The First Noel Pt. 2 - Christmas Eve 2004 - St. John The Divine, NYC

Here is a recording from the 2004 10.30PM Midnight Mass Service at The Cathedral of St. John The Divine, NYC. Timothy J. Brumfield, Organist and Johnson Flucker, Director of Cathedral Music conducting the Cathedral Combined Choirs, with brass, timpani and strings.
The last verse is Tim Brumfield's own arrangement! (Thanks Tim!). This is the conclusion from the first clip, including the final verse and Tim's mini organ improvisation at the end of the final verse.
This recording features the 'temporary' 3-manual/pedal Allen digital organ installed just a few days before the 2001 Christmas Eve service, right after the devastating December 18th, 2001 fire in the North Transept. The sound of the Allen on this recording was the best it ever sounded in the Cathedral, after much experimentation with speaker placement and tuning from the console by Organ Curator Doug Hunt and Allen's technicians.
You will see a picture of the recording setup on the original 1910 Op. 150/150A Skinner console, still covered in dust from the devastating fire on Dec. 18th, 2001 - with a hand-written note by Organ Curator Doug Hunt telling people 'Do Not Touch' the console! Former Cathedral Organist Dorothy Papadakos's old Sony DAT recorder is below the HHB CD burner I used to capture these services for a few years after the 2001 fire. A single Sony stereo mic was suspended from the Choir ceiling, and connected to a no-name mic preamp/mixer.
This setup was in place for a few weeks before the 2001 fire, but Dorothy Papadakos did not get a chance to use the CD burner. You can hear some of Dorothy's fabulous improvisations on the Pro Organo label, where Fred Hohman used the Sony DAT recordings of Dorothy in his commercially released CD's. Some of Dorothy's recordings are still available from Pro Organo. Enjoy!

[@jawsrock1]

Ha! I have those same headphones!

[@bombarde1701a]

But listening to it again it doesnt sound too bad here...and its sad to see the Skinner console covered in dust. Its too bad they elected not to re-use the Skinner console shell in the rebuild.

[@iansmth879]

Ian Michael Smith

[@bombarde1701a]

wow that dreadful Allen...