Public to hear results of Greensburg cathedral's organ renovation

J. Christopher Pardini hopes to pull out all the stops when he introduces the "new" pipe organ at Blessed Sacrament Cathedral.

The 1972 Moeller organ recently was renovated to the tune of $230,000, and Sunday's blessing service and organ recital will give the public one of the first opportunities to hear the results.

"We now have an organ that is worthy of this beautiful church and its magnificent liturgies," Pardini said. "It's a tremendous joy to be able to use this instrument."

Among the pieces he will play are Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, "Suite Gothique" by Leon Boellman and "Shepherd Me, O God" by Marty Haugen. The latter, a popular setting of Psalm 23, will feature new organ "stops" that digitally reproduce sounds from historic American organs.

The original organ, Pardini said, was the aural equivalent of a black-and-white TV.

"The old organ had very basic sounds. It was rather small for the room and lacked the colors needed to play recitals or major diocesan liturgies," Pardini said, noting that it was showing signs of age and deterioration.

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The renovation expands the organ's sound palette from 26 stops to more than 100. Many of the new sounds are digital samples taken from on-site recordings of significant American organs, he said.

The carillon bells, for example, are a digital reproduction from the former Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, Calif., where Pardini served as organist from 1998 to 2004.

The digital tones can be heard through 40 new speakers installed among the cathedral's 1,500 pipes, Pardini said. Four of those speakers are subwoofers capable of reproducing the sound of 32-foot pipes and pitches as low as 16 hertz (cycles per second), he said.

The result is a low, rumbling bass that can be felt as well as heard, he said.

"It's very difficult to tell the difference" between the pipes and the digital reproductions, he said.

The project contractor, the Walker Technical Co. of Zionsville, Lehigh County, also:

• Cleaned and "re-voiced" the organ's pipes for better sound.

• Cleaned the inside of the organ case, which had accumulated 45 years worth of dust.

• Rebuilt the organ console and installed a new four-manual keyboard.

• Built 12 new bellows and installed them in the pipe cases, which "solved a lot of issues with air leakage." Pardini described the bellows as the "lungs of the organ."

• Upgraded the organ wiring.

The work was completed in time for Pentecost Sunday.

Funding for the renovation came from the sale of the former St. Bede Parish in Bovard, which was closed in 2008 and became part of Blessed Sacrament Cathedral, said Monsignor Raymond Riffle, cathedral rector.

"The people of the cathedral did not want to put that money into servicing the debt. We wanted to wait for a significant circumstance that could honor the memory of the parish of St. Bede," Riffle said.

The organ has been renamed the St. Bede Organ in honor of the people of that parish. Riffle said the project was about pursuing excellence in worship.

"It certainly is a magnificent instrument. It has a breadth and depth that was not remotely possible with the existing organ," he said. "Chris can really take advantage of all those options and make the instrument sound wonderful."

Performing with Pardini on Sunday will be pianist Josie Merlino, baritone Thomas Octave and soprano Katie Zuzik.

Stephen Huba is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-850-1280, shuba@tribweb.com or via Twitter @shuba_trib.