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Improvisation's the major theme for Rochester organ fest

Started by KB7DQH, November 08, 2011, 08:25:49 AM

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KB7DQH

http://www.irondequoitpost.com/entertainment/x1461853673/Improvisations-the-major-theme-for-Rochester-organ-fest

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Rochester, N.Y. —

For centuries, musicians created their compositions largely through the process that we call "improvisation," composing with instrument at hand. Much of the classical repertoire started out that way — coming together on the keys before the paper. And people learned their instruments the same way.

But the 19th and 20th centuries brought a change in approach in the compositional arena, noted Hans Davidsson, professor of organ at Eastman School of Music.

"There was a shift in terms of composition — composition (now) was something that people ususally did at the desk, a lot of conceptual decisions," Davidsson said.

There was a key exception: Davidsson's own instrument. "During that period, organists were, if not the only, one of the few categories of musicains who continued to improvise" on a consistent basis.

Attitudes and approaches have shifted, but improvisation's role in organ music remains key — and is the theme of this year's Eastman Rochester Organ Initiative (EROI) Festival, the tenth installment of which runs Nov. 10-13. The festival is held at assorted Rochester-area venues, featuring the variety of organs the Rochester area can boast. They range from the 2,000-pipe Craighead-Saunders Organ at Christ Church on Rochester's East Avenue — hand-constructed to the specifications of a circa-1776 Lithuanian instrument — to the Wurlitzer theater organ at the Rochester Auditorium Theatre.

In addition to the numerous organ concerts, discussions and workshops under the theme "Improvisation and Organ Pedagogy," the festival will be held in conjunction with a major organ education conference, the 16th biennial American Guild of Organists' National Conference on Organ Pedagogy. Organists from throughout the United States, Canada and Europe are expected to come to Rochester for the conference and festival.

"When AGO contacted us for the pegagogy conference ... we discovered that improvisation is something they were having as a main theme of the conference," said Davidsson, director of the EROI. Noting that his colleague, Eastman professor of harpsichord and organ William Porter, is a leading North American authority on improvisation, he said, "It was very easy for us to say OK."

The variety of types of organs available in Rochester presented the big draw, Davidsson noted with pride.

"You have a variety of instruments that you can't find in other cities," Davidsson said.

There's the Italian Baroque organ at the Memorial Art Gallery, for instance, and the Halloran-All Saints organ at Sacred Heart Cathedral.

Planning the yearly festival is just one of the EROI's duties. It seeks to, essentially, make Rochester the organ capital of North America — and it's been pivotal in the installation or restoration of organs in Rochester, including the Italian Baroque instrument at the art gallery and the Craighead-Saunders organ, installed in 2008 at Christ Church in cooperation with the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester. These projects often involve years of research, fund-gathering and construction — in the Craighead-Saunders case, using only 18th-century materials and processes.

EROI's currently in the process of having an 1893 Hook and Hastings organ restored, to be installed at Christ Church next year. Built in the Boston area, it served a church in Portland, Maine. After the church closed, it was put up for sale, dismanted and put in storage. The restoration, to be completed by next year, will include several of the stops salvaged from Christ Church's old hook organ.

Other EROI projects include renovating the E.M. Skinner organ at the Eastman school, as well as restoring and replacing the school's 14 practice organs.

Eric
KB7DQH
The objective is to reach human immortality—that is, to create things which are necessary to mankind, necessary to the purpose of the existence of mankind, and which have become the fruit that drives the creation of a higher state of mankind than ever existed before."