Thanks for showcasing this marvelous organ. I am a former cathedral music director; I was there from 1995-2021. I'd like to add a few clarifications and other contextual remarks. The cathedral fire took place in January 1935. Prior to the fire there was a large 4 manual instrument in the west gallery with a 2 manual console and some pipe work in the east end. All was lost in the fire. When the cathedral was rebuilt in the late 30"s and early 40's, the building was enlarged by extending the east end. An organ (Wangerin, I believe) was installed in the south gallery of east end. The choir and organ console were located in the north gallery. Nobody knows what happened to this organ. All that remains in a closet are a couple pipes and organ bench. The Noehren was installed in 1966 in preparation for an international church music conference taking place in Milwaukee. As Brent noted this organ was built for a church in CA, which couldn't take delivery of it. Milwaukee organist, teacher, and composer Sr. Theophane Hytrek was instrumental (no pun intended) in getting the Noehren to St. John's. The contract was signed in January; the organ was playing in October. We did some significant restoration, repair and cleaning sometime before Covid, I can't exactly when. The work was done by Jerroll Adams and Dick Houghton, both of whom worked with Noehren on its installation in 1966. Over the years a good number of pipes collapsed on themselves and needed to be repaired. New racks were installed on some ranks to prevent any pipe damage. It was during this project that the Walker digital extensions were added. There simply is no room in the case for any more pipework (And kudos to you, Brent, for getting up into the organ!! I very rarely did because I'm too tall.) We thought it would be good at that time to fill in some of the "holes" - e.g. adding lower octaves of some stops. One of the 32' pedal reeds is Walker I can't remember which one. This is when the "party horn" was built by Jerroll and installed. Quirkiness aside, it's truly is a fantastic instrument, well-suited to a vast array of repertoire. As we now head into Christmas, I remember how much fun it was playing French Noels on it. I'm honored to have had the opportunity to play it for 26 years.
The 16’ Wood Open from the 2-manual Wangerin is at Gesu as the Pedal Contrebasse. It is hefty, providing a really nice underpinning to everthing, and is the largest of the 16’ flues, though it has a wonderful, clear pitch. Very reminiscent of a bowed string bass, which is why John Weissrock liked it, and saved it when the Wangerin was removed and the Nöhren installed in 1966. John told me that the Wangerin filled the room well, but it obviously wasn’t what they were looking for in a cathedral organ at the time. I would have loved to have seen and heard the grand organ Wangerin proposed after the fire.
Mailers have come, advertising sales on cd recordings of the Great Courses library at sale prices, with the notice that the CDs will be phased out, in favor of downloadable versions. I've always found the CDs a better investment, for the contents of each disc can be recorded onto the harddrive. And portable, in the sense that they can be used on a variety of CD drives. Plus, they're easy to backup. The alternative is to download the courses from the server. I still think of CDs as a good buy, for the fidelity is excellent, and each can hold about 50 minutes of content, s bit more than an LP per side in better fidelity. The recordings of the next gathering of the theatre organ society, of which I'm a member, are also to be offered at $30 a pop in "living stereo" (expensive, more so than necessary). That price is a mite high high, sez me. If kept clean, they'll last for some years--longer than tape. Tape has a tendency of the signal to bleed through when wound on the reel, one layer onto the next. That can be disappointing over time. Hope you enjoy time with your grandkids. Bob
About 2007 or so, I was in Milwaukee for a convention and got to hear a wonderful organ concert using BOTH organs at the same time. Sat in the middle of the Cathedral for a wonderful sound. Thanks for sharing.
