No. 24 Three, Four and Five Manual Custom Instruments That Are Top Of
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1 organ news OrganNews No. 24 The official publication of Makin Organs, Johannus and Copeman Hart IN THIS ISSUE Page 3 Guess Who buys an organ Monarke Organs David Fetterman retires Page 4 The true English organ Page 5 from Johannus What does this button do? Page 6 Three, four and five manual custom instruments that are Tales of installations top of the class are now available Page 8 The service department Centuries of European organ Page 11 tradition, decades of craftsmanship Salford cathedral revoice and years of research and development converge in the Monarke line. Entirely custom-built, Page 12 these organs from Johannus are The Vivaldi series earning the notice of organists the world over, and with good reason. Page 15 With ancestry deeply rooted in the Sound bites annals of traditional organ building, and embracing the innovative technologies of Johannus, Monarke has become the reigning King of Instruments. Physically, Monarke is not truly a pipe organ for one simple reason - no actual wind is flowing through pipes. Yet in a Monarke you hear the real sound of a pipe organ. How is this possible? Blossoming from tradition Centuries of musical tradition have made Europe the undisputed birthplace of the organ. Johannus took its first small steps on this same continent over forty years ago, blossoming to the well-known and respected company today. As familiar strains by famous organ composers echoed through the halls at Johannus, the Monarke was born in 1980, continuing in that long tradition. And just in time! In this day and age, location and time are irrelevant; modern organists want to be able to play a fully-fledged A dream phenomenal sound come from? and voicing techniques. Over the organ anytime and anywhere - in a That phenomenal sound, that pure years, this relentless pursuit has church, a cathedral, a concert hall, becomes reality and natural quality you hear in given rise to Monarke - a unique or even in their own living room. Monarke has made that dream a Monarke, comes from years of and constantly innovating organ And organists aren’t the only ones reality. Take a seat and experience hard work and innovation by the with achingly clear sounds; almost seeking the pure sound of Monarke; the Monarke for yourself. Close research and development teams completely indistinguishable from church congregations and concert- your eyes and listen. It sounds at Johannus. They constantly an actual pipe organ. goers alike also long for the full like a pipe organ, doesn’t it? Yes, seek out the best recording and sound of an organ that reaches it truly sounds like an authentic playback technologies, audio every corner of the room. pipe organ! But where does that systems, pipe organ samples, Continued overleaf... www.makinorgans.co.uk www.johannus.co.uk www.copemanhart.co.uk 01706 888100 2 organ news realize the Monarke dream with passion and precision. Once the specification is complete, they work together using traditional craftsmanship to produce the individual parts. The console, the keys, the stops, the pedals, the samples, advanced electronics - everything is custom-made. When all of the pieces are complete, the organ is assembled and voiced with skilled precision. The voicing process is repeated again after we install the instrument. This ensures that the acoustics of the room are used to maximum effect, bringing out the proper timbre of every register. The end result is an organ with all of the desirable attributes of a pipe organ. Monarke stands firmly on the shoulders of an organ tradition spanning centuries, relying on expert craftsmanship and innovative technologies. And … your Monarke is uniquely yours. Designed and built just for you. Music starts with silence Your Monarke is unique, but it is not alone. Since its birth, we’ve installed thousands of Monarkes in over 100 countries. They stand in churches, cathedrals, concert halls, schools, conservatories and living rooms all over the world, regularly accompanying choirs and orchestras, and simply thrilling listeners. And now Monarke can be yours. That thought might make you fall silent for a moment. Can you even tell The organist decides samples from beautiful historic organs are up to you. From the 32-foot Subbass in the the difference? That’s not all, though. There’s another big Pedal to the frivolous Piccolo in the Choir, The result is so true to reality that even a secret behind Monarke’s worldwide success. every pipe, every voice, every register has connoisseur won’t hear the difference. All Yes, each Monarke draws on a wealth of been recorded and processed by our experts the sounds of the pipe organ have been European music history, years of traditional with the greatest