LP in LA: The 47th National Convention of the American Guild of Organists July 4-9, 2004--PART ONE OF TWO

Larry Palmer is harpsichord editor of THE DIAPASON. Joyce Johnson Robinson is associate editor of THE DIAPASON.

JR's Journey:

AGO Convention, Los Angeles, July 4-9, 2004

Over 2,000 organists from all 50 states and 17 foreign countries attended this meeting in Los Angeles. Blessed with fine weather, and shepherded to the various venues via comfortable, well-organized bus travel, attendees were able to experience the architecture and the instruments in many famed locations: the new Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles with its new 105-rank Dobson, the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, and of course the new Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. My personal impressions were of consistently high caliber playing (everyone got an A; there were a few A-pluses, and some A-minuses), fine instruments and amazing spaces, and some interesting new compositions.

Monday

Mary Preston's program took place at Claremont United Church of Christ. Playing the 1998 Glatter-Götz/Rosales op. 2, the vivacious Preston showed spectacular energy as she bit into Jean Guillou's Toccata, a multi-textured wild ride of a piece with its bombast and staccato. Preston did a fine job bringing out the melodic line, which required frequent hopping between manuals. In the more lyrical Duruflé Scherzo, she displayed the beautiful colors of the organ's flute and string choruses. Preston joined forces with narrator Kathie Freeman (an actor, singer, and presently a manager of the Los Angeles Master Chorale) for the world premiere of George Akerley's whimsical and witty A Sweet for Mother Goose, a winner of the Holtkamp-AGO Award in Organ Composition. Based on selected Mother Goose nursery rhymes, the work combines rhythmically notated narration with the organ providing text illustration. Preston then demonstrated muscular playing in Jongen's Sonata eroïca, putting into play the full organ, with its weighty 32' Untersatz.

Ken Cowan played on the 66-rank C.B. Fisk Op. 117 (2002) in the Bridges Hall of Music at Pomona College. The room, with its highly ornamented ceiling, lacks a lively acoustic when filled to capacity. Cowan played his program from memory, beginning with David Conte's moody, cerebral Prelude and Fugue (In memoriam Nadia Boulanger). The Vierne works--Scherzo from Symphonie VI and Clair de Lune--showcased the Fisk's flutes and its assertive strings. Cowan closed with the first salvo in the convention Regerfest, the Fantasie on "Wie schön leucht' uns der Morgenstern, demonstrating the choruses (principal, flute, reed), and unleashing the organ's full power.

In Bridges Auditorium, which reminds one of an old-style movie palace (complete with zodiac images painted on the ceiling), Millennia Consort presented their program; they were at a disadvantage from the acoustic. The room and stage have great depth and width as well as height and length, and the sounds were quickly swallowed up--even the brass seemed underpowered in this great space. Alison J. Luedecke played a Rodgers Trillium 967, which also seemed unable to dominate the space. Its sound was most successful in solo passages; individual colors (particularly flutes) sounded well. But combined with the brass and percussion, it either was drowned out or the sound had a flatness to it.

John Karl Hirten's Variations on Auld Lang Syne presented the tune in various meters and key centers using techniques such as ostinato, inversion, and fugue. In Erica Muhl's Fleet, for percussion and organ, percussionist Beverly Reese Dorcy used a full complement of percussive color--small bells, marimba, vibraphone, drums, hanging cymbal, sheet of metal, and chimes--in varying textures such as percussion against an organ ostinato, and an organ and drum rhythmic onslaught.

Mary Beth Bennett's Preludes to the Apocalypse (like Fleet, a world premiere of an AGO commission), for two trumpets and organ, was inspired by biblical text relating to the Second Coming, the Transfiguration, and the Rapture. David Ashley White's Hymn (from Triptych), commissioned by Luedecke, was a lovely and lyrical movement centering on a hymn tune played by a trumpet offstage, a very striking effect.

Monday afternoon I attended two workshops. My general reaction to the convention workshops was disappointment of two kinds: either they were so well done that you were disappointed they could not have continued and gone into greater depth, or you were just disappointed. The latter type (fortunately, only one instance of this) will receive no further discussion here.

Elmo Cosentini presented a workshop on creating orchestral transcriptions for the organ. Cosentini first gave a bit of history of the transcription and then presented techniques for creating transcriptions. Most helpful were tips for successfully making a transcription that is idiomatic to the organ, such as using registrations that will place lines in the proper octave, and not repeating inappropriate figures from other instruments. The allotted time was insufficient for Cosentini's presentation, and this caused some consternation.

