Bryn Mawr Petty Madden Chapel Organ Exploration

This is a beta demo of an instrument sampled by Evensong that showcases a lot of this organ’s capabilities, from the soft and lush strings and warm diapasons to solo and chorus reeds, to full plenums, and its fortes and fortississimos.

0:00 Carol Williams’ Op. 3, “Twilight” (2013). She writes, “The registrations for Twilight should create a tranquil, reflective atmosphere. The piece was composed reflecting the light changes between day and night – Twilight. This is represented in the major/minor harmony used in the piece. Use strings with flute celestes building to a strong but warm diapason sound.” This work was premiered on the Walt Disney Concert Hall organ in Los Angeles, California.

Virgil Thomson's piece, edited by Marilyn Mason, #2, “There’s Not a Friend Like the Lowly Jesus,” from his Variations on Four Sunday School Tunes. She writes, this piece “consists of remarks with answers, bugle calls, merry-go-rounds, and a quite literal round, or canon. The fugue even suggests a stretto in one voice only.”
4:16 Statement of the theme, solo reed against strings
5:01 Variation 1, flutes 8’ and 4’
5:19 Variation 2, diapasons and mixtures against a reed chorus with mixtures
5:40 Variation 3, plenum sound
6:23 Variation 4, reed chorus with mixtures
6:41 Variation 5, gamba against strings with a statement by diapasons as well in the middle
7:28 Variation 6, flutes 16’ and 4’ over a soft reed in the pedal
8:05 Variation 7, 8’ sounds mostly (with a 4’ in the great for the first part of the canon)
8:49 Fugue, plenum that crescendos throughout to a fortissimo by the end

10:48 The last work for this beta demo is a piece by Fela Sowande (1905-1987) entitled “Joshua Fit de Battle ob Jericho.” Though Fela was born in Nigeria, he became a citizen of the U.S. in 1977. This piece has several sections to showcase the organ’s capabilities and sounds. I end with the full organ, everything coupled.