of care. faithfully recorded and digitally recreated craftsmanship and unparalleled technology, note by note. Every key of the Monarke but it is also the product of its owner. Each Passion and precision has its own characteristic speech and tone, Monarke is a fully custom-built organ. As the Meticulous precision is characteristic of carried on the sound of wind rushing owner, you decide on the console, the size of Monarke, or rather, it’s characteristic of the through the pipe. The natural fluctuations of the organ, the finishes, the layout, the type people behind Monarke. The designers, audio the wind can be heard and sensed. And then of controls, the keyboards, the disposition, technicians, musicians: they all work to there’s the carrying capacity. Thanks to an the audio system, and the voicing. Each innovative audio system custom-designed Monarke is 100% custom-designed. You for each space, the organ sounds are choose the console - Monarke offers you distributed through multiple channels and a selection of the most beautiful woods. speakers, ensuring that the Monarke fills the Clean light oak, robust Dutch dark oak, deep room with the same impressive fullness of a glossy mahogany, or fiery flickering cherry? pipe organ. Monarke is the very best replica Richly decorated, plain, playful or modern? of the historic pipe organ currently available You decide. You choose the disposition - anywhere in the world the choice of stop list and the selection of www.churchorganworld.co.uk organ news 3 Bucking the trend Guess Who... It is amazing how the world has changed in recent years where Pete Townshend buys an organ from us mainstream brands such as Woolworths, C & A and Comet have become a thing of the past. Assuming that all things are equal, you would expect the retail sector to settle down with the remaining companies becoming stronger. However, we don’t appear to be there just yet and I wonder what will go the way of the Dodo next. With the country, and indeed most of the world, being in such a difficult position it is gratifying that at ChurchOrganWorld we are growing from strength to strength with significant numbers of high- end instruments being purchased. During the last year we have seen remarkable success with two, three and four manual Copeman Hart drawstop instruments installed around the country alongside increasing numbers of custom Makin instruments and Keith Harrington with Pete Townshend in Johannus home practice organs. front of his Johannus Symphonica organ It is with great delight that I can announce we have just been Early in 2014 I received a phone call from a Mr Townshend who reply was memorable, but not something I awarded the contract to build was a professional musician and was keen to purchase with some will commit to paper here. a four manual Copeman Hart Pete said “The organ sounds wonderful, organ in the Royal Concert Hall urgency a practice instrument for use on a new ground breaking but I am still struggling to work out what project ‘Floss’ and for his partner Rachel. He had spent some time buttons do what. It does seem that whatever in Glasgow. By any measure, this looking at our various websites, and indeed those of our competitors, I push sounds good. Rachel on the other will be a significant instrument and had narrowed down his options to either a Copeman Hart demo hand came close to accepting an organ with seventy speaking stops and scholarship at Oxford (frightened away I a 56.8 audio system with nearly instrument or the Johannus Symphonica organ which was in our think by the idea that she might be a bit too Shaw showroom. It quickly became obvious that I was talking to the wild for the place) and sat at the instrument two hundred individual speaker drivers. The specification was rock legend Pete Townshend of ‘The Who’. and started playing confidently, feet dancing away like a ballerina. The incredible sound designed in collaboration with Although known primarily as a guitarist, Pete and Rachel. As is often the case, the filled the room. We’re both thrilled with it.” Ian Tracey and a number of local Pete also plays other instruments such as stage personality is very different to the Late in 2014, John and I had the pleasure of organists and I am thoroughly keyboards, banjo, accordion, harmonica, person we met who was the perfect English attending the Manchester leg of ‘The Who ukulele, mandolin, violin, synthesiser, bass gentleman; certainly we saw no evidence of hits 50 tour’ with VIP backstage passes looking forward to voicing this in guitar and drums. He is self-taught on all of smashing of guitars! The Who was founded courtesy of Pete; something we will never the summer with Ian. the instruments he plays and has never had fifty years ago by Pete, Keith Moon, John forget. At the age of 69, quite where he any formal training.