Monday evening, a choral concert was presented at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. The combined choirs (of the cathedral, and the churches of St. Charles Borromeo and St. Cyril of Jerusalem) performed the world premiere of Byron Adams' Praises of Jerusalem, heavily influenced by American (southern Protestant) hymnic style. Morten Lauridsen's Lux Aeterna, a five-movement work, is set to Latin texts, including from the Requiem Mass and Veni sancte spiritus; this is a thematically and texturally rich work that centered on references to light. The final work was Parry's I Was Glad. It was dismaying to hear the choirs, nestled under the overhang formed by the base of the organ case, indirectly through amplification. This also made for balance problems with the organ.

Martin Jean's recital was one of the convention high points. He played Duruflé's transcription of Tournemire's Improvisation sur le Te Deum, followed by Dupré's Symphonie-Passion. It was also the first chance to hear the cathedral's new Dobson instrument on its own, and it did not disappoint. This work (especially the Crucifixion movement), on that instrument, in the great space, along with Jean's cool and collected performance, all combined to form a sublime experience.

Tuesday

Tuesday morning's first stop was UCLA's Royce Hall, to hear UCLA University Organist Christoph Bull play the 1930 Skinner op. 818 (V/104). Not one to waste a minute, Bull strode on stage, slid onto the bench, and immediately struck the opening chord of Reger's Introduction and Passacaglia in d (round two of Regerfest). The full organ is a big sound--almost painful when heard from the balcony. Bull is a visibly passionate and energetic player; he bit into the dissonances of the Reger, and executed an exciting rendition of his own transcription of De Falla's Ritual Fire Dance from El Amor Brujo (displaying the reed chorus, which sounded from the back of the chamber and then front, providing spatial as well as coloristic contrast). Guitarist Scott Tennant then joined him to play the Ian Krouse's Renaissance-flavored Chiacona (after Bertali) for Organ and Guitar (world premiere of this AGO commission), an amplification, both in the volume and technical senses, of Antonio Bertali's work for violin and continuo. (This was the only piece Bull did not play from memory.) Bull closed the program with two more of his own transcriptions. First was Charles Mingus's jazzy Ecclusiastics; Bull is a natural for this type of music and he played with relaxed ease. He then segued into the finale to Mozart's "Jupiter" symphony.

On to St. Cyril of Jerusalem to hear the 1998 Rosales op. 23 (III/45). George Baker, clad in a white shirt and tie, began with the Vierne Third Symphony. His playing expressed the anguish and turmoil in the first movement, was lovely and sweeping in the Cantilène, danced through the scherzo-like Intermezzo, displayed the incredible beauty of the Adagio, and through waves of crescendo and decrescendo built up to the big finish of the Final. Baker made the changes between manuals--and textures--so seamless. The Rosales has powerful bass sounds--full, rumbling, and visceral. Baker's playing in the final passages of the Symphonie almost made one's hair stand on end. The "Lent" movement from Cochereau's Symphonie Improvisée had been  transcribed by Baker (a student of Cochereau's) from a recording. The movement's themes showcased a rich cornet and solo reeds. Baker concluded with his own composition, Tuba Tune Ragtime, a fun-house ride of Joplinesque idiom mixed with trumpet tune style--add the Zimbelstern and references to familiar pieces (including some Vierne and Widor), and you have a slightly wacky, very fun piece.

Robert Bates presented a very fine workshop on new sources and interpretations for early French registrations. This was an update on Fenner Douglass's guidelines as found in his 1969 book The Language of the French Classical Organ. Bates illustrated his talk with a handout of musical examples, and played recorded clips of French--and French-style--organs.

Craig Whitney's workshop entitled "The Organ and its Organists in America" focused in part on winning back audiences for organ music, and "proving the conventional wisdom about organs is wrong." Whitney, a New York Times editor and author of the book All the Stops, is an engaging speaker and his part history, part pep talk lecture was laced with anecdotes and fascinating facts (case in point: Dupré's Passion Symphony was first improvised at Wanamaker's). Whitney emphasized the need to do sufficient publicity for events: "Don't be afraid to be a pain." While the need for publicity may seem self-evident, we see countless examples of too-late publicity notices, or none at all, and the empty rooms that result from such neglect.

