My long and warm relationship with Fountain Street Church began in 1970 when I was traveling and studying 'on the road' with Virgil Fox. I feel it best to quote from Chapter Five of my book, In the Pipeline, published in 1998 by HarperCollins, which I trust will guide the reader to my participation in the planning and commissioning of the new organ, on whose Inaugural Series I was honored to perform last autumn.

"When Virgil, his entourage and I arrived in Grand Rapids, Michigan in March, 1970, my only knowledge of the city was an American furniture-building hub.

We had already dined en route, so Virgil immediately began practicing for his concert to inaugurate the (then) newly rebuilt organ at Fountain Street Church. The instrument was thrilling, powerful and flexible with some ravishing solo stops. Unfortunately, a small family of gremlins had settled into the console's inner workings, creating complications which were to prove devastating.

During the early 1970s, organ-builders began using electronics to memorize the combination pistons… Solid-state was a much-needed advance: it was less expensive, contained no moving parts and required a fraction of the space of conventional machinery. The Fountain Street organ was one of the very first to adopt this new technology.

[The organ began life as a 1924 Skinner of four manuals (Opus 393 - 3,565 pipes - the date of the contract was November 21st, 1922, signed for by the Skinner Company by William Zeuch. Delivery was promised "10 days before the dedication".) although it had been much changed by the time I arrived in Grand Rapids, the old Skinner and its console were still affectionately referred to as 'Catherine the Great'. Quite what it had to do with a Russian queen, I'm not totally certain, but in late 1959, Casavant rebuilt the organ under the direction of Lawrence Phelps, adding much new pipework. Tellers rebuilt it again in 1970, and their most notable contributions were the Bombarde division and the new four-manual console with the fated combination action.]

But with anything brand-new, teething problems are inevitable. At first everything worked fine but once the organ had been running for an extended period - during a Virgil practice session, for example - the solid state equipment overheated causing the piston-system to develop amnesia. The fault had been intermittent up to now but shortly before Virgil's recital, the system became unusable. 'Chicken', he declared, 'there is something oh-so-wrong with this equipment!' Pushing a button not only failed to recall what he had carefully selected and pre-set, but often drew some hilariously implausible stop combinations. As the condition deteriorated, it became clear that the performance would have to be cancelled. Virgil agreed to return when the system was fixed.

Clouds, however, do sometimes have silver linings. During Virgil's practice sessions, I became friendly with the Director of Music and Organist, Mr. Beverly Howerton. Beverly was a North Carolinian like me, hailing from Durham, the home of Duke University, where I had met Poister and Biggs. He had studied at Duke with Mildred Hendrix, the chapel organist and something of a legend. Subsequently, he attended Westminster Choir College… here he studied with Alexander McCurdy. Having graduated in 1951, he was immediately appointed to Fountain Street Church where he remained until retirement in 1990.

When this imposing edifice was built in the 1920s, Grand Rapids had no municipal auditorium or other public concert space. With selfless magnanimity, the church fathers generously determined that their new building should address both sacred and secular needs. Thus, the new Fountain Street Baptist Church was constructed with a raked floor and plush theatre-style seating for 1,800.

With the arrival of the Rev. Duncan E. Littlefair in 1944, Fountain Street embarked upon and new and exciting era. Duncan Littlefair was a brilliant liberal philosopher and a compelling preacher and, under his leadership, the church's fame spread far and wide. Increasingly at odds with Baptist theology, his church was stripped of its affiliation in the mid-sixties. But the congregation didn't much care. Fountain Street excised the word 'Baptist' from its notice-boards and stationery and never looked back. Duncan, the church and Beverly formed a trio that was hard to beat.

Following the gremlin debacle, Beverly kindly invited me to stay on in Grand Rapids for a few weeks… I had nothing to lose and everything to gain and I proceeded to spend all my time at Fountain Street. What an education. Beverly was not only a sensitive organist but also a skilled choirmaster. We got on so well that by the time Virgil returned to dedicate the rebuilt organ, he had invited me to stay on in Grand Rapids as Artist-in-Residence."

And remain indeed I did! In fact, to this day I have based in Grand Rapids for my North American touring and while my domicile for many years has been the United Kingdom and Scandinavia, I still consider Grand Rapids truly my home-away-from-home.

