Hi

can anyone give me advice on what stops to use and how to regester reger's organ music on english organs. My tutor says that the organs that reger probably used had some sort of a rotating wheel that would increase the volume of the organ like a cresendo pedal. I belive it is called the Rollschweller. We dont have Rollschweller on english organs though. I know that it can increase and Decrease the stops.
Would a general cresendo pedal work found on larger english cathedral organs work and how could it be used to effect.

Does anyone play the Passacaglia and fugue by Reger and if so how do you register it?

Yes, it's the same thing, useful for rapid crescendi and diminuendi.

Without it, the best thing is to programme what you want on pistons. It isn't necessary to to use a crescendo pedal in Reger, but be aware that some of his hairpins do refer to using the crescendo pedal rather than the swell pedal!

One should keep in mind that, when playing Reger on a modern English or North American organ, Reger's crescendo and decrescendo markings should not be taken at face value.

A typical Reger organ also had cone chests which might change the way you approach the piece. Personally, given you are very unlikely to come across an instrument with either general crescendo or cone chests, you just register the piece to fit the given instrument in the given acoustic and look to achieve an artistic intepretation. Personally I think teachers get too hung up on such matters - they put the 'authentic' approach above the practicalities of rendering the piece on whatever instrument you are faced with. Daft really.