16th Annual England Organ Tour

Janice Feher

Janice Feher is organist in residence at First Presbyterian Church, San Diego. She holds a BM from Michigan State University and an MM from the University of Michigan, and she is a Colleague of the AGO. Her teachers included Corliss Arnold, Leslie Spelman, Donald Sutherland, Robert Noehren, and Marilyn Mason. She and her husband, Bela Feher, published two photobooks as part of an ongoing project on pipe organs of Europe—Sacred Spaces of Germany and Denmark (with Marilyn Mason) and Sacred Spaces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (available from Blurb.com ). Photo credit: Bela Feher

Robert Noehren impressed me with
his concern that organists should spend more time listening to music. I think he would have approved of the Leslie Peart organ tour of 2010 that included organ concerts, an evening at the BBC Proms, and choral services. We heard some impressive sacred and secular music in Scotland and England, as well as sharing memorable meals of representative local cuisine.
The 2010 Scotland and England organ tour—July 13–26—began with a welcome luncheon at the Ramada Mt. Royal Hotel in Edinburgh. This hotel is located on Princes Street, above shopping and restaurants, and it provided a great base for visiting the varied organs of Edinburgh. We began by playing the 1989 Collins organ at the Greyfriars Church, followed by the fine Willis organ at the Episcopal Cathedral. That evening we enjoyed a generous amount of time playing on the wonderful 1992 St. Giles Cathedral organ, built by Rieger Orgelbau of Austria.
The next day, Scottish rain and chill failed to dampen our spirits as we explored Queen Elizabeth’s yacht, Royal Brittannia. We were treated to lunch at St. Mary’s Metropolitan Catholic Cathedral, where concert organist Simon Nieminski is music director. Afterward, we played the large 2007 Copley organ in the church.
Next we visited historic St. Cuthbert Church, which has a large organ by Robert Hope-Jones, dating from 1899. The 93-register organ was extensively reconstructed in 1997–98 by J.W. Walker & Sons Ltd. of Brandon, Suffolk. We found an unexpected treat in the Freemasons’ Hall of Edinburgh, where there is a 1913 vintage Bridley & Foster pipe organ that has been preserved in original condition by Forth Pipe Organs of Edinburgh. The day concluded with a memorable organ recital at St. Giles, played by the cathedral’s director of music, Michael Harris.
An early arrival before the public at the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow gave us time to see and play the historic Lewis organ from the 1901 International Exhibition. Later, we joined the public for the lunchtime concert played by our fellow tour members, Bob MacDonald and Dene Barnard.
Notable experiences in northern England included visiting Keswick in the beautiful Lake District, where we stayed at the Country House Hotel and cruised on Lake Windermere—England’s largest lake. We were warmly welcomed at St. Bees Priory, which has a historic 1899 organ built by “Father” Willis that is essentially untouched. It was the last major instrument he personally supervised. The original programmable pistons (the first in England) are still in place.
On Sunday we enjoyed the sung Eucharist accompanied by the historic Willis organ at Durham Cathedral. After playing the organ at Ripon Cathedral, we traveled to York Minster for Evensong in the large Gothic cathedral.
The highlight of the next day was touring Castle Howard, the location for Brideshead Revisited, where we played the organ in the castle’s beautiful chapel.
Our host in Liverpool was concert artist Ian Tracey, who helped us discover the impressive Willis organs of Liverpool. “Father” Henry Willis founded his pipe organ firm in 1845 in Liverpool. He contributed much to the science and art of organbuilding, and he was regarded as the leading English organbuilder of the Victorian era. Willis organs were placed in town halls and churches throughout the UK. Many remain today, including the 121-rank 1855 “Father” Willis organ in St. George’s Hall, Liverpool. Ian Tracey, Liverpool’s city organist, has great enthusiasm and concern for the maintenance of this historic organ.
A second great Willis organ is located in the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, where Ian Tracey is cathedral organist. It was the largest musical instrument ever conceived when dedicated in 1926. Today it is the largest organ in the UK, even larger than Royal Albert Hall, with recent additions. It is playable from two matching five-manual consoles.
We toured the Willis organ factory, where we were impressed with the quality of their current instruments and the historic Rolls-Royce that David Wyld, the new owner of the company, had driven to work that day. Our Liverpool adventures were capped by an evening visit to the dramatic Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, where a 1967 Walker organ is installed.
The last few days flew by with visits to play many organs, including those at Coventry Cathedral; Rugby School, where the game of rugby originated; Worcester Cathedral, with its wonderful 2008 organ by Kenneth Tickell; and the military academy, Sandhurst.
On our way to London, we realized we had visited a total of 28 instruments in England and Scotland!
A special memory of our London visit was the sung Eucharist at St. Paul’s Cathedral, where we had reserved seats under the dome for Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with orchestra, organ, and soloists. The service concluded with the Fantasia in F Minor on the organ. Sunday afternoon Evensong at Westminster Abbey was followed by an organ recital by Christian Lane, assistant university organist at Harvard.
We flew home from London well rested, with great memories and new friends, and thankful for exposure to such wonderful and diverse organs.
If you are interested in seeing the highlights of our UK organ tour, visit gallery.me.com/janbela#100052 for a 24-minute slideshow. (Note: Grid allows manual control of timing; slideshow is automatic. Locations are identified above or below the pictures.)
The twenty-third annual England Choral, Castle, and Organ Tour will be July 12–25, with four days in London, three at the Southern Cathedrals Festival at Winchester Cathedral, and many other organs and castles along the south shore of England. For more information, go to www.organtours.com, or contact Leslie Peart at [email protected], phone 217/546-2562. 

 

by Charles Beck

During July, 1997, Janice Beck was scheduled to play nine organ recitals in four different European countries, a recital every three days.  In fact, she played eight recitals in three countries.  This account is a detailed description of that tour, its trials, tribulations and joys.

Peterborough, England

On June 26 we left Detroit Metropolitan Airport, two hours late because of a faulty toilet that had to be repaired, arriving at Gatwick Airport, London at 10:00 a.m. the following morning.  After going through Immigration and Customs, we picked up our Britrail passes, and caught a train to Kings Cross Station in London. At 1:10 p.m. we departed for Peterborough, arriving about 2:00. Although we had specific directions to our lodging in the Cathedral Precincts, the taxi driver had no idea how to get there, so he simply dropped us off, in the rain, somewhere in the vicinity of the Cathedral. After inquiring of several helpful pedestrians, we found the bed and breakfast operated by the wife of a canon on the cathedral staff. For the next four nights we enjoyed staying in their lovely old home, part of which dates from the 15th century. Although Janice's first recital, in the Peterborough Cathedral Festival, was not until July 1st, we had arrived early in order to recover from jet-lag prior to the recital.

After a pleasant chat and tea with our hostess, we took a much needed nap followed by a good, but very expensive meal in a nearby hotel. Needless to say, we went to bed early. We awoke to a dreary morning, but feeling somewhat refreshed after a good night's sleep. The weather was, to say the least, miserable with low clouds, rain and wind, and a temperature in the 50s. Unfortunately this weather was predicted to last for a week, and it did. Following breakfast, (and what a breakfast it was: grapefruit, eggs sunny side up, ham, sausage, baked tomato, mushrooms, toast, jams and tea), we walked a few hundred yards and entered the great cathedral for the first time. Although one of the largest and most beautiful of English cathedrals, Peterborough is less well known than some others. Dating from the 14th century, it is famous for the longest painted wooden ceiling in Britain.

Janice had been promised six hours practice time, but we had hoped to arrange additional time. Although it was apparent that the cathedral was vacant each day early in the morning, the festival administrator was unable to arrange additional practice time on the cathedral instrument. He did, however, allow Janice to practice on an ancient two-manual tracker instrument in another church of which he was organist about a mile from the cathedral. So for the next two days we walked in a cold rain to All Saints Church for practice. The All Saints organ, built by Forster and Andrews of Hull in 1908, and apparently in its original state, is characterized by lovely flues and reeds, and strings of remarkably French-sounding tonal qualities. It has, however, two drawbacks: 1) The pedals are very close together, the pedal board being 6 inches narrower than typical modern pedal boards, and 2) as one might expect of a tracker instrument of this vintage, it has a heavy action. But its beautiful tonal qualities in the marvelous acoustical milieu of All Saints Church compensated handsomely for these deficiencies. Whereas the opportunity for Janice to practice in All Saints allowed her, in some ways, to maintain her program in top form, it did nothing to prepare her to use the Cathedral console, and practicing on such an unconventional pedal board may well have been a disadvantage.

On Sunday morning our hostess escorted us to the 10:30 service in the cathedral. We sat in the choir just beneath the organ which we heard for the first time. The service was beautiful. The excellent men and boys choir sang a Schubert Mass with various movements interpsersed throughout the service. The organ, a Hill, Norman and Beard, renovated in the '80s by Harrison and Harrison is an excellent service instrument, but as we knew from the specification, not a very large instrument, and equipped with only 8 generals (not duplicated by toe studs) and a capture-type combination action.

Since the theme of the Cathedral Festival was "The French Connection," Janice had been asked to play a program with an emphasis on French compositions. Whereas she had planned to play the "Communion" and "Sortie" from Messiaen's Pentecost Mass and some short works of Vierne in her tour program, she felt compelled to add another French work to this program, and she chose the Franck Choral No. 3 in A Minor.

Finally on the night before the concert, we gained access to the cathedral instrument with only four hours to register a full-length recital, and to become accustomed to the console in any time that might have been left. With only 8 generals available, registering the program became a nightmare, but by using divisional pistons and assigning me the task of some manual stop-pulling during both the Franck and Messiaen, the job was accomplished. There was no time for practice, however, that being relegated to a brief period the following day.

After the 1:00 p.m. recital we were to catch the 15:37 to London which gave us very little time to retrieve our luggage from the B & B and get to the train station. Consequently, we did not tarry long after the concert. We had expected the festival administrator to present us with the agreed-upon artist's fee, but he was nowhere to be found, much to the consternation of our B & B hosts and the cathedral organist. We received a check two months later.

We arrived at London Kings Cross station just in time for the afternoon rush hour, took the Underground to Waterloo Station, arriving into a throbbing mass of humanity, all, like us, trying to get to the proper platform for their respective trains for home or, in our case, for Windsor.  With two large suitcases, a large brief case containing scores, and a mid-sized carry-on, we finally made our way to the proper platform, boarded the 17:42 for Windsor, collapsed, exhausted, in our seats, and arrived one hour later. Our "overnight" stay in a B&B turned out to be a half-night's stay, only, since we were required to appear at Heathrow Airport two hours prior to our 6:50 departure for Copenhagen. So we pulled ourselves out of bed at 3:45 a.m., dressed, had some tea and ate a soggy sandwich. The taxi arrived on time at 4:30 for the 20 minute drive to Heathrow.

Poland

The flight to Copenhagen was excellent, with an efficient and very polite crew, and a delicious breakfast. We arrived in Copenhagen at 10:00 a.m., changed planes and left at 11:00 for Szczecin, Poland, a city of about 500,000 population. As we approached the Szczecin airport we were surprised at the lack of activity and any evidence of commercial development in the vicinity. Upon landing it became apparent that our plane was the only one there except for a few derelict World War II fighter planes parked alongside a taxi strip. And no other planes arrived during the time it took to go through customs and immigration. The small, antiquated terminal building, probably dating from the 1940s, had obviously not been improved or expanded since it was built. We had just had our first glimpse of the legacy of communist domination in Poland for over 40 years.

After being frisked with metal detection devices, we were interrogated by an official who spoke only halting English. We were taken aback when he asked, "You go to Santa Monica?" After a pause, Janice replied, "We have been to Santa Monica in California." He seemed as surprised by that reply as we were by his question. But after a few seconds and a quizzical look, he waved us on.

Kamien

We joined our hosts, Bogdan and Laura Marcinkowski, who drove us to Kamien Pomorski, about 60 kilometers away. As we approached a park-like area of the town we drove under an arch that bore in large letters, in English, the name, Santa Monica Institute. We soon learned that our lodging was a hospice where persons, many from Scandinavian countries, went to rest and recuperate from serious illnesses, or to spend their last days! Perhaps, because of our lack of sleep the previous night, we appeared terminally ill to the immigration official at the Szczecin airport. Although our room was immaculately clean, we felt somewhat uncomfortable in the Santa Monica Institute among the many ill inhabitants.

The elegant 12th-century cathedral in Kamien, built by Germans and used for many centuries by Lutherans, is characterized by an acoustical milieu of indescribable beauty. The Michael Berigel organ, of north German style dating from the latter part of the 18th century is characterized by beautiful, brilliant mixtures, glorious flues, several excellent solo stops, and reeds so terribly out of tune that their character could not be accurately assessed. The instrument was, however, very difficult to play because of a very heavy tracker action, and a flat pedal board of unusual dimensions and placement-narrow from side to side as well as from front to back, and set back at least six inches from the front of the console. To play the pedals the bench had to be placed so far from the console that it was almost impossible to reach the top manual without losing one's balance. An even greater hindrance to Janice, however, in playing the program she had planned, was the fact that, unknown to her, the entire Positiv division had been removed for renovation as had about half of the pedal pipes. With some creative registrations, however, the program was successful. And what beautiful, ethereal sounds in that marvelous acoustical environment. One would die for a Koppelflöte like that used as a solo stop in the Vierne Arabesque.

The concert in Kamien Pomorski as well as the following concert in Szczecin were part of the International Festival of Organ and Chamber Music. Each concert consisted of both organ works and works performed by a chamber group. In Kamien, the organ works alternated with works played by an excellent trombone quintet, whereas in Szczecin the organ works comprised the first half of the concert with the second half consisting of choral works by a Swedish choir. In Kamien, as well as in every other venue in Poland and Slovakia, there were large audiences, with most venues filled to capacity.

Szczecin

From Kamien, we traveled by train to Szczecin. Kamien is at the southern end of a spur, about twenty kilometers from the main rail line across northern Poland. The little train arrived about 10 minutes prior to departure time. The metal seats, without cushioning, were painted bright red. To say they were uncomfortable would be a gross understatement. The train departed on time, chugged along slowly for a few minutes and stopped at a country lane to pick up several passengers. During the next half hour the train stopped several more times for passengers who were simply standing by the track in the countryside. Once we joined the main line, however, the train continued on to Szczecin without another stop.

We were met in Szczecin by a guide from the Castle of Pomeranian Princes, driven to the castle, and escorted to our rooms--a very fine guest suite consisting of a bedroom, a sitting room and a marvelous, large and luxurious bathroom. There were no glasses, no bath mats, no telephone, and no television in our suite; and more significantly, no door key. Of these, we considered the absence of a television set an asset, but we were not prepared to leave our possessions, especially Janice's valuable scores, in an unlocked room. The concierge informed us that the last guest had failed to return the key before leaving, but since he could see the door to our suite he would keep watch on it for us. Nevertheless, we insisted, much to his consternation, on having a key. Finally, a locksmith arrived, and replaced the entire lock.

The Castle, dating from the 12th century, was the residence and site of government of the ruling princes of Pomerania until the early 17th century. By 1577 the castle had attained its present form and at that time was one of the most beautiful Renaissance castles in Europe. In 1944 it was severely damaged during air raids. Reconstructed after the second world war, it is today a center of cultural activity in Szczecin.

After lunch we visited the concert hall in the castle with its relatively new instrument built by the Kaminski firm of Warsaw. Finding someone to turn on the instrument proved most difficult, and then we had to decipher the eastern European combination action, essentially an exposed setter board consisting of four rows of different colored pins, each color representing a different division of the organ and each pin representing a stop.

This instrument is characterized by loud, raucous reeds, shrill mixtures, and tight sounding flues. The tonal characteristics of the instrument and the expressed lack of knowledge of the western organ world by the castle organist is, no doubt, a reflection of the isolation imposed on Poland under Communist domination. Other instruments that Janice played in Poland and elsewhere in eastern Europe were quite beautiful although several were in bad condition, but they had been built in the 18th, 19th or early twentieth centuries.

Tired after practicing all afternoon, we had dinner and went to bed early. As we returned from the restaurant we noticed that the courtyard of the castle had been set up with chairs and that people were filing in in great numbers. A stage backed by colorful banners occupied one end of the courtyard, and we guessed that there was to be some sort of entertainment. Shortly the entire courtyard was packed to capacity, and the concert began. From our bedroom adjacent to the courtyard the music was very audible, and we lay in bed enjoying a symphony orchestra, chorus and soloists presenting music from Mozart operas. Dead tired, we dropped off to sleep before the concert ended, and were awakened, suddenly, from a deep sleep by what sounded like a war: the loud booms and flashing lights of a spectacular fireworks display. We were treated to a repeat performance of both the concert and the fireworks the following night.

The organ recital, at twelve noon on Sunday, July 6, actually went very well, but provides examples of the unexpected with which an organist must cope. As Janice walked on stage, I as page turner trailing behind, the house lights were dimmed and very bright flood lights were turned on the organ console. These lights came from only one side of the hall, and because of the angle of the console, Janice's body cast a very dark shadow on the pedal board which, as a result, was hardly visible. Seeing the pedal board was made all the more difficult by the great contrast between the brightly illuminated score and the darkened pedal board. She played the initial work on the program, by J. S. Bach, without any problem. The second work, however, was a new, unpublished composition entitled Kairos, by Pamela Decker which contained some virtuoso pedal passages. Janice had no alternative but to ask in English that the lights be adjusted so she could see the pedal board. Fortunately, some helpful person in the audience understood, made the appropriate request to the stage hands, and the lights were duly adjusted. The performance of Kairos was going well when, unannounced, a television camera crew walked on stage and began videotaping Janice (and me) from various angles. You can imagine how distracting that could be, but Janice, undaunted, maintained her concentration and completed the performance without incident.

A lasting memory of this tour will be of the wonderful people whom we met and who in various ways assisted us. We had tried repeatedly to make several telephone calls to the United States from Kamien Pomorski without success, and in Szezecin we did not have easy access to a telephone. We informed a new Polish friend, a physician and organ buff, who had attended Janice's recitals in both Kamien and Szczecin, of our difficulties, and he most graciously invited us to have dinner in his home from which we were able to make our calls.

Gdansk

The following morning, July 7, we took a taxi to the train station to begin our journey to Gdansk. Understanding no Polish, and with no English or German directions in the railroad station, we were apprehensive about determining the platform from which to board the train. The taxi driver turned out to be another "angel" to whom we will always be in debt. Of Greek descent and speaking some English, he recognized our dilemma. Upon arriving at the station, he insisted on accompanying us into the station and onto the proper platform. Rather than leaving us there, however, he stayed with us until the train arrived, raced to the far end of the train to the correct car with Janice's luggage, took it on board, and found seats for us. Needless to say, he received a large tip from me. He also received a hug from Janice, the only time, to her knowledge, she has ever hugged an angel, or for that matter, a taxi driver.

In the Gdansk suburb of Oliwa we were housed in a seminary for priests associated with the great cathedral there. Upon arrival, a young priest escorted us to our dormitory room which, even by college dormitory standards, was spartan. We had arrived in late afternoon, and soon went to the dining hall for dinner which consisted of thin cold cuts of cheese and salami, bread and tea. We were seated at a table some distance from those occupied by the young priests, not only for this, but for all meals. None of the priests took the initiative to speak to us or to engage us in conversation. We were perplexed by this isolation and still do not know the reason. Perhaps it resulted either from a lack of knowledge of English, or a lack of confidence in speaking it by those who did know some English. We, of course, could speak no Polish, so were in no position to be critical. Furthermore, although free of Russian domination for nearly l0 years, there is still very little opportunity to interact with English-speaking people from the west. Tourism has simply not caught on, at least in Northern Poland, and we saw no evidence of any effort to encourage it. In fact during our entire stay in Poland (6 days), we saw only two or three Americans.

