Sergio de Pieri, C. Franck - Chorale n 3 in A minor

Details

Description

Live in Melbourne Town Hall Organ 1969
Sergio de Pieri

Swanston Street, Melbourne
Hill, Norman & Beard, London & Melbourne, 1927-1929
4 manuals, 110 speaking stops, electro-pneumatic action
The largest new concert organ built in the British Empire during the interwar period
Greatly enlarged and altered by Schantz 1999-2000

The original Town Hall buildings were designed by Melbourne architects Reed & Barnes. The foundation stone was laid in 1867 by Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, son of Queen Victoria, and the building opened on 9 August 1870.
The present hall was constructed, in art-deco style, between 1926 and 1927 to the designs of Melbourne architects Stephenson & Meldrum, following the destruction of the original auditorium by fire in 1925. The largest civic hall in the country in cubic area, it is much wider than its predecessor, an additional allotment to the north being taken over for the purpose. The interior was redecorated in the original muted paint colours in the 1990s.


Specification derived from examination of photographs of the stop jambs, the Hill, Norman & Beard pamphlet and an article by Herbert Snow in The Organ July 1929
Photos: Simon Colvin