Chimes from the Church Tower

Del Roper - Chimes from the Church Tower

released on LP

The delicate electronic balance demanded by today's precise recording techniques requires special studios, sensitive sound systems, and acoustical perfection - all to provide the listener with all the purity and realism of the original performance.

How to duplicate this technical flawlessness - and record the actual playing of a massive carillon - was the problem faced by Del Roper in his creation of this collection of favorites.

Obviously, the instrument could not be housed in a recording studio. Rather, the studio had to be "transplanted" to the location of the carillon in the sanctuary and bell tower of the beautiful Polytechnic Methodist Church.

Here, after endless experimentation with technique and positioning of recording equipment, an engineering triumph was accomplished that is matched only by the excellence of Del Roper's virtuosity on the carillon.

After almost 100 hours of recording, the unique presence of the carillon was vividly caught at last. Now it was possible to reproduce the noble sound of chiming chorales in a home stereo or hi-fi system.

The sound that reaches your ears is the same sound that graces the evening air in the quiet neighborhood of Fort Worth's Polytechnic section. Not just a recording where a microphone overheard the instrument, but the actual, faithfully reproduced sound of the carillon as if your living room were just a short stroll from Del Roper and his Chimes from the Church Tower. (from the liner notes)

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. And Can It Be {2:29}

2. Onward Christian Soldiers {2:44}

3. Faith of Our Fathers {2:18}

4. Come Thou Almighty King {1:42}

5. When I Survey the Wondrous Cross {3:28}

6. Blest Be the Tie That Binds {2:04}

7. My Faith Looks Up to Thee {2:03}

8. How Beauteous Were the Marks {2:53}

Side 2

1. Deeper and Deeper {1:57}

2. I Need Thee Every Hour {2:28}

3. Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee {2:29}

4. I Love to Tell the Story {3:00}

5. All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name {2:34}

6. I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord {2:06}

7. Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken {2:23}

8. The Church's One Foundation {1:48}

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