1958 Aeolian-Skinner Organ - First Presbyterian Church - Evanston, Illinois

Brent Johnson and Andrea Handley talk about the Aeolian-Skinner organ of First Presbyterian Church in Evanston, Illinois.
Specification of the organ: pipeorgandatabase.org/organ/2...
First Presbyterian Church: firstpresevanston.org/
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[@goofyrulez7914]

Too many churches these days are going to guitars, drums and, maybe a piano but give me a beauty like this organ and organist any day. There is nothing more moving than a hymn or an organ, and, better yet, a pipe organ.

[@francois7]

I agree !

[@brinkbush9312]

Thank you for showing this beautiful organ. Virgil Fox dedicated it and Annette Middelschulte the wife of the composer Wilhelm Middelschulte was Director of Music and organist from about 1905 until about 1925. She presided over the Johnson Organ that was there at that time.

[@garygreen7552]

Wonderful exploration of a fine instrument. I enjoyed your great video of Ms. Handley playing the Jongen. It was fun to see her use of the toe studs and seeing her at the console.. Thank you to both of you.

[@Edwin572]

I would love to play this beautiful organ.

[@buttersrow426]

Excellent video on a great Aeolian-Skinner organ! I appreciate that you included more music this time around!

[@davef.2329]

Thank you.

[@Tracygriffith-dz2ys]

Nice sounds and very nice organ

[@christopherjhoh]

Thanks, nice to hear this colorful and extensive instrument. Seems the specification on the OHS dbase is incomplete, so I hope that gets updated before long.

[@markholm7050]

I am frequently amazed and perplexed, viewing these videos, at how tight the space is inside pipe organs. It’s a bit hard to imagine the contortions a tuner, or worse, a repair tech has to go to to work in there without damaging everything around them.

[@neindanke3916]

Blame the architect! Ernest Skinner once asked an architect who had allotted practically no space for a proper chamber if he expected him to paint it on the wall!

[@WilliamMitchell-sc3fe]

I want to know more about that acrylic music rack that's on this organ's console

[@8546Ken]

For matching of the digital stops - is the pitch affected by the chamber ambient temperature or the wind temperature? Or do they stabilize? I've heard there was a problem with vintage tracker organs having ranks of pipes at different levels. Sometimes they couldn't use all the ranks due to the temperature gradients.

[@neindanke3916]

So free up some old fashioned bucks and heat the place!

[@8546Ken]

@@neindanke3916 The organist doesn't usually have this option.

[@neindanke3916]

@@8546Ken Kenny, I never said the organist should do it.
You must've been first born in your litter.🐷🐷🐷🐷🐷🐷🐷🐷🐷

[@TheProsaicCult]

you never play the digital stops. WHY?

[@neindanke3916]

Because pipe is the best; no one wants to hear a toaster.

[@8546Ken]

@@neindanke3916 Then what is the point of installing them? Are they necessary?

[@neindanke3916]

@@8546Ken They are unnecessary. People think they add versatility; this organ already had plenty of tone color.

[@ThatcherNelson]

@@neindanke3916they are totally necessary

[@peterstorandt5664]

The title says 1955, but you say 1958.

[@audiolab1962]

Shame about the continuous low frequency thrum/wobble in the background, blower?

[@simplygoodmusic980]

it would be nice to hear more than just five notes or two cords on every stop… Why in such a hurry

[@AJ12-76]

That organist doesn’t have much of a personality. A couple of chords on each rank is a poor demonstration.

[@neindanke3916]

I wrung out a dishcloth just the other day, and it had more personality than Madame L'organiste!

[@robertamcguffin3446]

Stop bossing her around!! She's been playing this organ for years,; she can tell you more about the instrument than you'll ever know. Why don't you just let her talk?

[@bobmcrobertson848]

In no way is he bossing her around! And it wouldn’t hurt if he asked the lovely lady to play more than a C-major chord or a few notes so we could get a better idea of the character of the stop being demonstrated.

[@doctorfoster1968]

Oh puh-lease! What a ridiculous comment. He was not "bossing her around". He was trying to draw her out and to elicit some life and energy from her, but it was like trying to get blood out of a stone. Did you notice that he cut it short before she had demonstrated all the stops? I wonder why....I've seen every video on this channel and this lady's presentation and demo was the dullest that I have seen on here, by far. She plays only two chords and one scale, over and over. Her answers to questions are robotic and monosyllabic: "Yes. Yes. Yes." Brett should have done the demo himself!

[@neindanke3916]

I've seen more personality in a wrung out dishcloth