GALLERY

I. Grand OrGueMontre 16

Montre 8

Bourdon 8

Flûte harmonique 8

Prestant 4

Flûte 4

Quinte 22/3

Doublette 2

Cornet V 8

Grand Plein Jeu III-V 22/3

Fourniture IV-V 11/3

Cymbale III 1/2

Bombarde 16

Trompette 8

Chamades I

Chamades II

II. POsItIf (enclOsed)Quintaton 16

Principal 8

Bourdon 8

Flûte harmonique 8

Prestant 4

Flûte à cheminée 4

Nazard 22/3

Doublette 2

Tierce 13/5

Larigot 11/3

Plein Jeu IV 11/3

Cymbale IV 2/3

Basson 16

Trompette 8

Cromorne 8

Clairon 4

Trémolo

Chamades I

Chamades II

III. récIt (enclOsed)Bourdon doux 16

Diapason 8

Viole de gambe 8

Voix celeste (GG) 8

Flûte traversière 8

Cor de nuit 8

Voix éolienne (t.c.) 8

Octave 4

Flûte octaviante 4

Nazard harmonique 22/3

Octavin 2

Cornet V 8

Fourniture III 1

Cymbale III 1/2

Bombarde 16

Trompette harmonique 8

Hautbois 8

Voix humaine 8

Clairon harmonique 4

Trémolo

Chamades I

Chamades II

G.C. high pressure stops on Récit

IV. Grand chœur (enclOsed)Bourdon 16

Violon 8

Voix celeste (t.c.) 8

Bourdon 8

Grand Nazard 51/3

Violon 4

Flûte ouverte 4

Grande Tierce 31/5

Nazard 22/3

Septième 22/7

Quarte de Nazard 2

Tierce 13/5

Piccolo 1

Clarinette 8

Trémolo

Trombone 16

Trompette harmonique 8

Clairon harmonique 4

Cloches

Chamades I

Chamades II

(in separate box on higher pressure)

Diapason 8

Octave 4

Mixture III-V 2

Cor français 8

chamades (flOatInG)Dessus de Bombarde 16

Basse de Trompette 8

Dessus de Trompette 8

2e Trompette 8

3e Trompette 8

Basse de Clairon 4

Dessus de Clairon 4

(all chamade stops duplicated in groups

I and II)

PédaleMontre (ext.) 32

Soubasse (ext. G.C.) 32

Contrebasse 16

Montre 16

Montre (G.O.) 16

Soubasse 16

Bourdon (G.C.) 16

Grande Quinte * 102/3

Octave 8

Violoncelle * 8

Flûte * 8

Bourdon 8

Grande Tierce * 62/5

Quinte * 51/3

Grande Septième * 44/7

Octave 4

Flûte * 4

Contre-Bombarde (ext.) 32

Bombarde 16

Basson 16

Clarinette * 16

Trompette 8

Trompette-en-Chamade 8

Clairon 4

Clairon-en-Chamade 4

* = enclosed, extended one octave from

affiliated Grand Chœur rank

Attached console: mechanical action with

optional electric coupling; each division

always plays mechanically from its home

manual

Stage console: electro-pneumatic action,

with sub and super couplers, adjustable

pedal divide, sostenuto, and other

features (SSOS)

La Maison Symphonique, Montreal, Quebec, CanadaCASAVANT FRèReS, OP. 3900 (2014)

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GALLERY

on four rather than three levels. What

comes across as a bit linear and lacking

in brilliance from the floor becomes

scintillating as heard in the top balcony.

In true 21st-century fashion, acoustical

adjustability is comprehensive. Many

new halls have moveable canopies over

the stage area, to fine-tune early reflections

from musicians to audience (in the

process earning nicknames such as

‘Enterprise’ or ‘the Mothership’). At

Montreal, the entire ceiling is segmented

into canopies, all of which lower, tilt

and slope. Retreating curtains muffle

reverberation as deemed necessary.

With walls clad in layers of beech wood

and sculpted off-white accent stripes, the

hall has an airy Nordic elegance. A mere

three experiences are hardly sufficient

to claim actual acquaintance. However,

between hearing it at its most live, for

the Canadian International Organ

Competition last October, then again this

February, with many canopies down and

half the curtains deployed (the instrument

now beautifully demonstrated by house

organist Jean-Willy Kunz), it was clear that,

even damped, Montreal has fundamentally

active acoustics, with warmth and buoy-

ancy: a big, resonant slice of lemon cake.

Acoustics become critical when

discussing the work of Casavant tonal

director Jacquelin Rochette. To expect a

barn-burning hoedown of an organ from

Rochette is to expect a building in the

style of Frank Gehry from Renzo Piano.

Rochette’s approach – indeed, his very

soul – is too moderate for flag-waving. His

tonal relationships are both subtle and

tightly organised, recalling the approach

of Flentrop at Holy Name Chicago or

even G. Donald Harrison in his larger,

multi-mixtured palettes. When the space

cooperates even if the reverberation

doesn’t, Rochette’s style works: Principia

College in Elsah, Illinois, remains a high

point. If the reverberation is there but the

space isn’t, as with the Kauffman Center

in Kansas City, Rochette’s subtleties and

structures can end up resembling an intri-

cate herringbone seen from too great a

distance: a single pane of colour.

