Opus d'Amour - the Making of the Davis Concert Organ

This video depicts the conception, manufacture, construction and commissioning of the Davis Concert Organ in the Francis Winspear Centre in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. ©2003 Pipe Dreams Productions.

[@vaniberi8189]

Was deeply moved by the film, what a wonderful man Dr.Davis and what a magnificent memorial to his equally wonderful and beautiful wife! God bless all the nice people who think on the wider world and society around them leaving such a lasting legacy!

[@ecologicaladam7262]

There's nothing quite like a full orchestra doing battle with a 'grande orgue' ! What a fabulous hall and what a fantastic instrument...

[@dennisa1692]

Fascinating behind-the-scenes of how it's done. Thoroughly loved it. Excellent.

[@HobbyOrganist]

This is a good documentary! DAVIS, Dr. Stuart George On July 30, 2005, Dr. Stuart George Davis of Edmonton passed away at the age of 88 years.

[@patricklastname5646]

Perfection at all levels, period. What a treat!

[@charlesbrown1934]

Judging from the audio quality of this video, the acoustics of the hall are warm and lively, and the organ sounds simply wonderful.

[@emilymarie4873]

Charles Brown The acoustics here are amazing! Especially considering it is built over top of an LRT station tunnel!! The entire room in the video is soundproofed, and the building was made with gaps just to add in sound absorbing foam between the walls!!

[@johnbostrom8467]

What a fantastic composition!!!!

[@Organgrinder1010]

Fascinating, informative, and mind-boggling the amount of planning and skillful work culminating in this instrument. And the concerto is a fine wedding of organ and orchestra! Exciting! Would love to hear it live!

[@charlieterry5357]

The organ has always been my favourite instrument, truly the King of Instruments! It was a privilege to be able to see this video. To see the construction of the pipes and other parts of the organ in the workshop and then watch it being assembled in the hall,was exciting enough, and then to end with the drama of the organ concerto. Sorry I did not get the full name of the composer. I wonder if there is a recording of this piece. What a way to remember your dear wife and counting your blessing that you had been married to that lady for 54 years. I too count myself so fortunate that I found the best to be married to!

[@BudFieldsPPTS]

BRAVO! Thank you so very much for sharing this incredible journey of love, dedication, and determination.

[@Mr05241948]

A very interesting look at the birth of a magnificent pipe organ and all of the circumstances that came together to produce this very grand instrument.

[@dalerider3124]

The 32' principal case pipes are dumbfounding - mind-boggling, shiny, and amazing. On and on come the adjectives!

[@henryharesdene4164]

This vid deserves a wider audience - inasmuchas I've been looknig at YT organ videos for many, many years and never seen this one. It's the first video of making an organ from the raw materials to first performance. It may not be perfect (21 folks gave it the thumbs down) - and I challenge them to find anything better. Being in Canuk land you get a mixture of French and English - I'll just have to learn a bit more about the former. Music, however is universal, so language differences are merel a stepping stone. To cap it all when the instrument is played - it's magnificent!!

[@patstokes3615]

It's fascinating that they use the same techniques set down hundreds of years ago. Just amazing.

[@johns7734]

It is a beautiful instrument in every sense of the word. What often impresses me most about a pipe organ is when the fascia pipes speak and are not just for decoration. These fascia pipes both speak and look gorgeous.

[@harmonicsv9890]

Wonderful. Now to find a recording of that fascinating concerto...

[@jamesoneill6146]

Brilliant

[@bigfishtokyocat7789]

My cat died. His soul brought me here today. I write a song about him on my KZbin here, but nobody would watch.... Thankyou for this. 🐱 Meow.

[@louisalarcon7921]

What an amazing educational documentary. Bravo!

[@nachozapata9402]

Un Órgano Fantástico, muchas felicidades

[@patstokes3615]

It cost 2 million dollars to create and organ of 6,500 pipes. Which made me think of another program I watch about an organ in Atlantic City, USA that is in a old convention center that had to be refurbished and hadn't played for 50 years as there was a terrible storm that damaged it. It is the largest organ in the world at 33,000 pipes which is beyond amazing when you think of how big it must be.

[@anthonyhazlewood5788]

This was a wonderful video on how this organ came into fruition... I would think Dr Davis was well pleased with it as a memorial to his late wife... Such a magnificent instrument made by such craftsmen is a joy to behold... Thank you for this video...

[@HobbyOrganist]

9:10 In 2009, Nortel filed for bankruptcy protection in Canada and the United States, triggering a 79% decline of its corporate stock price. The bankruptcy case was the largest in Canadian history and left pensioners, shareholders and former employees with enormous losses. ...

[@StephenMortimer]

the best part is the story of the GOOD WIFE !!

[@dalerider3124]

AND the loving, respectfully HUSBAND!!

[@Engineer9736]

25:50 Does he really need to explain to that composer that an expressive division is in a swell box and that the sound thus can be made softer? Or did they put that explanation together just for this video recording to have some content to show? A composer at that age would have learnt such basic knowledge many decades ago you would think..

[@robertgift]

Well done documentary! Of all the magnificent works which could have been chosen, what horrible "music" at the very beginning. As an organist, I fear the future looks limited for real pipe organs. The new electronic organs sound so good. They remain in perfectune. Can even sound different tuning temperaments. Surprised those handling lead-containing pipes are not wearing cotton gloves. I always wore gloves when tuning.

