BACH ON THE BIGGEST – ROBERT ELMORE playing the 449-rank Midmer-Losh Organ
ROBERT ELMORE playing the Auditorium Organ of the Atlantic City Convention Hall
Johann Sebastian Bach
00:00 TOCCATA AND FUGUE IN D MINOR
07:40 WACHET AUFI
11:47 IN DULCI JUBILO
TOCCATA, ADAGIO AND FUGUE IN C
13:58 TOCCATA
20:03 ADAGIO
25:45 FUGUE
MERCURY RECORDS SR90127
Recorded on November 23.-24. 1956
The Convention Hall Auditorium Organ is the pipe organ in the Main Auditorium of the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, built by the Midmer-Losh Organ Company. The great hall itself is also part of the world's largest pipe organ and was formerly known as the Atlantic City Convention Hall, which can seat 41,000 people in the main auditorium.
The massive organ has 33,112 pipes in 455 ranks, including a full-length 64 foot Diaphone Profunda, ten 32 foot ranks, and manual and pedal reeds that are under 100 inches of wind pressure, while most organs never exceed 10 inches of pressure. In total, there are 4 stops on 100 inches of wind pressure, and there are 10 stops on 50 inches of wind pressure, ear bursting stuff, but all in order to fill the giant room with sound. The electric blowers that power the organ approach 1,000 horsepower, the kind of power needed to fill a hall larger than 15 million cubic feet. A tour of the entire organ takes 4 1/2 hours.
The 64 foot tall Diaphone Profunda, whose low CCCCC is 64' 9" long, 10 inches square at the base, 36 inches square at the top, and 3 inches thick, is made from a single tree. The 12 lowest pipes contain more than 10,000 board feet of lumber, enough to build a house. There are ten 32 foot pedal ranks. The 32 foot Open Diapasons low CCCC is 38 feet 6 inches long and weighs more than a ton.
https://www.boardwalkorgans.org/midmerlosh
HI-FI FACTS
Because of the unusually long reverberation period of the Atlantic City Convention Hall Auditorium, special care had to be taken to achieve maximum clarity of detail without at the same time sacrificing any of the majestic grandeur of the hall’s acoustics. While the Chorale-Preludes presented no exceptional problems, the other works are replete with cascading runs and rapid thundering progressions. It was imperative to reproduce these passages with speckless articulation. Wilma Cozart was the recording director for these sessions; Harold Lawrence the musical supervisor. C. R. Fine was the engineer and technical supervisor; and tape to disc transfer was made by George Piros.
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