Hey guys! Just wanna share some love and say that this is my favorite channel to watch, has been for months now. I look forward to uploads I get so excited like a kid watching fireworks 😂. I have taken up the organ myself now and am set up to go to the unc school of the arts to study with Dr. Timothy Olsen. I currently practice on the very first Dobson-Rosales collaboration at west market umc in Greensboro, NC. Come pay us a visit the organ is beyond amazing. Also check out the letourneau organ at first Presbyterian down the street. INCREDIBLE organ and church. Cheers guys much love again 😎
Thanks Brent and Andrew for once another Great Largess Pipe Organ! You all make it an Fun Adventure trying to figure out what is what and where each stop is coming from whether it is borrowed or it is its own Stop! Brent I was Surprised to see Walker Technical Speakers! Andrew did you notice there are there some Digital Stops in that Noehren Pipe Organ! and Andrew I also Love how you Play Lutheran and Catholic Hymns as well from one Lutheran to another! :) Merry Christmas To All Of you!
I know this organ from Noehren's LP recordings here on the Lyricord label. These introduced me to suites 18, 30 and 35 of Tournemire's l'Orgue Mystique. My first semester of undergraduate organ study was on a 1967 Noehren organ, at 1st Unitarian Church in San Francisco, CA. It has a very similar stoplist to this organ in the Milwaukee cathedral, only a little smaller.
I am not an organist but have been in love with organs since I was a small boy. I began listening to Bach in my late teens but it just was not quite what really satisfied me. A friend let me borrow a Westminster Gold recording of Tournemire Victumae Pascale Laudes Improvisation. It was recorded on the Moeller organ at the National Shrine by Marie Madellaine Durufle Che vaille.I was stunned by this French music in the Gregorian Mode and that Trumpet stop. I bought the record in October 71 and soon found the Lyrichord records at St Johns and Jean Langlais Gregorian Te Deum. I still have those records, they still sound fairly good despite being played 1,000 s of times. In June 72 I drove to Milwaukee from Galesburg,Il(I was an engineer then on the CB&Q RR) Never been in a large church like St Johns before and I was really stunned by the church and the organ. Paul Huber was the organist and he invited me and my wife to a wedding the next day. Does anyone know where Paul Huber is? He was a kind man and would be in his late 80 s, I bought a pair of Bose 901 speakers and a Phase Linear 400 amp. I hung them from the ceiling and it sounded very much like St johns! Meant Sister Mary Jane in 1987 and spent many great weekends there over the years. Have not seen her since 2,000, she was very kind also. It has been a long journey and I am 76 years old, Hope to get to Europe to France and hear the Cavaille Coll organs. T hey have to be the greatest organs in the world!
There is another Noheren organ that was rebuilt by Buzard here in Charleston SC it is my favorite organ in town. Noehren had interesting ideas for voicing but I find all of the stops pleasant on that organ, as well as this one!
I play a very similar instrument built by David Harris for First Friends Church in Whittier, California, who followed R. Noehren’s tonal philosophy. The sounds are very familiar to me though our Quaker Meetinghouse is not as opulent, acoustic wise. Thanks for sharing this organ with us.
My mentor and I take care of a 3 manual Noehren-Harris organ from about 1974 here in Metro Detroit that is duplexed all over, but it has very bright voicing and sounds amazing. The hard part is that it’s all jam packed into a small case which makes it very difficult to work on.
I believe it is the original console. My wife took a picture of me at the console in December 72! I stood on the division behind the console and took a picture looking down at the console! Somewhat dangerous thinking back about it. Since it was somewhat dusty, my wife dusted it off in her usual manner. I believe I have been to over 50 recitals at St Johns in 52 years.
