I wish organs weren't so impractically large that learning/playing them is limited to churches. Ever since seeing the organ at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA, I've wanted to learn it for compositions like this where you get so much depth to the sound.
I've got a pretty good keyboard but it's like a double-bass for me. The big appeal is the gravitas of so much energy in an instrument. With the real thing the size of it adds a visceral feeling to the music and dominates the room.
Oh yeah, in terms of sheer Presence, nothing comes close to the real deal. The size, the sound, even just the way the detail-work on the facades of a lot of organs draw the eye like a gravitational pull - it touches on that idea of the Sublime not just as beauty, but as being wholly taken in by a force that could utterly destroy you.
I used to daydream about a common space or some sort of public studio I guess, something large enough to house those kinds of instruments, with the responsibility of their use/care/maintenance spread out over as many musicians who want access to them. I can see how it’d be more complicated logistically than a dorm common room with an old standup piano, but a girl can dream.