In Montreal, the instrument unquestion-

ably connects to the room and comes across

clearly. Despite the Gallic scheme (plenty

of pleins jeux for the fingers, none for la

pauvre Pédale), one would not mistake this

for a French organ, although there is a kind

of Frenchness to certain relationships. For

instance, the Pédale’s own flues are clear

and warm, none of them bellowing in the

big American or English manner. What

roaring the Pédale does stems partly from

coupled manual reed basses, partly from

its own independent battery. The manual

fluework at first seems restrained, though

definitely favouring the treble such that

melodies remain present and accounted

for, even if nothing quite takes off like the

Concorde of Cavaillé-Coll. Quieter founda-

tion stops, particularly the strings, are finely

voiced and add up richly, not in the slotted

manner of 1875, but to a clear, colourful

sound. Deserving special mention are the

Récit Cor de nuit (capped, wide-scale) and

Voix éolienne (narrower, with chimneys)

for their hypnotic, spinning celeste.

Oliver Latry served as project consult-

ant, and his influence is seen particularly

in the Grand Chœur. Its high-pressure

section isn’t stentorian (remembering again

The electric-action stage console has additional sub and super couplers, as well as sostenuto and pedal divide functions

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www.choirandorgan.com26 choir & organ may/june 2015

gallery

Rochette’s sense of proportion), merely

fuller in scale and voicing than the other

departments. The chorus rounds out the

leanness of those elsewhere; the French

Horn is considered both as solo voice and

a fonds d’orgue booster shot; the mutations

lie much in the Notre Dame-Cochereau

tradition. What really works is Latry’s idea

of extending certain ranks one octave into

the Pedal. The 32ft mutations do exactly

what is expected, while the 16ft Clarinette is

a model of evenness and promptness. Being

enclosed seems a bonus, and the whole idea

is a clever spin on the Résonance concept.

And, if one starts with the 8ft Montre and

thinks ‘is that all?’, the tutti totally delivers,

with brilliance and blaze in good measure.

For those who hear with their eyes, this

organ is one chic lady: sheathed in a strap-

less tin gown, adorned with twin curving

consoles like chokers, and stretching out

a hand for the kissing with her retractable

chamade trumpets. Yes, retractable! With

Latry as consultant, a battery of chamades

was inevitable, and these are really on the

move. Three ranks are involved, 8 and 4

plus a 16 from middle C, formed in treble

and bass groups. While the left-hand

cluster stays put, the larger right bank rolls

in and out on a screw-driven platform.

The commute occurs at a stately enough

pace that tuning is not disturbed, and once

parked inside, the chamades assume the

power of the Grand Orgue reeds. With

another touch of the toe-stud, the wood

panel slides away and out comes the artil-

lery again. Patently unnecessary, maybe a

little silly, and completely wonderful.

The façade reflects an even greater

leap of engineering, since the pipes don’t

Sheathed in a strapless tin gown, adorned with twin curving consoles, this organ is one chic lady

The façade and steel supports as seen from below

rest on anything. Each pipe is formed

to continue its tubular shape down to a

bottom bias cut, then bolted to a project-

ing steel frame. The console begins to show

the scale — that’s 32ft DDDD# hanging

mid-air on the left. In all, the façade is 15

tonnes of steel and tin made to look like a

floating arc, dramatically lit for concerts.

The elegantly curving consoles respond

to room details as does Glatter-Götz’s

winged fir at Walt Disney Hall or Dobson’s

notched cello for Verizon. Inside, the

instrument is built up on spacious levels:

winding and action on the bottom, Positif

and big pedal next, Grand Orgue and

Grand Chœur above that, and Récit at the

top. A generous spiral staircase, with octag-

onal newel post, welcomes the visitor.

Concert organs seem routinely supplied

with attached tracker consoles, which are

then rarely used. Some question whether

attached consoles and mechanical action

are necessary, but this organ argues the

case as persuasively as any. Of course, this

is hardly a pure tracker organ: even played

from the attached console, some registers

are fully electric, including certain Pédale

ranks, the high-pressure Grand Chœur and

the chamades. Rochette’s approach, while

not so wind efficient as, say, Paul Fritts

or Fritz Noack, isn’t gulpingly consump-

tive either, and this makes four unassisted

coupled manuals perfectly manageable.

The centralised console location and

short tracker runs belie the instrument’s

scale, and the sense of connectedness is

true. Optional electric control is engaged

division-by-division for the upper three

manuals, affecting only how those depart-

ments couple, not how they play from

their home manuals. Thus every keyboard

retains its tracker connection and feel.

Inside and out, piano to tutti, this organ

has the feel of a benchmark. Casavant is

a firm whose identity fluctuates across a

wide range of projects. But in this instance,

they are the old-guard local builder doing

their best work for a home audience, with

complete support from government, archi-

tect and acoustician. A grand circumstance

has been done proper justice.

www.casavant.ca

Jonathan Ambrosino is an organ technician, consultant and journalist in Boston.

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