Organ CDs with really deep bass

Thanks, Cpdunn99, for your recommendations.

Here are two more recommendations for organ CDs that I've found outstanding.

1. Michael Murray, Bach, The Great Organ at Methuen (Mass.), Telarc CD-80049. In my opinion this is one of the greatest organs in the USA, and it has an unusual history. Built by the Bavarian firm of Walcker in 1857-63 for the Boston Music Hall, it was the first concert organ in the country. In 1884 it was dismantled to give stage space for the new Boston Symphony Orchestra. In 1897 it was purchased by a wealthy gent who commissioned a lavish new music hall in Methuen Mass. for it, where it was installed and rededicated in 1909. It must be one of the very few organs in the world that enjoys its own music hall built especially to house it. It was revised and rebuilt by the famous G. Donald Harrison of Aeolian-Skinner in 1947. Today it has four manuals, 84 stops, 115 ranks, and more than 6,000 pipes (including two 32-foot pedal pipes).

The description of the tonal qualities of this organ in the CD notes (uncredited, but I suspect by Murray) is so apt, so right-on-target that I'd like to quote it: "Neither wholly romantic nor wholly classic, the Methuen organ partakes of both styles of instrument and is suited to both styles of music. Its beauties include a unique mellowness that comes only to well-built flue pipes and only after decades of seasoning, and a miraculous blending of 8' foundations, whose harmonics interweave like the colors of a tapestry. The tutti is overwhelming, not abrasive. The mixtures are bright, not shrill. The foundations are full-bodied but remain, in even the most complex polyphony, clear. Accordingly, the Methuen organ is renowned as one of the world's artistic treasures." Indeed, it's a rare beauty.

Why this magnificent organ isn't better known and hasn't been more frequently recorded is a mystery to me. I used to have an old mono Columbia LP of Biggs playing a recital on it. If there are other presently available recordings of it, I'd like to know about them.

2. Michael Murray, Bach, The Organs at First Congregational Church, Los Angeles, Telarc CD-80088. This Skinner-Schlicker instrument is a very large organ in a very large church. Actually it is two organs at opposite ends of the nave, with twin consoles, four manuals, 214 ranks, "including several of 32-foot pitch" (I don't have the specification). Again, a superb big organ. This recital includes the ubiquitous Toccata and Fugue in D Minor BWV 565, in a performance as stirring and satisfying as any I've heard (and anyone who's an organ buff has heard a great many!).

To my ears both these Michael Murray Telarc CDs have it all: a master organist playing major Bach works on two magnificent instruments, both with exemplary sound: full, rich, clear, and vivid, with excellent, natural bass. If you relish organs and organ music, it doesn't get much better than this. Together with the Murray "The Young Bach" CD on Telarc described in one of the posts above, these are three of my "desert island" organ CDs.

1. I'd like to thank those who have responded, especially Rcprince for his informed, knowledgeable responses, on the basis of which I am ordering the Felix Hell Reference Recordings CD and the David Higgs Delos CD of his recital on the Dallas Meyerson organ. This is just the kind of information I'd hoped to elicit, and I appreciate it.

2. There are very few organs in the world (I don't know how many) that have a 64-foot pipe. The gigantic Willis organ (146 stops, almost 11,000 pipes) in the Royal Albert Hall in London is one of them, and I believe there are one or two or three more. If I am correct this pipe would have a fundamental tone of 8 Hz, which would be less a musical "tone" than a minor seismic event, an almost countable pulse in the air. I doubt there has ever been an attempt to record this tone, and if it could be recorded I suppose nobody could play it back. But just as a sort of extra-musical curiosity, does anyone know anything about this esoteric subject?

3. Curiously enough, as Rcprince was writing and sending his second response, I was listening to the Dorian CD of Guillou and the Dallas SO playing the Jongen Symphonie Concertante and the Saint-Saens Organ Symphony, using the then-new Fisk organ in the Meyerson Center. You are quite right to point out the deep bass in the Jongen--a delightful performance and a very successful recording. To my ears the Saint-Saens is considerably less so; I don't like the balances here, with the organ too recessed and almost buried in the orchestral fabric. I realize that this was a conscious decision of the recording engineers, as explained in the notes, but I think it was a misjudgment and prevents this recording from being a candidate for one of the best performances of the Saint-Saens. I find not just the balances but the overall sound, including that of the orchestra, superior in the Jongen. You are quite right that the differences in the two are very clearly audible.

