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TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
Go to MPR classical right now.

The inauguration of the Aeolian Skinner organ at the Northrup Auditorium on the University of Minnesota Campus has just started. This the third largest of the companies opus. This organ silent for many years has just had a $3.2 million restoration. The Minnesota Orchestra under Osmo Vanska will play the Saint Saens Organ symphony. This is the organ's first post restoration outing.
 
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Verdinut

Verdinut

Audioholic Spartan
Go to MPR classical right now.

The inauguration of the Aeolian Skinner organ at the Northrup Auditorium on the University of Minnesota Campus has just started. This the third largest of the companies opus. This organ silent for many years has just had a $3.2 million restoration. The Minnesota Orchestra under Osmo Vanska will play the Saint Seans Organ symphony. This is the organ's first post restoration outing.
I've listened to most of Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony. That was a good performance but, IMO it doesn't equal the 1958 recording on RCA SACD with Charles Munch conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra. I have several versions of this outstanding work and this RCA recording is in my mind still the one to compare other performances with.

Thank you for the hint !
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
That was a magnificent concert. I will be leaving here first thing tomorrow morning, to attend tomorrow night's performance at Northrup Hall.

This was a great night in the history of the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota Orchestra. It contained what Sir Simon Rattle calls a "Holy moment," which is what he calls the first performance of a new work. In this case it was John Harbison's "What do we make of Bach?" A work for orchestra and obligato organ. I really enjoyed this piece, which for me is unusual, as more often than not I can't wait for it to be over. I hope this work has staying power.

I really enjoyed the whole night, including the Saint Saens Organ Symphony. I thought the performance actually was brilliant and well deserved the rousing applause. I really think the Minnesota Orchestra has the finest brass section in the world, and they shone tonight.

I think the organist could have added some more brilliant registers, although this is controversial. This work was a commission form the London Royal Philharmonic society to inaugurate the organ in the St. James Concert Hall in London. This concert hall had significant problems and had a relatively short life span. So the work was conceived for organs with nineteenth century English voicing and not French voicing of the Cavaille-Coll instruments. So softer voiced and less "biting" instruments were intended. But tonight the higher registers usually employed on Henry Willis's instrument in the Royal Albert Hall were absent. That organ, by the way, is the most perfect instrument for this work in my opinion.

I listened to the concert right off the internet and grabbed by my DAW using its RME DAC connected via Fireware to the DAW and to my pre/pro via optical Toslink form the RME. The RME provided audio for playback and to WaveLab to record this historic night.

I thought the MPR engineers did a masterly job tonight. The Internet feed was way beyond FM quality HD or otherwise. The dynamic range was huge, faithfully reproducing Osmo Vanska's renowned pianissimos to the loud fortes. There was massive response down to 20 Hz and response all the way to 20 KHz on the WaveLab meters. This was a very lifelike broadcast, with a tremendous sense of space and realistic ambiance. It all made for a colossal impact. It was for nights like this I built this massive system.
 

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