Tuesday evening I attended the Evensong service at First Congregational Church of Los Angeles, home to the 1935 Skinner op. 856, a massive collection of organs that, combined, total V/339.  The evening began with Lynne Davis's wonderful playing of Vierne's Toccata in b-flat minor, Marchand's Grand Dialogue in C, and Franck's Choral in E. The All Saints' Choir and the Choir of St. James' were directed by Dale Adelmann and James Buonemani. The service itself began with Adelmann's setting of the spiritual Steal Away to Jesus, heartbreakingly lovely in its crescendi and its hushed whispers of "steal away." There were settings of psalm and canticle settings by Craig Phillips and Herbert Howells, an anthem by Patrick Gowers (composer of the music for the Sherlock Holmes series seen a few years back on public television) and a wonderful homily by the Very Rev. Canon Mary June Nestler, herself a musician who really understands organists. Ladd Thomas capped it all off with that hot fudge sundae of pieces, the Widor Toccata--sweet, rich, and fun.

Wednesday

Back at the same church Wednesday morning, Judith Hancock, assisted by Gerre, began with Mendelssohn's Allegro (Chorale and Fugue); her playing was solid yet flowing, with beautiful articulation. She tackled one of her signature pieces, Petr Eben's challenging Nedìlni Hudba (Sunday Music), exhibiting deft handling of the many manual changes and hand crossings. In the Moto ostinato and Finale movements, through the use of different divisions she created a spatial melody, with sound jumping around the room. The pedal 'drumbeats' in the Finale were wonderful--her quietly disciplined technique made her fancy footwork all the more exciting.

Westwood United Methodist Church is home to a 1995-96 IV/153 Schantz, augmented with 85 digital voices, by Walsh & Tidwell. This is an enormous amount of instrument but it has to fight the acoustical brakes of heavy carpet and pew cushions, among other things. Paul Jacobs (who was at the side door of the church greeting conventioners as they entered!) played his program from memory. He began with a work by John Weaver (Jacobs' teacher and mentor), Toccata for Organ, an aerobic workout that nonetheless was very lyrical and lovely. Margaret Vardell Sandresky's The Mystery of Faith (world premiere and an AGO commission--one of my favorites of the new works) is a beautiful piece, sensitively played by Jacobs, utilizing various colors of the organ as it grows in complexity and volume, then reverting to quiet as it began. Jacobs' playing of the Handel Concerto in g minor was clean, crisp, well-articulated, and nicely ornamented. By now he had worked up enough steam to doff his jacket before playing Reger's Chorale-Fantasy 'Hallelujah! Gott zu loben,' in which Jacobs showed off his blinding technique. He brought out the chorale clearly, through the minefield of tempo and figurational changes (Round 3 of Regerfest).

At Wilshire United Methodist Church, Namhee Han played a program (not listed in our 1-lb. program books) of 'Herr Christ, der ein'ge Gottes Sohn' from the Orgelbüchlein (the only Bach I heard in the convention!), Brahms' O Welt, ich muss dich lassen, and Litaize, Prélude et danse fuguée. Then entered ensemble amarcord, five former choristers of the Thomaskirche in Leipzig. They would have pleased just as a change of pace, but more than that, the purity of their singing, the varied and interesting program choices, even the opportunity to hear Tallis' If Ye Love Me sung one to a part, made this performance another one of the convention's high points. Especially fine was their interpretation of Poulenc's Laudes de Saint Antoine de Padoue, and John Tavener's The Lamb.

The Wednesday night banquet featured actor David Hyde Pierce (star of stage and screens both big and small, including his role as Niles Crane in Frasier, seen by those who didn't have their rehearsals on Thursday nights). Mr. Pierce has studied the organ and served as a church organist, and his anecdotes of his organ-playing days were hilarious; he opened by displaying his organ shoes, and brought down the house with his opinion of mastering the details of ornamentation ('I don't care'). As if that weren't enough, Hector Olivera then dazzled the crowd with his fiery playing on the mighty Roland Atelier AT-90S, which was programmed with sounds that went way beyond the Spitzenundchiffenwerk we had been gorging on all week. He played the Flight of the Bumblebee, with the melody on the pedals at breakneck speed, and channeled Virgil Fox with his breezy interpretation of the Jig Fugue.

Thursday

The buses left early this day for a trip to Garden Grove. Attendees were able to enjoy a bit of the outdoors while strolling around the grounds of the Crystal Cathedral campus. Christopher Pardini, the cathedral's senior organist, demonstrated the 1951 Aeolian-Skinner.

