Organ Concert

For the past 50 summers, the Kolner Dom has hosted an organ concert series to help fund improvements for the massive instrument. Famous organists from around the world are invited. This past Tuesday I went with my friends to the Summer's last concert.

 We arrived an hour early and were able to get the last open bench in the cathedral.  I was extremely impressed by how much interest there was in the concert series as well as the diversity of the audience-- people from middle-school age to retirement seemed equally interested.

click to make big

I tried to take a night picture once it ended to show how impressive the height and scale of the cathedral is.

The above picture shows where the organist was sitting.  I think that there are around 4000 pipes contained by three separate organ systems in the church. The organist can play all three from the same seat.

Above is a better view of where the organist sits.

The organ has a few distinct noises that were unfamiliar to me.  I was very suprised by a certain register that sounded exactly like flutes.  Another register sounded like tubas and trombones. And of course, it often (and loudly) made the traditional organ sound I had heard in churches before.

Recording attempt:

The picture above shows the newest of the organs. It is called the Swallow's Nest because of its looks and location.  It weighs over 30 tonnes.  It's impressive a 600 year old church can hold something like that up.  Not to mention the fact that it is also holding the worlds largest swinging bell, which weighs 28 tonnes by itself.

And then there was an awesome 5 story ladder I found in the corner. It looked like something DaVinci could have sketched up: