Putting the musical heart back into Glasgow....
The
In layout, construction methods and tonal design, the organ takes as its inspiration the great baroque organs of north-Germany. The instrument has three manuals (or keyboards) and pedals; there are forty-one speaking stops and nearly three thousand pipes; and the bellows feeding air to the instrument can be blown either electrically, or by foot, as would have been the case in Bach’s day. As the first Bach-style organ ever to be commissioned in the
A photographic archive of the installation process can be viewed below.
Background
The A grade listed Barony Hall is a well known and celebrated building in the heart of the campus. It's in these auspicious surroundings that students have proudly walked across the stage to accept their degree at graduation ceremonies. And it's within these walls that numerous concerts and recitals have taken place.
It's also within this setting that the Austrian firm of Koegler Organ Builders was commissioned to build the Maurice Taylor Organ - installed thanks to a substantial donation from Maurice Taylor, together with contributions from a wide range of other donors. The organ is an outstanding centrepiece really putting the University of Strathclyde "on the map" with the Barony becoming the only concert hall within the city to boast a first class organ of this kind.
Consultant to the Barony Organ Project
David Sanger, who died at his home on 27 May 2010 and who was, until recently, the President of the Royal College of Organists and one of the world's most accomplished concert organists, was Consultant to the Barony Hall Organ Project. He was also a member of The Association of Independent Organ Advisors and was an advisor on a number of different types of organ projects throughout the UK, involving the building of new organs and restoration work on existing organs, including the work to restore the organ in the Usher Hall in Edinburgh.
As a practising organist, David Sanger had a busy international concert performance schedule. He recorded over twenty CDs of music for organ, was a composer of music and, until recently, a teacher of organ at Oxford and Cambridge universities. http://www.davidsanger.co.uk/
David lived to witness the birth and launch of The Maurice Taylor Organ in the Barony Hall, to the extent of playing a full and active part in its Public Launch Concert on Sunday 2 May. It is thanks to the depth and breadth of David's expertise combined with the outstanding skills and craftmanship of Christian Koegler's team that the University of Strathclyde now possesses an instrument of world-class standing. At the same time, it provides an appropriate and lasting memorial to David's professionalism and musicianship.
The work began .....
The Maurice Taylor Organ was built between 2008 and 2010.
To gain an idea of the complex and detailed process of making this magnificant instrument, view the construction process below.
For more information about Koegler's instruments, visit
http://www.