Noehren had a very particular way of going about unification, borrowing and common basses. His organ at 1st Unitarian Church in San Francisco has a very similar stoplist to this one, only a few stops smaller. In the course of my lessons there, the organist, Alexander Post, had many conversations about that organ's design. The Principals within a division all had common basses with each other: the 4' Octave took its bottom octave from the 8' Principal, the 2' Octave its bass octave from the 4' Octave. Some flutes had similar common basses. Then all 4' Clairons were unified with the 8' Trompette, though the 16' reeds were independent of them. This player is trying to figure out the Choir unifications. In SF, that division is called Solo, playing on the top manual, though like Milwaukee's is enclosed with the Swell. The 8' Bourdon is the same shared between the two divisions; the Solo 8' Flûte harmonique is taken from the Swell's 4' Flûte harmonique/2' Octavin unit, taking its bass from the Bourdon; the Gemshorn 8' has a common bass (low 5 notes only) with the Bourdon, then is extended upwards to provide the 4' Flute, 2' and 1'. The Nazard 2-2/3' is taken from the 1-1/3' Larigot, the Nazard only playing from tenor C (the Tierce also only begins at tenor C, as does the Positiv Sesquialtera II). It's fair to assume that the Milwaukee unification scheme is entirely similar. This player seems puzzled at the Bombarde division not being especially loud. In SF, the Positiv is not coupled in the Full Organ reversible, and this seems to point to the Bombarde's function being something of a Positive situated with the main organ.
Thanks for showcasing this marvelous organ. I am a former cathedral music director; I was there from 1995-2021. I'd like to add a few clarifications and other contextual remarks.
The cathedral fire took place in January 1935. Prior to the fire there was a large 4 manual instrument in the west gallery with a 2 manual console and some pipe work in the east end. All was lost in the fire. When the cathedral was rebuilt in the late 30"s and early 40's, the building was enlarged by extending the east end. An organ (Wangerin, I believe) was installed in the south gallery of east end. The choir and organ console were located in the north gallery. Nobody knows what happened to this organ. All that remains in a closet are a couple pipes and organ bench.
The Noehren was installed in 1966 in preparation for an international church music conference taking place in Milwaukee. As Brent noted this organ was built for a church in CA, which couldn't take delivery of it. Milwaukee organist, teacher, and composer Sr. Theophane Hytrek was instrumental (no pun intended) in getting the Noehren to St. John's. The contract was signed in January; the organ was playing in October.
We did some significant restoration, repair and cleaning sometime before Covid, I can't exactly when. The work was done by Jerroll Adams and Dick Houghton, both of whom worked with Noehren on its installation in 1966. Over the years a good number of pipes collapsed on themselves and needed to be repaired. New racks were installed on some ranks to prevent any pipe damage. It was during this project that the Walker digital extensions were added. There simply is no room in the case for any more pipework (And kudos to you, Brent, for getting up into the organ!! I very rarely did because I'm too tall.) We thought it would be good at that time to fill in some of the "holes" - e.g. adding lower octaves of some stops. One of the 32' pedal reeds is Walker I can't remember which one. This is when the "party horn" was built by Jerroll and installed.
Quirkiness aside, it's truly is a fantastic instrument, well-suited to a vast array of repertoire. As we now head into Christmas, I remember how much fun it was playing French Noels on it. I'm honored to have had the opportunity to play it for 26 years.
how can no one know what happened to a whole pipe organ?
@ I know! I asked a number of long-time Milwaukee organ folks about the Wangerin and no one could tell me where it went.
The 16’ Wood Open from the 2-manual Wangerin is at Gesu as the Pedal Contrebasse. It is hefty, providing a really nice underpinning to everthing, and is the largest of the 16’ flues, though it has a wonderful, clear pitch. Very reminiscent of a bowed string bass, which is why John Weissrock liked it, and saved it when the Wangerin was removed and the Nöhren installed in 1966. John told me that the Wangerin filled the room well, but it obviously wasn’t what they were looking for in a cathedral organ at the time.
I would have loved to have seen and heard the grand organ Wangerin proposed after the fire.
Thanks for the great additional info about this instrument!!
Mailers have come, advertising sales on cd recordings of the Great Courses library at sale prices, with the notice that the CDs will be phased out, in favor of downloadable versions. I've always found the CDs a better investment, for the contents of each disc can be recorded onto the harddrive. And portable, in the sense that they can be used on a variety of CD drives. Plus, they're easy to backup. The alternative is to download the courses from the server. I still think of CDs as a good buy, for the fidelity is excellent, and each can hold about 50 minutes of content, s bit more than an LP per side in better fidelity. The recordings of the next gathering of the theatre organ society, of which I'm a member, are also to be offered at $30 a pop in "living stereo" (expensive, more so than necessary). That price is a mite high high, sez me. If kept clean, they'll last for some years--longer than tape. Tape has a tendency of the signal to bleed through when wound on the reel, one layer onto the next. That can be disappointing over time.
