Finally Heard A Massive Pipe Organ Concert

[joeychitwood]

One of my goals in life has been to listen to a world-class organist perform on a world-class pipe organ, and last week, the goal was realized. On a day too rainy to ride the mountain roads around Salt Lake City, Utah during our 15-day West Coast motorcycle trip, we spent the day in downtown SLC.

We roamed Temple Square, the headquarters of the Mormon Church. At noon, world-renowned organist Dr. Clay Christiansen gave a concert on the famous pipe organ in the Mormon Tabernacle. The organ was built in the 1860s and has over 11,700 pipes. Two full-time organ technicians maintain the instrument.

The acoustics in the Tabernacle are such that a pin dropped into a wooden bowl onstage can be heard without amplification from anywhere in the building. Christiansen played classics, jazz and American Spirituals. On the final Toccata by Boellmann, he "pulled out all the stops" literally and almost blew the roof off the Tabernacle.

I have never heard a wall of sound so powerful in my life. We all had goosebumps. It was a thrill of a lifetime, and everyone on our cycle trip agreed that, surprisingly, the organ concert was the highlight of the entire trip.


The Tabernacle Pipe Organ




The Mormon Temple at night