Livre du Saint Sacrement
About the piece
Two excerpts from Olivier Messiaen's Livre du Saint Sacrement performed by Prof. Wolfgang Bönig on the Klais organs of Cologne Cathedral: "la manne et le Pain de Vie" (mvt. VI) and "Les ressuscités et la lumiere de Vie" (mvt. VII).
The recording was made during a concert in summer 2008 as part of the world's first WFS live transmission (the music was recreated simultaneously on the WFS array at Technische Universität Berlin), using a total of 14 spot mikes and two interspersed Hamasaki squares for ambience.
You are listening to an Ambisonic mixdown in third order, which attempts to re-create the original spatial layout of the three separate organ divisions of the cathedral, for a virtual listening spot in the area of the transept, facing north (i.e. to the side entrance). This place and orientation was chosen to give a pleasurable left-right balance, since both organs are situated to the left hand side of the central nave.
On the right, you will hear the old instrument, called the
Querhausorgel. It consists of two facades at right angles, and a
separate Rückpositiv.
To your left and rather more elevated, the new Schwalbennestorgel
("swallow's nest") clings to the wall of the main nave at a height of
around 27 metres.
Additionally, a set of high pressure "tuba" ranks situated above the
main entrance will be heard during the climax of the 7th movement, on
the rear left side.
The mix was created exclusively with free software, using Linux, JACK, Ardour and a custom set of Ambisonic panning plugins. It was slightly changed to better accommodate the IEM Cube.
Further information, including photos, is available on the web:
- LAC 2009 paper
- Theora Video of the LAC presentation
- WFS transmission project report
- Tonmeistertagung 2008 presentation
About the author
Jörn Nettingsmeier, born 1975, studied music education at Folkwang Hochschule Essen and computer science at Universität Duisburg-Essen.
Qualified event engineer, specialising in sound reinforcement and recording.