Hope you enjoy time with your grandkids.
Bob
About 2007 or so, I was in Milwaukee for a convention and got to hear a wonderful organ concert using BOTH organs at the same time. Sat in the middle of the Cathedral for a wonderful sound. Thanks for sharing.
Hey guys! Just wanna share some love and say that this is my favorite channel to watch, has been for months now. I look forward to uploads I get so excited like a kid watching fireworks 😂. I have taken up the organ myself now and am set up to go to the unc school of the arts to study with Dr. Timothy Olsen. I currently practice on the very first Dobson-Rosales collaboration at west market umc in Greensboro, NC. Come pay us a visit the organ is beyond amazing. Also check out the letourneau organ at first Presbyterian down the street. INCREDIBLE organ and church. Cheers guys much love again 😎
A LOT of lovely sounds on this surprising instrument.
The 8' Krumorne sounds like an 8' Clarinet! @24:46, through 24:48 i really love the 32' pedal reed pipes!
Thanks Brent and Andrew for once another Great Largess Pipe Organ! You all make it an Fun Adventure trying to figure out what is what and where each stop is coming from whether it is borrowed or it is its own Stop! Brent I was Surprised to see Walker Technical Speakers! Andrew did you notice there are there some Digital Stops in that Noehren Pipe Organ! and Andrew I also Love how you Play Lutheran and Catholic Hymns as well from one Lutheran to another! :) Merry Christmas To All Of you!
I know this organ from Noehren's LP recordings here on the Lyricord label. These introduced me to suites 18, 30 and 35 of Tournemire's l'Orgue Mystique.
My first semester of undergraduate organ study was on a 1967 Noehren organ, at 1st Unitarian Church in San Francisco, CA. It has a very similar stoplist to this organ in the Milwaukee cathedral, only a little smaller.
I am not an organist but have been in love with organs since I was a small boy. I began listening to Bach in my late teens but it just was not quite what really satisfied me. A friend let me borrow a Westminster Gold recording of Tournemire Victumae Pascale Laudes Improvisation. It was recorded on the Moeller organ at the National Shrine by Marie Madellaine Durufle Che vaille.I was stunned by this French music in the Gregorian Mode and that Trumpet stop. I bought the record in October 71 and soon found the Lyrichord records at St Johns and Jean Langlais Gregorian Te Deum. I still have those records, they still sound fairly good despite being played 1,000 s of times. In June 72 I drove to Milwaukee from Galesburg,Il(I was an engineer then on the CB&Q RR) Never been in a large church like St Johns before and I was really stunned by the church and the organ. Paul Huber was the organist and he invited me and my wife to a wedding the next day. Does anyone know where Paul Huber is? He was a kind man and would be in his late 80 s, I bought a pair of Bose 901 speakers and a Phase Linear 400 amp. I hung them from the ceiling and it sounded very much like St johns! Meant Sister Mary Jane in 1987 and spent many great weekends there over the years. Have not seen her since 2,000, she was very kind also. It has been a long journey and I am 76 years old, Hope to get to Europe to France and hear the Cavaille Coll organs. T hey have to be the greatest organs in the world!
Love it! energetic, eclectic, and full!
Extraordinary instrument with incredible dynamic range and colors, please do feature mroe instruments of this size and style more often!
There is another Noheren organ that was rebuilt by Buzard here in Charleston SC it is my favorite organ in town. Noehren had interesting ideas for voicing but I find all of the stops pleasant on that organ, as well as this one!
@ it is at Holy Spirit Lutheran
Goodness Gracious at 9:00 wow. My gosh is Andrew an organist or what!
