All Hail the King of Instruments

It was a C-major chord I’ll never forget. Orchestra London was performing at Metropolitan United Church. As its senior minister, I sat in the centre of the balcony beaming with pride.

The church's original organ was from 1897 but the current organ, Casavant, Opus 2083 from 1951 had seen many upgrades. In 1995 a host of alterations and additions had been completed and it was time to show her off, so to speak.

The centrepiece of the program that night included the Symphony #3 in C minor Opus 78 by Camille Saint-Saens. It is known as the Organ Symphony and was popular that year for it’s part in the Disney movie Babe about a cute pig who is raised by sheepdogs.

But back to the music. It’s not so much a symphony for the pipe organ but an orchestral symphony which uses the organ. When our music director at the time blasted out that simple chord at the beginning of the final movement, the seismically rumbling low pedal C shook the sanctuary with primordial vibrations. Bombastic. Thrilling. There is no louder sound in music. According to Guinness World Records, an outdoor organ built for Expo 2012 in South Korea produced music measured at 138.4 decibels, louder than Led Zeppelin in full seventies form.

What else would you expect from what Mozart called the King of Instruments? Pair it with a full orchestra and these two rivals who might otherwise be prone to a duel of decibels can make a positively apocalyptic sound. Mahler’s choral symphonies, The Second and the Eighth, for instance. Or Richard Strauss’ solar C-major at the start of “Also Sprach Zarathustra”. (think of the opening theme of the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey)

In the last century, the pipe organ found its way into theatres, sport venues and even rock music with groups from Iron Butterfly to Yes. But like a lot of grand old things, the pipe organ has to be meticulously maintained. Not only are they regularly tuned but they have leathers that get dry and brittle with age. Parts have to be “releathered”. Churches can’t always afford such upkeep.

New York’s Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall have lost their concert-hall organs. On the other hand, there are signs of a resurgence. In 2004 the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles had a new pipe organ installed. With a range of ten octaves it’s aptly named Hurricane Mama.

People keep asking me what I miss about church. The answer is the same. The music. I’ve downloaded choral repertoire and selections on the pipe organ into my laptop but nothing beats the king of instruments at full throttle.

Even if you only go to church once a year on Christmas Eve, and you know who you are, go! They may have a pipe organ with lots of stops to give you a variety of musical Christmas colours. A soft rendition of Silent Night perhaps; a song first played on the guitar. And at the end of the service, before you exit to mark the night however you choose, the organist is likely to pull out all the stops and let fly with the familiar refrain of Joy to the World.

That, if anything, will blow you away and infuse you with the holiday spirit.