The History of our Organ

When the present Bel Air Presbyterian Church Sanctuary Organ was dedicated on September 29,1996, it represented the world’s largest digital/pipe combination organ. Our present organ was built to replace a previous 67 rank tracker action organ installed by Casavant-Freres (Opus 3689) in 1991 that was destroyed in the 1994 Northridge earthquake. After it was determined that Opus 3689 was not repairable, our congregation embarked upon a careful study of the role of an organ in our church life and determined that we needed a new organ that would have sufficient flexibility to provide strong musical leadership regardless of the worship format or style operative at any particular time in the life of the church. The new organ had to satisfy a demanding litany of needs: to effectively lead the congregation in the singing of traditional church music; accompany the choirs and other choral groups in a wide variety of musical styles; properly interpret the great organ music of the past and present in our worship services and as part of the church’s mission of outreach to the community; and lead in contemporary worship styles which incorporate more orchestral sounds and effects than are found on a typical pipe organ. It was determined that these needs could best be served by building a combination pipe and digital instrument. Robert Tall & Associates, Inc. were selected to create and install a new organ which blended 60 ranks of pipes salvaged from the previous Casavant organ with “Digital voices” from the Rodgers Instrument Corporation to create an instrument with 151 ranks and 118 speaking stops, operated from a computerized console.

Many elements from our church’s musical history were integrated into the organ. Twelve pipes from the M.P. Moller organ (Opus 9607) in Evans Chapel, our former sanctuary, seamlessly replaced twelve 8’ Principal pipes destroyed in the earthquake. The organ bench survived, and 60 of the original 67 ranks now constitute the pipe portion of the organ. Great care was taken to preserve the tonal integrity of the original organ. Much, of course, was newly added. The addition of digital voices and MIDI created an instrument with capabilities and flexibility previously beyond our reach. New electric-action windchests were used throughout, including five new pallet and slider windchests for the manual divisions. The conversion to electric key action made possible changes in the location of the Swell and Pedal divisions which created improvements in the sound and provided additional space and improved maintenance access. The long intended plan for the prior organ of adding a Celestial division was finally realized through the unique Cherubim and Seraphim divisions of the new organ, utilizing digital voices and placed high in the side gables.

Our new organ has proved to be both a delight to our congregation and a celebrated instrument of considerable worldwide renown in the organ and classical music communities. The organ regularly blesses our congregation in worship with joyful sounds of church music. It has also been utilized as a concert and recording instrument by a wide variety of notable artists, beginning with Frederick Swann, who performed the organ’s dedication concert, and including Richard Morris, Hector Olivera, Alan Morrison, Marsha Foxgrover, Jonas Nordwall, and various representatives of the American Guild of Organists. Our organ has been featured in two highly regarded recordings of organ music, Christmas at Bel Air by Hector Olivera, and Richard Morris, Organist: Bel Air Presbyterian Church, Los Angeles by Richard Morris. In a review of the latter recording for Fanfare, “The Magazine for Serious Record Collectors,” by Haig Mardirosian, recommending the recording, the reviewer described the Bel Air Presbyterian Church Sanctuary Organ as an instrument of “massive opulence.” Our digital/pipe combination organ and music recorded on it also have been featured several times on the celebrated public radio program devoted to organs and organ music, Pipedreams.