Organ at La Philharmonie, Paris

[ardcarp]

I have just watched the inaugural gala concert from La Philharmonie. The organ made a brief 'appearance' in Faure's Requiem, but its real appearance is most disappointing. The architect clearly had an idea in his head about what the facade of a futuristic organ might look like. The result? A few random (and probably dummy) pipes planted like a row of beans.

http://philharmoniedeparis.com/fr/au-fil-du-chantier-l-orgue

I can't find any details online. Presumably there are some treasures lurking somewhere out of sight..

[mercia]

http://www.rieger-orgelbau.com/details/project/ParisPhil/

[ardcarp]

Blimey. Where have they put it all? And does a 'French' Rieger sound French?

[mercia]

behind those shutters I suppose - perhaps that's a sort of retracting wall

[Alain Maréchal]

does a 'French' Rieger sound French?

SInce the formation of the Orchestre de Paris successive conductors of the principal Parisian orchestras have attempted to expunge all traces of "french" orchestral sound. Marek Janowski was reported as suggesting that there was no such thing as a "national" sound anywhere. So it is not surprising that the organ should not sound french.

The Lyonnais maintain that they are the true guardians of french culture, and have continued to prove it by obtaining the old Trocadero organ (yes I do know I am obsessed by it), which was later mounted and later still dismounted in the Palais de Chaillot, in the Auditorium Maurice Ravel - and very fine it looks (and sounds).

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/38/Orgue_Auditorium_de_Lyon_11.JPG/1024px-Orgue_Auditorium_de_Lyon_11.JPG

Afterthought: anybody who does not believe there was a recognizable french sound can find evidence from recordings made as late as the fifites and sixties, so I am prepared to think that Janowksi was misquoted.

[ardcarp]

I think every English organist has a vague idea of what 'a French sound' is. I've not heard the Philharmonie organ (apart from a very restrained tootle during Faure's Requiem) but one can only infer from the stop-names that Rieger intended it to have a French accent (e.g. Montres not Prinzipals). I just wondered how well they succeeded, i.e. will we hear Vierne, Widor, Dupre, Meassaien sounding 'right'?

Orchestral sound has become internationalised, but I agree entirely that one could spot a French orchestra a mile off (mainly from the woodwind) in recordings pre-1960, so to pretend otherwise is just silly.

[Vox Humana]

Interesting. I have played a few modern German organs (probably 50% of them by Klais) and their Swell divisions have all been voiced with an ear for French repertoire. I really wouldn't know what to expect of the organ at La Philharmonie. The specification looks reasonably eclectic. It has more string stops than I am used to seeing on such instruments (I don't expect any more than a pair of Célestes on the Swell and perhaps a 4' to go with it). The Great Gamba is a French touch (perhaps), but the 8' Gemshorn is a typically German one (I assume it will be the usual German diapason-flute hybrid*). The Solo Tuba will surely be an English-type stop since the Germans have become quite keen on these. The very generous provision of 8' flue stops suggests, on the face of it, an orchestral approach of the Romantic German type rather than the Cavaillé-Coll. In the end, though, we need to hear the thing.

* When Marlborough College commissioned their new organ from Von Beckerath the organist was adamant that the Great 8' diapason tone should have warmth, so in place of the second 8' diapason there is a Principal Céleste. This stop is actually of Gemshorn tone.

[Keraulophone]

Rieger organ in the Philharmonie, Paris

Olivier Latry inaugure l'orgue de la Philharmonie, Paris:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gh7FlvDZdXA

From the Rieger Orgelbau website:

'Just like the nine other Concert Halls of the last decade from China, Japan and Russia the Paris Philharmonic is also getting a great new instrument. With its 91 stops on four manuals and pedal it is a Symphonic Organ on which an entire repertoire can be played.
On purely aesthetic terms, the organ fits in perfectly with Jean Novel’s architecture. Just like the Tiers, it is airy and delicate, floating in space like a bird in gliding flight. A clever wall conceals and discloses them at discretion.'

...and a fancy white movable console, befitting Liberaces of the organ like Wayne Marshall and Cameron Carpenter.

Specification:

http://www.rieger-orgelbau.com/en/details/project/ParisPhil/

Please could someone explain the function of the unenclosed 8-stop Résonnance department? NDdP has one, I think, but the only reference I can find to it is 'the new stops of the resonance pedalboard'.

[Keraulophone]

Apologies, ardcarp, I hadn't spotted your thread of 17/1/15.

Perhaps you would like to merge these? Thanks.

[ardcarp]

My title of 'host' has not, unfortunately endowed me with much technical knowhow. (I've got the tools, but don't know how to use 'em!)
Anyway, no apology needed, K. There are relatively few threads on The Organ anyway, so unless ff wants to tidy things up, we can just leave it.

I don't know what the Resonance department does, unless it's a sort of 'echo pedal' department; but it seems to have the stops (mutations, 4' reed etc) for solo work. It couldn't be electronic, surely???? I'm sure someone will tell us. There are a few organs in Britain (Llandaff?) where there is a separate bit of the organ, e.g. in the nave, which has its own pedal stops.

I find it strange that the Philharmonie organ is at the back of the auditorium. Odd being in the audience and having the back of your head blown off. Not at all like a West End French Cathedral organ which is miles away and has the sound modified by a big acoustic. Latry talks glowingly of the instrument...but then he would, wouldn't he.

PS I found this:

http://mander-organs-forum.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/3633-new-mutations-neuvieme-and-onzieme-at-notre-dame-de-paris/

....which mentions a new Resonance Division at Notre Dame.

[Keraulophone]

Grandes Orgues: Concert enregistré à la Philharmonie de Paris le 06 février 2016 (grande salle):

Bernard Foccroulle
Philippe Lefébvre
Olivier Latry
Wayne Marshall

http://live.philharmoniedeparis.fr/concert/1046894/grandes-orgues-olivier-latry-philippe-lefebvre-bernard.html

[vinteuil]

.
article in le Monde :

http://www.lemonde.fr/musiques/visuel/2016/02/06/plongee-dans-le-ventre-de-l-orgue-de-la-philharmonie-de-paris_4860650_1654986.html

.... with some nice photographs and videos.






.

[Keraulophone]

Merci bien, M. vinteuil.

[ardcarp]

I'm a little confused K. Thanks for posting all that up, BTW. Do we get to hear any music or is it just the audience milling about? Having just heard the dialogue, I see there is an en fenetre console too, not just the remote (and somewhat overly modernistic) one on stage.

[subcontrabass]

I'm a little confused K. Thanks for posting all that up, BTW. Do we get to hear any music or is it just the audience milling about? Having just heard the dialogue, I see there is an en fenetre console too, not just the remote (and somewhat overly modernistic) one on stage.

Under "Index" click on "Concert" and be patient. The performance will eventually start.