The following morning, breakfast consisted of cold cuts, bread and tea, identical to the previous night's supper. We were becoming discouraged, to say the least, and began to joke about what to expect for the noon meal which, fortunately, turned out to be the main meal of the day with meat, two vegetables, bread, a small dessert, and tea. But for the following supper and breakfast?: you guessed it!

Oliwa cathedral, constructed of red brick, and showing Dutch influence in its exterior architecture, is equally surprising on the interior. The long and very high nave and chancel are painted white, resulting in an unusually bright interior.

The large, 5-manual organ, dating from the last century, is contained in a dramatic case with spectacular carvings of angels holding gilded horns that can move from side to side, and two cymbelsterns. The instrument has been converted from tracker to electro-pneumatic action, and, in recent years, has been fitted with a solid-state combination action and sequencer, the only instrument we saw in eastern Europe so modernized.

The people of Gdansk are very proud of the Oliwa organ which is demonstrated every afternoon to large crowds including many children who are especially fascinated by the moving golden "trumpets" and the rotating cymbelsterns.

Janice had access to the organ only on the evening before the day of the recital and one hour on the day of the recital. Consequently, she had to take good advantage of her one evening for registration and practice time. As we arrived in the organ loft, we smelled an unusual odor. I thought it might be stale incense, but Janice demurred, saying she had never smelled incense with that "fragrance." I sat in the nave to assist with balance. After about two hours in the organ loft, Janice began to play wrong notes, and complained that she was not thinking well and was becoming dizzy. But she had to try to continue registering her program, which became progressively more difficult. We finally found the source of the odor: an unvented toilet near the organ loft from which sewer gas was escaping in large quantities. By closing the door to this lavatory and by stuffing an old, discarded flag under the door, we largely solved the problem. Unfortunately, by this time Janice was feeling quite ill, but continued to work for several more hours. By noon the following day she felt much better, and by recital time that evening she was, fortunately, back to normal.

Olomouc, Czech Republic

At 4:30 the next morning we were taken to the airport for a 6:30 flight to Prague. We arrived at the Prague airport 30 minutes early, and went directly to the train station to catch a train for Olomouc where Janice was to play a recital in St. Michael's Church. Since we had a two-hour wait, we sat in a park just outside the station and enjoyed people-watching on a beautiful, cool, sunny morning. We had purchased rail tickets in the United States. Consequently, we went directly to the platform to board our train just 15 minutes prior to departure time. The train was destined from Prague to Warsaw, via Olomouc, or so we thought. As we were looking for the coach in which we had reserved seats, I asked a member of the train crew to help us. He looked at our tickets and immediately threw up his hands and waved them back and forth excitedly as if to indicate that we could not go on that train, at the same time speaking to us in Czech which we could not understand. A train for Germany was about to depart on an adjacent track. I was literally pulled over to the conductor of the German train who said, "Der Zug fahrt nicht nach Olomouc. Olomouc liegt unter wasser." I understood, but was perplexed and obviously showed that by my puzzled expression, so the conductor repeated what he had just said, even more emphatically: "That train does not travel to Olomouc. Olomouc lies under water!" The German train left, as did the Czech train, with us standing forlornly on the platform wondering what to do.

During the entire time we had been in Poland, we had not had access to a television set, and had not purchased a paper which, of course, we could not have read. We had, therefore, heard nothing of the severe floods in southern Poland and Moravia. We eventually learned that much of Olomouc, centrally located in Moravia, was literally inundated by the flood waters, there was no electric power, and no hotels and restaurants were operating. We learned also that three railroad bridges between Prague and Olomouc had been destroyed, and thus that there was no rail service from Prague to Olomouc, or for that matter into Slovakia, the site of our next concert. If we had gotten on the train as intended, we would have gone back to Warsaw from which we had flown a few hours earlier.

Fortunately, telephones in Olomouc were still operating. We called our host there, and his wife said he had gone to Prague to meet us. Not expecting him there, we had simply walked out of the terminal without seeing him, or he us. He looked for us at the railroad station, but could not find us because we were sitting outside in the park. We found a hotel near the old city, and the following day our host again drove to Prague which required a long, circuitous route to avoid the flood waters. He thought it still possible that electricity would be restored in time for the recital. He explained the use of the Prague Metro (subway), and showed us the best way to gain accesss to the Karlovy Bridge over the Vlatava (formerly the Moldau) which leads to the Mesto (the old, central city). He also made airline reservations for a flight to Kosice, Slovakia, the nearest airport to Bardejov, our next destination. Unfortunately, the flooding became worse, power was not restored in Olomouc for many days, and the recital there had to be cancelled.

Prague

Although disappointed to miss playing in Olomouc, we were pleased to have four days in the beautiful city of Prague. The following day, after breakfast of cold cuts and yogurt, we set out to see the palace (the site of the Czech government) and St. Vitus Cathedral, nestled together on a high hill overlooking the city. The day was very hot, and we proceeded slowly up the long, steep hill to the palace and St. Vitus cathedral. Although very tired, upon entering the magnificent gothic cathedral, we knew it had been worth the climb. We rested in this stunningly beautiful church and marvelled at the golden glow of the choir and the elegant stained glass windows throughout. We bought some CDs in the Palace shop and walked back down the hill to the Malostranska Metro station. Back at the hotel, we collapsed and slept for several hours before supper, washed some clothes and went to bed.

The following day (Saturday, July 12), after finding an ATM and replenishing our funds, we visited Prague's largest music store where Janice purchased organ music by Czech composers.

Afterward, we found our way to the Mesto, the center of the old city, and what a magnificent area it is with many beautiful churches. Also thousands of tourists. Walking through the narrow streets and across the several squares, we were frequently charmed to see young people dressed in period costumes and to hear the music of Mozart floating across the area heralding a Mozart Festival. Mozart was a frequent visitor to Prague, and his opera, Don Giovanni, received its premiere here in 1787. Near the famous Tyn Church with its distinctive twin towers we had lunch in a quiet restaurant, after which we visited the beautiful baroque church of St. Nicholas across the square.

Bardejov, Slovakia

After a long day, we packed for our flight to Kosice, Slovakia, watched Bill Cosby (speaking Czech) for a few amusing minutes, and retired for the night. We arrived at the Prague Airport terminal about 9:00 a.m., picked up our tickets and were told to look for our flight number on TV monitors to determine the proper check-in desk. By 10:00 a.m. our flight number had not appeared, so becoming concerned, I enquired about the problem at an information desk. We were told to go immediately to one of the "common" check-in counters of which there were seven. All had very long lines, and we were quite apprehensive about getting to the counter in time to catch our flight. Finally, about 10 minutes before flight departure time, we were checked in and made our way as quickly as possible to the designated gate, arriving with very little time to spare.

Upon arrival in Kosice we were met by our host, grandson of Josef Gresak, the Slovak composer who is honored by the Gresak Organ Festival. A former conductor of the Slovak Symphony Orchestra in Kosice, our host now imports and distributes frozen fish. He drove us the 86 kilometers to Bardejov, located in the southern edge of the Carpathian Mountains, and only about 50 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. We thoroughly enjoyed driving through the beautiful, hilly countryside reminiscent of the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of western Virginia.

In Bardejov we were deposited in a city-owned apartment consisting of a large living room, dining room, kitchen, three bedrooms and a bathroom. This beautiful, modern facility was made even more appealing by having a high-quality stereo sound system plus a collection of CDs and cassette tapes. Before he left, our host, suggesting that we might not have any Slovakian currency, presented us the entire promised honorarium in cash! This very gracious and thoughtful gesture was most surprising, and nothing like it was repeated elsewhere.

Our apartment was conveniently located directly across the street from St. Egidius (St. Giles) Church in which Janice was to play. This gothic building, dating from the 15th century, has a fine organ installed by the Rieger firm of Budapest in 1909. This two-manual instrument of 35 registers has an eastern European style combination action with two "free" combinations and a flat pedal board of 27 keys. The combination action of this instrument differs from those of more recent instruments in having two rows of tabs instead of colored pins by which to set individual stops. These two combinations could be activated by pistons below the lower manual. Of interest to me was the original blower switch, integrated with a huge rheostat by which the voltage was increased to obtain appropriate wind pressure. The wind supply could also be provided by two men pumping a large bellows with their feet.

As in other cities in eastern Europe, ordering food here was a real problem although the one restaurant we patronized had a menu with English translations. Nevertheless, as we soon discovered, we rarely received what we thought we had ordered! By western standards, the cost of prepared food was remarkably low. We could obtain an adequate meal for two for only about $5.00. Breakfast here was a problem, however. The only place we could find open prior to 9:00 a.m. sold only submarine sandwiches, so for three days our breakfasts consisted of submarine sandwiches.

On our first full day in Bardejov Janice worked out registrations in the morning and practiced for three hours in the afternoon. We then bought a bottle of very good Hungarian red wine, some peanuts and pretzels, had a little party before dinner and went to bed early. The following day, after practice in the morning and a long nap in the afternoon, we arrived for the 8:00 p.m. recital about 7:45. As we approached the open church door we could hear none of the expected sounds of people on the interior, and were thus shocked upon entering to find a packed church, but not a sound from the audience, not even a cough. We tip-toed up to the organ loft and began the recital throughout which there was deathly silence from the audience, almost as if the people could not speak. This eerie quiet was, to say the least, somewhat disconcerting, and I hoped that Janice was not playing to an audience of deaf mutes. At the end of the program, following the Bach St. Anne Fugue, there was still no sound for a few seconds, then enthusiastic applause. As the audience departed there was still no talking in the church. To this remarkable audience in Bardejov, the church was, apparently, a sacred place, one in which to meditate, and to hear great music without the distraction of gossip or chit-chat about mundane secular events.

Bury St. Edmunds

Wednesday, July 16: we arose at 6:30 a.m., ate a submarine sandwich for breakfast, packed and were ready to leave for London at 9:30. We were driven to Kosice where we were hosted by members of the Slovak Symphony Orchestra adminstrative staff, one of whom took us to lunch and showed us beautiful St. Elizabeth's Cathedral. We left Kosice at 4:10 p.m., changed planes in Prague and arrived in London about 8:00. Getting through the immigration maze at Heathrow airport was a nightmare, with thousands of people in long queues. When finally we made it through immigration, found our luggage, and left the terminal building, it was nearly dark. Our taxi arrived 30 minutes later and delivered us, totally exhausted, to our B & B in Windsor about 10:00 p.m.

The next day we were up by 7:00 a.m., had a good English breakfast, and left Windsor on the 9:40 for London, Waterloo Station. We went by taxi to Liverpool Street Station, grabbed some sandwiches for lunch and took the 12:00 noon train to Ipswich, changing there to the 1:55 to Bury St. Edmunds, arriving at 2:30.

In Bury we stayed at the Chantry Hotel, a very nice accommodation with moderate rates that included breakfast. Since Janice had played a recital in St. Edmundsbury Cathedral in 1995, we were familiar with the town, and a lovely town it is. We met our host in the cathedral after choir practice and worked on the instrument until 11:30 p.m. On the following day, we browsed in the cathedral shop and enjoyed perusing their book collection by which we learned something about St. Edmunds and the ancient Abbey, the ruins of which are adjacent to the cathedral. The Abbey dating from the 700s, which was sacked and destroyed in the 1500s, was larger than the present cathedral. We also visited beautiful St. Mary's Church which is the largest Parish Church in the United Kingdom, almost as large as the cathedral. Although somewhat off the beaten path, Bury St. Edmunds is a lovely and interesting town very much worth a visit.

Practice in the evening was interesting, but not entirely productive. The cathedral organist and a priest heard Janice practicing Pamela Decker's piece, Kairos, and were so impressed with the work that they ascended to the organ loft to ask about it. In addition to Kairos, Janice played for them some of Dan Locklair's suite, Rubrics, about which they were also very enthusiastic. We found most interesting their expressions of dismay that they had such difficulty learning about new American compositions for organ. Because of this pleasant "interruption" Janice practiced until 12:30 a.m.

Saturday, July 19: Following the 4:00 p.m. recital, we walked to the nearby Angel Hotel bar to celebrate. We ordered Manhattans, and after carefully explaining to the bartender how to make them, we enjoyed two delicious American-style cocktails made with (very expensive) Kentucky bourbon. Later we were joined for dinner by the cathedral organist and his friend who we learned is one of only two female organ scholars in the English cathedral system.

All Saints Collegiate Church, Maidstone

The following day, Sunday, July 20, we caught a morning train to Cambridge, changing there to a train for London, King's Cross; we then went by Underground to Victoria Station where we arrived just 7 minutes prior to departure at 1:22 for Maidstone. Arriving in Maidstone at 2:25, we were met by a warden of All Saint's Church who took us to the church, showed us how to turn on the organ, took us to tea, and finally deposited us in our very nice B & B. After resting for two hours, we walked back into the center of town, had supper and went to the church for practice from 7:30 until 10:30 p.m.

All Saints Collegiate Church, Maidstone, dating from the 13th century, is very handsome, and provides a wonderful acoustical environment for organ music. Unfortunately, the organ console has only preset divisional pistons, and no generals. Although Janice had planned originally to play "Communion" and "Sortie" from the Messiaen Pentecost Mass she realized that it would be impossible to give them meaningful performances on this instrument, so she decided to replace them with several short works by Vierne.

On July 22, following supper of sandwiches and tea provided by our landlady, we dressed for the recital. The taxi was expected at 7:30. When, by 7:40, it had not arrived we called again, and another taxi finally arrived, about 7:50. By this time we were pretty tense. We arrived at the church at 7:56. The concert started, on time, at 8:00 p.m.!

Since Janice's next recital, in Westminster Abbey, was not until the 27th, we decided to stay in Maidstone until Saturday. This 3-day respite was much needed and most enjoyable. On Wednesday, we found a laundromat, Janice had her hair cut, and we took a short, pleasant cruise on the Medway river. The Medway is navigable through several locks from the English Channel to London by way of the Thames. We passed several Dutch barges on the river and others anchored alongside wharves in Maidstone, all bedecked with flowers in hanging baskets, making a beautiful sight.

On Thursday, we went by train to Canterbury to see the famous cathedral, home of the Archbishop, head of the Anglican Church. Canterbury is a very attractive town, but on this day in July it was overrun by tourists. Like most other British cathedrals the nave and choir of Canterbury are separated by a dense "screen," and at Canterbury the nave, choir and Trinity Chapel are on successively higher levels. The organ console is out of sight on top of the screen, and the Father Willis organ in the triforium is nearly invisible.

Of the many works of art, plaques, and other memorabilia in the cathedral, one plaque was especially meaningful for us. It bore the following message: "Remember the thousands of the combined allied forces who lost their lives during the invasion of western Europe on the 6th of June 1944. The assault on Normandy was launched at Sword, Juno, Gold, Omaha & Utah beaches. Thus began the return of freedom to Europe. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

One of our most enjoyable days in Britain was spent at Leeds Castle, just a few miles east of Maidstone which we reached by bus on Friday. One of the most famous and certainly one of the most beautiful of all English castles, with magnificent grounds and gardens, Leeds Castle was the home of kings and queens, including Henry the Eighth as well as Lord Culpepper who was governor of Virginia and Lord Fairfax who owned 150,000 acres of land in Virginia prior to the Revolution. It is no surprise that the town of Culpepper, and Fairfax County, Virginia were named for these illustrious early residents of the state. This Virginia connection with Leeds Castle was of particular interest to us since both Janice and I are Virginians by birth.

The castle was an early site of negotiations between Egypt and Israel that led to the Camp David Accords and the beginning of the on-going peace negotiations between Israel and the Arab nations of the Middle East.

Westminster Abbey

Saturday, 26 July: Today we travelled to London for the last recital of the tour, in Westminster Abbey. We left Maidstone by train at 10:00 a.m. and arrived in Victoria Station at 11:00. We took a taxi to Hotel 176 on Old Brompton Road in South Kensington. We were shocked to learn that there was no room reserved for us although the hotel had a record of our credit card number, and we had a fax confirming our reservation. The desk clerk was most apologetic, but re-iterated that there were no rooms available. Fortunately, the Swiss House Hotel, next door, had one double room available which we were delighted to take.

After a long nap in the afternoon, we went by Underground to Westminster Abbey for practice at 5:45. We found the organ scholar without difficulty who escorted us to the organ loft atop the screen separating the nave from the choir and showed us the organ console.

The Harrison and Harrison organ, installed in 1937, includes some re-voiced pipes from an earlier Hill organ. The instrument was restored and enlarged in 1982 and 1987 with the addition of a new console. In 1994 the combination action was expanded with the addition of a sequencer.

The five-manual console by Harrison and Harrison has several unusual features. There is a separate setter button for every general and every divisional piston. Unlike other English organs which Janice had played, the general pistons are not above the top manual, but below the manual for the solo division. Since the setter buttons for the general pistons are above the top manual, Janice had to be very careful not to push a setter button when she intended to push a general piston! We worked for the allotted 21/2 hours and made our way back to our hotel, very tired and went immediately to bed.

After sleeping late on Sunday, and a long nap in the afternoon, at about 4:00 we went to the nearby Gloucester Road Underground station to catch a train for the Abbey. Unfortunately the only reasonable route was not available because of work on the line. After deciding we did not have time to take a round-about route to the Abbey, we hailed a taxi and arrived just 15 minutes prior to recital time. We were relieved to observe that all tourists, except those who were seated for the recital, had been removed from the church; how this was accomplished we do not know. Two minutes prior to recital time, the Organist and Master of the Choristers arrived to greet us--a gracious gesture on his part, but not the most opportune time for the recitalist!

Following the recital, the sub-organist and several other organists in attendance, rushed up to the organ loft to ask about the contemporary American works on the program. As at St. Edmundsbury they were very interested in both Kairos and Rubrics.

After a pleasant dinner with friends who were in the London area on vacation, we packed for our return trip to Ann Arbor. Our flight from Gatwick to Detroit Metropolitan Airport was uneventful, and it was wonderful to be met by our daughters. It is always good to return home after a trip, but after having been away for nearly five weeks, homecoming this time was an unusual pleasure.

Pipedreams Organ Tour, April 21-May 3, 2002, Part 1

Mary Ann Dodd

Mary Ann Dodd is Colgate University Organist Emerita. Her lectures and performances have often featured the music of contemporary American composers. She is presently at work on a book about the life and times of organist Leonard Raver.

"Travel back in time. Open that church door and peer inside. Hear the incredible, vital voice of instruments you have only read about . . . climb the winding stairs to view the organ up close. If you wish, lay your hands on its keyboards and let its time-honored voice sing just for you. Prepare to be enchanted . . ." Who could possibly resist such an enticing invitation? Certainly not I, nor--apparently--the forty-three others who lost no time in signing up for this extraordinary travel opportunity sponsored by Minnesota Public Radio and hosted by Pipedreams' own J. Michael Barone.

For this septuagenarian, who had never before ventured across the "Big Pond," this was, indeed, a once-in-a-lifetime adventure. Our itinerary was an ambitious one. We would be visiting at least forty organs in eleven days--an interesting mix of old and new instruments in a variety of venues including castles, palaces, museums, cathedrals and village churches.

It was my intention to keep some kind of travel diary and to write an article about the trip when I returned. As luck would have it, my life took some unexpected turns about that time, and many months passed before I was able to turn my attention to this self-appointed task. More than a year would have passed by the time the article reached the hands of readers. I thought long and hard about it. Perhaps I should abandon the project. In the end, I couldn't. It was a trip that deserves to be documented and shared. By now, many details, once vivid, have faded, and I apologize for the errors and omissions that are bound to occur. This is not intended to be a scholarly report in any sense. It is not about facts and figures and stop lists. The memory of this remarkable journey has been simmering away on the back burners of my mind, and I want to try to capture its essence and share some impressions with you. Here, then, is the Pipedreams Organ Tour, 2002, in retrospect.