Since 'day one', the musical standards of this great church have been on the highest level and virtually all the leading global concert organists of the day have thrilled listeners with their performances. I was also impressed to learn that in the 1950s, Beverly Howerton had taken a post-graduate summer session at the University of Michigan with the legendary Robert Noehren, who had served as Fountain Street organist from 1941 to 1943.

I recall fondly the many recitals and concerts that I have both participated in and experienced at Fountain Street. Beverly Howerton and I gave numerous two-organ concerts, attended by large and generous audiences and the day after Thanksgiving, when these 'battles' were always held, became quite a red-letter day in the 'organic' calendar of western Michigan.

But, sadly, as the years passed and the turn of the century approached, the state of the instrument continued to decline and after numerous repairs and commendable efforts expended on it by James Lauck of the Lauck Organ Company of Otsego, Michigan, an Organ Committee was formed at long last in 1997, of which I was invited to be a member, as well as the retired Beverly Howerton, the enthusiastic new Director of Music, Dr. James Culver, and other musically dedicated souls in the church.

A year later, my most capable colleague and long-time friend, Jonathan Tuuk, the Director of Music at Mayflower Congregational Church, Grand Rapids was formally engaged as consultant, following on from his success with the large Austin/Allen at LaGrave Avenue Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, completed in 1996. The work of several American firms was heard and carefully considered and, after much deliberation, the venerable house of Austin in Hartford was unanimously selected to build and enhance the pipe-side of the project. The completed instrument contains 137 pipe-ranks (7,980 pipes) of which 12 ranks comprise the Gallery Great division. Of special note is the horizontal brass Trompette en Chamade speaking on 12" wind under the rose window, a personal and most generous gift to the congregation by Kimberlee Austin, President of the company. Additionally, Austin included the restored Skinner Harp and Chimes.

Bringing the project fully into the 21st Century, the Allen Organ Company of Macungie, Pennsylvania was invited to provide a 5-manual hand-rubbed, special design, 'F-series' walnut console of 250 drawknobs as well as 34 digital ranks (Gallery Swell and Pedal divisions, a floating String Organ which plays in two locations and a few supportive pedal stops in the main organ). Randy Miller, of Allen's engineering staff deserves high praise for his close and dedicated involvement in this project.

The main organ chamber is 39' wide, 40' tall and 10' deep, truly an ideally proportioned space from which to proclaim - a stone and plaster organ case - magic! The instrument speaks directly into the building and absolutely nothing impedes the impact of the tonal travel, not even the handsome, marble-trimmed, stone Italianate baldachino (canopy) that towers 55' high. The striking architecture of the church is Romanesque and tastefully adorned with lovely mosaics, art tile, stained glass windows, painted murals and Grand Rapids-manufactured woodwork, all recently restored and a new lighting system provided.

The contract was signed in February, 2000 and the old organ removed in July of that year and the chambers fully restored. It took one and a half years to design and build the instrument in-house at the spacious Austin factory. The installation began in August, 2002 and was completed in April, 2003, at which time the tonal finishing commenced. There were 8,000 man hours involved in the installation and 5,500 in the voicing. Austin also provided three handsome façades for the main organ, replacing a singularly unattractive 'picket-fence' front as well as a fine display of pipes for the Gallery Great department, complete with crowning Trompette en chamade.

The completed organ weighs in excess of 100,000 pounds.

Our consultant and this writer enjoyed many evenings huddled over the specification and plans for this instrument at The Schnitzelbank Restaurant, a pleasing eatery not far removed from Fountain Street and the end result of these sessions, I am pleased to report, is an instrument that can nobly serve virtually all the repertoire, as well as the wide gamut of transcriptions and arrangements that are thankfully returning to the fore in so many parts of the world. I dare say that Jonathan Tuuk's efforts are what have made, certainly in large part, this instrument so successful. His vast technical and musical knowledge and clever use of almost all of the old pipework, as specifically requested by our Committee, coupled with his keen appreciation of Allen's seemingly limitless possibilities, ensured that the new tonal palette forthcoming from both firms was easily married together with their older counterparts, truly a genesis in harmonic production.

