The Little Organ


I recently acquired this delightful little pipe organ, the 1998 Opus 6 instument by Steven Cook of Edmunds Washington. It was originally built for a Franciscan Hermitage in Wallins Creek Kentucky. I use it for continuo playing with small groups of strings and singers. This was a common practice in the 17th and 18th centuries, and small instruments like this were numerous in church, secular, and domestic settings.

There are 30 stopped white oak pipes. ("c" below middle "c" to "f" at the top of the treble staff) The sound is soft, chiffy, liquid, and woody. It can be fairly easily tuned to a variety of temperaments with "a" at 440 or 415. The debut concert was a performance of the Corelli Christmas Concerto with 15 strings from the Riverside Chamber Symphony which I conduct. I am preparing a group of small scale 2 voice hymn tune arrangements appropriate for modest instruments like this one.


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