Day 1

Early Monday morning, as we arrived from various points of embarkation, our group began to assemble in the boarding area of Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport. Weary and jet-lagged, we were a motley crew indeed. Our ever-genial host, Michael Barone, greeted each of us warmly and presented us with a thirty-page booklet that he had prepared. In addition to a detailed itinerary, it contained a fine introductory essay, photographs, maps, stop lists, website links and other pertinent and helpful information. It would become our vade-mecum for the next eleven days. In a matter of mere minutes, a group of strangers were rapidly becoming "family," and the final leg of our journey to Berlin was about to begin.

The flight from Amsterdam to Berlin is a relatively short one, and before long, we found ourselves deplaning. Tegel airport--as one might expect--is large, bustling and modern. Had our ears not been surrounded by myriad voices all speaking in German, it might have been the airport of any great city. We were warmly welcomed by our German tour guide, Sonja Ritter, and our bus driver, Manuela Huwe. Eventually, our luggage was duly accounted for and stowed, and we climbed aboard our large and comfortable modern tour bus. The adventure had begun!

Our itinerary promised a brief "panoramic tour" of the city, and it did not disappoint. It was a beautiful, warm and sunny day--the first sunshine Berlin had seen in this month of April! As we drove through the city, flowering trees were everywhere. Everyone in Berlin seemed to be outside enjoying the sunshine. Crowded sidewalk cafes and mounted policemen on horseback were reminiscent of the isle of Manhattan on a warm day in spring.

Our only stop in Berlin that first day was at the Breitscheidplatz for a brief lunch break. The plaza, a popular tourist attraction, is dominated by the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, which was built at the end of the nineteenth century. Bombed by the British in 1943, the ruined church tower is all that remains. It has been preserved as a memorial, and a new, modern church of blue-stained glass now stands beside it. Some in our group chose to explore the church. Others wandered off in search of lunch and souvenirs, and some seized the opportunity to acquire some euros at a nearby bank. Too sleep-deprived and exhausted to move, I chose to sit on a bench in the warm sun and reflect on my first impressions of this great city. Berlin exudes an almost overwhelming aura of energy, vitality and transformation--a modern-day phoenix rising from the ashes. It is a city of starkly dramatic contrasts between old and new--building for the future, while preserving and learning from its past.

Once again aboard our bus, we headed for Potsdam, some eighteen miles to the south and west. If Berlin was colorful and bright, Potsdam seemed gray and somber. Older, smaller, less urban and "touristy," we were now in what had once been East Germany before the reunification in 1990. Potsdam was bombed by the British in 1945, and even today--more than a half-century later--the signs are still visible. Large, ugly, institutional-looking apartment buildings bear witness to the recent Communist occupation. But Potsdam, like Berlin, is also a city of contrasts. Palaces, formal gardens and landscaped parks speak eloquently of the wealth and splendor of the past.

Sanssouci Park

Our first stop was Sanssouci Park, the home of Frederick the Great's eighteenth-century summer palace. Neither words, nor even photographs, can begin to do justice to this incredible monument to royal self-indulgence. Wilhelm Frederick II, the philosopher king, had a passion for things French, and spoke only that language. An accomplished pupil of Quantz, he was famous for his daily chamber music concerts and midnight suppers, at which he surrounded himself with an elite circle of intellectuals and artists, among them such luminaries as Voltaire. It was for Frederick that Bach wrote The Musical Offering after visiting the king in Potsdam in 1747. The lavish, single-story palace, with its yellow, rococo façade, sits high atop what had once been only a desolate hill. The palace is not open on Monday, but we were able to walk about and take in the panoramic view of the park below. Walking across the vast plaza and past the fountains, we made the long descent down the broad and elegant staircase, past six tiers of terraced vineyards with their glassed-in alcoves designed to protect the orange and fig trees. Having reached the great fountain at the bottom, one is able to turn and look back up the hill toward the palace. It is a truly extraordinary sight, now etched indelibly in my memory.

From there, a leisurely stroll took us through more of the park with its beautifully landscaped gardens, temples, statues, pavilions and grottos. Approaching the edge of the park, we arrived at the lovely Friedenskirche (Peace Church), a picturesque Italianate structure modeled after an early Christian basilica and complete with campanile. Built by Frederick IV, the nineteenth-century, "romantic" Prussian king, the church was completed in 1848, the same year that the organ was dedicated.

The original 18-stop instrument, built by Gottlieb Heise, employed casework designed to encircle the rose window. Over the years, additions and alterations were made by various builders. A major rebuilding and dramatic enlargement by Sauer, in 1909, resulted in a new façade which covered the rose window. During the twentieth century, the revisions continued, resulting in the replacement of many Romantic registers by Baroque stops. Plans are now underway, and funds being raised, for a major rebuilding project which will return the organ to something like its original nineteenth-century state. The acoustics are fine, and in spite of its checkered past, the organ gave a decent accounting of itself under the capable hands of Director of Church Music, Matthias Jacob, who welcomed us warmly and played a mini-recital of Bach, Reger and Franck.

Schuke Orgelbau

Back on the bus once more, we headed for the Schuke Orgelbau, the last stop of the day before checking into our hotel. The Schuke organ factory is located in the heart of the old Dutch Quarter. It was here, after the Thirty Years' War, that Frederick I, the "Soldier King," commissioned the building of 134 red brick, gabled houses in the Dutch style, meant to attract workers from Holland to help with Potsdam's building boom at the beginning of the eighteenth century. The Schuke company was founded in 1820 by Gottlieb Heise, builder of the original Friedens-kirche organ. Since 1894, it has been under the Schuke name and has survived two world wars as well as the enforced nationalization which took place between 1972 and 1990. Not a small shop by any means, Schuke employs twenty-eight craftsmen, including a physicist and a design engineer. With an international clientele, the company designs, builds, restores, reconstructs and maintains organs of every size in every venue.

East Germans seem to be early risers. A working day at the Schuke company begins at 6:30 and ends at 2:30. By the time we arrived, most of the workers had already left or were leaving for the day. The quaint, picturesque setting imbued the whole enterprise with an ambience of charm and informality. Our tour guide was a young physicist from the University of Potsdam. We wandered up and down and through many small rooms which occupied several adjoining buildings, all accessible through a small, cobblestone courtyard. For some in our group, it was their first visit to an organ shop, and there were many questions, some of which were difficult for our guide to field because of the language barrier. Fortunately, our group included the American organ builder, Roland Rutz, who was able to greatly facilitate the communication problem.

A church, a palace, a royal chapel, and an organ factory--not bad for an afternoon's work! By now, we were beyond exhaustion and more than ready to head for our small hotel, which was located in a quiet, residential Potsdam neighborhood. We would be on our own for the remainder of the evening. It was still early, and a few of the more adventurous in the group headed back to Berlin via public transportation. After being reunited with our luggage, and having stretched our legs a bit, most of us were quite content to settle on a leisurely meal right there in our hotel.

Day 2

The restorative powers of a good night's sleep had worked their wonders, and after an early breakfast, we gathered in the lobby eager to board our bus for what promised to be a very full day in Berlin. The fact that the day had dawned cold and rainy had not dampened our spirits. Our driver, Manuela, drove us back to Berlin by a different route, more residential than that by which we had come before. Lakes, streams and lovely forested areas abounded. Green was the color of the day, and signs of spring were everywhere. Berliners evidently love their gardens, yet their lawns seem to fend for themselves and lack the "manicured" look one expects to find in similar neighborhoods back in the States. I found the effect charming and thought again of Berlin as a city of contrasts--in this case, the rather dramatic juxtaposition of urban and rural.

Church of the Holy Cross

Our destination on this rather dark and gloomy Tuesday morning was the Kreuzberg district of Berlin and the Church of the Holy Cross. The bus let us out on the Blücherplatz, and we made our way on foot to the church. The Church of the Holy Cross is one of the largest and most prominent in Berlin. Built between 1885 and 1888, it suffered severe damage in WW II, and the interior was completely destroyed. Although a rather limited reconstruction in the 1960s had made the church habitable again, many problems still remained, and it had become a financial liability to the community, rather than an asset. As a result of many years of creative and foresightful cooperative planning in the 1980s, the church has undergone a major reconstruction and revitalization. After several years, the project was finally completed, and the building was inaugurated in 1995. Recognized as an historic monument, its exterior remains virtually unchanged. Inside is another story altogether. While preserving the integrity of the main room (the worship space), this very large interior has been miraculously transformed into an ecologically sound, multi-use facility, which serves the entire community. Side galleries, open stairways, windows and skylights, stone, glass and steel: all of these elements have been combined into a harmonious blend of old and new. Michael Barone has referred to it as "creative contemporary recycling at every level." Wherever one happens to be in this vast space, the effect is visually thrilling.

But enough about the building. We had come to see, hear and play the organ--an organ no less extraordinary than the building it occupies. The organ is E. & G. G. Hook, Opus 553, II/39, built in 1870 for the First Unitarian Church of Woburn, Massachusetts. In 1991, the organ was threatened with destruction when the congregation ceased to function there, and the building was designated for other uses. The Organ Clearing House came to the rescue and removed the instrument, but a local buyer could not be found at that time. Fortunately, the organ specialist, Uwe Pape, was able to arrange the purchase of the instrument by the Kreuzberg chapter of the Evangelical Church. This was followed by a period of uncertainty while the organ waited in storage. Finally, the Church of the Holy Cross was designated as its new home, and after careful planning, the installation and revoicing was accomplished in 2000-01 by the Eule company. The organ was in good condition and, except for some releathering and the repairing of some cracks in the windchests, it remains unaltered. In its original Woburn incarnation, the organ had been buried in a narrow chamber and forced to speak into an acoustically dead room. Here, a beautiful, new, free-standing organ case has been designed by two of the architects who were involved in the recent renovation. The organ is now visually "at home" in its new surroundings and speaks, for the first time, into a good acoustic. Perhaps even more importantly, Berlin now possesses a fine example of nineteenth-century organ building. Kantor Gunter Kennel greeted us warmly, introduced us to the organ, answered questions and played for us. Afterwards there was ample opportunity for those who wished to try the instrument themselves.

Charlottenburg Palace

Back on the bus again, our next stop was Charlottenburg Palace, the largest palace in Berlin. Located on the Spree River and once approachable by boat, it was built between 1695 and 1699 as a rural summer home for Sophie-Charlotte, wife of the future King Frederick I of Prussia. Over the years, it was added to in stages and finally completed by Frederick the Great with the addition of an east wing in 1746. Severely damaged by Allied bombing in 1943, the palace has been meticulously restored and is now a major tourist attraction.

We took the guided tour and enjoyed viewing the many priceless paintings, tapestries and furnishings, including the famous porcelain collection of Frederick I. But the major attraction for us on this gloomy Tuesday was the royal chapel and its organ. Having completed the formal tour, we were escorted into the small chapel. Once free of the museum-like context of viewing roped-off treasures, we seemed to have quietly slipped into another dimension where we found ourselves at once immersed in sumptuous, eighteenth-century splendor. To actually experience this architectural detail at close range and in three dimensions was both wonderful, and at the same time, a bit overwhelming.

The original instrument had been a 1706 Schnitger of two manuals, twenty-six ranks. Even though the organ had been removed and stored for safekeeping in the cellar in 1943, it was totally destroyed by fire bombs the following year. Fortunately, Alexander and Karl Schuke had been planning a thorough restoration and had carefully documented and photographed the instrument in its every detail. The restoration by Karl Schuke was completed in 1970. In the center of one of the long sidewalls, high above the floor of the chapel, Haupt-werk and Pedal divisions and console are housed within a chamber, which sits behind the arched opening into the room. The Rückpositiv, in an elaborately carved and ornamented frame, projects into the room. In spite of this rather "quirky" physical design, the organ has a pleasant sound and a clear presence that fills the room nicely. Professor Klaus Eichhorn was on hand to greet us and play works by Sweelinck, Scheidemann and Weckman. Although time was short, several in our group seized the opportunity to try the instrument. The organ loft is very small and able to accommodate only a few people at a time. I was content to remain below, absorbing the sights and sounds of another age in this royal chapel where kings had worshipped. I must say that exiting the palace and finding ourselves abruptly back in the twenty-first century was a bit of a jolt.

Berlin Konzerthaus

Back on the bus once more, we headed for the Gendarmenmarkt, the largest plaza in Berlin, and thought by many to be the most beautiful square in all of Europe. "Take-out" sandwiches sufficed for our lunch break and helped to keep us on schedule, as we were expected shortly at the Konzerthaus for an organ demonstration.

Dominating the large plaza, the Berlin Konzerthaus is an imposing structure. Flanked by the German cathedral (the Berlin Dom) on one side and the French cathedral on the other, it stands today as an outstanding example of European concert hall reconstruction. Originally designed in 1801 as the State Theater, it has survived many disasters and reconstructions over the past two hundred years. Severely damaged in WW II, it was first made structurally safe, and then, starting in 1979, systematically restored to its original design. In 1984 it reopened as the Berlin Konzerthaus, now home to the Berlin Symphonic Orchestra.

The organ, IV/74, built by the Jehmlich firm of Dresden, is of modern, eclectic design. Mounted high on the wall above the orchestra, the case has been beautifully integrated into the overall architectural scheme, which reflects the classical elements and lavish details of an earlier age. In addition to the attached, mechanical-action console, there is a second, movable console with electric key action, which sits on the concert stage. Organist Joachim Dalitz greeted us and gave us a brief demonstration and mini-recital while we were free to wander about if we wished. Somehow, for me, the visual aspect of the instrument in this grand concert venue seemed to promise far more in terms of sound than it actually delivered. There was absolutely nothing one could point to that was "wrong" or unpleasant in any way. But to my ears, something ineffable was missing. But there was no time now for further reflection, and we would be back again that evening for an orchestra concert. In the meantime, it was out on to the plaza again, and time to make our way across to the Berlin Dom.

Berlin Dom

This magnificent domed building, inspired by the Italian Renaissance, was built by Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1905, replacing the original eighteenth-century cathedral which he had demolished in spite of the sharp criticism of some of his contemporaries. The Berlin Dom is home to what was once the largest organ in all of Germany and the largest instrument ever built by Wilhelm Sauer. The organ, IV/113, was inaugurated at the same time as the Cathedral church itself in 1905. Sauer (1831-1916) established his own organbuilding shop in 1855. Having traveled widely, and having absorbed the ideas of such distinguished builders as E.F. Walcker and Cavaillé-Coll, he became one of the most famous builders in all of Europe. Most of the nineteenth-century instruments in Berlin were built by him, and the Berlin Dom instrument is considered by many to be his crowning achievement. Over the course of the century, many changes were made, reflecting the current trends in organ design as well as the devastation of two world wars. In 1917, the tin façade pipes were donated to the "war effort" and later replaced in 1927. In 1932, at the instigation of cathedral organist Fritz Heitmann, several neo-baroque changes were made in the Positiv. In 1942, a plan was proposed by the Rudolf von Beckerath firm for an extensive, neo-baroque rebuild which, because of the war, was never seriously considered. When the Cathedral dome was de-stroyed in a 1944 bombing raid, the organ miraculously survived unscathed, only to be subsequently damaged by theft and vandalism and exposure to the elements, as the dome remained open and was not repaired until 1953. Since then, some twenty years later a serious and thorough restoration of both cathedral and organ was undertaken and finally completed in 1996. The earlier neo-baroque tonal modifications have been removed, and once again the instrument speaks in the warm, romantic orchestral sounds intended by its builder.

The Dom is a major tourist attraction, and on the day that we were there, it was crowded with people. We were ushered up to one of the side galleries where we heard a short, regularly scheduled recital played by the young organist, Thomas Sauer. Unfortunately, I think we were in a very poor location for hearing the organ. Although we did not have programs, I recall the selections as being surprisingly eclectic for such a Romantic instrument. The program certainly demonstrated the organ's versatility in handling a great diversity of styles--perhaps not always with authenticity--but the musicianship was never in doubt. Due in part, perhaps, to my mounting fatigue and our less-than-satisfactory seats, I found my attention wandering a bit during the recital. A rather strange phenomenon seemed to be occurring. The sound of the organ and the lavish, visual grandeur with which we were surrounded were being upstaged by this extraordinarily magnificent space. In spite of the cold, drizzly day, the vast interior seemed to be bathed in sunlight, and I felt em-braced by the atmosphere in a magical, timeless, and almost tangible, way. With the familiar and rousing strains of the "Finale" from the Vierne First Symphony, the spell was broken, and we were once again on our way.

"Good Tidings" Church

We would return later to the Gendarmenmarkt for dinner and a concert, but for now our destination was the Karlshorst District of Berlin and the Evangelical Church, "Good Tidings," where we would hear and play a 1755 Migendt organ, II/22. This well-traveled little instrument has a quite remarkable history. The organ was originally commissioned by Princess Anna Amalia, sister of King Frederick the Great. It was for this instrument that C.P.E. Bach wrote his Six Sonatas and dedicated them to the princess. After Anna's death in 1787, the organ was moved to a church in the Berlin suburb of Wendisch-Buch where it remained undiscovered until 1934. Plans were made for it to become a second organ at the Nikolai Church, and in 1936 it was disassembled. During the ensuing confusion of WW II, it was moved about again and miraculously preserved from harm. In 1960 it was restored by Schuke and installed in the "Good Tidings" church. This modest and charming neighborhood church provided a welcome contrast after our earlier exposure to the grandeur of palaces, concert halls and cathedrals. We learned that Roland Münch, the man who had been curator of this historic instrument since 1969, had only recently died. In his absence, we were greeted warmly by Herr Knappe and his wife, who seemed to be members of the parish. His knowledge of the instrument and the pride and joy he took in demonstrating it more than compensated for any lack of virtuosity on his part. In spite of some language difficulty, we felt welcomed and at home. No vastness here to be sure, but instead, a warm, vibrant sound that seemed to permeate every nook and cranny of the small sanctuary in a vital, but not in the least aggressive way. After the demonstration, our three most serious players each took a turn along with Michael, and for the first time--but not the last--there was some hearty hymn singing.

Back at the Gendarmenmarkt, there was time for a leisurely stroll before heading to the Opernpalais restaurant for a dinner. We were divided into small groups at several tables for a pleasant and relaxing meal in quiet and elegant surroundings. Concert tickets were distributed and, having got our "second wind," we made our way back to the Konzerthaus for a symphonic concert of Schubert, Schumann and Mozart.

It was hard to believe that this was the same venue we had visited only hours earlier. The very presence of this large and enthusiastic crowd of serious music lovers seemed to breathe warmth and life into what had seemed to me earlier to be a rather cold and austere building. And indeed, why not? It was for this that the building was intended. Magic was afoot here. The musical "chemistry" generated by conductor, performers and audience had, at least for me, succeeded in invoking the spirit of "Music Past." This was indeed where Mozart had come to attend the premiere of Weber's Freischütz overture and where Wagner had conducted The Flying Dutchman. No longer just a group of American organ buffs, for one magical evening, we were Berliners, intensely proud of our musical heritage and of our concert house, which had literally risen like a glorious phoenix from its ashes. There was an intensity about this musical evening which I will not soon forget.

In spite of the lateness of the hour, our coach had not turned into a pumpkin, and we headed back to Potsdam for one last night, mulling over the days events and welcoming the opportunity to get a glimpse of Berlin at night.

Day Three

Wednesday began with a very early wake-up call. We had to have not only ourselves, but also our luggage collected, be breakfasted and at the entrance for a 7:30 departure. It was a tall order indeed. Even though the day was dark and drizzly and chillier than the day before, everyone seemed eager for the next leg of the journey.

