[78-L] ARSC

[DAVID BURNHAM]

It looks like Los Angeles is closer to Toronto than I thought.  I could have 
left a few days later.

Yesterday I took a side trip to Salt Lake City to visit the Mormon Tabernacle. 
 Unfortunately, I got there just after an Organ recital started and they have 
strict rules that after it starts the doors are locked and nobody is admitted - 
what a let-down.  However, after the recital, I went in as everyone was leaving 
and cried on the shoulder of the organist because I couldn't hear his recital 
properly, (I had to sit in a "baby room" and listen to it in mono on a 6 inch 
speaker).  He dried my tears, gave me a tour of the organ and then I got a 
personal command performance of the Widor Toccata.  All was well in the end.

They say the first recordings were done there in 1911, I can't imagine how they 
would get a decent acoustic recording in a room that vast.  They have a hard 
enough time trying to record it with modern equipment - surprisingly, the 
Columbia recordings from the late 50s sound much better than Telarc recordings 
from more recent times, (e.g. the Christmas one).  The earliest recording I have 
is "Worthy is the Lamb" from 1927 and it doesn't sound too shabby either.

I'm stretching my trip out so that I arrive in L.A. on Tuesday, so I probably 
won't go much further than Las Vegas today.

db