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Pipe organ facts

“Organissimo! If the Walt Disney Concert Hall organ isn't the world's best sounding one, it's close, and none compares to its beauty.” Read Mark Swed's review of Frederick Swann's organ premiere concert, Los Angeles Times, Oct 2, 2004. more

download the Los Angeles Times' illustration of the Disney organ. disney-organ.pdf, 322KB
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Pipes and ranks

• Materials used: Douglas fir, Norwegian pine, lead and tin alloys
• 6,134 pipes ranging in size from a pencil to a telephone pole
• Total number of ranks is 109.
• The length of the longest pipes is over 32 feet and the largest pipe weighs over 800 lbs.
• The smallest pipe is the size of a small pencil with a speaking length less than 1/4" long.
• Lowest note is CCCC whose frequency is 16 cycles per second which is C below the lowest note on the piano.
• The highest note has a frequency of 10,548 cycles per second which is an octave plus a third higher than the top note of a piano.
• The specially curved wood facade pipes were made by Glatter-Gotz Orgelbau of solid, vertical grain Douglas fir. The pipes are actual playing pipes consisting of the Violone and Bassoon basses.
• Behind the facade are metal pipes which are made of alloys of tin and lead. Metal pipes were made in various specialty workshops in Portugal, Germany and England.

The console

• Materials used: procelain (stops), simulated ivory, ebony (keyboard)
• The main console is permanently installed at the base of the organ's facade in the 'forest' of pipes.
• The stage console is moveable and can be plugged in at four locations.
• 61-note manual keyboards are covered with (simulated) ivory and solid ebony.
• 32-note pedal boards are made of maple and ebony.
• 128 draw stop controls are hand-lettered on porcelain with solid ebony stems.
• 80 manual thumb piston controls and 28 pedal toe-pistons are available for preset combinations.
• 300 memory levels are available for the organists' preset combinations.
• Organist's bench is raised and lowered with an electric motor.
• Closed circuit television gives the organist at the main console a view of the conductor.
• Wind for the organ is supplied by three blowers whose motors total 13.3 horsepower. Wind pressures range from 4" (102mm) for the Positive to 15" (380mm) for the Llamada "Tuba."
• The keys on the main console are connected to the pipe valves via a mechanical linkage known as tracker action.
• Both consoles are equipped with electric action which may be digitally recorded for playback and archival purposes.
• The organ is equipped with MIDI interface for connection to digital systems.
• The sound of this organ is designed specifically to support the orchestra and not to imitate it.
• The organ is voiced with a wide dynamic range from super pianissimo to a breathtaking fortissimo.

Design and installation

• The organ is a gift to the County of Los Angeles from the Toyota Motor Corporation.
• The visual design of the organ is the collaboration between architect Frank 0. Gehry and organ builder Manuel J. Rosales.
• The mechanical design, construction, tuning and voicing is the result of collaboration by two internationally known pi pe organ builders: Glatter-Gotz Orgelbau in Germany and Rosales Organ Builders in Los Angeles.
• The project consultant is J. Michael Barone of Minnesota Public Radio's Pipedreams.
• Planning, design, construction and installation have taken a combined 35,000 worker-hours.
• The organ was shipped from Germany by sea in six containers; total weight is over 40 metric tons.
• Installation by the Glatter-Gotz staff in the WDCH began in April 2003 and was completed in June 2003.
• The voicing and tuning by Rosales Organ Builders took over 2,000 worker-hours.

source: Los Angeles Philharmonic