Fred Swann presented a stunning program that opened with Robert Hebble's Heraldings, commissioned for the Cathedral, a fine splashy opening in 'stereo' (more for a truly quadraphonic, really, as it exploited the east and west chamade organs, and full organ of all the divisions). During all this there was racket from numerous noisy birds who seemed to take even the strongest crescendo in stride! In Franck's Choral II, the full organ passages really showed the power of the instrument; and when Swann drew the tremolo, one could feel one's own body trembling. After the Introduction and Passacaglia from Rheinberger's Sonata VIII came another rarely played work, Sowerby's Requiescat in pace, the performance of which was dedicated to the memory of Catharine Crozier. When Swann closed with the Final of Widor's Symphony VI, one of the cathedral's window panels was opened and the birds seem to have vacated the area. Perhaps it was due to the final six chords or so, with the en chamades in full volume.

In the evening was the event everyone had been waiting for: the concert at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, featuring the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the premiere performance of the 4-manual, 109-rank Glatter-Götz/Rosales op. 24, which some have come to refer to as the 'French fry organ,' based on the design of its façade pipes. Voiced assertively enough to stand up to an orchestra and an orchestral hall's acoustic, it had been reputed to be loud, but I found it to be just right. Cherry Rhodes, playing the movable console onstage, and the Philharmonic, led by Alexander Mickelthwate, opened the program with James Hopkins' Concierto de Los Angeles--Visión escondida y Visión revelada, another world premiere/AGO commission; here the organ functioned as ensemble player, and it was up to the task. Organ solo passages in the Concierto demonstrated the various colors of the organ. Next Joseph Adam played from the permanent console, beginning with the last Reger work of the convention, Fantasia über B-A-C-H, then Vierne's Naïades, and Naji Hakim's Hommage à Igor Stravinsky. Here the organ stood on its own, and displayed its wonders full throttle; it dominates the room, in an acoustic that is properly calibrated. Robert Parris and the orchestra then treated the audience to Sowerby's Concerto I in C Major, and the organ, hall, architect, acoustician, and organ builders received the standing ovation that was very much their due.

The spaces and surfaces of the building echo the sweeping, billowing shapes seen on the exterior; even the shape of the curved organ pipes is echoed, with what looked like a stub of a 64-foot pipe (curved, of course). One had the feeling of being on a large sailboat (Gehry, it turns out, is a sailor . . . )

Friday

All the attendees returned to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. The last organ recital was presented by Samuel S. Soria, cathedral organist, playing Alec Wyton's Fanfare, Howell's Psalm Prelude, Set 2, No. 1, and Sowerby's Fast and Sinister (if there was this much Sowerby in Los Angeles, what will be left to hear in Chicago in 2006?). We had previously sat right in the line of fire of the organ; this time we were on the other side, with the pipework aiming past us to the left, yet the organ sounded much louder and clearer than it did before. The annual meeting included an improvisation (with references to the tune of Chicago, Chicago, That Toddlin' Town) by Peter Krasinski, the 2002 improvisation competition winner. The closing concert was presented by the Los Angeles Master Chorale, directed by Grant Gershon and with William Beck at the organ. The chorale stood front and center and was not assisted by microphones. Their wonderfully varied program included Byrd's Sing Joyfully, Billings' Beneficence, Jordan, and Chester, Michael Bedford's Psalm 96 (winner of the AGO/ECS Publishing Award in Choral Composition), with trumpeter Roy Poper, Fauré's Cantique de Jean Racine, the sublime Duruflé Ubi Caritas, Pärt's Solfeggio and The Beatitudes, Thompson's Alleluia, Roger Wagner's arrangement of Alleluia (The Old 100th), and Finzi's God Is Gone Up.

It could not have been a more satisfying conclusion to a week that was exhausting but enjoyable, at times even inspiring--an opportunity to hear marvelous new instruments in visually and acoustically awesome spaces, and a feast of new music to boot.

Congratulations, Los Angeles!

July 1-6, 2002

Larry Palmer is a contributing editor of The Diapason.

Despite heat and humidity this convention proved to be a stellar presentation of high-quality events. Indeed, throughout the week's major recitals there were probably more drops of sweat than dropped notes! Careful thought had gone into programming: each day began with recitals (or a recital followed by a repertoire session). Worship (preceded by a short concert) began the afternoon, followed by educational workshops. Each evening featured an 8 p.m. concert. Artists and instruments were well matched. Disruptions and problems were minimal, especially considering the large number of registrants. Chartered bus transportation was efficient (and cool). In a well-planned and executed first, public transport schedules and directions were provided for those who wished to take charge of their own itineraries, and guides aided these intrepid adventurers.  A large number of center-city events took place within a reasonable walking distance.

