Yesterday, on October 25th 2009, the new pipe organ in Jørlunde Kirke (Jørlunde Church) was finally inaugurated at a festive mass, celebrated by the parish priest Peter Nejsum who arrived in procession with the Bishop of Helsingør. Organist Gunnar Svensson and I took turns playing the organ. The church was packed to the last seat and beyond (more than 50 extra chairs had to be put in). Aside from the relatively small sized church being packed like that, causing the acoustics to suffer a little, everything went well and the organ itself was very well received.

All the stops of the organ were ready for the inauguration, but there is still some “fine tuning” to do over the next week. It will, however, be fully ready for the first concert which takes place on November 8th at 16.00 (4 PM) where I will play some of my own works as well as music by Bach, Franck, Widor, and others.

One of the works I will perform is my new Fantasia for organ “To become”, commissioned by the church for the inauguration and given a “preview”-performance at the inauguration mass. It was recorded and you can download an MP3 excerpt from the ending here where you hear the full power of the organ.

One of my goals with the organ’s tonal design was for it to sound like a full and complete organ, capable of producing a somewhat larger sound than one would normally expect from “only” 21 voices. Not in regard to sound pressure but rather in the richness and “greatness” of its tone, and I think the organ builders Frobenius and their chief voicer Ole Høyer has succeeded in realizing that as well as my other visions for the organ in the best way. They’ve built a great pipe organ, perhaps not so much in size but certainly in sound.

I’ve posted an “essay” with a detailed description of the tonal design and the thoughts behind every voice. I will be working on an English translation, but in the meantime you can find the Danish version, which was the basis for the organ project here.