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Our quintet's been asked to play some Gabrieli with organ. The Robert King setting of the Canzon "Duodecimi Toni" was suggested.

While I've done this one with anitphonal brass choir, this is my first experience with the King organ version. To my ears, it sounds very heavy and somewhat muddled.

Do others have the same impression, or is it just me?

Tell the organist to use registrations to make the instrument sound more like a Renaisance-era Italian organ. Not English romantic era. Not French romantic era. Not German Baroque. The organ sound should be light and sweet, with some (but not too much) brightness. It should not be louder than the quintet. If the result is muddy, tell the organist to lose the 16-foot stops. If still too muddy, the organist should lose the 8-foot stops. If you have to get the organ down to a single flute stop at 4-foot pitch, so be it.

Marking a score "for organ" is as specific as marking it "for wind instrument."

Of course, I know that your quintet is not playing cornettos and sackbuts, so your sound will be bigger than with original instruments. And, the organ will not be a very low wind pressure instrument as was common in earlier centuries. But, you still should be able to give a good impression of the lightness and clarity that Gabrieli intended in 1597.

The organist is very capable--the instrument is only mediocre (there are a couple of really nice baroque tracker-action instruments in town, but this isn't one of them). I'll pass your suggestions along and see if we can make it work.

Many thanks!

As my organ teacher in college told me, if the diapasons are too heavy, stick with smaller 8, 4 & 2 ft flutes, such as stopped diapasons, melodias, flute d'amour, gemshorns, etc., even dulcianas if it's that old, open or stopped, so long as they aren't "thick" (like a early 1900's tibia, doppelflute or concert flute, or primary open diapason with leathered lips that really hoot!), or maybe even 4 ft principal with 4 ft flute & 2 ft, played down an octave, because they are smaller scale. Italian organs of this period did not have pedals, so if she has pedals marked, use the manual coupler to the manual she's playing on only, and avoid the use of 16 ft stops. On the really light & soft stuff, the Italians did actually have a sort of celeste called a piffaro, so if appropriate, try the celeste rank, not with its accompanying string rank, but with the flute rank instead, like a rohrflute or small gedackt if it has good clear voicing to sound the characteristic 17th or 12th respectively. It will sound wierd close up, but out in the hall it will sound like very soft woodwinds with vibrato. Let the timbre, in contrast to the brass, carry the canzone, and not the weight or loudness.

Yeah, right. And follow it up with Prince's "exhortation" with organ underneath, evangelical style, "Dearly beloved...."