This was the fourth convening of an American Guild of Organists national gathering in Philadelphia, previous conventions having occurred in 1930, 1939, and 1964. Many still recall, as well, the 1977 International Congress of Organists in this unique city of major symphonic and retail-store pipe organs, the Ben Franklin Busybody mirror, cheese steaks, and assorted historic charms.

This report will, of necessity, represent only one person's schedule. I attended all the major concerts, save one. As for workshops, the elegant (though heavy) 278-page program book listed 80 (of which one was cancelled); I was able to sample four. Daily worship offerings, in addition to the early morning ecumenical services held at the convention hotel, numbered fourteen. I got to two of them. A chronological report seems pointless; the convention was divided into four color-coded groups, each assigned to attend many of the events at different times.

Two orchestral programs at Girard College

The Philadelphia Orchestra's new concert venue, Verizon Hall in the downtown Kimmel Center for the Arts, presently contains only the façade of a large Dobson pipe organ scheduled for completion in 2006. Thus concerts with orchestra were scheduled on Tuesday and Saturday evenings in the Chapel of Girard College, home to a magnificent four-manual E. M. Skinner organ. That Tuesday's offering happened at all was a tribute to professionalism and sheer determination! Because of the stifling heat, the orchestral musicians would have been justified in refusing to play; indeed, union rules allow them to refuse to perform in such adverse conditions. The performances, however, ranged from heroic to outstanding. James David Christie opened the program as soloist in the first modern performance of the just-published Widor Symphonie in G minor, opus 42 bis--an arrangement of the first and last movements from the composer's Sixth Organ Symphonie with a middle movement arranged from the Andante of the Second Organ Symphonie. Almost immediately, during the second statement of the opening theme the stand lights for half the orchestra and the conductor suddenly went out; so the performers overcame not only heat and humidity but relative obscurity, in addition to constant distraction as technicians tried to rectify the lighting problem.

The fun of hearing familiar music in a new and attractive guise coupled with the drama surrounding its performance led to shouts of "Bravo" and sustained applause from the overflow audience, which, no matter how uncomfortable it might have been, seemed to realize that the players were even less comfortable!

With full lighting restored, Craig Phillips was the deft soloist in his own Concertino for Organ and Chamber Orchestra (1995), a three-sectioned work of great melodic and rhythmic appeal, played without pause.

Although four overheated players exercised their option of leaving the orchestra at intermission, there was an immediate new sense of purpose as Diane Meredith Belcher made her entrance to play the Jongen Symphonie Concertante, opus 81! The organ console's central placement high above the stage allowed favorable sight lines for observing Ms. Belcher's energetic, musical, and poetic performance of Jongen's impressionistic tour-de-force, arguably the most successful coupling of organ and orchestra in the repertoire. The performance of this intricate work was a marvel of synchronization, made more so since the pipes of the 1933 organ are installed in the ceiling, at considerable distance from the console. The assistant conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Bulgarian-born Rossen Milanov, proved himself an able collaborator.

The Saturday closing concert, an evening of inspired choral singing from the 38-member Voices of Ascension, with orchestra and Mark Kruczek, organist, conducted by Dennis Keene, found us back at Girard College. Relief from the punishing heat had arrived on Friday and a significant number of conventioners departed on Saturday, so the Chapel was not as overwhelmed with audience as it had been for the opening concert. Carlyle Sharpe's short AGO/ECS Publishing award-winning choral work Laudate Nomen served as an upbeat, rhythmically-pungent "curtain-raiser" to the premiere of Ruth Watson Henderson's 24-minute cantata From Darkness to Light. From the quiet opening tympani notes to the hushed and yearning setting of the final words, "Darkness sang to the light and the kiss of love was peace," this lovely work, alternating Biblical texts (sung by baritone soloist Charles Robert Stephens) and choral settings of poems by the 20th-century Canadian writer Wilfred Watson, spoke in a communicative but individual tonal language. Impressionistic harmonies, a constant sense of forward motion, and deft handling of the orchestral voices all combined to make this the most immediately appealing of the large-scale commissions for Philadelphia 2002. It is definitely a work worthy of repeated hearings.

