Depraved Statistics Lovers Look At Pipe Organs

A lot of parodies of US culture was based on the fanaticism of baseball fans.  We all know about RBI's, and the sorts of averages that the expert announcer spouts during play-by-play commentating.  That sort of treatment of the sport has now spread to every other sport as well in the US, and across the world in US-friendly foreign countries.  It wasn't always thus, you know; this sort of approach to hyping up excitement is post-1960's.

Now, a certain entertainment group has acquired what they call 'The Largest Pipe Organ In The World,' based on the number of pipes ("tubes" as they term it) of the instrument:

https://www.boardwalkhall.com/arena-info/pipe-organs

which link you can follow up yourself, and find out how many football fields it would fill if the air in the pipes were spread out one inch high.  The photos I saw had stops positioned so high that the organist could not turn them on (or off) in the middle of a piece. 

Big organs became popular in the 19th century, when composers began writing pieces that could compete in volume with a symphony orchestra.  One composer who wrote quite a wonderful piece for organ, piano and orchestra is Camille Saint-Saens: Symphony no. 3.

That's probably the exception; there's a part for organ in the Richard Strauss fanfare associated with "2001: A Space Odyssey", but as an amateur, I know no other works that feature organ and orchestra other than religious works. 

At the end of a decade, or a century, TV stations and networks often compile a list of the 100 most wonderful movies, or songs, or books, or actors.  Well, just compiling a set of things is harmless, and it's an exciting activity that gains the network some viewership. Poor fellows, they probably need the cash.  But, organs?  Why?  This ranking thing is in very poor taste. 

Also, the beauty of the sound of an organ is not proportional to the number of pipes it has.  Organists--- the people who play the organs--- are,  I think, secretly impressed by the size of organs, and can't resist an opportunity to play a really big organ.  But those of us who listen to the darn things are often quite uninterested in the volume of the sound it makes. 

Archie