It felt good to leave the city behind us, and it was interesting to see something of the rural countryside. We passed by vineyards and fields of white asparagus, the Hartz Mountains always visible in the background. Sonja's commentary enhanced our enjoyment of the ride, and she also took advantage of the travel time to provide us with some interesting historical background about our first stop of the day. As Sonja would succinctly put it in her very precise English, "Destination: Wittenberg."

Wittenberg

The small medieval city of Wittenberg was founded on the northern bank of the Elbe River in the twelth century. We were headed for the Schlosskirche (Castle Church). Both castle and church were built during the reign of Frederick the Wise between 1490 and 1511, and we were about to step through yet another window into the past. We began with a walking tour of the castle. Five hundred years embraces a lot of history as well as a lot of destruction and painstaking restoration. Of the original castle, only the exterior remains. History can be read about, and architectural details can be photographed and described. But one is never quite prepared for the experience of being there in that space and imagining what it might have been like to live within these walls so long ago.

From there we proceeded into the church. It was on the original doors of this church that Luther had posted his 95 Theses in 1517. But we had come to hear the Ladegast organ. Friederich Ladegast (1818-1905) was an important nineteenth-century builder whose shop produced more than 200 organs. Influenced by the ideas of both Andreas Silbermann and Cavaillé-Coll, he developed a sound that was a unique blend of the Baroque and the Romantic.

The original Castle Church instrument was an 1864 Ladegast of three manuals and 39 stops. In 1935 it was rebuilt by Sauer. The alterations (typical of the time) were substantial and included electrifying the action and adding a Schwellwerk. Then, in 1994, the Eule firm took on the enormous task of returning it to its original mechanical and tonal condition, although it was decided to retain the 1930s Swell. Today the organ boasts four divisions and fifty-seven stops. It was demonstrated for us on this day by organist/cantor Anne-Dore Baumgarten, who is also professor of church music at the Wittenberg seminary. Afterwards, all who wished were invited to climb the gallery stairs and play. All too soon it was time to move on, but we could not leave this historic cradle of Lutheranism without at least one rousing stanza of "A Mighty Fortress."

Out on the ancient cobbled streets, we made our way to St. Mary's, the Stadtkirche (City Church) of Wittenberg. It was here that Martin Luther preached, and here that he was married and buried. Although it is the oldest church in Wittenberg (begun in the thirteenth century), its organ, completed in 1983, is a contemporary mechanical-action instrument by Sauer of three manuals and fifty-three stops. Herr Lamberti was on hand to greet us and to demonstrate the instrument with works by Bach and Mendelssohn.

With a full day still ahead of us, we scrambled back aboard the bus and continued on our way as we consumed the "Bach's lunches" with which we had been provided. This time our destination was the historic town of Halle.

Halle

Located on the River Saale, an important tributary of the Elbe, Halle was first mentioned in the tenth century, although it is located on what appears to be the site of ancient Bronze Age and Ice Age settlements. During the Middle Ages, the river provided fish, drinking water and transport for the town's most important resource, salt. Today, Halle is a major industrial center as well as the largest city in the District of Saxony-Anhalt with a population of more than a quarter of a million people. We were headed for the famous Marktplatz at city center with its Handel Monument and the famous "Five Towers" which dominate the landscape. Our first stop would be the historic Marktkirche where Handel had been baptized and received his first communion. Here he had his first organ lessons with his teacher Zachow and played his first services as Zachow's substitute .

The church originally possessed a sixteenth-century instrument by Esauas and David Beck, which was praised by Michael Praetorius in his Syntagma Musicum. The Beck orgorgan no longer exists and in 1984, the Schuke company built a modern instrument of three manuals and fifty-six stops. Of special interest to us was the small Reichel organ of one manual and six stops. Played from the back of its beautifully carved case, it had been added to the cathedral in 1664 in order to expand the musical possibilities. Over the years, the organ has unfortunately been "tampered with," and in 1972, the Schuke firm restored it to the original mean-tone temperament and brought it back to its original specification. Students of Konrad Brandt demonstrated both instruments for us briefly, and then it was on to the Halle Cathedral for a demonstration by Konrad Brandt of the 1851 instrument by Wäldner. It was here at the Cathedral that Handel had been appointed probationary organist for one year before he resigned and left for Hamburg. Following that, we took a guided tour of the Handel museum before boarding our bus once more. Destination: Merseburg Cathedral.

Merseburg Cathedral

The history of Merseburg can be traced back as far as the ninth century. The cornerstone of the Cathedral was laid in the year 1015 and since then, the edifice has been rebuilt several times. The history of the Cathedral is a complicated one, even for this time and place. But of particular interest to us was the 1855 Ladegast, IV/80, which sits high in the rear gallery of this immense and ancient building. It was for the inauguration of this instrument that Liszt composed his largest organ work, the Fantasia and Fugue on "Ad nos." Unfortunately, the work was not finished in time, and so the cathedral organist, a pupil of Liszt, played instead the Prelude and Fugue on B-A-C-H. In 1961, the organ was "baroqued," a fate which befell so many fine examples of nineteenth-century German organ building. After the pendulum had swung back, a provisional restoration was completed in 1995. Now a more thorough and complete restoration is in progress to be completed by 2003.

At the moment, the only playable instrument in the Cathedral was a small Ladegast organ of one manual and ten stops which is being used as a substitute until the restoration project is complete. It sits quite unpretentiously down on the main floor to the side of one of the transepts. Built in 1850, it is the oldest extant Ladegast instrument. It was demonstrated for us by the organist, Michael Schönheit, who played a short program of amazing variety: Bach, Mendelssohn, Rheinberger and Brahms. Herr Schönheit's busy schedule did not permit him to linger, but since this was our last scheduled stop for the day, arrangements were made for us to stay and try the little organ. It had been a very long day--a castle, a museum and five organs. By now we were all, without exception, hungry, exhausted and chilled to the bone.

And then something quite extraordinary happened. I no longer recall who was the first to play as we gathered around the organ, but I can only describe it as a kind of magical, musical chain reaction. We were somehow enchanted by the musical sounds emanating into that huge space from this tiny organ. People came forward to play who, up until now, had only watched and listened. It was surely the most awkward console we had encountered to date--hardly "user friendly" for those of us accustomed to AGO standards. Shyness and self-consciousness were abandoned with much encouragement all around. Some only played a hymn. Some did not read music, and played by ear. Of all the things we had seen and heard on that eventful day, one moment is etched most vividly in my memory. It was nearly time to leave, and the very last to play was the eldest gentleman of our little group. There we stood, huddled together for warmth in the corner of that dark and vast space, united by the sound of this remarkable little instrument, raising our voices in a chorus of "Church in the Wildwood."

And then it was back to the warmth of our bus and on to Leipzig which would be our home for the next two nights. The light was fading and our mood was rather subdued as we rode past rural farms and open fields, reflecting on the day's events and looking forward to a warm meal and a good night's sleep. Although it was nearly dark by the time we arrived in Leipzig, our driver, Manuela, took us past St. Thomas-kirche. Just enough light remained to afford us a glimpse of this famous church where Bach had spent the last twenty-seven years of his life--an enticing foretaste of what lay in store for us tomorrow.

This article will be continued.

June 25–30, 2006, Saratoga Springs, New York

Frank G. Rippl

Frank Rippl is a graduate of Lawrence University Conservatory of Music where he studied with Miriam Clapp Duncan and Wolfgang Rübsam. He is co-founder of The Appleton Boychoir, coordinator of the Lunchtime Organ Recital Series in the Appleton, Wisconsin area, and has been organist/choirmaster at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Appleton for 35 years

In the months leading up to the Organ Historical Society’s Fiftieth Anniversary National Convention, the question on everyone’s mind was “Could it live up to the level of advance excitement it was generating?” The OHS magazine, The Tracker, had published its usual pre-convention issue with mouthwatering photos of the organs and venues—pictures by Victor Hoyt and Stephen Pinel that made one fall in love with the organ all over again. There were articles and ads in the professional journals touting the instruments to be visited, not the least of which was the historic 3-manual Odell organ from 1882, the oldest large and unaltered concert hall organ in America—an instrument not heard in decades. There was the outstanding roster of performers, the beauty of New York State, the festive banquets, the cruise on Lake George, and on it went.
By the final evening, the answer was an exultant and resounding “Yes!” Convention chairman Stephen Pinel and his committee truly outdid themselves. One of the biggest surprises was the huge, lavishly illustrated and annotated 250-page, 81⁄2" x 11" convention 2006 Organ Atlas (which replaced the traditional, smaller Organ Handbook we were accustomed to seeing each year), detailing the instruments, the venues and their cities. This major document of the organs of the Albany area will be of invaluable service to historians. It represents an extraordinary amount of painstaking research by Jonathan Ambrosino, editor; Alfred V. Fedak, Scot L. Huntington, Len Levasseur, and Stephen L. Pinel. With this distinguished book, the OHS arrives at one of those new plateaus founding member Barbara Owen spoke of in her opening address. This was an exceptional convention worthy of a fiftieth anniversary. They called it “Coming Home.”
This review includes many fine photos of the convention instruments; more photos can be seen at the OHS website , which has links to previous conventions and to the daily convention programs.

Sunday, June 25

In her opening address, founder Barbara Owen recalled the old days and highlighted milestone events along the way. She especially noted the OHS Archives—now an outstanding and unique international resource. Owen said that the OHS at fifty (“middle aged”) should, like the god Janus, look both forward and backward, but should also look inward to draw upon the strengths of each member.
The first concert took place at the 1885 Round Lake Auditorium, preceded by an outdoor dinner of chicken barbecue, a local specialty. The concert featured the famous 3-manual Davis & Ferris organ (1874), originally built for Calvary Episcopal Church in New York City, and moved to Round Lake in 1888. With its sturdy gothic case and stopknobs arranged in the shape of a cross, it sits high at the back of the stage in this large shed-like building festooned with colorful paper lanterns. Chairman Pinel presented Edna Van Duzee Walter with a plaque honoring her 40 years of volunteer service caring for and promoting this historic instrument. The 2006 Organ Atlas states that “It is the only large American-made, three-manual organ from the pre-1850 period to survive in nearly intact condition.”
Organist Antonius Bittmann and the New Brunswick Chamber Orchestra led by Mark Trautman offered an evening of Rheinberger. Bittmann opened with the Sonata No. 12 in D-flat, and from the first low D-flat in the pedal, it was clear that we were in the presence of an extraordinary musical instrument. Its full, broad scale filled the room with a gentle tone from a quieter, less clamorous time. Especially effective was the second movement’s use of the sweet flute sounds. The third movement, Introduction and Fugue, featured the principals and reeds and made one long for the sounds of other large instruments from that period that no longer exist. After intermission, we were summoned back to our seats by the ringing of the auditorium’s tower bell for the Concerto in G minor for organ and orchestra. This is a splendid work with soaring French horn lines and beautiful writing. The conductor led the fine orchestra and the organ with just the right blend of sweep and precision—a wonderful beginning to a week of music.

Monday, June 26

The day began at 8:00 a.m. in pouring rain. Rain was to be the uninvited guest at this convention; there would be some historic and heavy flooding throughout the area. However, enthusiasm and spirits were on the sunny side as we embarked on a two-hour bus ride out into the lovely countryside of the Mohawk River Valley to visit James Fenimore Cooper’s Leatherstocking region of New York state, beginning in Richfield Springs and Cooperstown, before ending the day in Albany.
My group began at Church of Christ Uniting in Richfield Springs with a recital by Michael J. Diorio on the 1896 Farrand & Votey organ. The twin cases that flank the altar, plus other sanctuary furniture, were all designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany. Unfortunately, they are lit nowadays with long fluorescent tubes in the ceiling, but the craftsmanship of the delicately carved casework is superb. Diorio’s recital gave a good tour of this instrument’s resources, programming that OHSers always appreciate. He is a fine and spirited player who earned his doctorate in organ just two weeks earlier. Particularly effective were the Adagio für die Orgel by Julius Reubke and Adagio espressivo from Sonata No. 2 by Rheinberger, which he performed with quiet tenderness.
At St. John’s Episcopal Church in Richfield Springs we heard the 1887 Hook & Hastings (photo p. 27) played by Donald K. Fellows, organist at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Pittsburgh, who announced each of his registrations. The St. John’s organ stands to the right of the altar in this intimate church. The façade pipes are painted in shades of blue, red and tan with gold trim. Each stop fills the room perfectly and confidently. Fellows used the flute stops to great effect in selections from Haydn’s charming Pieces for a Flute Clock. George Shearing’s Chorale Prelude on There Is a Happy Land showed a variety of sound including the gentle Oboe and the rich and enveloping Great chorus. There is a wonderful warmth about the building and the organ. Shades of blue dominate.
We drove to Cooperstown, along the way passing the grounds of Glimmerglass Opera and Lake Otsego. After a brief visit to the Farmer’s Museum, a collection of historic structures, we went to lunch in the Old World elegance of the Otesaga Hotel. The buffet was served on the veranda with its stunning view of Lake Otsego.
We then returned to the museum where, in a gentle rain, we toured the various buildings—avoiding puddles and observing wool spinners, blacksmiths and the like, before visiting the former Cornwallville United Methodist Church to hear the 1849 Giles Beach organ played by Eugene Roan with John Burkhalter, English flute. They presented a pleasant musicale of mostly American music from the 19th and early 20th centuries. The gentle and sweet tones of the instruments in the historic church building evoked the period of this charming literature quite nicely. We would hear several organs by Gloversville, New York builder Giles Beach at the convention—this tiny one-manual, four-stop instrument was the smallest. Beach built some 100 organs, of which only six survive.
We then drove to Albany. Following dinner at the Crowne Plaza Hotel (we ate very well all week!), we took a magical stroll to All Saints’ Cathedral, passing some of Albany’s magnificent buildings, including the splendid State Capitol building and City Hall, both by Henry Hobson Richardson. City Hall boasts a 49-bell carillon, and carillonneur Charles Semowich provided glorious “traveling music” as we walked to the cathedral.
Dedicated in 1888, Albany’s All Saints Episcopal Cathedral is one of America’s great gothic churches. At 330 feet long and 100 feet high, it is a most impressive monument. In 1900, Austin built a fine 4-manual instrument, and the organ was enlarged in 1904 when transepts were completed for the cathedral. By all accounts it was a magnificent organ. In 1956 it was greatly altered by the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company, changed to reflect the American Classic style. It was changed again by Austin in 1963, and in 1986 a gallery antiphonal was added incorporating a Trompette-en-Chamade (photo p. 27).
Joan Lippincott’s large and ambitious program began with the hymn “Ancient of Days” to the tune Albany. She then played Fanfare and Fugue by Ned Rorem, which announced itself on the powerful west end Trompette-en-Chamade. Next, Bach’s Passacaglia & Fugue gave us a tour of the principal choruses. Her playing was, as always, clean, robust, and spirited; each musical line was clearly delineated. The first half ended with a brilliant reading of Mozart’s Fantasy in F Minor, in which we heard some of the quiet and gentle sounds of the organ.
Following intermission, Miss Lippincott returned to play another fanfare: Fanfare for the Common Man by Aaron Copland. I was seated in the crossing and greatly enjoyed the surround-sound effect of trumpets at east and west ends. The grand acoustics of the cathedral added to the impact of her deeply felt and spectacular performance. She then launched into one of the 20th-century’s greatest organ works: Jehan Alain’s Trois Danses. From my seat in the crossing, I could enjoy the various reed sounds bouncing now from north to south, or triforium to triforium as she used the divisions above both sides of the choir. Lippincott projected all the spirit of the dances dovetailed with the sense of melancholy and fate that pervades all of Jehan Alain’s music. To glorious effect she had reserved the evening’s first use of the 32' reed for the middle of the second Danse—the impact was staggering. The final movement (Struggles) showed why this great performer’s muscular and riveting playing is so admired. Lippincott ended with the Liszt Prelude and Fugue on B.A.C.H., a piece made for a room like All Saints Cathedral.
And that was just the first full day!

Tuesday, June 27

The day dawned sunny and clear. On this day 50 years ago, the OHS was founded, and on this day six years ago, Westminster Presbyterian Church, a red brick church on Albany’s Capitol Hill, signed a contract with the Austin Organ Company to rebuild their 3-manual 1930 E. M. Skinner organ, Opus 780. But there is a great story here. By the 1970s the Skinner needed cleaning, releathering and some renovations. Instead of doing that routine work, the church decided to spend the money on what was then a state-of-the-art electronic substitute. Thomas and Ann Older, members of the church, bought the Skinner for one dollar, and had it installed in their home where it would stay safely for the next 25 years. By 2001, the electronic was ancient and experiencing some very public embarrassing moments. The Olders graciously offered to return the Skinner to a grateful church; Austin rebuilt it, adding an antiphonal organ (in a case designed by Stephen Bicknell) with tonal finishing by Scot L. Huntington. We heard it in a very fine concert by Professor Thomas Murray of Yale University—a longtime champion of historic American organs and no stranger to the organs of Ernest Skinner.
He began with Handel’s Organ Concerto in F, op. 4, no. 4, using the antiphonal organ (which stands above the main door to the church) as the “organ,” and the main part of the instrument in the chancel as the “orchestra.” It was very effective, and the playing was clear and fine. His final piece was Duruflé’s Prelude, Adagio et Chorale varié, op. 4. I sat in the front row so that I could observe his legendary console technique—he did not disappoint. Murray’s sense of color and melodic line was a thing to behold and to hear. He made the most of the gorgeous resources of this wonderful instrument. In the final section of variations on Veni Creator (has there every been a finer harmonization of that marvelous tune?), he gradually opened the Skinner in all of its glory.
This organ exists today as a triumphant vindication of all the things for which the OHS stands: that there is great organ building in every age, and that we only need to regard current fashion as transient; we ignore the greatness of previous ages at our peril; and the lack of a clear-eyed and clear-eared vision dooms us to mediocrity. This was a great recital on a great organ!
We boarded the buses for our next event. Everyone enjoyed the architecture of this historic city as we made our way to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church for a recital by Stephen Schnurr, chairman of the 2002 OHS convention in Chicago and co-author of Pipe Organs of Chicago. St. Paul’s was established in 1827, but worships in a new church completed in 1966—a white building with windows in a “sawtooth” pattern, à la the new Coventry Cathedral, which throws light upon the altar. The 3-manual Casavant organ stands behind the altar on a high platform. A delicate and stunning metal screen separates it from the altar. The sound is clear and fine in the church’s resonant acoustic, and it is an elegant example of the best organ building from its period.
The concert featured mostly Baroque music. In the Bruhns Praeludium in E Minor and the Sweelinck Variations on Mein Junges Leben hat ein End’ we heard the sparkling flues and the Dulzian, Krumhorn, Ranket and Schalmei stops—so popular in the 1960s—as well as the trumpets. In Bach’s Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott, BWV 720, we heard the Sesquialtera against the Dulzian 16'—a fine OHS demonstration of an organ’s tonal variety! Schnurr next played the Bach/Vivaldi Concerto in D Minor, and I especially enjoyed the lovely flute stops in the slow movement. He closed with Gustav Merkel’s Sonata in D Minor, a four-hand piece in which he was joined on the bench by Derek Nickels. We heard the fine strings in the Adagio and enjoyed full organ at the end. A thoroughly satisfying program and performance!
We were served a box lunch at Peebles Island State Park located at the confluence of the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers, from which we could observe a lock on the Erie Canal. The OHS 2006 Organ Atlas reminded us on page 60 that “Many organs built by Erben, Hall & Labagh, Ferris and others were sent to their destinations in New York, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and to the rest of the Western Reserve through these locks . . . [making] New York State the organ building center of the U.S. until well after the Civil War.”
A short ride took us to United Church of Cohoes and our annual meeting, where we were introduced to the new executive director of the OHS, Daniel N. Colburn. Among other things, we learned of upcoming conventions: 2007 Indianapolis; 2008 Seattle; 2009 Cleveland. Sounds good to me! Daniel Schwandt, chairman of the Distinguished Service Award Committee, presented this year’s award to Edna Van Duzee Walter for her 40 years of significant and distinguished service to the Round Lake Auditorium organ and its concert series.
Following the meeting, Peter Edwin Krasinski, 2002 first prize winner of the AGO National Competition in Improvisation, demonstrated the 2-manual Giles Beach organ from 1866 with an improvisation in four movements on the hymn we sang: “Holy, Holy, Holy!” (Nicaea). I always enjoy hearing musical styles contemporary to our time played on historic instruments—thereby bringing the instruments out of the museum-type treatments we often give them. Krasinski is a gifted and versatile musician. His improvised tour of this fine and historic organ was most effective.
Our “free” evening began with an elegant cocktail reception sponsored by several organ builders in the gorgeous 1870 Canfield Casino in Saratoga’s Congress Park. The deliciously extravagant Victorian building is now a museum. Kelvin Hastie, secretary of the Organ Historical Trust of Australia, gave a lecture on Australian and New Zealand organs. It was a fascinating tour of those countries’ organ cultures complete with slides and sound samples.

