Discussion of historic GGG compass organs sets me off on a flight of fancy,
perhaps a challenge:

Suppose, just for the sake of discussion, that the 7-manual 1932 Midmer Losh
in Atlantic City were restored and fully functional in all eight chambers.
(www.acchos.org has a full description with photos.) Suppose that you had a
chance to play it. In that vast space, on that enormous instrument, what
would you play and how would to approach the task?

Keep in mind that Choir and Great have a 7-octave compass, from CCC. Swell
has a 6-octave compass from GGG. The other four manuals, whose names I don't
recall, are conventional 5-octave compass from CC.

The concept of this instrument is unquestionably orchestral. The late Edwin
Lemare, Virgil Fox, George Wright, and a number of others would no doubt
have had a glorious romp here. But somehow the building and instrument, by
their grand scale, seem to present an unusual challenge. How would one find
musical uses for the extended compass keyboards, the remote Gallery, Fanfare
and String divisions, the ten 8' Open Diapasons on the Great?

Certainly this could be played in theater organ style. It's a lot more,
however, than a theater instrument, and it cries out for a bolder musical
imagination.

Given the cost not only of renovation and reconstruction, but also of time
for tuning and rehearsal, the grand vision of Senator Emerson Richards may
never be fully realized. Perhaps it was an enormous boondoggle of the Great
Depression. But what possibilities it presents! What a marvelous surround
sound track it could create for the next George Lucas film!

Jim Lokken
San Fracisco

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