Future of the Organ

[Bobbell9]

This is a fascinating article about Cameron Carpenter and the future of the organ. Very interesting if controversial.
http://www.keyboardmag.com/article/149348

[KB7DQH]

It may be that Cameron has "opened the floodgates" but this organist offers a slightly different perspective...

http://www.vindy.com/news/2012/nov/15/young-star-brings-fresh-ears-to-the-pipe/

Young star brings fresh ears to the pipe organ

By GUY D'ASTOLFO

dastolfo@vindy.com

Earlier this year, Christopher Houlihan dazzled the classical-music world with a series of concerts in American cities in which he performed the six organ symphonies by French composer Louis Vierne.

The concerts earned the 25-year-old Houlihan a cascade of critical acclaim. The Los Angeles Times called his performance in that city "a major surprise of the summer, a true revelation ... astonishing for so young a performer."

A reviewer for The Wall Street Journal said Houlihan displayed "a virtuoso's technical prowess, an architect's grasp of structure and a torch singer's ability to convey emotions."

On Sunday, Youngstown audiences will be able to witness the rising star in person when Houlihan comes to Stambaugh Auditorium for a concert on the grand pipe organ.

Houlihan, a graduate of Trinity College in Connecticut and the Juilliard School, answered a few questions before his Youngstown appearance.

Q. What is it about the pipe organ, and the ominous-sounding classical symphonies written for it, that attracts you?

A. There is no other singular instrument that has the variety and enormous dynamic range of the organ. Strings, flutes, oboes, trumpets, tubas ... the organ has it all. It can rip your head off with power one moment, and the next be as faint as a whisper. As an organist, I get to be a lot like a conductor, manipulating this enormously complex machine into making beautiful music. Louis Vierne's symphonies, in particular, make use of the organ for all of its colors and sounds. But I particularly love Vierne's music because his writing is very, very personal. His life was incredibly tragic, and his frustration is often palpable. At the same time, he gives us humor, romance and extreme joy.

Q. Do you see yourself starting a movement to bring more organ music into concert halls and to resurrect a new, and possibly younger, fan base?

A. Why not?! Whether I play a recital in a concert hall or a church, the music I perform has very little to do with the "religious" image the organ has. I find this is something that tends to turn off many of my friends — the idea that going to hear organ music somehow has something to do with going to church. This just isn't true.

Q. What pieces will be on the program at your concert in Youngstown?

A. I'll be playing three of my all-time favorite pieces: Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, a mesmerizing set of variations; Franck's Grande Piece Symphonique, basically the first "symphony" ever written for the organ; and Vierne's Sixth Symphony, the last of the French-romantic organ symphonies. The Franck and Vierne are sensual, exciting and colorful from beginning to end.

Q. Stambaugh Auditorium is known for two things: its superb acoustics and its newly restored pipe organ. Are you looking forward to playing it?

A. Can't wait! Sounds like an extraordinary place to make music.

Eric
KB7DQH

[MusingMuso]

This is a fascinating article about Cameron Carpenter and the future of the organ. Very interesting if controversial.
http://www.keyboardmag.com/article/149348

=============================

I can never understand what Cameron Carpenter is rambling on about in these interviews.He talks about clarity in music, and then proceeds to muddy the waters by excessive registration changes, inappropriate registration, changes to the written score and quite bizarre choices of tempi. I would think that he is the last type of innovator the organ world needs. In fact, I think I am rather bored with his particular branch of showmanship and marketing.

I make no apology in suggesting that although a brilliant technician, I have yet to hear a single bit of real musicianship in anything Cameron Carpenter has ever played, unlike performances from such as Carlo Curley and Virgil Fox, who could not only get the notes right, but also make an impact on the listener.  In fact, one of the finest Bach A minor Preludes & Fugues I've ever heard was one recorded by Carlo Curley, which although rapid, was otherwise immaculate.

I don't quite know why certain American organists persist in taking it upon themselves to "improve" the music by re-arranging it; especially the music of Bach. It's not hip,  it's not very attractive for the most part and belongs to a specific period in German and American organ-playing,  when certain performers did it rather better.

As for digital organs being the future, this is a statement which must be qualified. Certainly, a good digital organ is better by far than many mediocre pipe organs, but as compared to a quality pipe-organ, the digital alternative still falls well short of the natural acoustic instrument, just as synthesised orchestral instruments and pianos do. As for creating new voices, that is an interesting possibility, but one feels that Mr Carpenter would make a point of drawing attention to them, aas well as himself.


MM

[MusingMuso]

It may be that Cameron has "opened the floodgates" but this organist offers a slightly different perspective...

http://www.vindy.com/news/2012/nov/15/young-star-brings-fresh-ears-to-the-pipe/

====================

Thanks for restoring my confidence and belief in young American organists. The Vierne playing is utterly outstanding, and all performed from memory, as it should be by anyone who claims to be a concert organist rather than a church organist like most of us.

That said,I still find American Bach just that....a continent away from the origins of the music, and still popular after the better part of a century, when the emigrants from Berlin invaded Chicago and spread their "expressionist" romantic gospel.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd3wX6iibKs&NR=1&feature=endscreen   Bach in American style!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpZfvlWJbjg  E Power Biggs showing how it should be done!

To redress the balance, the following are just magnificent:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMF3A_MPss0&feature=autoplay&list=UL-tn1OmAuSAI&playnext=1 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tn1OmAuSAI&feature=BFa&list=UL5MUFp_S5-54

I love those body movements, which remind me so much of Virgil Fox really getting into the music.


MM