Conference cookie::notes$archive:cd_v1

1155.0. "THEATER ORGAN ON CD" by CSSE32::RHINE (Jack Rhine - DTN: 381-2439) Sat Apr 16 1988 18:46

This will also be posted in the MUSIC notes file.

There are an increasing number of Theater Organ CDs available today.  Some are
available in stores.  Others can only be had through mail order.  This note
describes those CDs and how to obtain them.  I've expressed my opinion about
some of the performances.  All of the CDs are DDD and sound pretty good to me. 

Lyn Larsen 
========== 

Lyn Larsen's CDs can be found in stores or ordered from Heritage House,
publisher of Pro-Arte CDs.  They can be ordered by mail by writing to Heritage
House, P.O. Box 726, Wayzata, MN 55391, or by calling (612)559-9616. I would
suggest calling and charging to a credit card because they are constantly having
sales and you can be assured of the best price.  Normally, Larsen's CDs sell for
$15.95.  There is a charge for postage and handling that varies by the number of
CDs ordered and surface or air shipment. 

Al of Lyn Larsen's recordings are made on the former New York Paramount 4/36
Wurlitzer now located in the Century II Convention Center in Wichita, Kansas. 

Larsen's recordings were the first theater organ CDs available.  Therefore I
bought them.  I find Larsen to be an extremely fine organist from a technical
standpoint, and the organ is outstanding, but his final product product is too
precise and lacks soul or warmth or personality (reminds me of a computer!) and
doesn't seem to add himself to the performance.  This is not the case with any
of the other organists mentioned below. 

FILMTRAX (CDD 280) 

This disc contains Also Sprach Zarathustra and On the Beautiful Blue Danube from
2001, Dance Of The Hours from Fantasia, Slaughter on 10th Avenue from Words and
Music, Over the Rainbow from the Wizard of Oz, Prologue, Elliot and E.T., and
Flying Theme from E.T., and Main Title, Cantina Music, Princes Leia's Theme, and
the Main Title Reprise from Star Wars. 

UP, UP, AND AWAY (CDD 281) 

This CD starts with a recording of a F-15 jet fighter taking off followed by
Armed Forces Medley, National Emblem March, Under the Double Eagle March,
Princeton Loyalty March, March of the Siamese Children (from The King and I),
Radetsky March, March of the Toreadors from Carmen, Knightsbridge March,
American Patrol, Variations on Mice On Parade, Washington Post March, 76
Trombones from the Music Man, Orb and Scepter March, Stars and Stripes Forever. 

GIVE MY REGARDS (CDD 339) 

This CD contains Give My Regards to Broadway, a South Pacific Medley including
Bali Hai, Younger Than Springtime/Wonderful Guy, Dites Moi/Some Enchanted
Evening/Happy Talk, This Nearly Was Mine, and a reprise of Some Enchanted
Evening.  It also includes Memory from Cats, One from A Chorus Line, Send In The
Clowns from A Little Night Music, What I Did For Love from A Chorus Line, and a
Medley From La Cage Aux Folles containing Intro/Whatever We Are, With You in My
Arms, Masculinity and the Best of Times, and Look Over There/Reprise. 

PIPES OF CHRISTMAS (CDD 282) 

This CD includes Winter Wonderland, Sleigh Ride, Greensleeves, Cradle Carol,
Variations on Angels We Have Heard on High, A Scottish Carol, O Tannenbaum, O
Holy Night, The Christmas Song, A Carol Fantasy including Joy To The World, It
Came Upon A Midnight Clear, Jingle Bells, O Little Town of Bethlehem, Hark! The
Herald Angels Sing, We Three Kings, and Come, All Ye Faithful. 

DUELING ORGANS (with Carlo Curley) (CDD 315) 

Carlo Curley plays an electronic, digital organ reputed to be an Allen.  Curley
also plays three selections on the Paramount Organ and Larsen does two solo
pieces.  This CD includes Schubert:March Militaire, Bach:Trio Sonata No. 6 in
G-vivace, Mozart:Rondo a la Turca, Grieg:Ein Traum, Grieg:Wedding Day at
Troldhagen, Widor:Intermezzo from Symphony No. 6, All Through the Night,
Massenet:Meditation from Thais, Rule Britannia, Widor:Toccata from Symphony No.
5, and Rossini:William Tell Overture. 

George Wright 
============= 

George Wright's CDs are available by mail from Banda Records, P.O. Box 392,
Oxnard, CA 93052 for $20.00 each. 

George Wright records on his home installation he calls "The Hollywood
Philharmonic Organ" which is a 4/34 mostly Wurlitzer with electronic switching
and MIDI interface. 

RED, HOT, AND BLUE (DIDX 438) 

This CD captures an amazing artist playing an amazing instrument.  His
arrangements are original and creative.  Sometimes, it is hard to believe that
there is one person playing one organ.  Selections include: Medley from Red, Hot
and Blue, Nobody Does it Better, Saint Louis Blues, Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie
Yellow Polkadot Bikini, El Condor Pasa, Rock and Roll Waltz, Holiday For
Strings, Oodles of Noodles, I Love You, Carioca, Blue Moon, Kitten on the Keys,
and The Blue Dove. 

ANYTHING GOES (DIDX 2532) 

I personally don't like this CD, which is dedicated to songs of Cole Porter, as
much as the first one.  Wright adds synthesized sounds which he plays from the
keyboard. He has developed a new style that I find hard to get used to. I don't
see adding synthesizers to pipes as a moral issue.  Bach was an innovator who
would have approved!  I haven't adjusted yet.  Selections on this CD include;
Anything Goes Overture, Don't Fence Me In, Easy To Love, Love For Sale, In The
Still Of The Night, I've Got You Under My Skin, Friendship, I Love Paris, My
Heart Belongs To Daddy, In An Old Fashioned Garden, I Concentrate On You, and A
Kiss Me Kate Scenario. 

Dwight Thomas 
============= 

DWIGHT THOMAS AT THE WURLITZER PIPE ORGAN 

This CD is available for $18.00 from: Dwight Thomas, P.O.  Box 437, Fairland, IN
46126. 

It is recorded on the 4/42 Wurlitzer at the Paramount Music Palace in
Indianopolis. 

Dwight Thomas was a recent (last several years) winner of the American Theater
Organ Society young artist award  This recording shows incredible versatility,
each selection is very different in style and performance, for the most part.
This young man sounds like an old timer.  Selections on this CD include Takin' A
Chance On Love, Fugue a La Gigue, A Broken Rosary, Tuxedo Junction, Careless
Whisper, Dodging a Divorcee, Somewhere Out There, One (From A Chorus Line),
Medley From Annie, South American Way, My Romance, Vienna Forever, The Man I
Love, and Joy. 

Dan Bellomy 
=========== 

PIPE-POURI 

This CD is available for $20.00 from: Beldale Records, P.O. Box 66392, Portland,
Oregon 97266. 

This CD was recorded on the Trousdale 3/23 Wurlitzer. 

This guy is great.  I have heard him perform live.  Dan has a background in jazz
and this 61+ minute CD contains both traditional theater organ as well as "Jimmy
Smith Hammond style" jazz accompanied by a drummer, M.B. Gordy.  The disk
contains; Laura, My Romance, Funkiepipes (an off the top of the head creation),
I'm Walking, The Way You Look Tonight, Blue Hawaii, Over the Rainbow, Teach Me
Tonight, Why Should I Wake Up, When You and I Were Young Maggie Blues, A
Nightingale Sang in Berkley Square, Summertime, and Willow Weep For Me. 

Ashley Miller 
============= 

JOURNEY INTO MELODY: MUSIC FOR A QUIET EVENING (FTC 2031) 

This CD is available for $18.95 from Film Technology Company, 6900 Santa Monica
Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90038. 

This CD was recorded on the Stark/Sargent 4/22 Wurlitzer. 

I do not know what selections are performed on this CD.  The following are
quotes from a review by Stephen L. Adams in the September/October 1987 issue of
Theater Organ: 

"Ashley's goal in this recording is to recall some of the timeless melodies of
our era which call upon the listener to relax amongst memories and melodies." 

"The theater pipe organ is a most remarkable instrument in its ability to
capture the senses in such a manner that one is sometimes  prone to feel as if
more is taking place than merely an organist playing a song.  Journey Into
Melody explores one capability of the theater organ that has often been
overlooked by recording artists -- music for relaxation.  The listener will not
find large stop combinations or a display of technical prowess.  What the
listener will find, is a collection of melodies, faithfully played as written
and tastefully interpreted through registration and expression, all presented
with a love for the music that is most inviting." 

    Question: when someone says "It's an n/mm organ", does that mean
    	
    	n keyboards, of mm notes each,
    	
    or 
    	n keyboards, with mm stops,
    	
    or something entirely different?
    
    	-Thanks
    	 Bill
    

A 4/42 theater organ has 4 manuals or keyoards and 42 ranks (voices) of pipes.
There may be as many as 300-350 stop tabs on an organ this size.  Theater 
organs are unified and most classical and liturgical organs are not.  What this
means is that in a classical or liturgical organ, if you have three manuals,
and each of the manuals has a 8' flute, a 4' flute, and a 2' flute stop, there
would be one rank of pipes associated with each stop, for a total of nine ranks.
In the case of a unified organ, there would be one rank of flute pipes that
would be played from all of the keyboards and flute stops.  Unification reduced
the size and cost of organs so they would fit theater chambers and budgets, but
give the flexibility of a much larger instrument.

There are exceptions where a theater organ will contain more than one rank of 
the same voice.  This might be done where one is a solo voice and the other is
not, or where the ogan designer might want the same voice to appear in more
than one chamber or to create the "celeste" effect wherene rank is slightly
off tuned (by the same amount for the comparable pipe) against another rank of 
the same voice.

A long winded answer, but I hope it explains the original question!

    re .2 and .3	Of course THESE DAYS its all done with VLSI
    
    	{Used to mean   V_ery L_arge S_ounding I_nstrument}

    Ok, n/m means
    
    	n keyboards, each of which can play one or more of:
    	
    	m voices, simultaneously.
    
    In that case, what's a "stop tab"?  Especially if you have 300 of
    them...
    

Organ stops are those funny knobs that control which voices
get sounded when you play a key.

Which reminds me...

    Then:
    	What's the difference between a stop and a stop tab...
    
    (As I currently understand it, a stop maps keypresses to pipe
    activations in some set of pipes.  The question is what does the
    tab _stop_ do ?)
    
    I'm really usually not this thick.  It's just been a rough day...:-)
    
    	-Bill
    

The stop is the voice.  The drawbar or stop tab is the actual know or lever
for selecting the stop.

> The drawbar or stop tab is the actual know or lever
> for selecting the stop.
    
    As opposed to a "tab stop," which is something you set on your terminal
    to determine how far a <TAB> character indents.
    

    
    There is a special report on organs and how they work in the last
    issue of either Stereophile or TAS.  Check it out.
    
    Jim