Another Messiah disaster – this time it’s organ failure in the Hallelujah

Another Messiah disaster – this time it’s organ failure in the Hallelujah

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norman lebrecht

December 23, 2013

Handel-Georg-Friedrich-09

Comments

  • Alan Penner says:

    The organ is called “The King of Instruments” for a reason. Apparently this one didn’t give it the respect it deserves.

  • Doug says:

    This is news? Guess you’re not around organists much. What did Stravinsky call it again? “The beast that never breathes.”

  • Steve says:

    it has been suggested that the organist pressed a transposition stop by mistake hence the unsavoury sounding cluster.

  • David Boxwell says:

    “Messiah,” Messiaen. . . so close, yet so far.

  • José Bergher says:

    Never mind the technique. What counts is the feeling.

  • Aaron Alter says:

    I’m glad that it wasn’t me playing.

  • rohrwerk says:

    Ugly electronic sound – sometimes the transposer is a set of buttons under one manual, just waiting to be bumped.

  • Ben says:

    Somehow I like this Ives version, it’s always been misunderstood.

  • cabbagejuice says:

    Ha, ha, this just made my day. It wasn’t an organ failure but the organist who realized he was in the wrong key and corrected it just before the end.

  • @cabbagejuice Still an organ failure, even if the organ that failed is the brain of the organist! 😉

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