As an unscheduled addition to the program we were given a polished performance of C. Hubert H. Parry's coronation anthem I Was Glad, complete with the often-omitted cries of "Vivat Regina Elisabetta," an appropriate gesture in this, the British Queen's Golden Jubilee year. It was especially gratifying to have one final opportunity to revel in the grandiose full sound of the Girard Chapel organ, one of the finest surviving examples of E. M. Skinner's late work.

A major theme of this gathering was the celebration of the centenary of the birth of French composer Maurice Duruflé. All of his organ works were programmed during this week, as were the unaccompanied Four Motets on Gregorian Themes. For the culminating final offering of this remembrance, Keene and his superb Voices of Ascension performed Duruflé's Requiem, opus 9, with mezzo-soprano Zehava Gal. One of the most beloved settings of these ancient texts, Duruflé's masterpiece received a sublime reading, with every subtle nuance aptly and carefully observed. It was obvious that all involved knew the work intimately. I have never heard a better realization of this haunting, gentle score which I first experienced in 1959 in Holland, with the composer himself at the organ.

Three top-notch organ recitals: Parker-Smith, Morrison, Miura

A third memorable event at Girard College was the spectacular July 4 organ recital by Jane Parker-Smith. Noting that 226 years ago to the very day a group of gentlemen in Philadelphia had declared independence from Great Britain, convention general chair Dennis Elwell remarked that "the convention committee had invited two British organists to play at this gathering to demonstrate that we were gracious winners." Indeed we were all winners to enjoy such artistry! Flanked by two registrants, Ms. Parker-Smith put the organ through its paces in a program of virtuoso works that, in her hands (and feet), never seemed to overwhelm or tire the listener: Impetuoso (Wiedermann), Passacaglia in D minor (Middelschulte--a major work of 62 variations incorporating both the BACH motive and the chorale Ein' feste Burg), Toccata, opus 12 (Germani). Duruflé's opus 4, Prelude, Adagio, and Chorale Variations on the Veni Creator, has rarely sounded better. Especially compelling was Parker-Smith's playing of the beautiful Adagio, her pavane-like statement of the Chorale, and her attention to some surprising manual counterpoint in the accompaniment to the 4-foot pedal flute solo of the third variation. Scherzo Symphonique, transcribed by Jeremy Filsell from a 1974 improvisation by Pierre Cochereau, brought this outstanding recital to a quicksilver conclusion.

Alan Morrison in Princeton

For this listener the new organ work making the most lasting impression during the week was William Bolcom's Borborygm (a Latin/Greek word meaning "a rumbling of the bowels"), based on sketches by the late William Albright and dedicated to his memory by his long-time University of Michigan colleague. Beginning with the eponymous quiet low rumblings in the pedal, the 9-minute work reached its climax in a repeated, drum-like ostinato passage, and then subsided into quietness. Constantly arresting and interesting, this skillful work by the distinguished Pulitzer Prize-winning composer suggested Albright's style without sounding like an imitation. Morrison's performance was riveting, as was his entire recital (heard in the first of its four repetitions).

Another reconstructed Cochereau improvisation, Berceuse in Memory of Louis Vierne, utilized the melody of Vierne's own Berceuse (from 24 Pieces in Free Style)--a tune with startling similarity to the opening phrase of the Rodgers and Hart song There's a Small Hotel. At the climax of this piece Morrison utilized the brilliant Gallery Trumpet stop for the first time in his program.

Masterful command of registration and a deep understanding of the work characterized Morrison's playing of Duruflé's Suite, opus 5. The somber E-flat minor Prelude, perhaps the composer's most elegiac work, waxed and waned with powerful force; the daunting cross rhythms of the Sicilienne were expertly limned, and the thrilling, if over-exposed, Toccata (with the composer's revised ending) was tossed off with virtuoso aplomb.

A week largely devoted to organ music reminded one most pointedly of the absolute need for a sympathetic acoustical space if the organ is to be a successful musical medium. The Princeton University Chapel provided such an enjoyable partnership of noble Gothic-revival edifice with noble four-manual E. M. Skinner/Aeolian-Skinner/N. P. Mander organ (1928/1954-56/1991) installed on both sides of the chancel, plus additional divisions in the nave and west gallery.

