Christchurch's
biggest, long-awaited, and most vociferous baby is celebrating its
first birthday.
In
its first year, the majestic, cherry-red, 3372-pipe, three-manual,
tracker-action pipe organ has trilled, serenaded, rumbled, bellowed,
whispered, startled, and enchanted more than 40,000 proud parents
-- the people of Christchurch. Last year in May more than 10,000
people attended the opening concerts spread over three days; 5000
of them were children, whose uninhibited enthusiasm for the new
organ so captivated organ builder Christoph Glatter-Gotz that he
rated the school concerts the most moving he had experienced. A
second schools concert sponsored by The Press this year had the
children still delightedly roaring, especially when 13-year-old
Nicholas Forbes played to the 2500-member audience.
Organ
opening events were broadcast nationally, and Concert FM uses an
extract from the organ to advertise the station. The organ's first
CD, produced by organ curator Martin Setchell, has featured on the
BBC. A local radio station recently offered a win-a-wish prize of
a play on the organ to Rosalie Dean who found the experience "truly
humbling".
For
its first year, it has been one hyperactive baby. It has been part
of many ceremonies, private celebrations, performances, demonstrations,
and even worship when Anglicans welcomed the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Community events such as the schools music and choral festivals
and seven graduation ceremonies for Christchurch Polytech, Canterbury
University, Christchurch College of Education and two schools have
used the organ in full ceremonial mode.
Orchestral
and choral music with an important role for the organ is now possible
in the auditorium. Inventive programming by the Christchurch Symphony
Orchestra has featured organ concertos by Poulenc and New Zealander
John Wells, Saint-Saens's Organ Symphony, Elgar's Cockaigne Overture,
Respighi's Pines of Rome, and music for the silent movie Ben-Hur.
Of course, the organ is now an essential rumbling, regal ingredient
of the annual Last Night of the Proms.
The
enterprising Christchurch City Choir showcased the organ in Elgar's
Dream of Gerontius, Faure's Requiem, and Gounod's Faust. A spectacular
combination of organ and brass has been exploited three times by
the Woolston TrustBank Brass band, most recently at the Anzac concert.
The organ has been a focus of a national organ congress. Four different
community groups have had private demonstrations, and several private
functions, including a wedding party, have appreciated its ability
to merge into the background.
In an era when a turnout of 60 for a lunchtime concert is considered
good, it has been exhilarating to see hundreds streaming to the
Town Hall early to be sure of getting a seat. At one of the seven
lunchtime recitals -- attended by a total of nearly 8000 people
-- the Town Hall front-of-house staff clocked up a record number
of people buying tickets at the door. All up, 40,568 people attended
22 concerts with the organ. At 30 other assorted musical events
the organ was used and heard at times, also by capacity audiences.
Organists,
whose hands and feet are now fully visible rather than hidden high
in a church loft, have ranged from schoolboy Nicholas Forbes to
international recording artist Christopher Herrick, who gave the
inaugural recital. Next month The Press lunchtime series will feature
Philip Walsh, of Wellington, Martin Setchell, and Hans Hielscher
from Germany.
The
organ has a characteristic French sound with its feisty reeds, but
music played on it has been as varied as the audience -- Bach to
Joplin to Lloyd Webber, classical organ literature through orchestral
transcriptions, to modern works by Professor John Ritchie, John
Wells, and Tony Ryan.
As
a baby with a life expectancy of centuries, it needs tender care
and regular attention. To offset the costs of essential tuning,
maintenance, and keeping the auditorium at the constant temperature
and humidity levels for which the instrument was designed, a hire
charge of $250 (for local community groups) is levied by NCC, the
venue management company. This is not expensive when compared with
the Town Hall hire charge for other equipment in the Town Hall (the
Steinway grand piano costs $140.65, for example), or in relation
to the organ's cost of about $1.3 million and its appreciating value
as a world-class instrument.
Surprisingly,
the organ costs very little to run. The power needed to supply wind
to the wind-chests is about the same as for a small domestic bar
heater. Even when asleep, this baby simply looks good, aided by
the versatile lighting technicians. Visually and acoustically, the
Town Hall is now complete.
The
organ's lusty cries have been heard worldwide. An Internet website
showed sound and video files of the installation progress daily
so that people as far away as Russia, Iceland, Scotland, Germany,
Mexico, and Czechoslovakia listened in to every rank as it was installed
and voiced. Before building had finished, Ric and Larry had bought
air tickets in Arizona to join the first continuing education course
on the organ; Jean in Lancashire, England, decided she wanted to
contribute by buying a pipe; the young Gensler brothers travelled
on a shoestring from Germany to meet the organ; and the organ builders
could watch for the first time as their instrument was installed
thousands of kilometres away.
For some organ music fans, the long wait never ended. Just before
he died, a benefactor with a long-term interest in the instrument
was wheeled along to hear the still-incomplete organ played by Alois,
the voicer's assistant. Brenda Bicknell, who with her husband donated
$100,000 towards the organ, died only months before work on it began.
It may have taken a quarter of a century and much hard labour to
bring this baby into being, but it is destined to provide many generations
of local and international listeners pleasure throughout its long
life.