4. You might be interested to know that I live in Plano, TX, a suburb of Dallas, and am a season ticketholder of the Dallas SO, and have heard this organ in the Meyerson several times in concerts there. The DSO's resident organist Mary Preston gives monthly demonstrations on it (I'm attending the one in December). I've heard her perform the Saint-Saens with the DSO there and the results were very impressive--and somewhat comical in a way that I'm sure was not intended. The Meyerson has seating for a sizable chorus behind the orchestra and directly (and I do mean directly) in front of the organ, and these seats are sold to concertgoers when there is no chorus present. I was surprised to find these seats occupied by concertgoers for the Saint-Saens, and I wondered how many of them knew what they were going to be in for. I suspect most of them didn't, to judge from the outcome, because when the organ came barreling in full-bore in its stunning entry at the beginning of the Maestoso last movement, I saw many of them levitate a few inches out of their seats in shock; what they were hearing must have been deafening! I'm glad I wasn't sitting there.

5. It's disappointing to learn that the Ruffati organ in the Davies Hall doesn't use real 32-foot pipes but an electronic tone generator. No doubt it works, but somehow it seems like cheating. Thanks for this information, though, and I don't think I'd have known if you hadn't told me. I'll have to try to hear the Guillou/DeWaart Philips recording of the Saint-Saens (although I have so many versions of this piece already that I've no business acquiring any more).

6. I love the bit about being accompanied by the sound of Widor spinning in his grave! Yes, I know Guillou's reputation as a somewhat wayward free spirit (he is also a composer and a great improviser) and not the organist anyone would go to for "correct" or "scholarly" interpretations. Nevertheless I think his Dorian CDs are absolutely delightful; I have them all and take great pleasure in them, and they are magnificently recorded. Of course he is titulaire at St. Eustache in Paris, and that is a grand and mighty and impressive organ, but I like even better the recordings he has made on the Kleuker-Steinmeyer organ of the Tonhalle, Zurich, and the (rather small) Kleuker organ of Notre-Dame des Neiges, Alpe d'Huez, France; these are so colorful as played by Guillou and are recorded by Dorian with wonderful clarity and focus. (Guillou had significant input into the design of all three of these organs.)

7. I understand what you are saying about Murray and can see why some might find his playing a bit stodgy. But I find him an eminently satisfying organist, sound and musicianly, and I especially like his Bach. His playing is never flashy or trendy and he never seems to be trying to show off. One of his best Telarc CDs is The Young Bach, played on the lovely Gabriel Kney organ at the College of St. Thomas, St. Paul Minnesota. This is a rather small organ recorded with wonderful clarity and vividness by Telarc, and I think this CD is a triumph for all concerned.

8. Other favorite organists of mine are Herrick, Alain, and Hurford, and I still love a number of the old Biggs recordings. Fox I have never much cared for; there is often something garish and vulgar about his playing to my ears. But I know many organ buffs admire him.

9. I'd love to hear from any other organ buffs who'd like to recommend favorite organ recordings with first-rate sound. Thanks again.

Eldartford, thanks for the tip about the Telarc Mormon Tabernacle CD. I'll check it out.

Thanks for the additional information, Rcprince. I regularly attended organ concerts in the National Cathedral outside Washington DC back in 1963-64. I was quite impressed by this mighty organ (in fact it was the experience of hearing concerts played on this organ that got me hooked on organs and organ music), and if I remember correctly I got a specification of it at the time; I believe it's an Aeolian-Skinner organ, and I'm pretty sure it does not have a 64-foot pipe. Like you I would have guessed that the huge Wanamaker organ in Philadelphia would be a likely candidate to have such a pipe. I seem to remember years ago encountering a reference to some continental European organ(s) with such a pipe. Anyone know more about this?

