By far the biggest organ workout for not only your sub, but your complete system is a recoding of the Klais organs of Cologne Cathedral.
Motet 13254 This is available from the
Organ Historical Society.
This is one of the best engineered discs I know of. It is a beautifully put together program also.
Another one you might want to sample is Graham Barber playing the Compton Organ of Downside Abbey Stratton-on-the-Fosse Somerset. Volume 3 of the complete works of Percy Whitlock: - Priory PRCD 542 This huge instrument like all Comptons is totally enclosed. This is the only Compton Organ left that has not had a hack job done on it.
Hearing this Organ when Father Cyprian would play his variations on the Sir Edward Elgar's Angel's Farewell, culminating in Praise to the Holiest from his Dream of Gerontious was the first time I remember being aware of resonance in my internal organs!
Gillian Weirs recital on the newly restored Grand Organ of the Royal Albert Hall, Priory PRCD 859 is also a good program.
A couple of Richard Peter Conte's albums at the Wanamaker Grand Court Organ at the Lord and Taylor Store in Philadelphia, are a must. This is the World's largest mechanical instrument, and is to double in size! Midnight at The Grand Court; - Gothic G 49274 and Magic! Dorian, now handled by Gothic xCD 90308. This number may have changed since the Gothic change over.
Organo Deco is a fun album. David Britton at the Kimball Organ St. John's Cathedral Denver. Delios 13491 31112
There are numerous good organ albums available. Many more than you could hear in a lifetime. No one wrote for the organ like J.S. Bach and he is unsurpassed. I particularly recommend albums by Peter Hurford on Decca and DGG, as a start. Bach is best played on mechanical Tracker organs, either new or old, but especially 18th century instruments in Germany and the Netherlands. You won't find the 32 ft stops on those instruments. However plenty of bass foundation from the 16 ft stops.
Only the largest instruments have 32 ft stops, and most organ scores seldom call for them. They are especially called out for underpinning in the great 19th and early 20th century oratorios of Elgar and Mendelssohn. Also in the big organ works by British, French and German composers. Father Willis and builders like Harrison and Harrison in England were building instruments of huge scale with electro-pneumatic action, introduced in England in the 1830s. Cavaille-Coll did the same in France.
To learn and hear more of the King of Instruments, I strongly encourage you to explore
Pipe Dreams, hosted by Michael Barone, MPR host and also a very competent organist in his own right around the Twin Cities. Find him on your local Public Radio station, or on line.
