Description

The creative imagination of architect Frank Gehry not only produced the curved metal skin of the Walt Disney Concert Hall but the startling array of cockeyed organ pipes that are the visual focus of the auditorium inside. The organ represents the culmination of 16 years of design, planning and construction, and it has been a reverberating success since its inaugural concert in the fall of 2004. Through fascinating interviews with key figures, including tonal designer Manuel J. Rosales and organ builder Caspar von Glatter-Götz, you will discover the elegant engineering of this instrument and the challenges in its construction. This book also pays tribute to the musicians who have created both sublimely soft and booming tones in one of the world’s best concert halls.

“There is only one Walt Disney Concert Hall. It is a work of art. Frank Gehry’s architecture moves like music. It flows. It has crescendos and diminuendos. The organ façade is daring and provocative in the best sense. It calls out to be heard. It is the first time in history that curved speaking pipes have been built. I am so grateful that Manuel J. Rosales and Frank Gehry worked together to find some common ground for the visual design. There is nothing like it in the world — utterly stunning! It sounds wonderful and its sonic beauty matches the visual beauty surrounding it. This organ has been superbly constructed by Orgelbau Glatter-Götz. Every detail is artistically crafted, and the computer technology is brilliant. So, we now have a statement — an organ for this new century.”—Cherry Rhodes, Organist