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Recommendations On Organ CD's


zuzu

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Most often recommended on the forum is Pomp and Pipes with the Dallas Wind Symphony and Fisk Op. 100 organ at the Meyerson Symphony Center. Watch your woofers!

One of my favorites if it is still available is Michael Murray at St. John the Divine which is, I think Telarc (I am at work). It's the one with what I describe as "quiet bass" in the Franck B minor chorale...love it!

Almost anything from www.gothicrecords.com under the "24bit" list. These are recorded personally by the owner using two mikes only, no mixer, and direct to HDD very much in line with my own philosophy. He has a host of other fine organ (including some SUPER theatre organs) recordings but they are from various sources and you'd have to pay your dollar and take your choice.

The bulk of my own organ collection is LP and half that is most of the output of E. Power Biggs. Can't go wrong with those in good condition. PWK used to use a RR copy of the Franck "Organ Symphony" with Biggs in his lab as a demo as it was solid to 32Hz.

Dave

Happy hunting!

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A quote from my correspondence with Mr. Roger Sherman:

"Almost all the recordings I make are done with a coincident pair of DPA 4003 (formerly B&K), separated by an acoustically isolating panel. The DPA 4003s are powered by DPAs own mic pre, with 130v power supply and no transformers in the signal path. From the mic pre to the A/D converter I use Kimber KCAG balanced silver cables, as short as possible. I use Apogee A/D 24-bit converters exclusively

If you look at our website, every disc with BOTH the iPod optimized and 24-bit logos together are made using this process. I use other mics on occasion, when the situation demands, but if you see both these logos, then I used the 4003s"

Tom: Let me know if you give something a try. I'd like to hear others opinions. I'll be reporting on my thoughts in due time when I've sampled enough...

Dave

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hi all,

although e. power biggs probably has the greatest recognition power going for him (because of his catchy name i suspect) i like the renditions of the same works performed by virgil fox. i have recordings by both of them. maybe just a personal opinion but i think most would agree in a comparison...

pete

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hi all,

although e. power biggs probably has the greatest recognition power going for him (because of his catchy name i suspect) i like the renditions of the same works performed by virgil fox. i have recordings by both of them. maybe just a personal opinion but i think most would agree in a comparison...

pete

WooWoo!...you open an old debate. Virgil is considered a "theater" organist by a large portion of the professional music community, but far more popular than E. Power by the public at large. As usual, I like them both. I don't have a large collection of Virgil as the bulk of his commericial output tends towards the theatric and my general preferences are more towards the "purist." E. Power looked down his nose at anything less than a pure tracker instrument, while Virgil took his semi-trailer movable 400 speaker Rogers touring organ all over the place to get music to the people. Virgil wore his red-lined Count Dracula cape with a flourish whilst E. Power choked in his bow tie. Virgil could easily equal E. Power at the most demanding of French organ pieces, but E. Power never would have regaled his audiences with "The Blue Danube" whilst Virgil did so with a smile.

In spite of his theatrical flair, Virgil could sling a barb. Shown a room ful of organ pipes once at the Allen factory and told they were there to help ensure the electronic organs sounded like the real thing, he responded that findilng organ pipes in an electronic organ factory was like finding bird s*** in a cuckoo clock!

Both great men, and great performers. Win/Win situation.

Dave

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hey there,

well i really wasn't aware that there had been any debate but i suppose i'm not surprised. it's very possible that the reason why i enjoy virgil fox better is because of his drama and flair. e. power always seened stilted and forced to me. virgil fox's just flowed and was very moving and powerful. although a couple of his recordings i heard as a kid had some pop's type tunes the albums i loved best were baroque and early classical in nature. i very much enjoy his bach, clarke, etc.

anyway, as mentioned before, just one man's opinion.

pete

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Geesh. I was thinking about Jimmy Smith!

Greg

Greg, I was going to bring that up. I am glad you did.

If we are going to include more contemporary music (and electronics), then Jimmy Smith is a must. He is playing a Hammond B3 (using a Leslie cabinet). The sound of a B3 can be fantastic. He has a number of Blue Note recordings that are safe bets.

IMO, a well-recorded Hammond B3 through Klipschorns is bliss.

Good luck,

-Tom

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