Wednesday, June 28

The day began with heavy rain and ominous flood warnings. We went ahead with a full day in the country, even crossing over to Vermont. One of the great and endearing charms of an OHS convention is a day spent in little rural churches listening to small historic organs. A friend called it “Melodia and Dulciana day.”
My group went first to United Presbyterian Church in Shushan, New York, where Thomas Dressler demonstrated a lovely unaltered 1891 2-manual by Woodberry & Harris, Opus 92. As the now gentle rain fell outside and a passing train joined in with its own bells and whistles, we were enchanted by the organ’s lovely tone. The Melodia was especially good, but I really liked the fine Oboe. The Stopped Diapason on the Swell had a full, room-filling quality. Dressler played Percy Whitlock’s Folk Tune from Five Short Pieces showing many of the warm soft sounds of this treasure of an organ, and ended with a stirring performance of Jacques Lemmens’s Fanfare for Concert Use.
The bus I was on got lost (!) so I missed Grant Moss’s demonstration of the Johnson & Sons Opus 843 from 1896 at First Baptist Church, Manchester Center, Vermont. My apologies to Dr. Moss and to the First Baptist Church. I was told that it went very well. He performed Albert Bigollet’s Douze pièces pour orgue.
We went to lunch at the palatial Equinox Hotel in Manchester, Vermont—another yummy feast in historic Old World elegance. I remember well the OHS meals in the good old days served in church basements. The OHS has come a long way!
My group then went to the United Methodist Church, Rupert, Vermont, to hear their historic 2-manual Johnson & Son organ, Opus 629, built in 1884, demonstrated by Robert Barney. The church has wooden theatrical seats with elaborate wrought iron framing. The Johnson organ stands in a corner to the right of the altar. Barney provided a handout detailing his registrations. He began with Pilgrim’s Chorus by Richard Wagner, which allowed us to hear a build-up of sounds as he layered stop upon stop. It is always so enlightening to hear how much these marvelous old instruments, limited in the number of stops (13), can do. The tonal properties of a single open 8' stop in this period of organ building are amazing! Next, we heard an Andante by Henry Stephen Cutler on the 4' flutes—a lovely effect. In James Woodman’s Variations on “Fairest Lord Jesus” (St. Elizabeth), Barney made fine choices of stops, ending with the Open Diapason 8' (one of the best stops of the convention!). He concluded the program with Bach’s Sinfonia to Cantata 29.
The day’s final recital was in the attractive little Episcopal Church of St. Paul in Salem, New York. Paul Tegels, assistant professor of music and university organist at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington, demonstrated the E. & G. G. Hook, Opus 189, from 1855. (Is it really fair for one church to have a Hook organ AND Tiffany windows? This one does. Bless them!) While we did not get to hear much in the way of individual stops, we did hear various combinations of sounds on this sweet-toned and genteel Hook. It had the unusual feature of an attractive balustrade across the front, which supported the façade pipes. Tegels performed the Passacaglia in D minor by Buxtehude as well as music by Vaughan Williams, Haydn, and a jolly march in F major by Guilmant.
The evening weather was perfect for cocktails and a delicious dinner aboard the large riverboat Le Lac du Sacrément, as we cruised the beautiful waters of Lake George. All 450 of us fit very comfortably on this fine ship where we celebrated Michael Barone’s birthday in style!

Thursday, June 29

The day dawned with word of severe flooding in many areas. Our buses had to make a few detours to avoid bridges that were out. At one point I saw a school with water up to the middle of the first floor windows.
My group went first to Christ Episcopal Church in Duanesburg, New York, to enjoy Derek E. Nickels’ brilliant recital on a tiny 3-stop organ by Augustus Backus from ca. 1850. This charming church, which resembles a New England meeting house, is the oldest ecclesiastical structure in the Diocese of Albany. The organ is quite soft spoken, but Nickels made the most of its extraordinary sweet tone. I especially admired his performance of Pachelbel’s partita on Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan.
We next visited Kingsboro Assembly of God in Gloversville, New York, to hear Sebastian Glück demonstrate the 1857 2-manual Giles Beach organ—the earliest known two-manual organ from the Beach shop. Before the concert Stephen Schnurr, chair of the OHS Historic Organ Citations Committee, presented the church’s minister with a Historic Organ Citation for its stewardship of the Beach organ. These citations are given in recognition of instruments of exceptional historic merit. Giles Beach, his father, and his grandfather were all members of this church, making this citation even more meaningful. As well as being a fine organ scholar and writer, Sebastian Glück is artistic and tonal director of Glück New York Pipe Organ Restorers and Builders, who prepared the Beach organ for this recital as it had become unplayable. It has a lovely, delicate quality we hear in so many instruments of this period. Glück’s program was well chosen for the instrument, which, unfortunately, must speak into a very dead acoustic. Especially good were three selections from Twelve Short Pieces by Samuel Wesley. We also heard some Bach, Mozart, Lefébure-Wély, and the third movement from Sonata in D Major by João de Sousa Carvalho.
There is very little to prepare one for St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Schenectady, New York. I confess that the picture I saw of this church in The Tracker played a huge role in my decision to come to the convention. Its style, which I named ‘Richardsonian Gothic’, is striking. The exterior of the 1904 building is all red stone with a tower on each of the four corners and a large dome/lantern tower over the crossing. The vast interior space boasts all-white walls covered in plaster carvings. There are images of 38 saints and 536 images of angels inside the building! The peak of the dome rises 230 feet above the floor. The seating is in a semicircle with a horseshoe balcony. The main floor is raked toward the altar, which stands beneath an enormous gothic arch. The 3-manual organ, also from 1904, by Hutchings-Votey, Opus 1510, stands in the balcony on the left side of the room. It is an intriguing instrument possessing a Saxophone 4' on the Choir. I was told that the organ needed quite a bit of work, so we did not hear very much of it. It had the usual solid sound one expects from Hutchings-Votey instruments, and what we did hear was quite fine. The demonstration was given by organist/composer Alfred V. Fedak, who did a very fine job showing us what was available. He played his own Variations on Pange Lingua as well as pieces by Litaize and Boëllmann. Our visit was all too brief; we left with the sincere hope that this organ will be restored.
A few blocks away found us at Proctor’s Theater and Arcade, which opened in 1927—one of those grand old 2700-seat movie palaces. The original Wurlitzer 3/15 Style F, Opus 1469, was sold in 1957. The present 3-manual instrument, another Wurlitzer, Opus 2157 (“Goldie”) from 1931, was originally built for the Paramount Theatre in Aurora, Illinois, and installed in Proctor’s in 1984. It has been much enlarged over the years, and is lovingly tended to by members of the American Theatre Organ Society. We had the great good fortune to hear the brilliant young American theatre organist Jelani Eddington perform a concert and accompany a silent movie. It was one of the major treats of the convention. He amazed us with his extraordinary skills, split-second stop changes, and color and shading in places most would never imagine. After playing several great American songs and pieces by Leroy Anderson (including a previously unpublished work for organ), he accompanied the Laurel and Hardy 1928 classic Liberty. Eddington’s playing was marvelously understated, which allowed the movie itself to shine, yet he followed each nuance and facial expression of the famous duo, always deferring to them and underlining their zany mayhem in continuous musical motion. He closed his program with Tchaikovsky’s Waltz from Swan Lake. A thundering ovation brought him back for a delightful encore, The Root Beer Rag by Billy Joel—firmly fixing the art of the theatre organ in the present and the future. An amazed audience made its happy way back to the buses.
The evening saw us back in Albany for another major recital: Diane Meredith Belcher on the 1931, 4-manual Casavant organ, Opus 1420, which stands in the rear gallery of St. James’ Catholic Church. St. James’ was completed in 1929. The organ is a glorious instrument, and except for a new Great mixture that Casavant installed in 1983, it is unaltered. Because of the flooding in the area, we did not arrive at the church until after dark. The church is famous for its many large stained glass windows. I hope to return there someday to see them.
Ms. Belcher possesses a formidable technique, and plays with great passion. Torrents of sound came cascading down upon us from the lofty balcony of this acoustically live church. She opened with an expansive and powerful performance of Brahms’s Praeludium und Fuge in a-moll; next, her own transcription of Bach’s Konzert für zwei Violinen in d-moll, BWV 1043, which I found to be quite successful. The pedal part of the Vivace is not for the faint of heart; however, she tossed it off with total control. The elegant Largo was a study in grace, while the Allegro was pure virtuosic dazzle! Belcher followed with Calvin Hampton’s spellbinding Lullaby from Suite No. 2. We heard the lush strings, flutes and soft reeds of this beautiful organ. She ended the first half with Dupré’s Prélude et fugue en sol mineur, op. 7, no. 3. The subdued prelude was followed by a truly thrilling and lightning-fast performance of the famous fugue culminating in full organ.
The second half began with the audience singing Tantum Ergo in Latin—a classy touch! Then followed Franck’s Grande Pièce Symphonique, op. 17. I confess that I’ve never been fond of this particular work—it seems to outstay its welcome—but I did appreciate that here room, organ, and player were well matched in a very good performance. Belcher then played her own transcription of Ravel’s Pavane pour une infante défunte. We heard from the abundant variety of solo stops on this organ including a terrific and bold French Horn. For her final selection, she turned to George T. Thalben-Ball for his Variations on a theme of Paganini for pedals in a brilliant performance that received a long and clamorous standing ovation. (CONTINUE TO PART 2)

 

Canadian Organ Duettists Sylvie Poirier and Philip Crozier on tour in summer 2003

Philip Crozier

Philip Crozier was born in Preston, England, and was a boy chorister in Blackburn and Carlisle Cathedral Choirs. In 1979 he graduated from Cardiff University, and was awarded the Glynne Jones Prize for Organ in two consecutive years. Between 1978 and 1980 he studied in Paris with André Marchal.

For the past several years my wife Sylvie Poirier and I have had the pleasure of traveling extensively giving concerts of organ duets. In the course of numerous concert tours we have amassed a considerable number of very happy memories, sprinkled with some less delightful tales.

It may be worthwhile at this point explaining how all this began. Sylvie and I first met in 1982 as candidates in the Chartres International Organ Competition and at the time lived on opposite sides of the Atlantic. Sylvie was born and living in Montréal, while I am from England. One thing led to another, culminating in my immigration to Canada and our marriage in 1984. The result was that we pooled together our respective collections of organ music and recordings, learning a lot from each other in the process. Our duet playing began later that decade when we decided to try out some organ duets we had bought--enough to make a complete program in two halves which then became the subject of a broadcast on Radio-Canada in May 1990--our debut concert as duettists. That one event was so well received that we were urged and encouraged by several kind folk to continue and do more, so we were stimulated to expand beyond this one concert and examine the available repertory, increase it by commissions and promulgate it by performances and recordings. In 1991 we played in Germany for the first time as duettists, our international debut as such, and it has since grown and grown. We have now commissioned and premiered seven organ duets by composers from Canada, Germany, France and Britain, and released three CDs of organ duets.

From the outset we have preferred to concentrate on original organ duets (the Mozart and Beethoven works excepting, which we consider valid as organ duets) because we are always fascinated by how and why a particular composer would have conceived an organ duet and how he handled this form of  music making, rather than someone taking an existing framework and adapting it for two players. It is also very exciting to unearth original works that have long been out of print, but there is still a lot we are looking for.

Planning a tour

It has become an annual event for us to travel to Europe during the summer when I have vacation time from St. James United Church and Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom in Montréal. Undertaking a concert tour that lasts around forty days presents a number of challenges. A good part of the success or otherwise is a direct result of what happens in the weeks before the plane is boarded, so a significant amount of preparation is obviously necessary; there are so many diverse  eventualities to cover. Planning the actual traveling requires some time consulting train schedules and maps. Occasionally we have had to postpone concerts to subsequent years because of the impossibility of reaching a destination in time.

The choice of repertory for the individual concerts is always carefully  planned to include a good representation of standard duet works which are quite often hardly known at all, taking into account the suitability of the instrument to the music and the availability of playing aids (because we do our own registration unaided, pistons or not, with rare exceptions). Our programs are submitted well in advance, always to include Canadian content, and fulfilling requests that are asked of us, when possible. We also like to include some of our own commissioned works. Organ duettists are relatively rare, and the repertory is not enormous, so concert organizers often prefer to hear duet works that the audience and organists alike are happy to discover or rediscover.

2003 Tour: “Cancelling summer”

The planned tour for summer 2003 was all working out well when I received an e-mail in January  from  David Rogers of Doncaster, England, a long-time friend who in addition to being a fine musician, improviser and recitalist (albeit a reluctant one), is a recording specialist with a huge knowledge of repertory and recording technique. He had made the acquaintance of one individual named Nick, an organ enthusiast who does not play and is not a recording technician, but whose plan was to start a record company devoted to organ music, to be recorded and edited by David. At Nick’s request David asked if I could record the Reubke Sonata on the 94th Psalm--a piece I had never played, but have known well since childhood as a listener, initially through an old LP of the never to be forgotten magisterial reading of Brian Runnett. David had made Nick familiar with my organ playing through private recordings of concerts I had given some twenty years ago. So I eagerly began learning this wonderful work and completed the task in due course.

Sylvie and I also greatly admire the organ works of Petr Eben whom we met in Prague in 1995 and 2000, and it was also suggested we record some of his works with the upcoming 75th birthday of the composer in mind. In 1993 we had broadcast Job and Faust on Radio-Canada (performances that Petr Eben himself was delighted with), but this music remains quite unknown in Canada. Consequently we invested much time, energy and enthusiasm into this new project where we had been assured all funding was in place, greatly encouraged by this unexpected recording opportunity. The organ of Fulda Cathedral in Germany seemed entirely suitable to the repertory in our opinion, and its availability was negotiated and booked. After all the required arrangements had been made with the cathedral, the repertory approaching where we wanted it to be for the recording (it is vital not to “peak” too soon) and a crescendo of excitement building day by day, Nick suddenly sent us an e-mail five weeks before our departure, citing a family problem and ending “my business will have to be sidelined temporarily, so, as they say in the satirical press, Summer is cancelled.”

Shocked and dismayed, we respectfully requested that the recordings could still proceed in his absence with David alone (Nick had insisted on being present at all recording sessions), since these had now become mitigating circumstances and by this stage the planning and preparation for the recording was so far advanced. This was refused outright so we were in a terrible dilemma: do we cancel and possibly jeopardize everything later, or wait, hoping the issue can be resolved, or do we continue alone? The impasse with Nick was not advancing anywhere and we began doubting the sincerity and goodwill of what had been achieved thus far in the project we had embarked upon.

A swift decision had to be made--every day counted with our departure for Europe approaching rapidly. It became more and more apparent that we were going to have to go it alone if these recordings were to be realized. Those final five weeks were spent frantically trying to salvage the situation, soliciting donations from friends and organizations so we could begin the actual  recording. This took up so much of our time that hardly any organ practice was done in those five weeks--not the best situation to be in before a tour of twelve concerts and a recording project! With much regret I decided to abandon the Reubke--this after all was to have been only half of one CD, the other half being taken up with the Piano Sonata by a pianist of repute. There was precious little time remaining before our departure and this had to be principally devoted to the Eben pieces which demand so much concentrated work, in spite of the monumental distractions preying on our minds constantly.

Limburg

It was relaxing in a strange way to be on the plane flying to Europe on the evening of July 16 after the turmoil of the preceding five weeks; we had done all we could, securing enough funding to cover the production of two compact discs. Arriving at Charles de Gaulle airport, Paris, it was clear that our flight connection to Frankfurt was beyond reach. Six hours later, with a good meal along the way, we were airborne again. We were met at Frankfurt by Markus Eichenlaub, organist of Limburg Cathedral where we were to play the first concert. After the hour drive to Limburg and settling in to the Priester Seminar, our home for the next three nights, we were taken to the cathedral by Mr. Eichenlaub. A pleasant fifteen-minute walk from our residence, the thirteenth-century cathedral has a commanding presence over the surroundings, perched on a hill overlooking the River Lahn.

The organ by Hans-Gerd Klais (1978) is a large four-manual with eight combinations, spread across the west gallery and will likely be restored in a year or so. Mr. Eichenlaub suggested we hear it from downstairs as he demonstrated its many colors, and it was of great value to hear it played beforehand. He is a very gifted improviser, and it felt somewhat surreal with the fatigue of the journey starting to bite hard as we wandered  around this magnificently beautiful building, with the evening sunshine streaming through the windows.

Then we were left to explore it for ourselves and begin registering the program which included Two Pieces for Organ Duet by Ronald Arnatt, a first for us. It proved to be quite a challenge to make this particular piece work on that organ; the second movement is aptly named “Octopus Music.” There was a video hook up for the concert itself (which was very well attended). We needed to change the pistons as we progressed since we had also chosen this as the venue to give the German première of our most recent commissioned duet, the 2me Suite pour orgue à quatre mains by French organist Jean-Luc Perrot. Following the concert we went to an excellent Spanish restaurant with our hosts and some of their friends.

During our time in Limburg we also enjoyed a barbeque on the lawn with the organist and his wife and son. We were the only visiting residents in the seminary, home to just a few nuns, in a spacious new building, so were alone and basically had the whole place to ourselves, with easy access to the small two-manual tracker organ in the chapel. Finally we were able to really concentrate on practice, instead of answering the telephone, meeting people to explain and discuss the aforementioned imminent recording project, and sending multiple e-mails and letters. Just being at the organ and making music was very therapeutic--how we wished life could always be like that!

Fulda (First visit)

Leaving Limburg on Sunday July 20, we took the train to Fulda and were greeted that afternoon by Domorganist Hans-Jürgen Kaiser and taken to the Priester Seminar where we had individual rooms with a shower. It was relatively spartan accommodation, home to several priests in training from all over the world, including French-speaking from Africa, but quiet and comfortable, and situated just behind the cathedral. There was also a rail timetable thoughtfully posted on the notice board. Our good friend David Pearson in Kiel had supplied us with various train times for our travels; he acts as our agent in Germany and was a key player in all the Fulda arrangements.

