New Auckland Town Hall Organ Ready To Go
The eagerly awaited new Auckland Town Hall organ, which will be New Zealand’s largest, has entered the final preparatory phase before its inauguration in March.
The City Council accepted the instrument “as complete” from the builders, Klais Orgelbau, on 2 December.
That day City Organist Dr John Wells, played the organ for the first time in a short demonstration for the mayor, officials and key guests. Informal first reports indicated the instrument sounded “marvelous” with immense presence in the room. English consultant Ian Bell said it sounded “terrific”.
Some final voicing touches and a few mechanical adjustments are now being made by Klais staff.
From now until the organ’s first public performance, Klais managing director Philipp Klais says, it will be in what Bach would have called its “proving” phase. It will be played as intensively as possible by Dr Wells and others to ensure absolutely everything performs perfectly under heavy workload.
Addressing a gathering of Auckland Organists Association members, Philipp Klais explained the company had been particularly keen to secure the Auckland project because it envisaged a style of instrument closely matching Klais’ own evolving thinking on the future of the concert organ. This affinity seemed to promise an exceptionally close partnership and that had been borne out over the course of the project.
He also believed that the character of the new instrument would attract many new friends for the pipe organ and hoped it would be made widely accessible to all sectors of the community.
(Click on any image to view a larger version. All photography by Hans Weichselbaum)
