performance, which is not necessarily the same as a church service.

I suspect many (most?) church organists could not be called on to provide a satisfactory performance, while many performance organists could not be called on to provide inspirational music for a church service, which would be meaningful to the parishioners. Kind of a square peg in a round hole scenario.

Then there are organists who are comfortable in both worlds, but I suspect they are not as common as we might think.

Michael

[Piperdane]

My organ lessons included both church and recital music preparation. Back when I was on a church choir tour in 1992 we got to sing for the offertory at their 9am Mass and were the featured choir for their 10:30am Mass. I was the choir accompanist/organist and therefore was the principal organist for the Pentecost Mass.

The then current Vatican oganist was James Goettsche and served for many years. He was both a superb recitalist and church organist.

Here is a nice https://catholicreview.org/james-goe...all-the-stops/ article on James from 2005.

[myorgan]

My organ lessons included both church and recital music preparation.

My lessons did too, but alas, when it came to the liturgical parts of the instruction, I wasn't as good as for performance pieces. For Baptist and Methodist churches (and the like), I do great, but not if I'm accompanying the Psalm.

OTOH, I listened to a local Catholic organist (& concert artist) play for a mass recently, and I couldn't help feeling (s)he was having issues accompanying the Psalm as well. It was also difficult to follow him for the hymns, as there were very few breaks in a very reverberant church. For Romantic music on that organ, maybe–for leading singers, nope, breaks are necessary. Otherwise it's just mush.

Michael