# Cathedral organs with very deep basses



## OlivierM (Jul 31, 2014)

I was listening to Michel Corrette's Grand Jeu avec le Tonnerre, and was wondering which cathedral/church had the great organs with the deepest basses, because of the few versions that are available on youtube, only one seems to have been played on an adequate beast.

Which of course, leads to the organ music question : do you know any recordings that are interesting because of the organ, and not the organist ?


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## Frederik Magle (Feb 17, 2006)

Cathedral organs for the vast majority contain at least one (and often two or sometimes even more) so called 32-feet stops in the pedal. The deepest pipe in such a stop will create a fundamental tone of 16Hz. 64-feet stops, which descends to 8Hz, exists, but not in cathedral organs (not including "acoustic" 64-feet creating the illusion of a 64'-tone by adding the fifth above the 32'-fundamental). Only in the two "secular" organs in the Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall and in Sydney Town Hall can you hear a real 64' with full range (8Hz).

Of course not every 32-feet stop is created equal, and some have (much) more "oomph" than others. Generally, most of the British cathedrals, and many of the French, have some impressive 32-feet stops, but powerful 32'-stops can be found in most other countries with a substantial organ population as well.

Oh, I know of many recordings with interesting organs but uninteresting or plain performances. Too many to list


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

Frederik has already answered part one!

I've also a basket full of organ recordings that would fit Your request, mostly collected/bought when I visited a place with an interesting organ but where no other recording then by the slightly disillusioned Cantor is available...

I'd much rather recommend recordings of interesting organs with inspired organists! This combination makes the organ even more interesting to me! 

/ptr


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## OlivierM (Jul 31, 2014)

Ah, I meant more interesting records not only because of the organist 

What prevents me from listening to organ music (I have the Marie-Claire Alain Bach boxset for instance) is the lack of deep bass.
It sometimes sounds "as if" the bass was missing and when one hears the amazing bass-abilities of certain organs, it's a real pity.
Of course, despite their size, organs are like other instruments : not two of them sounding exactly the same.
So I would love to hear performances on those which have the deepest bass features around. I'm pretty sure those attract organists like magnets


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

Depending on repertoire, there's not that much "bass" occurring, like classicism and earlier!

Here are some disc suggestions that have my sub-woofers rattle my 50m2 listening room!

*Midnight at Notre-Dame* "Organ Transcriptions" Olivier Latry @ DG

*Marcel Dupré & Jehan Alain* "Trilogies" Günther Rost @ Oehms

*C-M Widor* - Symphonies No 5 & 6 - Olivier Latry @ BNL

*Pictures from Russia* "Three Organ Transcriptions" - Hansjörg Albrecht @ Oehms

/ptr


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## Jeff W (Jan 20, 2014)

Not really a cathedral, but this CD contains the following warning on the back cover:



> WARNING! This recording presents the full low-frequency information generated by The Wanamaker Grand Court Organ at Lord & Taylor, Philadelphia. Specially designed and modified equipment has been used so that no low-frequency roll-off has been introduced at any stage. The low-frequency content of the recording accurately reflects the actual range of the instrument down to the open 32' pipes (producing a 16Hz fundamental). The naturally high levels of bass information, and exceptionally wide dynamic range, contribute immeasurably to the sonic excitement of this recording. However, on first hearing please exercise great caution in setting the volume to establish a playback level that is safe for both your equipment and your hearing.


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## OlivierM (Jul 31, 2014)

Thanks for your answers! I will try not to blast my speakers


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## OlivierM (Jul 31, 2014)

Jeff W said:


> View attachment 58684
> 
> 
> Not really a cathedral, but this CD contains the following warning on the back cover:


Sounds a lot to me like a variation of these "warning: explicit content" stickers


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

One of my favorite organs is that of Stadtkirche in Waltershausen, Germany [btw that took a bit of research to find the name of, lol]





I know this one's not really "bassy", and I'm irritated because I had heard a performance of Bach's Fantasia and Fugue in c minor bwv 537 that was nearly growling. I couldn't find it while searching the endless videos on youtube.

But the Stadtkirche organ has a very rich sound in the upper registers that made it notable to my ears


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

I don't know many organ albums, but, as I am rather fond of the instrument, I do know a few. I know them for the music, but once I know them, I also know them for the organist. I know none for the organ itself, but this one, offhand, since I have seen the organ, but only ever heard it on this recording:








Messiaen : Méditations sur le Mystère de la Sainte-Trinité
Daniel Beilschmidt

I don't know what kind of bass you are looking for, but I think this gets phenomenally deep


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## Guest (Dec 15, 2014)

This set has also very deep and low frequenties.


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