The cathedral was built in the new Baroque manner (1704-1712) to the design of the architect Johann Dientzenhofer and is an outstanding work of art. Inspired by the Roman Baroque style, it reuses the architectural core of the ancient Abbot Ratgar’s Basilica (9th century). In keeping with the splendor of the building in which it is housed, the organ is truly magnificent. The glorious case dates from the time of the cathedral’s construction, and today the organ consists of 72 speaking stops, including some 24 from the large Sauer organ of 1876/77 which was rebuilt and enlarged by Christoph Glatter-Götz of Rieger-Orgelbau and completed in 1996. The specification can be found on the company’s website <www.riegerorgelbau.com/db/pdf/Fulda.pdf&gt;. The four-manual console is well equipped with a multiple memory system (32x12 generals), two-way sequencer and additional electric action for some of the couplers. What a great thrill it is to play this wonderful instrument, and Mr. Kaiser was most helpful during our time in Fulda. We were allowed access to the organ in the evenings and partly during the lunch hours when we could play quietly.

David Rogers arrived the day after with his very specialized and compact recording equipment. At last the much anticipated recording project of organ works by Petr Eben was about to begin. Over several nights spread over one and a half weeks, Sylvie recorded Job (a narrator in Montréal has recorded the French text of the Biblical readings to go between the movements), and I did Faust, A Festive Voluntary and A Small Chorale Partita. There were a few unexpected interruptions--on one evening a private guided tour, and on another evening a trainee priest began practicing the organ in the chapel behind the high altar. Because it is also a monastery and a major learning place, from time to time there were some extraneous noises that had a tendency to arrive just as the last chord was dying away! Despite this, there was hardly any traffic noise because the cathedral is perfectly situated away from roads. We had been lent a set of keys, and on one evening had considerable trouble locking the cathedral door. Something was wrong with the lock and it was fixed the next day.

Rheda-Wiedenbrück

We interrupted our time in Fulda later that week and rented a car driven by David Rogers to go to Rheda-Wiedenbrück, our next port of call. As we went to collect it we noticed a German newspaper photograph with major headlines from Iraq and two familiar faces front and center. One fact about concert touring is that we tend not to follow the news, and in Fulda we had neither radio nor television. On the journey, in which we ran into some very heavy rain, we picked up news on the car radio. The hotel in Rheda-Wiedenbrück was the first time we had seen a television screen since leaving Montréal, and the demise of these two individuals was the big news of the week, along with gruesome photos.

Upon arrival we were met by a lady at the hotel who gave us the church keys; we deposited our cases and went to eat. We were ravenous and found a pizzeria close to the church and went in about 7 pm, fully expecting to be out by 8:30 pm--the organ was available all evening. In the end it took nearly forty-five minutes after placing the order before the soup was served and nearly an hour after that for the pizza, which was very ordinary. It was approaching 10 pm before we left the restaurant, irritated by the apparent indifference of the patron, and not in the mood to have a good practice. It was almost dark by this time and we fumbled around in the gloom trying to find switches and keyholes. We registered the program, grateful for the playing aids, and returned to the hotel.

The next day, Friday July 25, David Pearson arrived for a surprise visit in time for the concert at St. Clemens Kirche, where the three-manual organ is by Fischer & Krämer (1984), details of which can be found at <www.fischer-kraemer.de/rheda.htm&gt;. It was our third concert in this church where a few years ago we first met Ralf Bölting, composer of several organ duets. Our program included one work we commissioned from him in 2000, the Toccata on “Vom Himmel hoch” (the third movement of the Triptych on German Christmas Carols), but unfortunately he could not attend the concert. We have several good original Christmas duets in our repertory, but are frequently asked not to play them during the summer, so we were happy to be able to include it.

Zwillbrock

On Saturday the four of us filled the rented car and headed to Borken to stay with our good friend Kurt-Ludwig Forg, director of the music school there, a recitalist and author of numerous articles and a frequent visitor to North America. We left David Pearson in Münster so he could take the train north to Kiel because of services the next day.

On Sunday afternoon July 27, we played a concert to a capacity audience at the Barockkirche St. Franziskus in Zwillbrock, a delightful small village on the Dutch border. The website (in German) <www.zwillbrock.de/barockkirche/&gt; contains information about the historic two-manual organ and an interior photograph of this beautiful baroque building. It is possible to perform a complete concert of original organ duets on a small instrument and gain very satisfactory results, and this particular one served the repertory really well. The program included Fugue à six parties et deux sujets à 4 mains by Clément Loret and Petite Suite by Canadian organist and composer Denis Bédard, and many of our CDs were sold afterwards. We have given concerts on organs of all sizes and found repertory that is suitable in each case.  That is the challenge for the performer--to construct an interesting program on the organ that is available. We aim to exploit the resources of repertory and instrument as much as possible. It is amazing what some of these smaller instruments can do.

Fulda (Second visit)

Then it was back to Fulda to begin the second week of recording sessions, having fulfilled our concert duties for the time being, and avoiding the heavy service schedule in the cathedral over the weekend. Because we had the car we took a pleasant day off and made a pilgrimage to Eisenach which is not far away in former East Germany. The border is no longer apparent, but passing through the flowing landscapes of Thuringia familiar to Bach and entering the town of Eisenach, there is much evidence of reconstruction. We parked the car close to the Georgenkirche where Bach was baptized. It was also the scene of major protests in 1989, as documented in several photographs in the church aisles depicting all three galleries filled with the townsfolk as the Communist era was nearing its final sunset there. The Bachhaus, Bach’s birthplace, was the first museum to be dedicated to Johann Sebastian Bach and is well worth a visit. Established in 1906 through the Neue Bachgesellschaft, its collection includes archives, household items and other treasures from the time of Bach, in addition to a valuable assortment of musical instruments. The visit includes a live demonstration of these historical  instruments. In the souvenir shop we purchased several recordings, a poster of the Bach Family Tree, and a tie and umbrella of Bach’s handwriting. Meanwhile a baseball cap (which at one time I would never have imagined wearing) provided invaluable protection against the burning sun.

During that last week in Fulda we also visited the Michaelskirche adjacent to the cathedral; it is one of the most notable medieval sacred buildings in Germany--its crypt dates from Carolingian times originating between 819 and 822 as the burial chapel in the former Benedictine monks’ cemetery on the same site. Daily at 6 pm the bells peal forth from both the cathedral tower and  the Michaelskirche. What a glorious sound this is, which David Rogers captured on tape. We have decided to add it to the end of Sylvie’s CD.

For the recording sessions we stayed in the cathedral until around midnight every night, finishing the proceedings in the congenial surroundings of a neighboring hostelry where we mulled everything over before turning in for the night. Finally we accomplished what we set out to achieve, two compact discs of works by Petr Eben. One night we were treated to a spectacular thunderstorm and on another night, returning to the seminary at about 1:45 am, we could hear the organ in the cathedral and quietly went to investigate. The great instrument on the west gallery was being played, along with the one at the other extremity of the building in the chapel behind the high altar. A work for two organs--both organists were remarkably together, but we never found out who they were.

Itzehoe

On Friday August 1, we went our separate ways; David Rogers headed back to England and we travelled north to Kiel to stay with David Pearson, with whom we took the train to Itzehoe on Saturday where we found the four-manual 1905 Sauer to be quite disappointing, despite a relatively comprehensive specification, far from what the stoplist had promised by way of sound selection. The program included the very first organ duet by a Canadian composer, Duet for Organ by Frederick R.C. Clarke dating from 1954. This concert attracted the lowest audience of the tour with about twenty-five in attendance. However we played an encore on the other instrument that shares the gallery, some four stops that contain original Arp Schnitger pipes from 1716-1719.

Estonia

Our first visit to Estonia began on Monday August 4, when we took the airport bus from Kiel to Hamburg and boarded the Estonian Air flight to Tallinn where we were to give three concerts in the Tallinn XVII International Organ Festival, the first Canadian organists and duettists to be invited to perform in this prestigious festival which came into being in 1987. As such we were the grateful recipients of a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts under their International Performance Assistance in Music (Pilot Project). Our programs acknowledged that support.

The meal on the plane was surprisingly good, and upon arrival we were met by Eva-Maria Asari from the Canadian embassy and Tiiu Valper, assistant to Festival Artistic Director Andres Uibo, and driven to the hotel in old Tallinn where all the performers are lodged, aptly named “Old Town Maestro’s.” This was the beginning of a lovely week which included a guided tour of the Canadian embassy with its magnificent view over a part of the city walls, and the harbor. We received an invitation for lunch a few days later with the Canadian Ambassador, His Excellency Mr. Robert Andrigo, and his wife, along with other representatives from the embassy and the festival. It was of course an honor and pleasure to be guests of the ambassador and his staff and to discuss our career and performance plans. My mother arrived in Tallinn also, staying in another hotel outside the old town. This was the only time on the tour we could meet up because once again a trip to my native England was not possible this year.

The festival itself featured artists from several countries and each generally performed in three different venues, not just in Tallinn but in other towns as well, and attended each others’ concerts when possible. On the  first evening we attended an excellent organ recital by Andras Viragh from Hungary in the cathedral (Tallinna toomkirik) where there is a large three-manual Sauer (1913). This church also has one of the largest collections in all of Europe of coat-of-arms epitaphs of well-to-do families dating from the medieval era. Later in the week Andres Uibo gave a splendid concert at the Niguliste muuseum-kontserdisaal (Niguliste Museum-Concert Hall) which included a fine Fuge in D minor by Rudolf Tobias (1873-1918) whose picture appears on the 50 Krooni note alongside an organ, the only banknote in the world that has an organ on it (also available on a souvenir fridge magnet).

On August 9 we attended a most satisfying program entitled “Dance and Mass.” The dance was in the first half, the dancers being the Vilnius Camargo Troupe, and the Estonian Baroque Soloists playing Lully, Campra, Bach, Vivaldi and others from the period, all choreographed. “A Mass for Sunday Misericordia Domini” was the title of the second half consisting of Gregorian chant and North German baroque organ music. Peter van Dijk from Holland performed Scheidemann, Hasse, Praetorius, extracts from the Tablature of Martinus Leopolita (ca. 1580), Sweelinck, Karges and Buxtehude. The choral Mass sections were sung by the ensemble Vox Clamantis, which comprises a diversity of musicians, singers, composers, instrumentalists and conductors who all have a common interest in Gregorian chant, under the direction of Jaan-Eik Tulve. The musical forces were a finely balanced complement all the way through the concert.

Our first recital was on Tuesday August 5 in the impressive Pärnu Concert Hall which is less than one year old and fully equipped. Pärnu is a very popular holiday resort in Estonia, particularly favored by politicians. The organ builder Martin ter Haseborg was present when we arrived and was available should there be problems with the instrument. There remained a few pipes that still needed to be connected and some finishing touches to the instrument here and there, but this did not affect our program during which we gave the Estonian premières of three of our commissioned works: Sinfonietta by Denis Bédard; Dance Suite for Organ Duet by South-African born Canadian organist and composer Jacobus Kloppers; and the aforementioned 2me Suite pour orgue à quatre mains by Jean-Luc Perrot. The specification of the three-manual organ along with photographs can be found at <www.concert.ee/eesti/parnu/orel/index.php&gt;.

The second concert was originally scheduled to be in Viljandi on a two-manual instrument but in due course this was changed to Räpina Church on Thursday August 7. Räpina is a somewhat bare place near the Russian border not far from Lake Peipsi, the fifth largest lake in Europe. The priest welcomed us, along with the local organ maintenance technician. Before the concert the priest and his wife invited us to their home for some refreshments. The audience was spread around the church and on the gallery, and the organ was in many ways the most satisfying instrument we played in Estonia. The program included  the Sonata in G minor (op. 50) by Leberecht Baumert, a fine duet that has only recently become generally available, and the Estonian première of the Petite Suite of Denis Bédard. The concert closed with some prayers led by the priest. There was  not a great deal of time to rehearse, as in Pärnu, and we collected a poster bearing a variant of my name-- Sphilip Crozier. The return journey was beautified with a fabulous sunset,  around 11 pm in early August.

I should mention that we had a preview of Estonia three years ago when Karl Raudsepp, a Montréal-based organbuilder, gave a very captivating talk and video presentation to the Montréal Centre of the RCCO on Balticum 2000, the ISO Congress of that year that visited Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Karl is the only member of his family not to have been born in Estonia, and he has been preparing an inventory of Estonian organs. I am grateful to him for the following information:

The organ in Räpina Church is a fairly large two-manual instrument, built by August Terkmann in 1934. It also incorporates some stops from the 1857 organ originally built by the Tartu organbuilder, August Kessler. The new stoplist was worked out in conjunction with the well-known Estonian composer and organ teacher, August Topman. It was the last instrument built by Terkmann. Among his employees at the time were the brothers Oskar and Voldemar Gutmann as well as Otto and Alfred Gutdorf.

The stoplist is as follows:

Manual I

16’             Bourdon

8’                  Principal

8’                  Gamba

8’                  Flauto amabile

8’                  Doppelgedackt

8’                  Gemshorn

8’                  Salicional

4’                  Oktav

4’                  Hohlflöte

22/3’        Quinte

2’                  Oktav

                        Cornett III-V

                        Cymbel III-IV

                        Subkoppel II-I

                        Superkoppel II-I

                        Superkoppel I

Manual II (under expression)

16’             Gedackt

8’                  Geigenprincipal

8’                  Quintaton

8’                  Flöte

8’                  Lieblichgedackt

8’                  Viola

8’                  Vox celeste

4’                  Principal

4’                  Rohrflöte

2’                  Koppelflöte

                        Mixtur III-V

8’                  Trompete

                        Subkoppel II

                        Superkoppel II

                        Glocken

                        Tremolo

Pedal

16’             Principalbass

16’             Subbass

16’             Gedacktbass

8’                  Oktavbass

8’                  Cello

102/3’   Quinte

16’             Posaune

                        I-P

                        II-P

                        Superkoppel II-P

The Echo organ, planned for installation in the gallery behind the altar, and playable from Manual II, was never built due to the lack of funds. It would have comprised the following stops:

Echo

8’                  Fernflöte

8’                  Undamaris

4’                  Gemshorn

Karl also added in a further e-mail to me that August Terkmann is credited with introducing many new technical innovations into organ building in Estonia, including the use of electricity. His instruments are renowned for their gentle voicing and singing quality. Räpina’s organ stands out as a remarkable example of his work.

Our third concert was at the Niguliste Museum-Concert Hall on Sunday August 10. Details and photographs of this former church can be found at <www.ekm.ee/english/niguliste/&gt;. The organ was built in 1981 by the Rieger-Kloss company and has 4 manuals and pedal, 63 registers, and 4711 pipes. The  program included two movements from one of our commissioned duets, Suite de noëls by Canadian organist and composer Gilles Rioux, as well as the Bombardo-Carillon by Charles Henri Valentin Alkan for pedals alone, and ending with the Toccata Française (sur le nom de H.E.L.M.U.T.) by Ralf Bölting which is a real showcase work. The concert was attended by the ambassador and the full staff of the Office of the Canadian Embassy and broadcast live on Estonian Classical Radio. Before this concert I recorded an interview for the same program that was aired during the interval.

At the conclusion of the concert there was a fine reception hosted by the festival which is run by the State Concert Institute Eesti Kontsert and in our experience is extremely well organized. Ground transportation in the form of comfortable mini buses belonging to Eesti Kontsert was provided from the airport and back, and for the two-hour drive to Pärnu and three-hour ride to Räpina. In each of these venues outside Tallinn we received the same courtesy and warm welcome extended to us in Tallinn. The driver himself, an employee of Eesti Kontsert, was responsible for the distribution of programs in Räpina where everything ran smoothly. We had the chance to explore a bit during some of the free time that week. It was most interesting to go into a supermarket, something that always fascinates me in different countries, and it was very well stocked with all the usual household necessities. Milk products were in abundance, so they have their act together on that one. Just a visit to a supermarket can give a snapshot of the location--and if this was anything to go by, Estonia is on the right path.

Garding

The week passed very quickly in Estonia, before we returned to Kiel on Monday August 11, for the next venue a couple of days later in Garding, some two hours by train. It is a beautiful small town, and the delightful ancient St. Christianskirche was completely full for the concert which we opened with the Duet for Organ by Samuel Wesley. The organ was built in 1974 by the Schuke company of Berlin. The organ case of the Hauptwerk dates back to 1512, and as such is the oldest unchanged organ case in North Germany. The casework for the Rückpositiv was completed in 1680. The specification is below:

Hauptwerk (C-f3)

8’                  Regal

8’                  Prinzipal

8’                  Rohrflöte

4’                  Oktave

2’                  Oktave

                        Mixtur IV-V

8’                  Trompete

Rückpositiv (C-f3)

8’                  Gedackt

4’                  Rohrflöte

4’                  Prinzipal

2’                  Gemshorn

11/3’        Quinte

                        Sesquialter II (from c0)

                        Scharff III-IV

Pedal (C-f1)

16’             Subbaß

8’                  Prinzipal

4’                  Choralbaß

                        Hintersatz IV

16’             Fagott

Saarbrücken

After a couple of days rest in Kiel we headed south to Saarbrücken on Friday August 15 to play at the Basilika St. Johannis. We met our host Bernhard Leonardy, organist of the basilica, later in the evening, and visited the town in his open top sports car. This was a first for us too, exhilarating to experience the fresh midnight air like this. We had only one hour on the organ before the 11:30 am recital the next day, but fortunately the five-manual Hugo Mayer from Saarland organ has a multiple memory system. Further information about the church and a specification of the organ with photographs of the console can be found at <www.basilika-sb.de/&gt;.

Wiesbaden

After the concert we ate at a small snack bar near the station because we had our luggage with us and needed to be at the station for the train that gave us good connections to Wiesbaden. Travel from Saarbrücken to Wiesbaden was plagued with rail problems, beginning with the non-arrival of the ICE that was running one hour late, forcing us to take a taxi from Mainz to Wiesbaden. Gabriel Dessauer, organist of  St. Bonifatius, had left instructions for us to be at the church to collect various keys after the Saturday evening Mass. He was away and was only returning in time for our concert on Sunday afternoon. Over the years we have developed a technique for working rapidly on a new instrument--we prepare for the eventuality that there is often a short amount of practice time on the instrument due to circumstances beyond our control--but we do find it is invaluable to gain access to the organ the day before the concert. On this occasion we almost missed an evening on the three-manual Mayer organ which has 640 pistons allowing for instant comparison of various registration options and is “user-friendly.” Information about the church and organ and music are on the church website <www.st-bonifatius-wiesbaden.de/&gt; and there is an English section too.

Gabriel Dessauer arrived the day of the concert to greet us. Our visit coincided with an annual Fest going on in the town, with a huge selection of wines, beers and food on stands in the main town square. It was so good to be part of this great celebration but a huge downpour of rain, essential though with the heat wave going on at the time, watered it down somewhat. The church with its vibrant acoustics was akin to a sauna bath.

Heiligenhafen

Following Wiesbaden we returned north to Kiel, breaking the journey for a second visit to Borken to see Kurt-Ludwig Forg for a couple of days. Such free days are much appreciated in a concert tour. The last concert in Germany was on Thursday August 21 at the Stadtkirche in the coastal town of Heilgenhafen which boasts much tourism and fish restaurants, but lacks reasonable public transportation, not being served by a railway, and a bus service that finishes before the end of the concert. David Pearson came with us for the day trip and we were well received by the organist Dörte Czernitzski. The concert was very well attended; one special characteristic was that the organ bench was polished to perfection, enabling us to slide forward straight into the pedalboard with effortless ease. So we had to be vigilant all the time! 

Paris

The next day we had an early start for the long train journey to Frankfurt airport from where we had an evening flight to Paris. Late trains and missed connections had become quite rife on this trip (not typical of Germany, I might add), so we decided it was better to be safe than sorry. In Paris we were met by Sylvie’s brother who has lived in France for more than thirty years. On Saturday afternoon we went to rehearse at La Madeleine to find that there were two weddings so we had to return in the evening.

