J.B.:

When I was in Freidburg, Germany a few weeks ago, I visited the large cathedral there. It is home to 4 magnificent pipe organs placed strategically around the building.

Our tour guide stated that there are a total of 10,200 pipes & that each organ has its own keyboard plus a master station that can play all 4 simultaneously. It takes a special organist to successfully accomplish this due the length of time that the sound takes to reach the master station along with the 6 second decay time in the building.

There is a CD & an SACD available showcasing all 4 organs playing simultaneously by EP Biggs that I would like to get but, since it so rare, it is prohibitively expensive. Info here (first review on the page):

http://www.audaud.com/audaud/MAY03/HIRES/hires2MAY03.html

I'd love to have Cameron Carpenter have a go at these beasts.

Here are some pics of the 4 sets of pipes but unfortunately they were silent when I was there:

Shows WWII bombing damage - luckily the cathedral survived:













TAM