"French organs are built in the French tradition; German organs are built in the German tradition," Mr. Geiser said.
Mr. Quoirin is known in organ circles for his restoration of a Dom Bedos organ in Bordeaux that is considered one of the two or three greatest 18th century French organs that still exist.
It uses a "combination of elements from historic East German, North German, and French organs plus dual temperaments", and is the only organ in the church capable of authentically reproducing nearly all organ music written from the 16th through the 18th centuries.
It is said to be the first French-built organ ever installed in New York and the largest French organ built in almost 50 years.
"I don't think that you could make a credible case by saying, 'You know, we've got a perfectly good French organ, what we need is a good Anglican organ,' " Father Mead said.
The Manton instrument, designed for unusual versatility by a French organ builder, Pascal Quoirin, is ideal for Messiaen's music, producing a wide, nuanced range of tones, blends and dynamics.
He had command of a sturdy contrapuntal technique that recalls the French organ school of the 16th century, but at times his tonal architecture, built on Italian models, and his bel canto melodies suggest those of George Frideric Handel.
Messiaen's organ music, however much it may have stretched into serialism, birdcalls and Indian rhythms, was built on the foundation of that Romantic instrument, the same kind that served the great late-19th-century French organ symphonists Franck, Widor and Vierne.
Le Nobin J, et al. Organ donation, reasons for family refusal: a retrospective study in a French organ harvesting center.
Reference 1. Le Nobin J, et al. Organ donation, reasons for family refusal: a retrospective study in a French organ harvesting center.
Contraindications for HELT were based on the exclusion criteria defined by the French Organ Allocation Agency (l'Agence de la Biomédecine) associated with one local criteria: systemic infection, extrathoracic organ failure or multiorgan failure, denutrition (defined by an BMI < 14 kg m−2).
