Wylie Crawford will never forget the first time he played the fully restored carillon at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel.
"The first thing I heard was this wonderful brilliance in the upper bells, which was great," recalled Crawford, University Carillonneur. "It wasn't quite like playing a new carillon, but it was like playing the carillon the way I imagined it was, and the way I wanted it to sound when I played it in the past."
This summer some of the world's best carillonneurs have shared that experience as part of "Carillonathon." Rockefeller has hosted the summer concert series since the 1950s, but this year was the first since the completion of a three-year, multi-million-dollar restoration of the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Chapel carillon. This season, which concluded with an Aug. 30 recital, featured performers from as far away as the Netherlands and Portugal.
Carillonneurs cherish Carillonathon, Crawford said, particularly European performers who aren't used to drawing crowds to hear their music. In Europe, carillonneurs play on market days, where the sound of the bells is "a background kind of thing," he added. "They appreciate that we can get 100 people to listen to the carillon."
But this year is particularly special, now that the playing cabin has been renovated and the bells are ringing clearly. "This is the first really satisfying summer for the renovation," said Crawford.
The restoration corrected several design flaws in the instrument, Crawford said. Many of the original clappers-the metal pieces that strike the bells-were too small and kept the bells from vibrating freely.
The problem was particularly noticeable for the smaller treble bells, said Jim Fackenthal, the Assistant Carillonneur and research associate in Hematology/Oncology. "No one in recent memory could remember what they sounded like because the clappers were so flat. They didn't ring-they just clanked."
During the restoration, the clappers were replaced, making the smaller bells more audible. In addition, the linkage between the bells and the pedals used by the performer was replaced in order to make the instrument more responsive.
The restored carillon has earned rave reviews from performers. In the past, Fackenthal said, carillonneurs had to fight against the deficiencies of the playing mechanism. But musician Julianne Vanden Wyngaard, who performed on Aug. 23, praised the instrument.
"I understand it was a very heavy instrument. But [this time] it was extremely responsive and easy to play," said Vanden Wyngaard, the carillonneur at Grand Valley State University in Michigan. "It's a beautiful instrument. I thoroughly enjoyed myself."
Audiences also have noticed the improvement. "People are hearing the trebles more than they could before. They're hearing more resonance because of the improved bell arrangement, and more efficient sound generation because of the improved mechanics of the instrument itself. This has been a milestone," said Fackenthal.
"Many, if not most, consider them among the most beautiful bells in the world."
—Prof. Chuan He
