This is cool. The organ is infrequently used because it is so huge but if you want high drama it's the right tool for the job.
Interstellar on church organ is intense. Feel inspired here:
Interstellar on church organ is intense. Feel inspired here:
Knuth has one at home (fun fact: so does Alan Kay). He sat down with me and went through the score with me -- it's full of great puns (e.g. the beginning is an inverted Toccata und Fuge d-Moll) but, well, he shouldn't quit his day job. Which admittedly is doing whatever he wants!
He's also really really amazing on the keyboard. We saw him on the street the other day and my kid pointed and said "Look, there's that awesome harpsichord player!" I've tried to explain that he's an amazing computer scientist but kiddo has different priorities: computer scientists are a dime a dozen while harpsichord players, well, they're rare.
(I'm going to get my revenge by forcing the kid to program in MIX).
Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, one of the most famous pieces of organ music ever, played on an organ built in 1730 (and, if I read the history right, it was actually specified by Bach):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nnuq9PXbywA
You can hear the recording simply outright fail on the low notes. The organ has a 32-foot pipe, which produces 16Hz notes. The reocrding simply doesn't do it justice; if you ever get the chance, listen to it live; it's an almost transcendent experience.
There are, however, apparently two organs in the world with 64-foot pipes (8Hz!) and several more which can synthesise an 8Hz subharmonic using smaller pipes, but I haven't found a recording I trust of it yet.
I probably wouldn't pick up on loss, I expect it is like enjoying real bean coffee vs the granulated matter that passes as a substitute. It takes a while for your taste buds to discern the difference and I expect it is the same for our ears.
Having said that I also have been listening to experimental ambient music so I know I enjoy the deeper vibrations you get at that level.
A typical example is Carmina Burana, which qualifies as the 'most damn German thing ever' to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXFSK0ogeg4
It's not exclusively about the pipe organ but think people on Youtube refer to examples of it as 'Epic Music', often inspired by visuals from film or gaming. If you search 'epic music' there are a huge number of channels dedicated to it.
Here's a Japanese example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7HL5wYqAbU
And the most famous example from my country:
There's a ton of music actually written for the organ which is quite interesting, in a variety of styles.