Volume Four

Artists

Album Info

Release Date: 1974

Label: Concordia

Description:

The Artist

Paul Manz is cantor of Mt. Olive Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. This position extends his music ministry beyond the bounds of his local parish (where he serves as Minister of Music), enabling him to serve the whole church as composer, recitalist, teacher, lecturer, and leader in worship. As a Fulbright Scholar, he studied with Flor Peeters at the Royal Flemish Conservatory, Antwerp, Belgium, and was awarded First Prize "with highest distinction." An extension of this grant provided further study with Helmut Walcha in Frankfurt, Germany.

The Belgian government invited Dr. Manz to be the only American recitalist honoring Flor Peeters on the occasion of his retirement from active teaching and assumption of the rank Professor Emeritus.

Paul Manz has concertized extensively in the United States and Canada. His superlative technique and artistic musicianship have earned him an international reputation. His numerous hymn festivals throughout the United States have brought deep spiritual satisfaction to the listener as well as having revealed his improvisatory genius.

The Music

The music represented on these recordings is indicative of the beauty and richness of Paul Manz's organ improvisations and compositions. While the selections found on Volumes I and II in this series of six recordings were in either published or manuscript form, Volumes III-VI contain improvisations in the strictest sense of the term as they were unwritten at the time of recording.

The enclosed insert provides the texts which are the basis of the improvisations. The insert has been included for your further listening appreciation.

The Instrument

The three-manual and pedal pipe organ of Mount Olive Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota, is located in the west gallery and the antiphonal organ in the east transept gallery. They were built by Schlicker Organ Company, Inc., Buffalo, New York. The specifications were designed by Herman L. Schlicker, founder of the firm, in collaboration with Dr. Paul Manz.

The organ has 39 independent registers and 55 ranks of pipes. The Pedal Organ is on either side of the facade, the Swell Organ is in the center, and the Great Organ is placed above it. The thrilling Trompete Real with its copper resonators projects horizontally from the center of the organ and the Positiv Organ cantilevers from the west choir railing. The main organ together with the antiphonal organ totals 3,065 pipes. The "action noise" on these recordings is characteristic of the slider chests employed in the Main Organ.

Size alone is not the only criterion in determining the value or worth of an organ. Its prime purpose is to support, lead, and inspire the congregation and choir through song and to present the liturgical and hymnic literature of the church.

The Recording-Technical Specifications

The original recording was made with a Scully tape recorder employing Dolby noise reduction. Neumann KM-86 microphones were used. The tape-to-disc transfer was made with a Neumann VMS-70 computer-controlled mastering lathe.

Track B6: Tune "Forest Green", by permission Oxford University Press, London.

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