The voicing of this behemoth was certainly a challenge for both builders as the space is acoustically as dry as burnt toast, the side and back walls being covered in thick cork, rendering the room non-conducive as a sounding board for musical performance. In spite of this, the builders deserve high praise for overcoming the acoustical shortcomings and via generous scaling, wind-pressures and ample audio, the organ speaks with great conviction and leads congregational singing very well indeed. Deserving special mention are the heroic, unenclosed 25" Willis-style Solo Tubas (independent 16', 8' and 4' ranks), reputed to be copied from the stellar examples at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral.

A stop that I returned to time and time again during the course of my recital was the Solo English Horn, a new register, which certainly paid homage to Mr. Skinner. Why he did not include an English Horn in the original 1924 specification is baffling but suffice it to say that the new Austin version is blessed with what Virgil Fox referred to as a "bird with a wounded wing" timbre, a hauntingly beautiful sound imbued with much mystery, equally charming with or without the gentle Tremulant. He would have adored it.

It was regrettably unfortunate that in the 1959 Casavant rebuild the glorious, full-length 'death-rattle' Skinner wood Bombarde was replaced by a rather gently voiced metal example. The boots for the low twelve pipes languished on the floor of the chamber until 2000 but, shamefully, the massive resonators that had been stored in the basement were discarded by the custodial staff to provide more storage space and therefore unavailable. I managed to acquire the boot of the low GGGG, which I have had restored and which stands on a small stool in a pride-of-place location in the hallway of my home (alas, no towering North Carolina pine resonator to both impress visitors and distress my housekeeper!). While the pressure of the present 32' Contre Bombarde was doubled from 4" to 8" inches, the Skinner reed is truly what is required to genuinely underpin such a fully comprehensive instrument.

A stop that I was not unhappy to see depart the back wall of the lofty main chamber was an un-mitred 32' Erzähler, a Lawrence Phelps suggestion that Beverly Howerton decided to permit in 1959. I believe these particular low twelve pipes, while uniquely interesting to view, to be the least effective flue register in my experience. It barely supported the Choir Dulciana with the box closed and only provided this meager service on very damp days (I recall that low G particularly purred away rather pleasantly). Fortunately, these pipes have packed their bags and left the state, and a restored, large-scale 1920s 16' Open Wood Diapason from a local Baptist church have taken their place. (This was after numerous experiments were carried out on site to see if this stop could possibly be retained.) Finally, there is supporting fundamental tone in the Pedal division, thank Heavens!
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On November 28th, 2003, I was delighted to perform the third and final concert on the inaugural series and was pleased to premiere a major work commissioned for the occasion by Ruth and Fred Moen and Thompson Clay. Entitled 'Exultation', this three movement composition was composed by Fountain Street member, Jack Normain Kimmell, with whom I enjoyed several rehearsal sessions before the actual performance. In the latter part of the third movement, the Fountain Street Choir sang with great fervor under the direction of the Interim Minister of Music, The Rev'd Dr. Karl Schrock. Dear Beverly Howerton provided a splendid verbal introduction and was seated in the middle of the front row surrounded by many friends and colleagues! What memories flooded back for us all, thinking of the time we had first met and become fast friends nearly 35 years before.

This is an organ conceived and built truly in the 'big strings', American Symphonic tradition. Most certainly the design and voicing proudly reflects the organ's classical past. At the same time, it contains five enclosed divisions and many soft, lush registers making it a delight on which to colorfully accompany.

At the other end of the gamut, the hair-raising triple tutti certainly maintains the full attention of the player and listener and there is little doubt that the 9 divisions and 172 speaking stops constitute what surely must be considered one of the most important new organs on the scene today.

My heartfelt thanks to advisor, Jonathan Tuuk and the Austin, Allen (Westfield) Organ companies for carrying out this gargantuan, challenging undertaking with such integrity and despatch. The church Governing Board and membership deserve special thanks, for without their spiritual support and fiduciary contribution, the new organ would not have been commissioned.

I have been personally delighted to be so closely involved with this project from its earliest beginnings to its glorious conclusion. I shall always be greatly moved to play, hear and write about this finished instrument in a church so near and dear to my heart.

Carlo Curley
London, U.K.