AGGREGATE: The Rediscovery of the Organ

It’s not just know-it-alls who claim it’s true. Even churches, which increasingly seem to prefer bands with singers and drum sets, and concert halls, which decorate their stages with them but rarely put them to use: they all declare that the age of the pipe organ is over. And if you really need an organ, they say, you can always use an electric keyboard. They’re small, easy to transport, loud – and much, much cheaper.

The only problem with this story is that it’s wrong. Because musicians and composers from a wide range of musical genres are discovering how, even outside churches and concert halls, pipe organs can fill spaces with sound, how they allow low frequencies to fully unfold, how they  are able to create countless sound colors both loud and soft. And all of these are tasks for which loudspeakers are hopelessly inadequate. In large spaces, their acoustic effect usually seems small, and the bass sounds degenerate into a kind of booming rumble.

AGGREGATE – computer-controlled pipe organs

Maciej Śledziecki and Marion Wörle show just how exciting the world of the pipe organ is today as the ensemble gamut inc. The retro-futuristic duo uses self-programmed software to dock onto the MIDI consoles of church organs, control their stops in a manually impossible way and perform sound synthesis with surprising results. Their annual AGGREGATE festival in Berlin is a meeting place for the international “New Organ Movement” scene: electronic musicians, composers and organists from different backgrounds present various positions on the so-called hyper organ. A selection from the 2021 and 2022 festival editions.

In the Schott Shop discover

Aggregate New Works For Automated Pipe Organs Maciej Śledziecki and Marion Wörle show just how exciting the world of the pipe organ is today as the ensemble gamut inc. The retro-futuristic duo uses self-programmed software to dock onto the MIDI consoles of church organs, control their stops in a manually impossible way and perform sound synthesis with surprising results. Their annual AGGREGATE festival in Berlin is a meeting place for the international “New Organ Movement” scene: electronic musicians, composers and organists from different backgrounds present various positions on the so-called hyper organ. With “AGGREGATE – New Works for Automated Pipe Organs”, WERGO presents a selection from the 2021 and 2022 festival editions. The new works, fragments, improvisations, adaptations of existing pieces (such as the adaptations of Conlon Nancarrow's “Studies for Player Piano” for organ), interactions between organ and electronics as well as algorithmic playing instructions for performers thus show an intermediate state and at the same time provide a breathtaking outlook on new possibilities for the organ. The leading roles are played by the organs of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, the Auenkirche and the Chapel of Reconciliation.   In the Schott Shop discover