Description

The pipe organ in the Toledo Museum of Art (Toledo, Ohio) was built by the Skinner Organ Company as their Opus 603. The pipe organ had not played for a long period of time and, through much good fortune, was fully restored, without alterations to the technology or pipework, by the A. Thompson-Allen Company of New Haven, Connecticut. This pipe organ shows Ernest M. Skinner at his best in the mid 1920s, incorporating influences from the Willis Company of England and that of the consultant Lynnwood Farnam. The featured organist is Professor Thomas Murray, University Organist at Yale University. Professor Murray is widely known for his symphonic interpretations of organ music. In an interview, he remarked that the symphonic approach to organ playing begins when we become seriously intent on cultivating the same degree of expression used by our colleagues the pianists, singers, string and wind players. He has made an extraordinary recording in Toledo. The combined talents of two geniuses, Professor Murray and Ernest Skinner, make this recording a must-have. This recording comes with extensive documentation: an essay about the pipe organ, an interview with Thomas Murray, a full stop list with pipe scalings, mouth dimensions, halving ratios and tons of photographs.