I received my BD of Interstellar yesterday and played it yesterday. It is a stunning sound track. As you know that star turn is really the Harrison and Harrison organ in the Temple Church at the Inns of Court in London.
I was in that Church for the wedding of my niece Katherine, 1O days ago. So I had a chance to hear that organ extensively first hand. I took these pictures of the instrument.
The "subwoofer" section of the instrument.
The wedding was 3:30 PM. At 3:30 Roger Sayer launched into one of the great monumental Fugues of J.S. Bach. He gave a wonderful 20 minute recital, all Bach. He belongs to the "get up and go school" of Bach performance and had everyone toe tapping. No one else before or after Bach can come close to matching him in compositions for the organ, or even everything else for that matter.
The bride was 10 minutes late coming down the aisle so Roger went to the French repertory. There was frequent use of soft 32 ft sustained pedal. This you could not hear, it just produced strange vibrations throughout your body. This effect is used quite frequently in the movie. My rig reproduces this perfectly from the sound track.
Katherine, who has been a pretty good percussionist and knows the literature well chose a most unusual processional, that even Roger Sayer had never had requested before. She asked for an organ transcription of the finale of Stravinsky's Firebird suite. This was incredibly effective as she walked down the aisle.
The music built and built as she progressed to a deafening crescendo as she reached the transept. I would recon it was in the neighborhood of 110 db at least.
The organ showed how controlled and subtle it could be accompanying Amy Hayworth of the
Tallis scholars in Handle's 'Ere Where you Walk from Semele, Vivaldi's Nulla in Mundi Pax Sincera, and Bach's Jesu Joy of Man's desiring. She had a wonderful Mezzo range and filled the whole Church to a high db level with no amplification.
The organ accompanied the hymns and let rip in the recessional, which was Bach's Prelude and Fugue in G major BWV 541.
The Carter clan at the wedding in Temple Church.
Temple Church is an
Extra Diocesan Royal Peculiar, and under direct control of the Sovereign, the Queen.
Katherine was able to get married there, because she is a barrister with chambers at the Inns of Court, actually right opposite Temple Church. However it required the permission of the Lord Chief justice, and the Archbishop of Canterbury whose signature is also on her marriage certificate. When the pastor handed it to her at the end of the ceremony, he said "This is the receipt for your husband!"
Anyhow I got to hear this organ in the Church, played by Roger Sayer, who plays the soundtrack for the movie.
Now back to the movie. For the sound track this organ has been very faithfully captured. The subtle 32ft soft pedals perfectly captured. In the corn filed scene near the beginning the organ is well captured in full cry.
The organ is used extensively in the Sound track, it really is the star.
The sound track is in no way muffled, they is good sound clarity even in the loud passages.
This movie has stunning sound effects, rockets taking off, going though worms and black holes etc. There is a sudden dramatic flash and transient explosion where someone opens a hatch they should not have, that will make you jump out of your skin.
I set the volume where I could comfortable hear the dialog. This gave good conversational speech. On my rig this was -16 db. I used no compression and made no further adjustments during the movie.
The bass output is colossal. I know no other sound track that can compare.
I'm not surprised this blows up sound systems.
My theater chair was literally bouncing up and down.
I'm glad to report that this system handled it effortlessly, with no amp more than pleasantly warm at the end of the movie. I was never worried for the integrity of my audio system, but I was concerned for the structural integrity of my house at times. I'm certain I could blow out a wall and or window, with this sound track, so be careful.
The story I have to say is on the bazaar order, and stretches Einsteins theory of relativity beyond credulity.
I suspect ultimately this is a movie that will be known for its sound track, rather than the story.
To that end a
concert performance of the sound track was given in the Royal Albert Hall this last Monday, with the composer Hans Zimmer conducting, and Roger Sayer playing the mighty "Voice of Jupiter". (The organ of the RAH which is the master piece of "Father" Henry Willis).
The Hall and organ were the gift of Queen Victoria in memory of her husband price Albert, both fine musicians.
The organ was inaugurated by the great Austrian composer and organist, Anton Bruckner in 1878.
My brother James got a personal invitation from Roger Sayer to attend the event.
Now I suspect this instrument has a lot to do with two organs featuring prominently in movie sound tracks this past year. The RAH is not just a concert hall, but used for a large number of diverse events, including a lot of rock concerts. Of late rock musicians have taken to making extensive use of the organ instead of electric keyboards. They have found this instrument outclasses them in every way, especially in versatility and even spl.
So I expect the virtues of the pipe organ becoming known outside the classical music community has everything to do with this trend.
