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First Posted: 9/24/2014 Guest artist Mark Laubach was at the console, fingers working the keys, feet working the pedals of the refurbished M. P. M&#246;ller pipe organ in the choir loft at St. Nicholas Church until the sounds of &#8220;A Mighty Fortress is Our God&#8221; faded away.
&#8220;Now for something a little more bombastic,&#8221; he said, launching into &#8220;Suite Gothique&#8221; by L&#233;on Bo&#235;llmann.
In a more delicate vein, he also rehearsed Leo Sowerby&#8217;s Carillon, making the new-to-St. Nick&#8217;s organ sound like chimes and harps.
&#8220;It&#8217;s got such beautiful colors, a lot of flexibility, a warm and refined sound,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I want to show off the variety of sounds.&#8221;
The public is invited to hear the symphony of sounds the 1921 pipe organ can make during a concert set for 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5 in St. Nicholas Church in downtown Wilkes-Barre.
Especially invited are people who remember the organ in its earlier incarnation at the former St. Casimir&#8217;s Church in Pittston.
&#8220;It will remind them of the all the weddings and funerals and baptisms they attended. It&#8217;s one lasting link to the place,&#8221; said Laubach, who is the organist and choir master at St. Stephen&#8217;s Pro-Cathedral in Wilkes-Barre.
Reflecting on the bittersweet history of the organ being purchased by St. Nicholas Church and refurbished by Crossan-Savage workshop after St. Casimir&#8217;s Church closed, Laubach said, &#8220;In a way, it&#8217;s like a heart transplant. That person lives on in a new entity.&#8221;
&#8220;Mark will be taking us on a journey,&#8221; said Ed Loch, music director and organist at St. Nicholas, explaining the concert program will encompass music that reflects the German heritage of the founders of St. Nicholas, the Lithuanian heritage of St. Casimir&#8217;s founders and even the Danish heritage of M. P. M&#246;ller, who built the organ in 1921.
&#8220;He was born in Denmark in 1854,&#8221; Loch said of M&#246;ller. &#8220;By 1937 he was in Hagerstown, Maryland.&#8221;
Among the more than 11,000 instruments M&#246;ller&#8217;s company built, the two organists said, examples of his craftsmanship can be found at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland and the Air Force Academy Chapel in Colorado.
&#8220;There&#8217;s a lot of weight and depth to the sound&#8221; of the new organ at St. Nicholas, Laubach said, and the church&#8217;s high, Gothic-style ceiling and hard surfaces of glass and marble enhance the pleasure of listening to it.
&#8220;There&#8217;s a saying the most important stop on the organ is the room it&#8217;s in,&#8221; Loch said.
Noting the project to bring the instrument with more than 2000 pipes to St. Nicholas has been three years in the making, church pastor Monsignor Joseph G. Rauscher said, &#8220;I&#8217;m anxious to hear the organ in its full complement. I&#8217;m sure it&#8217;s going to be very exciting for us and in particular for those who remember its earlier days at St. Casimir&#8217;s.
&#8220;I&#8217;m looking forward to hearing Mark Laubach, too,&#8221; the pastor said. &#8220;He&#8217;s given recitals across the country and around the world. I&#8217;ve heard him play the organ many times in his own church and I&#8217;m sure he will do an excellent job.&#8221;

A symphony of sounds