I love your story about the pictures coming off the walls and the staff exiting the building when the 16 Hz tone was generated at your church! This rig really sounds like a kind of super subwoofer and amp, basically pretty much like what we audiophiles use, although no doubt larger and more powerful--would that be correct? Speaking of knocking the pictures off the walls, I haven't had that happen, but when I play the bass warble tones on any of the three Stereophile Test CDs (very useful, I've found, in finding the optimum positions for speakers and subwoofers and setting levels), I've noticed that when I get down to the 25 Hz and 20 Hz warble tones, I start to get a significant (clearly audible) amount of rattling, shaking, and buzzing of various objects in the room. To a lesser extent I also occasionally get this with some pipe organ recordings (had it happen just yesterday, in fact, with Christopher Herrick's Organ Fireworks volume 9 on Hyperion, a CD that could certainly be added to the list of recommendable, well-recorded organ CDs with really deep bass).

Here are a couple more recommendable organ CDs with fine music, fine performances, excellent sound and really deep bass that will keep your subwoofer occupied:

Michael Murray, organ; Encores a la francaise and Poulenc Organ Concerto (with Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Robert Shaw, cond.); Telarc CD-80104. This features the organ at Symphony Hall, Boston, in the encores, and the Aeolian-Skinner organ in the Cathedral of St. Philip, Atlanta, in the Poulenc.

Michael Murray, organ; Jongen Symphonie Concertante (with San Francisco Symphony, Edo De Waart, cond.) and Franck, Fantaisie and Pastorale; Telarc CD-80096. This features the Ruffati organ in Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, about which the CD notes claim: "said to be the largest concert hall organ in the world." As Rcprince notes in one of his posts above, there is also a fine Dorian CD with Jean Guillou playing the organ in Meyerson Center, Dallas (with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra under Mata) that is an excellent version of the Jongen, very well recorded and with deep bass.

I recently stumbled across a CD that belongs in this thread: Ocean Grove: French Spectaculars on the Great Ocean Grove Organ, Gordon Turk, organist, a Dorian CD recorded in 1998. I haven't found anyone who does a better job of recording organs than Craig Dory of Dorian Records, and he did this one. This is a very large organ (4 manuals, 152 ranks, 9,000 pipes, four or five 32' pipes), and this CD is one of the best recordings of a big organ I've ever heard: clear, well focused, wide dynamic range, full frequency range, plenty of natural-sounding, floor-shaking deep bass. This one will give your subwoofers a real workout, and if you're looking for a lease-breaker, it should do the trick. An exceptional recording.

Here's another one that belongs in this thread: Peter Hurford playing Mendelssohn, 3 Sonatas and 3 Preludes & Fugues, on the Ratzeburg Cathedral organ, Germany. This is an Argo CD recorded in 1984, and the engineer (Simon Eadon) deserves credit for a superb job: the organ, a large modern instrument (4 manuals, two 32' pedal pipes), is recorded with excellent clarity, but with exceptional deep bass. The booklet contains the following statement (which is certainly unusual for Argo/Decca/London): "Technical Note: Organists and Audiophiles will be interested to know that special attention was paid to recording the massive pedal department of this exciting organ as accurately as possible, whilst at the same time retaining the clarity of the upper-work. Bottom D at 32 pitch represents a fundamental frequency of 19Hz, with sub-harmonics below this. This recording should provide a challenging test and excellent demonstration for lovers of organ music and hi-fi alike." Hurford is one of the best organists around, and he uses this same organ extensively in his complete Bach organ works cycle for Decca/London (but not with the incredibly deep bass heard here, which literally makes my windows shake and rattle). An excellent CD, strongly recommended for any organ buff.

I agree with Rcprince about the RR CD "Felix Hell--Organ Sensation." (I think he's the one who turned me on to this CD.) Felix is terrific and so is the recording. On some systems this one may seem to have almost too much deep bass. Another one I recently acquired that has a seemingly bottomless bottom end is The Sonatas of Julius Reubke (inclulding the Sonata for Organ "The 94th Psalm") played by Jean Guillou on the big Aeolian Skinner organ of Trinity Church, NYC, on a Dorian CD. A very impressive recording of this splendid organ, with wonderful deep bass.