NYCAGO - Pipe Organs of NYC - Episode 2: Saint Thomas Church & Grace Church

Visit our website: www.nycago.org/
Subscribe to our KZbin Channel: bit.ly/2NtXu7s
Follow us on facebook: / nycago
Sign up for the NYCAGO Newsletter here: www.eepurl.com/hqEGm5
Join the AGO here: www.agohq.org/membership/memb...
Tonight at 7 PM, the NYCAGO airs our second episode of Pipe Organs of NYC series, taking the viewer on a virtual musical tour of two of the oldest and grandest Episcopal churches of the city. Within the past ten years, both have completed new instruments which have met with wide acclaim.
Saint Thomas Church was established in 1823. The fourth and present building (at the parish’s second location) was opened in 1916 to the designs of Cram and Goodhue. The Saint Thomas Choir School, founded in 1919, continues as the only church-affiliated residential choir school in the United States. The church boasts an enviable lineage of organists, including T. Tertius Noble, Gerre Hancock, John Scott, and Daniel Hyde. Assistants from Saint Thomas have regularly gone on to serve at prestigious churches the world over; Patrick Allen of Grace Church was one such associate. Currently under the direction of Dr. Jeremy Filsell, Saint Thomas’s music program sustains an international reputation for its breadth and quality.
The chancel instrument, the Miller-Scott Organ, was build by Dobson as their Opus 93 in 2018. (Saint Thomas also contains a Taylor and Boody organ, Opus 27 (1996/2015), in the rear gallery, although it is not heard on this video.) Both organs can be heard regularly in recital, exclusively virtually for now during this Covidtide, although the church is open for in-person worship on a currently reduced schedule.
www.saintthomaschurch.org
Grace Church was founded in 1805 and the handsome Gothic Revival sanctuary opened in 1846, designed by James Renwick, Jr. (Renwick is best known as the architect of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral featured in last week’s episode.) A boy choir was founded in 1894 under the direction of James Helfenstein. Ernest Mitchell, of Trinity Church, Copley Square in Boston followed as the next director. The Choir of Men and Boys is the oldest such choir in continuous service in New York City, to which have been added over the years ensembles for girls and mixed adults. The program continues today under Dr. Patrick Allen, Organist and Master of the Choristers since 2000.
The Bicentennial Organ was built by Taylor and Boody as their Opus 65 in 2013. This magnificent tracker can be heard regularly and often during worship services and in recital, both in-person and virtually, with a “Bach at Noon” series at 12:20 PM, Tuesday through Friday; an Organ Meditation at 4 PM on Saturdays; and “Hymns from Grace” at 4 PM on Sundays.
www.gracechurchnyc.org

[@samshearman5251]

So powerful!

[@andresaragon2199]

perfect organ sound is lovely, greetings from Tampico Tamaulipas Mexico

[@jimh.6697]

Too much distortion in the St.Thomas recording for me to render an opinion regarding the Dobson organ - checked with other KZbin recordings of other organs to see whether the distortion is because of my playback equipment but other recordings are much better quality. Kenneth Leighton is a favorite rather modern composer, have CDs of all of his organ compositions with an especially stunning one of some of his works played on the impressive Walker-plus Wood organ at Blackburn Cathedral. The St. Thomas Filsell's rendering of the Ite missa of Missa de Gloria is rather spectacular and his improv. on the Welsh hymn tune Llanfair is imaginative and certainly evokes the Easter hymn with which it is associated in many hymnals, recalling the glory and victory of Jesus's resurrection.

[@JimH973]

Reheard this recording with much less distortion. I have a number of CDs with Gerre Hancock and Todd Wilson playing the prior Aeolian - Skinner organ. Somewhat difficult to judge the current Dobson organ on the basis of two pieces of music but preliminarily I would have preferred that the Aeolian - Skinner pipework would have been reused in its entirety in a reconstructed instrument as their tonal qualities and colors were more varied and interesting to hear. Hancock's registrations made full use of that organ's capabilities, as did Wilson's.

[@richardharrold9736]

I strongly recommend to anyone viewing this video to watch the entire St Thomas section on mute. You will not hear anything tonally or musically edifying. The new Dobson looks splendid, but Filsell does not give a good account of its qualities, and the less said of either the Leighton piece or Filsell's own tedious improvisation, the better... the Grace Church Taylor & Boody is scarcely any less visually appetising, sounds a lot more appealing than the forced brightness of the Dobson, and the organist actually gives us some MUSIC to listen to! That said, I would much rather that both churches still had their Skinners... although the Grace Church organ could be improved immeasurably just by retuning it to equal temperament!

[@stthomasmore4811]

Bitchy, pretentious and "tedious" commentary like THIS is precisely why no sane person ever wants to speak to an organist, much less attend a concert or convention. Do you seriously have so little regard for decency that you come to this carefully assembled video - for which you've paid nothing and which you can just as easily ignore - to cast aspersions on one of America's finest builders (Dobson) and organists (Jeremy Filsell)? To quote an ancient New York proverb, "Go fuck yourself."

[@Reid-yy5nw]

Haven't heard the Dobson at St Thomas yet in person, but the Grace Church Taylor & Boody was glorious one Easter weekend I visited! At least you don't want Grace's Schlicker back!

[@richardharrold9736]

@@Reid-yy5nw I don't think anyone likes Schlickers, do they? Heard a recording of the one in the gallery at FCCLA, not a pleasant sound at all.

[@MusicMan-dv7jg]

My grandmother always told me, if you can’t say something nice about a person, don’t say anything at all. You could have said everything with 2 fewer levels of snarkiness.

[@MusicMan-dv7jg]

@@richardharrold9736 Not true, I love Snickers, as well as Milky Way.

[@rustytheloverofdinosaurs10]

Rusty: "(Shy) (Rusty Wears His Scientist Outfit And He's With His 23 Siblings And They All Wear Their Scientists Outfits) Whoa! Pipe Organs! Me And My 23 Siblings Love Studying Pipe Organs! Pipe Organs Are Very Interesting To Study! 🧡🤍!"