General Kalck, who is in charge of concert organization, proudly demonstrated the organ to us. As he was explaining the various registers and their history, I was observing and memorizing their location. One interesting fact about this organ is its shortage of 8’ diapason stops. There is a wide plethora of sound at 8’ pitch, but only one Montre 8’ on the Grand Orgue and Positif respectively, and not on the other two manuals. The absence of more principal sound at 8’ pitch is not so noticeable. A multi-memory system accelerates matters much faster in the relatively short practice time available. He left us to it, giving us precise instructions and exact telephone numbers to call when we had finished so we could be let out of the building. Reassuringly, they matched those posted on the organ console, so we enjoyed exploring the delights of this wonderful monument of French organ building, with its grandstand view down into the nave (not so easy if one is afraid of heights).

La Madeleine has had a long succession of distinguished organists including  Camille Saint-Saëns (1857-1877), Théodore Dubois (1877-1896), Gabriel Fauré (1896-1905) and Jeanne Demessieux (1962-1968). After about three hours we had done all the necessary work and then telephoned but could not obtain a free line. Half an hour later, with no joy whatsoever, it seemed we were doomed to spend the night in the Madeleine. Sylvie stayed upstairs, trying the telephone again and again, while I went hunting for exit points and other telephones. Thus I discovered just about every door in the building, various tunnels, spiral staircases and iron grills. Tourists do not usually have the freedom and privilege of such explorations; what a wonderful place it is! In the sacristy I found another telephone in the dark but  still could not get a line, then a portable one that I took back into the church so I could see better. Between us we tried everything but nothing worked. I continued walking around, sincerely hoping I would trigger an alarm somewhere, but after about forty-five long minutes a voice shouted from high up over the high altar to enquire if we had terminated for the night because the organ was no longer being played. It was a janitor and we informed him that obtaining a telephone line was impossible. After checking the telephones and finding them to be in order he let us out. It was a relief to be outside on the street. The next day General Kalck greeted us with a question “what happened last night?” Then he added “did you add a zero to the number?” That was the key to the problem.

The concert was attended by over 500 people, many of them Parisians returning to the city after their traditional month away. Jean-Luc Perrot and his wife also came to hear the performance of his 2me Suite pour orgue à quatre mains which in fact was its première in France. François-Henri Houbart, organist of La Madeleine since 1979, was away for that weekend, performing a concert elsewhere so we did not have the opportunity to meet him.

The next day we flew back to Montréal, arriving home tired but fulfilled. Before the trip we purchased some good disposable cameras so we could have a record of everything because our own camera had recently become non-functional. We took numerous photographs including all the organs and their consoles and most of the people mentioned in this article, and eagerly awaited their development. When I went to collect them they were unrecognizable! The photographs had been mixed up with another customer when they were forwarded to a central processing plant and were never traced. The photos here are by David Rogers.

List of repertory performed on this tour (all organ duets)

*Sinfonietta, Denis Bédard (1950-)

Petite Suite, Bédard

Two Pieces for Organ Duet (1989), Ronald Arnatt (1930-): “Sarabande with Variations,” “Octopus Music”

Fantasie in f-Moll, KV 608, W. A. Mozart (1756-1791)

Fantasie in f-Moll, KV 594, Mozart

Fuge in g-Moll, KV 401, Mozart

*Dance Suite for Organ Duet, Jacobus Kloppers (1937-)

Fugue in D major, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847)

Adagio, WoO 33/1, Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

*2me Suite pour orgue à quatre mains, Jean-Luc Perrot (1959-)

Sonate g-Moll, op. 50, Leberecht Baumert (1833-1904)

Duet for Organ, Frederick R. C. Clarke (1931-)

*Toccata on “Vom Himmel hoch,” Ralf Bölting (1953-)

Toccata Française (sur le nom de H.E.L.M.U.T.), Bölting

Duet for Organ, Samuel Wesley (1766-1837)

Vier variierte Choräle für die Orgel zu vier Händen, op. 19, Christian Gottlob Höpner (1799-1859)

Fugue à six parties et deux sujets à 4 mains, Clément Loret (1833-1909)

Sonate in d-moll, op. 30, Gustav Merkel (1827-1885)

Präludium und Fuge in B-dur, Johann Georg Albrechtsberger (1736-1809)

Praeludium und Fuge in C-dur, Albrechtsberger

Introduction und Fuge in d-Moll, op. 62, Franz Lachner (1803-1890)

Fugue in e-Moll, op. posth. 152, Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

*Suite de noëls (extracts), Gilles Rioux (1965-): “L’Attente” (Venez divin Messie), “La joie” (Il est né le divin Enfant)

Bombardo-Carillon, Charles Henri Valentin Alkan (1813-1888)

* Organ duets commissioned and premièred by Sylvie Poirier and Philip Crozier

by Bruce B. Stevens

Some 250 lovers of pipe organs and pipe organ music gathered in Michigan in early August for the 40th Annual National OHS Convention. They came from across the entire United States, Canada, and such faraway places as Finland and Australia. The elegantly comfortable Campus Inn in the heart of the University of Michigan served as headquarters for a busy week of recitals on 37 old and new organs, four lectures, a carillon recital, and the customary camaraderie and fun that always accompany OHS events.

 

Sunday

The events of the opening day took place only a short walk from our beautiful headquarters. It has become a tradition to include one vintage theater organ in the lineup of each OHS convention, if possible. Kicking things off this year was an enjoyable program by Scott Smith on the brash and sassy 1927 Grand Barton Theater Organ, located in the restored opulence of the Michigan Theater. To those expecting the sumptuous, booming warmth of a Wurlitzer of the same period, this keen, edgy instrument without booming bass was a surprise. Nonetheless, it is a fascinating and versatile organ, full of intriguing effects. Beginning with The Victors, "the most well-known song associated with the University of Michigan," according to the program notes, and ending ever so cleverly with the encore Another Opening, Another Show from Kiss Me, Kate, Mr. Smith's leisurely program and relaxed style nicely demonstrated the numerous resources of the restored instrument.

The fine carpenter Gothic-style interior and sympathetic acoustics of the First Congregational Church several blocks away provide an agreeable setting for a 1985 three-manual Karl Wilhelm organ, one of two Wilhelm organs featured during the week. Recitalist Larry Visser played a program of works by Bach, de Grigny, Pepping, and his own compositions with ample facility and energy. His own Four Chorale Preludes on "Lobe den Herren," imitating specific well-known organ chorales of Bach, was a hit with the audience and served to demonstrate this mild and pleasant eclectic tracker instrument. OHS conventions are noted for the exceptionally robust, bass-dominated congregational singing of a hymn with every organ. It was unexpected that the light tonal palette of this large, perfectly placed but polite instrument was all but obscured by the forceful rendering of "All Creatures of Our God and King." Having released this initial burst of pent-up energy, the group later evidenced some degree of sensitivity to just how each organ and player "invited" them to sing.

Following the short stroll back to the Campus Inn, the group enjoyed air conditioned relief from the heat and humidity while listening to a fascinating lecture by Professor James O. Wilkes. A colorful Renaissance man, Wilkes is a professor of chemical engineering at the University, an organist and Associate of the Trinity College of Music in London, and the author of the notable book Pipe Organs of Ann Arbor. In much too short a time, he regaled us by zipping through a wide variety of information on pipe construction and sound production, including along the way several imaginative visual demonstrations of the movement of the air in pipes. Utilizing pipe, cardboard, and candle, Professor Wilkes showed us that air does not come out of the top of an open pipe and that initial speech involves air being sucked into the mouth momentarily, before being blown out.

The First United Methodist Church directly across the street from the tall, glass-fronted lobby of the Campus Inn was the site of our next recital, where we found a large 1958 Reuter organ which incorporates ranks of pipes and other parts from the church's 1940 Kimball. Mary McCall Stubbins, organist of the church for 53 years (!), put this congenial instrument through its paces with a program of Couperin and Bach transcriptions and original organ pieces by Sowerby, Titcomb, Doane-Whitworth, and the comic Pantomime by Harry Benjamin Jepson. For the hymn Ms. McCall Stubbins selected words by T. Herbert O'Driscoll, set in 1971 to the great old marching tune Ebenezer (Ton-y-Botel). It was a curious occurrence indeed when this assembly of highly "traditional" church music enthusiasts and practitioners blithely belted out, "Let my people seek their freedom in the wilderness awhile, from the aging shrines and structures, from the cloister and the aisle." Would this not include seeking "freedom" from traditional churches and their pipe organs? Good heavens!

After dinner we purposely sought no freedom from the evening recital, gathering resolutely in the pews, not the aisle, of the First Baptist Church for what turned out to be an electrifying performance by the "aging shrine's" organist Janice Beck. At the outset we experienced a slight mishap with the hymn: Ms. Beck was only one of several performers during the week whose version of the hymn did not match the one printed in the conventioneers' "Hymnlets." (Future convention committees, please take note.) Nevertheless, this gifted and experienced artist continued unfazed and opened her recital program with a secure and compelling performance of the Bach E-flat major Fugue. For this reviewer the most riveting and memorable moments came in Night Song and Ostinato Dances by Pamela Decker, a long and involved work ending in a frenzied Stravinskyesque dance demanding the utmost in energy, precision, and virtuosity, qualities Ms. Beck possesses in abundance. Three of Rayner Brown's airy Papillons, depicting specific butterflies, contrasted nicely with the Decker, as well as with William Bolcom's sweet Just As I Am and the closing three works by Vierne. Ms. Beck is to be congratulated on programming one of the more interesting and appealing of the convention's 37 recitals. The organ for this recital is a large 1966 Robert Noehren instrument with precisely 26 ranks of mixtures and a bass "foundation" consisting of one light 16' Subbass. Yet it still makes sense and works well in many contexts.

Monday

At the annual business meeting of the Society, Executive Director Bill Van Pelt announced that the Allen Company had recently given all the historical records of the M. P. Moeller Organ Company to the OHS for its American Organ Archives. This enormous acquisition contains information about one-tenth of all the organs built in the Western Hemisphere! An appeal was made for special funds to help deal with storing these materials properly and safely. Convention Coordinator Alan Laufman called our attention to the 1996 Convention in Philadelphia and the 1997 Convention in Portland, Oregon, and then announced the 1998 Convention in Denver.

Following the meeting, organ historian Michael Friesen began turning our thoughts to the past with his admirably articulate lecture on Michigan organbuilders of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Utilizing a good variety of slides, he covered much ground in the short time allowed and displayed his diligent research on the subject.

Then we boarded our fleet of four comfortable, modern coaches for the hour-long trip into Detroit and the first of what OHS conventions are principally about: recitals on antique instruments. At our first stop, the Martyrs of Uganda Roman Catholic Church (formerly St. Agnes), Susan T. Goodson played a solid program of standard repertoire by Zipoli, Franck, Vierne, and Mendelssohn on the intelligible and civilized Casavant of 1924. The large, handsome, Gothic-style building, with its magnificent, jewel-toned windows and generous acoustics, proved to be only one of many such churches we would see in Detroit: what a delightful surprise for those of us from more "mundane church" areas of the country! And it was good to see the areas around this and other churches coming back to better health following the riots of 1968 and the subsequent decline. These grand and venerable architectural treasures are being preserved, in some instances are being gorgeously restored, and especially are being used. The lunch prepared by our hosts at the church, featuring "African-Detroit" cuisine, was a veritable banquet, resoundingly applauded.

Not far away we entered Sweetest Heart of Mary Roman Catholic Church with gasps of awe. This splendid building, with its rows of grandiose marble columns marching into the horizon while supporting an ever-blue "heaven" above, is breathtaking. The first order of business was the first of the week's presentations of Historic Organ Plaques. The OHS presents these plaques in recognition of an organ's exceptional historic merit. The plaque is intended to be held by the organ's owner in trust for the OHS as long as the owner preserves the organ in a manner compatible with the guidelines of the Society. Through the years this program has encouraged the proper preservation of hundreds of worthy historic organs. In Sweetest Heart of Mary Church the instrument is an 1894 Clough & Warren which has the distinction of being the second organ (indeed, the first extant organ) to employ Mr. John T. Austin's invention, the Austin Universal Wind Chest System. Recitalist Kathleen Scheide presented careful, sensitive readings of less familiar repertoire by Liszt, Sowerby, and Paine, and included her own Partita on "Old Hundredth." The forceful instrument, with its "big room of air" under the pipes, served these pieces well.

Following a brief ride over to St. John-St. Luke Evangelical Church, the group came upon yet another fantastic sight: an "illuminated light-bulb church." The fanciful carpenter Gothic-style interior of 1874, together with the front-and-center G. F. Votteler organ of the same date, was wired for electricity "in a state-of-the-art fashion" in 1916 under the direction of a parishioner who was an executive with Detroit Edison. Hundreds of light bulbs outline balconies, arches, pulpit, and even the pipe flats and pinnacles on the elaborate Gothic-style organ facade. This carnival atmosphere was heightened by the momentary dimming of the whole shebang every so often, as well as by one bulb on the organ facade that kept blinking in apparent response to vibrations within the case! The instrument has a surprising steely and thin sound for the period, but organist Stephen Schnurr, a last minute substitute for another recitalist, made us forget this fact with his amazing prowess: within two weeks' time he learned the previously scheduled organist's entire program, including Dudley Buck's formidable Concert Variations on "The Star-Spangled Banner." None of these pieces had he ever played before, yet he learned and performed them for us with aplomb. This feat did not go unrecognized by the appreciative crowd.

From this "enlightened," yet cold sounding instrument, we were taken to what was one of the more lovely, cohesive organs of the week: the 1867 Andreas Moeller (no relation to M. P. Moeller) in Most Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church, another beautifully restored Gothic-style edifice with kindly acoustics. The organ has undergone much rearrangement and restoration throughout its history and is undeniably lovely in its present form. Recitalist Dudley Oakes began his engaging program with a charming duet (with organist and conductor Joanne Vollendorf) by the obscure 19th-century composer Josef Labor. Following the premiere of the gentle Reflections by our Australian/ Canadian/Floridian OHS colleague Gordon Atkinson, who shared the week with us and performed for us on our Saturday tour, Ms. Vollendorf conducted a quite competent string quartet for a performance of Handel's Organ Concerto, Op. 4, No. 4. Mr. Oakes found suitable and delightful sounds to balance the four strings for a festive, uplifting conclusion.

From here we bused to Ste. Anne's Roman Catholic Church for dinner and our evening recital. Just when we thought we could not possibly see another church larger and more breathtaking, we entered into this huge, "High Victorian Gothic" nave, dazzlingly decorated with much gold gilt, the enormous stained glass windows splashing their late afternoon rainbows over myriads of white and gold pinnacles and carvings. After dinner, organist Barry Turley presented the 25-stop 1887 Granville Wood & Son/1940 Casavant rebuild organ, an instrument of coolly aristocratic, even suave nature, in a varied program of Bach, Pinkham, the lovely Dubois Offertoire, Stanley Weiner, and Reger. Turley's secure, expressive, well-paced playing, together with the dignified instrument speaking optimally into such wonderfully reverberant acoustics from the rear gallery, combined to create a most moving performance of Reger's profound Fantasie on "Wachet auf." The traditional afterglow in the Campus Inn back in Ann Arbor gave the energetic a convivial time to chat about the wondrous sights and sounds of the day, as well as to browse through the astonishing selection of CDs for sale from the OHS shop.

Tuesday

Westward, ho! Our coach convoy through this green and pleasant land soon arrived in attractive Battle Creek, where the group headed for the Art Moderne W. K. Kellogg Auditorium with thoughts of breakfast cereal uppermost on many minds. However, after another Historic Organ Plaque presentation, organist Larry Schou very soon got our attention with his program on Ernest M. Skinner's 1933 "last showcase instrument built at Aeolian-Skinner." Unfortunately Mr. Schou chose to play a straight program very straight, using basic prescription registrations for various French and American 19th-century romantic pieces, rather than using the huge and wonderful organ in its intended, highly colorful orchestral manner to present appropriate repertoire. It was only in Edwin H. Lemare's transcriptions of two popular songs, albeit rather mundane works in Lemare's enormous output, that the true magic of the organ began to shine through. The unique performance practice associated with the fantastic orchestral organs of 60-75 years ago has been largely ignored and forgotten in most organ teaching departments. It takes the likes of such modern orchestral organ poets as Tom Murray, Fred Hohman, Lorenz Maycher, or Tom Hazelton to remind us of what we're missing. Generally, knowledge of and appreciation for such organs and the enchanting style of performance that they facilitate are now waxing, which is good news. But it is a style still very rarely taught and mastered. This style requires of the player an imagination at once soaring and tasteful. It also demands courage to deviate from historic registration prescriptions and well-known rules. These are not classic instruments, and they rebel at being treated as such, keeping their unique magic a secret to be unlocked only by those whose vision encompasses that uncommon territory.

Next we headed out to the town of Hastings for a visit with the 1867 J. H. & C. S. Odell in Emmanuel Episcopal Church. The instrument, once located in and voiced for another church where it stood nobly free in a rear gallery, is now severely impacted in a chancel chamber behind a heavy, three-foot-thick arch; consequently it sounds imprisoned and remote. This aural effect works strongly against the listener's involvement in all but the dreamiest of music. Here it served to detach many of us from William Lee Elliott's apparently stylish performance of Bach's Partita on "O Gott, du frommer Gott" and Dubois' Toccata. What to do with such an installation? Aside from soft nocturnes and meditations, chamber music collaborations with other instrumentalists or singers could have been a path to success.

Lovely Ionia was the site for the next three recitals. The spacious, resonant Saints Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church is a perfect home for the mellow yet clear and balanced Lyon & Healy organ of 1900. This little organ makes a big sound, and it served Marijim Thoene's program based on medieval chant extremely well. It was enthralling to hear the chants sung by a good ensemble of women's voices before the Codex Faenza and Tournemire organ selections. After these and the beautiful Prélude au Kyrie from Hommage à Frescobaldi by Langlais, it came as a jolt that our hymn was Dan Schutte's ever so pop and ubiquitous "You Are Near" before Ms. Thoene continued the recital with eloquent works by Petr Eben and Persichetti--sort of a Tootsie Roll between the Duck à l'Orange and the Baked Alaska!

Moving to the First Christian Church, surely our most colorful venue thus far with its yellow and green windows, teal carpet, red choir loft curtain and upholstery, white-gold-back facade pipes, and a very blue ceiling over all, we heard the chipper playing of Dennis Janzer. Here the hearty 1893 J. W. Steere & Sons organ, generous in scale and full-bodied in tone, is most successful in the dead acoustic. Although this Steere seemed to buck the player a bit in some of the quicker movements, the premiere of Janzer's Suite No. 1: Celebrations and Reflections for Organ (Op. 9) was quite impressive. The last two movements: Exultant Dance--"Heaven be Praised!" and Soliloquy are standouts.

At the First Baptist Church we encountered one of the more elegant and patrician of the convention's organs--Hook & Hastings Op. 1538 of 1892. Hearing this little instrument reminded us of the preeminence of this great Boston organbuilding company. Matching the organ in style was young Justin Berg, a sophomore at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids where he studies with William Elliot. Mr. Berg played a varied program of eight short and appropriate pieces beautifully, including Thomas P. Ryder's amusing The Thunder Storm amongst works by Zeuner, Bach, Bristow, Brahms, Zundel, Ritter, and Thayer. Hearing such budding talent demonstrate so very well such a fine old organ was one of the more encouraging events of this, or any, convention.

For the evening recital we traveled to University Lutheran Church in East Lansing, where organbuilder and convention chairperson Dana Hull has installed a most successful version of an S. S. Hamill organ of 1866. Greatly rebuilt and enlarged, it still tonally evokes its heritage. And it looks spectacular! Here we were treated to the finished, international concert-quality playing of Deborah L. Friauff. Using largely standard repertoire, she wove appropriate musical magic in works by Pachelbel, Franck, Mendelssohn, Alain, and Bach, displaying her ample virtuosity and mature control of rhythm, phrasing, and musical style. Her performance of Jiri Ropek's Variations on "Victimae Paschali Laudes" was a highlight of the convention, as was her gripping Bach G minor Fantasy and Fugue. This last was only slightly marred by a dominant-note cipher during the last 10 or so measures--a most lucky note indeed, if it had to happen, for the final measures of a long and great work and performance!

