Restoring the Splendour - The Klais Organ in the Auckland Town Hall

This is the story of the greatet project of its kind ever undertaken in New Zealand: the challenge to bring back the grandeur of the country's largest pipe organ when little of the original remained.

Auckland Town Hall, with its grand Edwardian organ, opened on 14 December, 1911. But in the 1960s much of the organ's interior workings were discarded, and replaced by a lighter and brighter baroque style organ in keeping with the global organ reform movement.

Only the 1911 facade remained, along with some mechanism and a few ranks of pipes. Initially hailed as a success, the 1970 organ was soon to show that it wasn't capable of completely fulfilling its role as a town hall organ. The organ could be overwhelmed by choirs and orchestras: the thrill and the power of the original organ had gone.

In the 1990s Auckland Town Hall underwent major restoration to recapture its Edwardian elegance. In 2000 fit was the organ's turn - the beginning of a ten year process to 'Restore the Splendour'.

This DVD records the extraordinary challenge faced by Orgelbau Klais of Bonn, a German organ building company which won the international tender to recreate an English-style town hall of a century ago.

The new organ is not a copy of the original: it is a comprehensive, up-to-date concert instrument for the 21st century, but its sound reflects the grandeur and spirit of the Edwardian age.

Without doubt, the splendour has returned.