Gumbs is a magnificent organist. Sometimes I think his pacing is a bit too deliberate, but he has total command of the music and is completely in the spirit of Widor. The “bumblebee” variation, as I think of it, is a wonderful tour de force of keyboard handling. The piu lento chordal section following it is wonderful, full of gravitas and song. And this is THE organ!!! The pedalboard looks marvelously responsive. And what a crescendo right before the fff restatement of the theme! It just gets better as it goes along! He handles the accents (sf) toward the end with marvelous aplomb.
Thanks Nathaniel, I enjoy your playing, and I agree with Ron Sharp, who designed and built the magnificent Sydney Opera House Organ, one of the finest organs in the world. Sharp believed that most organs sounded terrible, and most organists didn't know how to play. I think Ron (who died 4 years ago at the age of 96), would have loved Nathaniel's playing. As for the organ, it was built by Rudolf van Beckerath who also built the organ for the Great Hall at Sydney University (54 stops). Ron Sharp assembled this organ and was most impressed by it. Van Beckerath was inspired by the instruments of Arp Schnitger, as was Ron Sharp who also loved those of Silberman (which were loved by J S Bach). Both van Beckerath's instruments are inspired by the German Classical (hence you can hear every note in a mixture stop) and are tracker action. Visiting organists who play the Sydney Opera House organ are shocked at how light the keys are on the largest tracker action instrument in the world (200 ranks, 132 stops). As a consequence, tracker action organs being built all over the world have their actions based on the Opera House Organ. Nathaniel should come to Sydney to play the Town Hall organ (built by Hill in London, 1892, 126 stops, a 64' contra trombone, the greatest English Romantic organ ever built) and the Opera House organ. (Have a listen to it here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-xTEyGW_6b4U.html I immensely enjoyed both Nathaniel's playing, and the instrument.
The piece is tough enough on electronic organs, but then on a pipe organ where there is a slight delay between key press and pipe speak... WOW. Well done, sir.
On the 4th movement, I can't hear the individual notes. Carlo Curley and Virgil Fox had the voices set so that you could hear the notes. Just hopefully a bit of contructive criticism for you. The 4th movement in particular is a magnificent piece of invention from Mendelssohn.
"Dear Nathaniel Gumbs Thank you for posting this wonderful video! Can I, by any chance, repost your channel on the Gan Jing World platform? Of course I will keep everything as is and also include your channel as source."
The perfect marriage of performer and instrument: Nathaniel Gumbs and the Newberry Organ at Woolsey Hall, Yale University! Excellent performance! THANK YOU & BEST WISHES GOING FORWARD!!!
The Dwight Chapel organ under Dwight’s choice of registration works with Mendelssohn far better than I have heard others non that instrument. I know that in his position at Yale , he is responsible for Dwight mad boy can I see why. I so hope that there will be many further recordings to You Tube.
I just saw this posted over on the Skinner page on Facebook. Awesome! I turned pages for Tim Baker playing this at the big Pilcher in Louisville. Hearing it live played on a big romantic organ is just fantastic.
This is only the first movement, a cunning set of variations. How I wish you had recorded the entire symphony--especially the Andante, which immediately precedes the legendary Toccata. What a beautiful sound that movement would make on this huge instrument!
