97 key Mortier dance organ "The Four Columns" St. Albans Organ Theatre

A short video of 97 key Mortier dance organ serial number 943 "The Four Columns" taken during a private function at St. Albans Organ Theatre on 2nd September 2024. Built in 1923, the Mortier organ was for many years located in a hall named "De Plicht" (Het Volkshuis) in the town of Menen, Belgium. In 1965 the organ was sold by organ dealers Oscar and Leonard Grymonprez to Charles Hart, the founder of St. Albans Organ Theatre where it remains today. The organ was subject of a major restoration by Toon Hesbeen (Tilburg, Netherlands) which was completed in 2024.

Following completion of the restoration, a small selection of new music books were kindly supplied by Toon featuring some excellent arrangements, very different to the existing arrangements in the organ's repertoire. Four of these are featured in this video.

00:00 Misty (Ella Fitzgerald, composer Errol Garner (1954), arranged by Frans Baum)
02:05 Rumba en Cinco (arranged by Tom Meijer)
04:37 Liszt Bossa Nova (arranged by Tom Meijer)
07:03 Orchids in the Moonlight (from the film Flying Down to Rio (1933) composer, Vincent Youmans, arranged by Frans Baum).

My thanks to Lucas Allen (Mechanical Music Travels) for editing my films into this selection.