For years I have searched for suitable organs for recordings, especially of French repertoire which is a specialty of mine. Particularly in the USA, organs which ideally bring this music to life are rather few.

My new CD features Dupré’s Evocation, Tournemire’s too-rarely-heard Trois Poèmes, plus my own French-inspired Noël Variations. The Dupré and Tournemire especially call for a large organ, of at least three manuals, with complete flue and reed choruses on each division, an ample body and variety of foundation tone (including manual 16’s), and treble-ascendant voicing. The basic French romantic colors are needed: chorus and color reeds, harmonic flutes, strings, certain mutations… The Dupré, being conceived for the Cavaillé-Coll organ at St.-Ouen-de-Rouen, particularly needs a soft 32′ flue, as well as a tutti including at least one chamade chorus reed.

I found all this and more in the Glatter-Götz/Rosales organ in Claremont. Though I was already quite familiar with Rosales’ work, knowing his similarly large organs in Portland, Oakland, and Houston, as well as several smaller organs, Claremont held many surprises for me.

The overall sound had a somewhat more romantic cast than I was prepared for. Previous organs had a more classic accent; here the voicing was smoother, yet still prompt, and always with that characteristic Rosales boldness. And the organ’s tonal architecture is still rigorously classical: principal choruses are full and brilliant, the mixtures bold yet blending, the foundations firm and solid. I was actually startled at how full the principal choruses were: the Positive’s pleno is broader in tone than many Great plena I’ve heard, and the Great’s broader yet. The principals are so full-toned that adding flute reinforcement was unnecessary in my own Variations’ Fugato, even though I called for it in the score! The balance of each divisions’ pleno to the others is perfect. The pedal pleno balanced the Positive and Great plena equally well, again serving my Fugato ideally. The Pedal’s Mixture V is one of the finest I’ve ever heard: its 5-1/3′ gives a fine 16′ resultant, locking it into the full chorus, and even though its highest pitch is only 1′, the mixture still has all the penetration and clarity one could want, yet with a beautiful tone.

Foundation and reed sounds were all I could ask for. The “fonds de 8 pieds” were beautifully broad and warm, yet clear. The harmonic flute solos are exquisite, and even the Great 4′ Spire Flute played down an octave (towards the end of the first Tournemire) was hauntingly beautiful. The color reeds, Hautbois, Voix humaine, Cromorne, all fulfilled their roles perfectly. The chamade blends perfectly into the tutti (unfortunately a difficult effect to capture on a recording), resulting in a chorus of utter magnificence.

On hearing the recording now, I am again struck, not only at the beauty of the sounds of this organ, but also by the organ’s remarkable clarity. My ear is constantly drawn to the intricacy of Dupré’s counterpoint, in a way I’ve never been able to hear before. I’m certain this is primarily because Rosales’ voicing is so contrapuntally clear, in individual stops as well as ensembles. It is especially noteworthy that this has been achieved in a style which is quite antithetical to the dry, thin voicing of the neo-baroque school, which of course held contrapuntal clarity to be its ultimate ideal. Bluntly, Rosales beats them hands down in achieving this ideal.

Furthermore, this organ has what must be the most effective swell-box I’ve ever encountered. It’s not merely that it closes completely, giving a beautifully delicate pianissimo. It’s also that it opens fully, giving a projection, clarity, and above all presence of sound which is quite incredible — frankly, matching (surpassing?!) that of the unenclosed divisions. Considering that the box is set behind the main case in the former organ’s chamber, and that this division is 18 stops deep, I find this completely flabbergasting. Rosales showed me the interior of the box: spacious, uncluttered, the thick walls’ inner surface highly finished like a boat deck. Offset pipes mounted on the walls are minimal, allowing the greatest possible reflective surface. The result is simply astounding. Frankly, I wish I had had more time with the organ in order to learn to handle such a huge dynamic range ideally!

One doesn’t expect a particularly light or responsive key action in such a large tracker organ. Claremont’s key action is another surprise: while coupling does of course increase action weight noticeably, the touch of uncoupled divisions is as light as one could want. After my recording sessions, I prepared a concert performance for the following weekend, with a somewhat different program including Bach, Cabanilles, Dandrieu and Stanley. I found the action to be perfectly responsive to the slightest, most subtle nuances of articulation, making such early music a complete joy. Even the 18-stop Swell’s action had the sensitivity of a fine clavichord — amazing! And the organ’s sounds proved as ideal for this music as they did for the all-20th-century program I had just recorded.

The Claremont Glatter-Götz/Rosales organ is a stunning achievement. It would be hard to imagine a better organ for my CD program anywhere in the world, and I would not hesitate to record on it again. I have no doubt that Dupré and Tournemire would have been most pleased with the result. And I am quite certain the the third composer on the program was completely satisfied!