Thanks sharing the video I like the sound and the way it’s layed out
I love this thing
I play a very similar instrument built by David Harris for First Friends Church in Whittier, California, who followed R. Noehren’s tonal philosophy. The sounds are very familiar to me though our Quaker Meetinghouse is not as opulent, acoustic wise. Thanks for sharing this organ with us.
My mentor and I take care of a 3 manual Noehren-Harris organ from about 1974 here in Metro Detroit that is duplexed all over, but it has very bright voicing and sounds amazing. The hard part is that it’s all jam packed into a small case which makes it very difficult to work on.
What church is that? I live in the Metro-Detroit area, so I'm always curious about organs in and around Detroit. :-)
@ Emmanuel Bethel Church in Royal Oak. A compact instrument but it performs quite well and is pretty stable in terms of tuning.
@@romanlizak4644 Cool! I will look it up. Is that in downtown ?
@ it is not
I really want to hear the opening piece. Whatever that is, it's magnificent and this organ sounds great.
What is the name of the thrilling opening fanfare? I’ve never heard it before.
Festive Intrada Walter Pelz I think
@@ThatcherNelson sounds a tad like Richard Rodgers March movement from his Victory At Sea Suite.
Fun organ!
Brent and Andrew . . The "A" team . .
Love the acoustics! The opening anthem is a knockout on this organ. Will there be a visit to the monster downstairs soon?
Two handsome guys and pipe organs. Thank you.
Yes ! A nice or gan whith a big battery on reeds
Welcome back Andrew!!!
"Party Horn" . . Literally . .
Party horn city
.good room😊
What is the name of the piece being played in the beginning of the video??
Great demonstration, thank you. Question: Is this the original console from 1966? It looks more modern.
I believe it is the original console. My wife took a picture of me at the console in December 72! I stood on the division behind the console and took a picture looking down at the console! Somewhat dangerous thinking back about it. Since it was somewhat dusty, my wife dusted it off in her usual manner. I believe I have been to over 50 recitals at St Johns in 52 years.
What was that trumpet piece that was played as the video started?
I think it’s an improvisation
Maybe I'm crazy, but that seems like a super long reach over to those stop jambs.
Noehren had very particular ideas about console design. One is that the couplers were all on stopknobs, none on tablets.
If you are going to be in Milwaukee, you might want to also check out the 1999 Sipe Organ at SS Peter and Paul.
Definitely some odd unifications.
Noehren had a very particular way of going about unification, borrowing and common basses. His organ at 1st Unitarian Church in San Francisco has a very similar stoplist to this one, only a few stops smaller. In the course of my lessons there, the organist, Alexander Post, had many conversations about that organ's design.
The Principals within a division all had common basses with each other: the 4' Octave took its bottom octave from the 8' Principal, the 2' Octave its bass octave from the 4' Octave. Some flutes had similar common basses. Then all 4' Clairons were unified with the 8' Trompette, though the 16' reeds were independent of them.
This player is trying to figure out the Choir unifications. In SF, that division is called Solo, playing on the top manual, though like Milwaukee's is enclosed with the Swell. The 8' Bourdon is the same shared between the two divisions; the Solo 8' Flûte harmonique is taken from the Swell's 4' Flûte harmonique/2' Octavin unit, taking its bass from the Bourdon; the Gemshorn 8' has a common bass (low 5 notes only) with the Bourdon, then is extended upwards to provide the 4' Flute, 2' and 1'. The Nazard 2-2/3' is taken from the 1-1/3' Larigot, the Nazard only playing from tenor C (the Tierce also only begins at tenor C, as does the Positiv Sesquialtera II). It's fair to assume that the Milwaukee unification scheme is entirely similar.
This player seems puzzled at the Bombarde division not being especially loud. In SF, the Positiv is not coupled in the Full Organ reversible, and this seems to point to the Bombarde's function being something of a Positive situated with the main organ.