Hatsumi Miura in Chestnut Hill

A breath of the past was just the needed antidote to three days of large electric-action organs, orchestral transcriptions, and mostly 20th-century repertoire; a more effective aural cleanser than Hatsumi Miura's elegant playing of the three-manual 45-stop Mander tracker organ (2000) of suburban Chestnut Hill's Presbyterian Church would have been difficult to imagine! The gentle tonal variety offered by the organ's slightly-unequal Kellner temperament, the player's artistic range of touches, and her beautifully-developed program in which works of Frescobaldi, Cabezón, and Cabanilles set off the novelty of Jehan Alain's medieval estampie-like Fantasmagorie and, as emotional high point, his Première Fantasie, led us to the satisfaction of stylistically-played Bach (the double-pedal An Wasserflüssen Babylon, BWV 653b and Prelude and Fugue in C, BWV 545). Brava Miura for this musical high point, and bravo Mander for an eloquently voiced instrument consisting of an encased Great, Swell, and Pedal, with separately encased Choir on the gallery rail, all with full 61-note manuals and 32-note pedal, thank you very much!

The organ as fun

For a group of professionals who take themselves very seriously far too much of the time, it was salutary to experience the organ as entertainment, lighter fare, yes . . . even fun! Among multiple opportunities to do this: the effervescent Hector Olivera amazed with his astounding musicianship at the Roland Atelier AT 90S digital keyboard instrument, especially with an expertly-nuanced and accurately-colored transcription of Stravinsky's Firebird Suite. With faux-castanets clicking from his keyboard-orchestra he brought down the house with a Foxian rendition of Bach's Gigue Fugue. Introducing the concert, Olivera's duo partner Richard Morris quipped "You've heard music you're supposed to hear this week; now here's what you want to hear!" Best of their collaborative efforts (prefaced by Morris' comic proffering of a tuning note and Olivera's "tuning" of his electronic-keyboard tympani) was their performance of the Poulenc Concerto in G minor. A two-keyboard version of Guilmant's Symphony Number 1  for Organ and Orchestra, opus 42, allowed a comparison of this composer's adaptation from a solo organ work with that of Widor heard at the opening concert. Of the two, Guilmant's seemed to be a more idiomatic, better balanced essay for organ and orchestra.

To lighten the procedings at the complimentary breakfast and annual AGO business meeting on Saturday morning, the Philadelphia Organ Quartet (Michael Stairs, Colin Howland, Rudolph Lucente, and Peter Richard Conte) provided their own brand of zaniness at four electronic instruments. Popular favorites included a rip-roaring Light Cavalry Overture thundering forth from twelve keyboards and four pedalboards, Tiptoe Through the Tulips for "petals" alone, and a relentlessly funny spoof of authentic performing practice, a "newly-discovered Sonata in C by the classical Swiss composer 'Monk Mueller'," for which Conte's instrument was tuned to a decidedly earlier (mis)temperament and a lower pitch than that employed by his accomplices.

Speaking of Peter Richard Conte, the Grand Court organist of the Wanamaker Organ at Lord and Taylor's department store displayed his considerable artistry on the world-famous six-manual instrument of more than 28,000 pipes. A twice-performed concert on the evening of July 4 featured his own transcriptions of Overture to Candide (Bernstein), The Sorcerer's Apprentice (Dukas), Edwin H. Lemare's arrangement of Wotan's Farewell and Magic Fire Music from Die Walküre (Wagner), and the truly unique opportunity to hear Dupré's Passion Symphony in its first complete performance on this organ since the composer first improvised it here in December, 1921. Historical performance practice of the first order! Conte's playing of the entire program was of the highest musicality, with an unimpeachable sense of timing and registration and absolute technical control. Both organ and building appeared to be in tip-top shape as were most of the convention venues. And what could have been more fitting than his encore, Sousa's Stars and Stripes Forever, complete with alternating red, white, and blue lights and an unfurling monster flag? No additional fireworks were needed for this patriotic celebration!

More organ recitals

Martin Baker, the "other" British recitalist, was saddled with a smaller instrument (38 ranks of 1921 Austin spread over four manuals and pedal) in a padded room (the visually attractive Congregation Rodeph Shalom). Baker made what he could of his assignment, playing particularly well in Duruflé's Scherzo, opus 2 and in his improvisation on a Jewish psalm melody, for which he utilized rapid repeated notes in an effective and telling manner. Organ and space did not abet his flawless playing of Mendelssohn (Sonata in A), Liszt (Orpheus), or Reger (Chorale Fantasia on Ein' feste Burg).

Similarly disadvantaged, Ann Elise Smoot's recital preceding afternoon worship at St. Mark's Episcopal Church died on the "hothouse" vine of a packed church, afflicted by high humidity and a program that sandwiched the potentially-exciting Reger Chorale Fantasia on Hallelujah! Gott zu loben between two dutiful works by Stanford. In this setting Ms. Smoot was unable to churn up much excitement. At the succeeding worship service the much-discussed, usually-deplored new nave division appended to the historic Aeolian-Skinner organ managed to prove its mettle by ciphering.