Wednesday

This was our North/Northeast day. After riding through the idyllic countryside north of Ann Arbor, we came to Lapeer, where we were warmly welcomed to the Church of the Immaculate Conception and heard local public school and church Music Man Joseph Dobos demonstrate the 1905 Hinners organ. This little ten-stop instrument, with its truly liquid, lovely flutes, its crisp, bold principals, and its smooth string (no reeds) is a paradigm of successful organ design for a small village church at the turn of the century (and still today). Mr. Dobos' energetic playing was quite convincing in Ballet des Matelotz by Praetorius and later in collaboration with the very gifted student trumpeter Brock Blazo.

After more rural touring, we found in the Cass City Presbyterian Church a gentle, silvery, absolutely elegant little one manual and pedal organ assumed to have been made by Henry Erben in 1865. Fortunately for us the greatly talented organist and pianist Thomas Brown was selected to play this gem, and he provided us with a memorized recital containing some of the more masterful playing of the convention. His Haydn clock pieces and his Arne Introduction and Fugue from the First Concerto reflected the 18th-century lineage of this organ exactly, while delighting us with his profuse musical inventiveness and brilliant technical acrobatics.

Another gem of a later and different sort charmed us in St. John's Episcopal Church in Sandusky. For those familiar with the work of M. P. Moeller only during the last 40 years or so, this little 1898 M. P. Moeller tracker of 4 manual stops and one pedal stop was a surprise. The instrument is at once hefty and gentle: it fills the room with clear, warm, supportive, embracing sound that never tires the ear. Throughout the diverse, engaging program by organist Anita Hanawalt and flutist Karen Cahill, parishioner and "organ curator" Alex Paladi calmly and silently watched the wind indicator on the side of the  case and gently raised the bellows as needed, providing ample, living wind. Thanks again go to Dana Hull for the loving and lovely restoration.

Following a long trip to Marine City and dinner at Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church, we gathered with great expectation in the church to hear the evening recital on the opulent and grandiose 1861 E. & G. G. Hook Op. 300, as devotedly and carefully renovated and enlarged by George Bozeman in 1976. Organist Timothy Huth, having not the best of nights, succeeded in showing off the exceptionally transparent yet cohesive plenum for counterpoint in Bach's B minor Prelude and Fugue. The gorgeous, unsurpassed Hook flutes, the august, classic rosiny diapasons, the exquisite, piquant Oboe, the full-bodied yet radiant chorus reeds, and the awesome Pedal Open Diapason 16' that imparts incomparable grandeur to the whole, did not fail to thrill those who have come to love the work of the Hook brothers. What we all suspected is unquestionably true: the Marine City Hook is a great organ.

Thursday

As a welcome relief from bus travel, James Hammann opened Thursday with an incisive and entertaining lecture on the "Development of the Orchestral Organ." Terming the orchestral organ "a homophonic cul-de-sac on a long polyphonic highway," Dr. Hammann set his listeners straight on the nature and importance of this much misunderstood and maligned type of organ. This heightened our anticipation for hearing another E. M. Skinner masterpiece on Friday at the Jefferson Avenue Presbyterian Church in Detroit, where Dr. Hammann was once the organist.

In the vicinity of Ann Arbor we soon arrived in the village of Dexter to hear Mary Ann Crugher Balduf perform on the truly exquisite little 1857 Henry Erben at St. James' Episcopal Church. This multi-talented lady matched the elegant nature of the organ with a well chosen and arranged program of miniatures impeccably suited to the instrument and lovingly and expertly dispatched. Then with a gentle word and the clever ploy of asking the treble voices to lead off, she also succeeded in getting these normally overly-energetic hymn singers to tone themselves down to match the dulcet tones of this five-stop instrument: consequently the tiny instrument and gifted player could guide and support us wonderfully throughout "Watchman, Tell Us of the Night" sung to Aberystwyth.

From this precious, delicate experience, we were whisked off to the University of Michigan School of Music for an expert performance by John Brock on the celebrated Fisk 1985 "copy" of the 1718-1721 Silbermann/Hildebrandt organ in St. George's Church, Rötha, Germany. As one prominent conventioneer put it, "At first I thought that it really wasn't too loud after all, but then he turned on the mixtures!" Overly aggressive mixtures and chiffing, clicking principals or not, Mr. Brock very ably and stylishly displayed a great variety of sounds in Baroque works by Muffat, Böhm, and Bach. Having played the original Silbermann (Can we possibly be certain that it sounds "original" today, especially following the 1833 repairs, the 1935 repairs, the war damage, and the 1947 restoration by Eule?) in the rather intimate, carpeted, pew-padded, non-reverberant Rötha church a few years ago, this reviewer distinctly remembers his surprise and delight at the absence of chiff in the principal and flute ranks: subtle tonguing attack, yes; chiffing and chonking, no. Thankfully today we're again seeing a trend amongst leading organbuilders towards more refined pipe speech than was the practice during the 1960's, 70's and 80's.

The afternoon was given over to hilarity as the inimitable Jane Edge and her Victorian Nonet Songsters donned costumes for a program of Victorian Gems. The Victorian interior of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Ypsilanti, with its 1949 Holtkamp incorporating parts of an 1875 E. & G. G. Hook and Hastings, was ideal for this event. Shall we ever forget the above-mentioned Madame Crugher Balduf, in enormous antique hat and flounces, leading off in Harry Rowe Shelley's heart rending anthem Hark, Hark, My Soul? There was scarcely a dry eye as later the histrionic Madame, in deep throated contralto, over enunciated the telling, yet poignant words "o-f    s-i-n" in Mrs. M. S. B. Dana's pathetic Flee as a Bird. As expected Mrs. Edge provided witty and perfect organ accompaniments.

From this we emerged to hear Vance Harper Jones on the bold Barckhoff organ of 1905 in the First Congregational Church several blocks away. Though housed in a chamber, the modest instrument sounds full and big, smooth and clear in the intimate, dry room. The bluesy Balm in Gilead by Joe Utterback was only one of six utterly unknown works played, the last involving a little routine with a comic Uncle Sam hat. Whether the frivolity of these programs was the result of careful calculation or happenstance, it was the perfect tonic for the traditional Thursday-afternoon-slump that invariably occurs in OHS convention weeks.

After the delicious evening banquet at the beautiful Michigan League on campus, we and everyone else on campus were treated to a carillon recital by Margo Halsted and Donald Traser on the great carillon in the university's Burton Tower. A quick trip up the elevator brought many of us into direct contact with this enormous instrument as it was being played. And we organists think our instruments are big and powerful!

Then followed what was for many the highlight of the convention: Professor Robert Glasgow's masterful performance on the famous Aeolian-Skinner behemoth in Hill Auditorium. Recently refurbished and provided with a new combination system, reliable key action, and a piston sequencer (liberally used throughout the recital), this organ can certainly astonish and satisfy those in love with the biggest. The program of four works, Marche Funèbre et Chant Séraphique by Guilmant, Arioso and Pageant of Autumn by Sowerby, and Fantasia and Fugue on The Chorale "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam" by Liszt showed the best of everything: a superlative, mature, world-class performer on an enormous and superior instrument he thoroughly understands, performing fine, appropriate literature with consummate insight and virtuosity, poetry and passion. Although excessive heat and humidity in the un-airconditioned hall may have taken a minor toll on note accuracy in some of Liszt's more treacherous passages, the audience was effusive in its resounding praise. Thankfully personal preferences of taste and style, as well as petty comparisons and fault-finding, largely disappear at such a grand event; the eminent artist communicated the music in an extraordinary way, and the audience realized it was the fortunate recipient of something quite special.

Friday

By this time in the week the troops began to shake down to the intrepid and ardent, but the Friday and Saturday crowds were gratifyingly large this year. Agnes Armstrong, an authority on Félix-Alexandre Guilmant, gave an interesting lecture on this great concert artist, composer, and teacher, leading nicely into her mid-morning recital of Guilmant works at Cass Community United Methodist Church in Detroit. In this much-stressed structure exists the largest unaltered nineteenth-century organ in Michigan, a three-manual Johnson & Son instrument of 1892. Although barely playable, Ms. Armstrong succeeded in showing its present "dark brilliance" in a program including three works played by Guilmant himself on this very organ in 1898. OHS members in the Detroit area, including organbuilders Dana Hull and David Wigton, announced that they have "adopted" this great instrument for further care and love. It is a treasure, and it was exciting to see the OHS at work once more making a struggling congregation aware of the worth their neglected organ.

From here we were taken to the immense and imposing Old St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church to see builder Wigton's magnum opus. David Hufford's expressive and virtuosic playing was a more than able match for this massive and most impressive French-style instrument. The inclusion of a small chamber choir singing the entire Fauré Requiem with organ accompaniment as the major portion of the program resulted in a small disappointment in this particular venue, for it meant that Mr. Hufford had time for only two short organ works, the Hymne d'Action de grâce, "Te Deum" by Langlais, and the opening movement of Widor's Sixth Symphony, to show off what must be a myriad of riches in this organ. Regardless of the pleasant choir and the splendid playing of Mr. Hufford, one was left with a sense of frustration at not hearing much more of this impressive, unusual organ.

We then bused out to Grosse Pointe Farms, only a few miles distant but in reality a world away, to hear an elegant Klais organ of 1989 at The Grosse Pointe Memorial Church (Presbyterian). David Wagner, one of seventeen of the week's recitalists who studied at the University of Michigan's organ department, managed to give us a good sampling of the colors in this large, first-rate German tracker, unfortunately set in a dry and unflattering acoustic. Immediately after this we moved down the road where Mr. Wagner gave us a too short demonstration on the 1986 Wilhelm organ at St. Paul's Roman Catholic Church, an organ more satisfying than the Klais to many, probably due to the fine, lively acoustics. Here great excitement ensued when one of our coaches got stuck halfway into the church driveway and half out into a busy, four-lane roadway. There being no immediate remedy for this predicament, despite some amusing antics involving a Jeep and a chain, we consolidated and went on our way with one-third of the group standing in the aisles of the remaining buses.

The imposing Jefferson Avenue Presbyterian Church welcomed us for a delightful dinner and a concert on the famed 1925 E. M. Skinner masterpiece in the soaring Gothic-style church. After a miscue to the audience as to when to begin singing the opening hymn, organist JanEl B. Gortmaker proceeded to play the entire Vierne Third Symphony without an audible wrong note. Such perfection is so unusual that it is satisfying in itself, but when it is coupled with an intelligent, rhythmically controlled, beautifully phrased, polished projection of the musical ideas behind the notes, it becomes really memorable. The only negative aspect here was the intense disappointment felt by some that the anxiously awaited organ demonstration did not fully materialize: that the magical orchestral effects inherent in this celebrated organ went largely unheard. By-the-book registration of standard European organ literature did not begin to explore this wonderful organ thoroughly. Even worse, it led to some abuse of the high pressure/high decibel reeds, with concomitant abuse of the audience's ears. Whether an organ comes off as beautiful, magical, poetic, mighty, and grand, or whether it is perceived as overbearing, opaque, crass, or vulgar is perhaps more dependent on the organist's refined sense of sound and registration with such an orchestral organ than with possibly any other kind of organ. One of the week's lessons, that orchestral organs demand a special and non-traditional approach, was now thrice taught.

An hour later we were back in Ann Arbor for James Kibbie's recital on the brand new 1995 Orgues Létourneau tracker at St. Francis of Assisi Roman Catholic Church. This large, modern "worship center" has recently been redone to feature an admirable acoustic for worship and music which compliments this rather bright, pleasing, essentially neo-Baroque organ nicely. Even the chiffy flutes are convincing in such an environment. Dr. Kibbie, the organ consultant for this project, must have liked it, for he played to the large crowd, including many parishioners and other townspeople, in the stifling heat from memory with confidence, fine style, and, in the main, musical success. His program of great standards was spiced by the inclusion of the beautiful Nigerian Prayer: "Oba a ba ke" by Fela Sowande, an African musician who lived and worked in this country for many years before his death in 1987.

Saturday

Nearly a week after the start of the convention, three busloads of us were still going and going. This year's convention was atypical in its inclusion of so many modern organs, and this day we were treated to four more. Our first stop was St. John Neumann Roman Catholic Church in Canton, another modern "worship center" that unfortunately is not a pleasant home for the David Wigton 1993 "rebuild and enlargement" of an 1885 Carl Barckhoff organ. Enough of this instrument has been altered so as to make the original not readily recognizable. Nonetheless, it is an affable organ with a contemporary sound and visual appearance. Organist Brian DuSell's program of Bruhns, Bach, Gigout, Albright, and Vaughan Williams exercised the instrument completely, especially the pedals in Albright's ever popular Jig for the Feet.

Our next stop at Zion Lutheran Church in Detroit, home church of our convention chairman Dana Hull, served up a host of delights. Many of us were amazed at the rich English Gothic-style interior and the scent of incense of this "High Lutheran" parish. Sitting in a transept was a current Hull project: the ongoing restoration of a mid-nineteenth century Robjohn chamber-size organ in an absolutely exquisite rosewood case. Finally, from the rear gallery, it was a great treat to hear the crystalline and surprisingly refined 1932 Vottler-Holtkamp-Sparling organ, including its mysterious Ludwig Tone 8', a uniquely beautiful flute celeste. Gordon Atkinson played an unusual program, including Little Suite for Organ by English composer Martin Ball, which was commissioned for this recital.

At St. James' Episcopal Church in Grosse Ile we were graciously hosted by a large group of parishioners to a lovely picnic on the grounds, with the refreshing river views and park-like setting reviving our flagging spirits. Inside the old chapel building organist Edward M. Schramm played an unexpected program on the 1987 Charles Ruggles tracker, a little organ with a big, big sound. The successful realization of Reger's Introduction and Passacaglia on this 13-stop instrument caused no small degree of astonishment.

It was fitting that the two final scheduled events of the convention featured two venerable and "grand" instruments from the past. At Pilgrim Church back in Detroit Elgin Clingaman offered a well-played recital on an 1889 Granville Wood & Son organ, a very grand sound indeed in a very dead acoustical environment. Bless them, they didn't let dead acoustics deter the creation of true grandeur way back then in the olden days! Just start with a huge 16' Double Open Diapason of wood in the pedal, and the rest would follow naturally. Fascinating parts of this recital were the three works of the Belgian nineteenth- century composer Joseph Callaerts. The increasingly wearied, even jaded, group appreciated particularly his winsome Scherzo, Op. 31.

The opulent, mellow, smooth, rich tonal magnificence of the 1892 George Jardine and Son organ down the street in Trinity Episcopal Church then beckoned, and ignoring tired ears, off we trotted. This wonderful organ, installed far from optimally in a chancel chamber with a small facade and the key desk in the transept, gives the lie to the mandate that rather low-pressure trackers must be free-standing to be successful. Again, those good old guys really did know how to fill a room with sound, whatever the challenge! Here Joanne Vollendorf appeared for the second time and gave an engaging program of music by women composers, from Fanny Hensel-Mendelssohn to Frances McCollin. Ms. Vollendorf's musical playing brought a fitting conclusion to a truly outstanding week for many of the participants.

But not to let the evening "go to waste," an extra post-convention tour had been organized only a week or two previously, and an amazing two bus loads of dauntless enthusiasts plowed forward. Were we ever hugely rewarded! Two glorious churches, two scintillating organs, and a superb recitalist awaited us.

At Fort Street Presbyterian Church, a superb Gothic-style building with a true wonder of a hammer-beam truss ceiling, the organ is plastered across the entire front of the building in an exuberant fantasy of black walnut pinnacles and white, gold, pink, and taupe painted pipes. Here we were met by recitalist Thomas M. Kuras, a formidable organ artist. His program, prepared rather last-minute, included virtuoso works by Bossi, Dubois, and his own Postlude on "Vigiles et Sanctae" on the impressive Odell

/Wangerin-Weickhardt/Möller/McMan-us/Price/Robertson/Helderop composite organ.

However, greater delights awaited. After dinner we rode over to what is certainly one of the most wondrous and awe-inspiring Gothic-style interiors in the country. St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church is an absolutely glorious, highly colored, many statued, German-built edifice with equally fabulous acoustics. It is reminiscent of the marvelous Cathedral in Freiberg, Germany, where a great Gottfried Silbermann organ resides. It is the only Detroit church listed on the National Register of Historic Places, primarily for its extraordinary German stained glass windows. Here Mr. Kuras has played the organ and led performances of weekly choral Latin Masses and regular orchestral Masses for several decades. And this night, play he did. Masterfully! The program included his own extensive Partita for Organ on "Austria" and an utterly charming Berceuse on "O Sanctissima." A thrilling improvisation on not one but three submitted themes brought down the house. The organ here is a 1973 two-manual tracker, modest in size when compared to the building, but generous in tone. Built by local builder William Worden, it incorporates some once-butchered but now restored pipework from the original 1873 Odell organ, including the handsome stencilled facade, as well as some other old pipes. In essence, however, it is a versatile, eclectic instrument of impressive musical value whose stoplist and sounds closely resemble those of organs being built by leading American tracker builders right now rather than those being built 22 years ago. We went out into the night on a genuine high.

This convention was at once extremely well-organized and relaxed, with a beautifully-planned pace, easy flow, and relatively few snafus. Chairman Dana Hull and her committee, as well as Convention Coordinator Alan Laufman and the OHS staff in Richmond, deserve high praise and deep appreciation for an excellent week. The huge variety of beautiful instruments and churches, the discovery of some exciting, unfamiliar players, the opportunity to hear some old favorite players, the unusual yet appealing programs, the luxurious accommodations, the sumptuous meals and frequent refreshments throughout each day, the comfortable, clean transportation, the customarily reasonable OHS prices, and the genuinely friendly and open crowd all combined to make one terrific week.

The focus of these yearly gatherings has gradually (and gratefully) expanded from an interest solely in eighteenth and nineteenth century trackers to include serious interest in and appreciation for significant electric action organs from the past and a refreshing look at top-notch, artistic modern organs. Naturally, this has served to attract a larger and more diverse crowd with a wider view of things. The conventions have expanded to a very full six and a half days which increasing numbers of people enjoy without missing one single event. Based as these conclaves are on a sincere interest in experiencing as many fine organs, fine players, and fine recitals of organ literature as possible in a given week, they are unique in our country and, perhaps, in the world. (For a serious concert organist with awareness enough to notice and process what is going on, just the chance to hear 37 different recitals by 37 different players on 37 different organs in one week, played to the same audience, is an incredibly valuable lesson in what works and what doesn't in terms of planning and playing recitals. For a serious, artistic organbuilder, the chance to hear and compare the degree of success of that many organs in that many American churches in one week is unparalleled.) How fortunate we are to have the OHS producing such events for our edification and enjoyment as a part of its mission. The Society deserves accolades as it continues to support the cause of genuine pipe organs at this time in America of mounting threat to the use and even existence of such marvelous and noble instruments, whether they are old or new.

Next year the OHS conventioneers will gather in Philadelphia for what will certainly be an exhilarating week, Sunday, June 30 through Saturday, July 6. On the Fourth of July we'll be enjoying a dinner cruise on the river, watching the fireworks over the city where our nation was born. From 18th-century Tannenberg and Dieffenbach trackers to the world-famous monumental organs in the Wanamaker store and Longwood Gardens, we'll hear them all. Plan to join us for a week that is unlike anything happening elsewhere.