1949 Holtkamp Organ - First Congregational Church - Elyria, OH

[@mspg2]

I love it when organists do demonstrations such as this. Every organ is different.

[@05Forenza]

I'm quite glad this video popped up in my recommended! I'm not an organist myself, but follow so many different organists on KZbin. Great demonstration!

[@bbinchi]

Dear Evan, your video was offered by KZbin as a recommendation and I'm delighted to have watched and listened to you play! You're playing in my home town on an organ I've heard many times in the days of the Rev. Thomas Curtis, who was organist at the church. I enjoyed your demonstration of the Holtkamp organ's stops, and at time point 11:06, I thought you were going to play Jeanne Demessieux's Chorale Prélude on "Rorate Cœli." That excited me, and even though you didn't play it, I was even more thrilled to hear Jeanne Demessieux's Chorale Prélude on "Attende Domine," possibly my favorite of her set of 12 Chorale Préludes, as your closing piece. Thank you, Evan! I can sleep well now. Best wishes to you for fulfillment and success in all that you undertake

[@fnersch3367]

You give these sounds a wonderful glow. Thank you.

[@Taoseno2007]

Thanks Evan.... You are GREAT!!! This organ is ahead of its time!!!

[@paulnovosel9469]

Great job, Evan! I was weened on the 23r Holy Name “Chick” Holtkamp in Cleveland. Rich sound, Baroque, all other builders pale. Consider yourself very blessed to play on this classic Holtkamp.

[@jcolbyt82]

Excellent demonstration. Just happened to come across this video and really like the sound of this organ. Very good demonstration and explanations. I think the sound quality and image quality is quite good. Nothing to apologize for in my opinion. It’s certainly better than many recordings of organs that I hear on KZbin. Thank you for making this video!

[@jerrymartin79]

Beautiful instrument - great demonstration! Thank you Evan!

[@EverettBerkel]

Awesome! I like the your explanation of all the sounds.

[@franklinshouse8719]

Evan, this is a great demonstration of an early Holtkamp. The stop list is quite different from his later work. He must have used a lot of old pipework from previous organs and did it pretty well. There are plenty of soft 8' sounds which you don't get on later organs. The trumpet in the swell is a beast. I have never heard a trumpet that loud in the swell on later organs, but it is the big 8' reed for the whole organ, so it probably functions well. The cremona is quite nice as is the posaune. The console is like all of his later consoles. Overall a good instrument but different from his later work.

[@franklinshouse8719]

Very nice demonstration. I was trained on Holtkamp Organs, but they were newer than this, starting in 1957 up to 1976. Your organ was built by Walter Holtkamp senior. This organ is very different from the ones I played. He apparently used several old pipes, He did that to keep costs low. In later organs, they didn't do that as much. There are some signature Holtkamp sounds, like the Posaune in the pedal. But there are many different sounds throughout the organ that I am not familiar with. Nice job of demonstrating it.

[@pierrelauwers8719]

I am not sure W. Holtkamp Sr. kept older stops in order to cut the costs. He could have sawn them to get higher pitched ones, like many european builders did, transforming so 8' strings into nasards and tierces. And we hear here that he did not revoice them that much. Rather, he seems to have aimed at something else than the "reform" ideologic conceptions, a style of his own that would not "cancel" the US late-romantic organ. His main idea was above all "to remove the pipes from chambers".

[@sterlingorganhouse]

Holtkamps almost always exceed expectations. This one certainly does. For a relatively small organ, the stops and voicing were evidently done with a lot of care. Yes that Swell Trompette is big, but what fun! I wouldn’t trade it.

[@johnlandacre767]

Evan, a very informative demonstration of this organ. It actually comes through on my earbuds pretty nicely. I’d rate your video and audio quality at least at B+ level. You look like a very young man, but you conduct yourself as someone with much experience and knowledge. Your closing selection was very well done. If you’re an example of the future of organists, we indeed have nothing to worry about. Would like to know more about your education and whether you do organ concerts at other churches. I’m in Huntington, WV, and would love to have an up and coming organist to do a recital on my church’s 11 rank Schantz/Estey 2 manual organ. Trying to get some of the teens interested in the organ. They would enjoy meeting you, no doubt.

[@micksayers1]

Very informative video. Thank you.

[@phyzygy]

Similar vintage and build to the Holtkamp in the "small aud" at BWU. I had my weekly lessons on it for 4 years 1964-68. Another of my favorites.

[@evancollins6284]

I enjoyed playing that organ! It unfortunately was put into storage when they renovated the hall...

[@phyzygy]

@@evancollins6284 I thought I had read as much, kinda sad. But I also know old organs are often relocated and rebuilt often many years later. I know a bit more about this one and have a couple pictures and recordings from my time on it. Amateur video wasn't really a thing back then, 😉

[@c-historia]

awesome!!

[@hammond1167]

Great job Evan!!

[@_Gavingang]

Hi Mr Collins

[@bubbadon7540]

Sweet

[@ernestmskinner]

Nice!

[@califdad4]

Weren't some of the older ones trackers?

[@AlainHubert]

@11:30 sounds a little out of tune. Maybe it needs some work?

[@TheJakeman789]

That is such an ugly console. Ugly tabs… I can’t stand tabs.

[@franklinshouse8719]

Walter Holtkamp's idea was to create a console that was very functional. The stop tabs are very easy to use, right in front of your face. You can see easily around and over them, like a French console. These consoles were a radical departure from other consoles at the time. Schlicker used a similar idea. I am not sure I like them as much as I once did, but that is the explanation for them.

[@joeberta368]

Keys sound a bit “clunky” - do they need re-felting?