Christoph Bull First & Grand: Walt Disney Concert Hall Organ Premier Recording

First & Grand is the premiere recording of the one-of-a-kind pipe organ at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, home of the L.A. Philharmonic.

The performer, organist Christoph Bull, has been called “the Tiger Woods of the organ”, “the rock star organist”, and “the most versatile musician on the planet”. 

The Disney Hall organ is unique in the world in that its façade has curved, not straight-as-usual pipes. 

It was co-designed by the architect of the equally innovatively designed concert hall, Frank Gehry. The organ was built in collaboration by the L.A. firm Rosales Organ Builders and the German-based Glatter-Götz Orgelbau. 

Organist Christoph Bull views the organ as a ‘rock’ instrument and the 6,134 pipe Disney Hall organ had the power and color he wanted for his new album. First & Grand shows the many colors a pipe organ can produce, the strength of the instrument in general and of this one in particular. 

The album was mostly recorded with a pair of 1960s era Neuman M-50s by Grammy-award winning engineer Allen Sides, owner of one of the largest microphone collections in the world (Ocean Way Recording). 

The remaining tracks were recorded by another Grammy-award winning engineer, Fred Vogler, and Alejandro Leda of Sound Spot Music. 

The album was mastered by mastering legend Bernie Grundman.

This is an album that can be appreciated by hard-core organ connoisseurs and music lovers new to the instrument. It was made with a sense of this being an exciting moment in the history of music and organ music, and as someone said, “It’s the real thing.”