[@ohyeahyeah3567]

Robert Gift some ppl like different music than you so if it was horrible to you, (which it was) might be beautiful to someone else

[@Durufle68]

The future is NOT limited for real pipe organs.

[@robertgift]

@@Durufle68 Already is. Many crutches are installing electronicounterfeits. Have been for years. As one who has assembled, installed and tunes pipe organs, I cannot blame them. Too expen$ive. Requires too much space. Never in complete tune,specially important for Max Reger. Co$t of tuning an organ will eventually be greater than the cost of the organ.

[@russellwaite5874]

I agree with the term "horrible " music at the beginning. I dabble with keyboards for my own amusement but I can appreciate an amazing piece , e g Bach etc.

[@HobbyOrganist]

Yeah I agree, I totally disliked that comissioned composition, have to wonder how much the guy was paid for that, they could have used some existing works. The whole event was about the ORGAN, why even bring in an orchestra for an organ dedication at all.

[@PointyTailofSatan]

Surprised they didn't go with Casavant. Casavant and Flentrop are the top two organ builders in the world. And Casavant is one of those Quebec based builders mentioned in this video.

[@HobbyOrganist]

Dobson would have been a good choice too, having done Verizon Hall in PA, and Cathedral of our lady of angels in LA

[@hlasesibisi5264]

Please advise: If on the console i select the Bourdon stop and it doesnt activate the sound, its just only giving the clicking sound yet not playing, what may be the problem ?

[@roelofvandermerwe1147]

Mr Klopper is a south african!

[@Offshoreorganbuilder]

I don't know what that piece is at the beginning but I certainly don't want to hear it *ever* again!

[@davealbrecht12]

It's wonderfull! I don't think you're a very experienced listener of 20th century organmusic

[@ecsciguy79]

I totally agree. And "wonderful" is certainly not a word I'd use to describe it. Perhaps "grotesque" or "hideous".

[@dissilymordentroge5818]

There’s an important question here. Is music’s only valid function to make us feel comfortable and happy? Is there not a place for portraying the inner neuroticism and pain our species is so skilled at subjecting ourselves to? One the other hand we might have to admit a portion of contemporary classical music is indeed no more than meaningless noise whose function is beyond any justification apart from providing the composer an ego boost and academic musicologists a blank canvas upon which to impose an imagined meaningfulness - somewhat like the volumes of gibberish written to ‘explain’ and evaluate minimalist visual art of recent times.

[@victorking4708]

Offshoreorganbuilder it was a mess

[@Offshoreorganbuilder]

@YouFoundSharpe Official Is that what they were? Sounded more like a comb-and-paper under steam.

[@HobbyOrganist]

14:02 "65 craftsmen working overtime make everything..." "they have 2 years to complete the project" 65 craftsmen?? something doesn't add up very well, even if they were only paid a gross of $500/week = $32,500 x 100 weeks = $3,250,000, the payroll alone exceeds the total $2 million cost!

[@gillesblanchard1699]

You forgot that was a century ago! 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

[@juhaheikkila]

@20:10, I'm amazed they still use old fashion clamps instead of using vacuum bag pressing.. eh maybe in next century...

[@HobbyOrganist]

Vacuum bag pressing has issues of it's own, such as- once it's actuated if anything slides or slips it's basically ruined, when you are hand clamping you have complete control. Vacuum has it's place on certain things, so do hand clamps, one does not b=negate or obsolete the other.

[@JOHN-tk6vl]

The same is true of some of the piano builders who are slowly going back to the older ways of doing things.

[@julianadams5753]

I must agree with Offshoreorganbuilder. I bet had they sat half a dozen preschoolers down at the organ console and told them, "Go at it" the result would have been far more interesting. No matter how you slice it, noise IS NOT music.

[@gillesblanchard1699]

I agree, I cannot stand J.S. Bach!

[@ramil90]

without electricity the organ would take about 6 years to build and take 4 person to pump the bellows

[@petermacander5039]

The bass flue pipes need larger ears and beards!

[@tomgentry8876]

About 10 yearsagoibut avidtualpieorha for cjurchin ciudad de Mexicowhile finishingtinstallationthe family of the bigmoneydonor cametorhe chircjjtolamhisfuneralas hehad just died thegathered arpundtheconspland thfirst questionwas WHER ARE THE Pipes?stillin Germany!

[@DavidKrautscheid]

sooo badly voiced organ in the music eeeew.

[@victorking4708]

They should have played the Pipe Organ itself at not add the Orchestra they were not needed . The PIPE ORGAN stand alone on its own ! That's why it's the KING OF INSTRUMENTS !!! 🤷🏽‍♂️

[@sirenia1241]

why not the emperor?

[@Mythologos]

@@sirenia1241 Why not God Emperor?!?!?!?!

[@HobbyOrganist]

Funny how the committe person said something about "the organ had to have 60 stops so it can be heard over a full orchestra" LOL, probably a 20 rank organ could do that

[@kevinklingner3098]

That concerto is not worth listening to. It is dark aand discordant. It is not in the same league as Bach and co.

[@markcooke729]

Why do people insist on using computer voices in narratives? It makes it so impersonal! I might as well just ask Siri or Alexa to tell me about this

[@user-74652]

Are you sure this is a computer voice?

[@manteuro]

lol no

[@Engineer9736]

There is no computer voice in this video. I'm not sure how you got at that.

[@chapmand63]

Music from Bach would have been much better.