For Cherry Rhodes' recital on the Martin Ott organ of Trinity Lutheran Church in suburban Lansdale the only piece that seemed at home was the opener, Bach's lovely mostly-manualiter Pastorale in F. This very Germanic instrument did not do much for Ms. Rhodes' otherwise masterful performances of French and French-leaning works: Scènes d'Enfant d'après "The Turn of the Screw" (Jean Guillou), Meditations on Salve Festa Dies (Fr. Marius Walter), and Variations on Victimae Paschali Laudes (Jiri Ropek), the latter performed in memory of University of Alabama organ professor Warren Hutton, whose sudden death at the pre-convention pedagogy conference had both shocked and saddened the assemblage.

Organist Robert Plimpton capitalized on the Austro-German accents of the 1974 Rieger organ in Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church for assured performances of Bach (Chorale Partita on Sei gegrüsset) and Buxtehude (Toccata in F, BuxWV 157). The organ failed to be as sympathetic to the French vocabulary of  Franck's Grande Pièce Symphonique. Plimpton performed his teacher Robert Elmore's Holiday for Organ as if it were his own, and he seemed to revel in this return to the 98-rank organ installed during his tenure at the church.*

Repertoire enrichment sessions

Two beloved organists, both master teachers, gave organ-related recent-repertoire "mini-recitals" at featured morning time slots: Marilyn Keiser (organ and instruments) and David Higgs (solo repertoire). A third session surveying some recent choral works was offered by Clifford Hill.

Keiser devoted her program to works by living American composers, concentrating on appealing performances of two from the four Psalms for Flute and Organ by Moonyeen Albrecht, Dan Locklair's Sonata da chiesa for flute and organ (both with the elegant collaboration of flutist Mimi Stillman), Robert Powell's Carols of Christmas (which charmed, but failed to cool the room), and, with the Fairmount Brass Quintet plus tympani and cymbals, Craig Phillips' Suite. It was fortunate that the artist chose this format, for open windows admitted as much street noise as air, and her several remarks were totally obliterated by the beeping of backward-intentioned trucks.

David Higgs presented first performances of two works from the commissioned Philadelphia Organ Book (consisting of six pieces). Especially attractive was Star Rising by first-time composer for the organ Erik Santos, who was present. Also in attendance was Emma Lou Diemer, composer of the second work premiered, Prepare the Royal Highway. Because of excessive heat in the non-air-conditioned First Presbyterian Church, Higgs shortened his program; on Thursday, he mentioned that, having dispensed with a jacket, he was "playing in his shirtsleeves for the first time ever in public performance."

The immediate "hit" of Higgs' program was Recollection (Soliloquy No. 2) by David Conte. ECS Publishing head Robert Schuneman reported that all thirty copies brought to the convention sold out immediately after Higgs' first presentation on Tuesday, and more than 200 orders for it were placed during the week. In celebration of the national holiday, Higgs ended his program with 19th-century Harvard Professor of Music John Knowles Paine's sturdy Double Fugue on My Country, 'tis of Thee for the Full Organ.

Competitions

Once again a distinguished panel of judges (Margaret Kemper, Mary Preston, and George Ritchie) confounded those listeners who sat through the complete final round of the National Young Artists Competition in Organ Playing by choosing a safe, middle-of-the-road winner, Timothy Olsen. As has been increasingly the case in recent competitions I have attended, the audience prize winner (selected by votes from those who "stick it out" for the complete program), second-ranked Kola Owalabi, provided more interesting and exciting music-making. If the goal of this competition is to launch a young artist's concert career, it would seem that, once again, the audience made a more "judicious" choice than did the judges.

Not one of these players succeeded equally in all four required pieces ("Great" Praeludium in E minor, Bruhns; Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr, BWV 663, Bach; Etude in A-flat, Schumann; Allegro maestoso [Symphonie III], Vierne). If pressed for my own choice it would have been third place winner Christian Schmitt, whose Vierne seemed to my ears the one performance conveying the menace inherent in this work. His Bruhns was stylistic, if less fanciful than Owalabi's, whose delightful playing of the Schumann was the only one to capture its fantasy and to translate the composer's pianistic idiom to the organ with reasonable success. As is often the case, flexibly-articulated, stylish Bach-playing eluded all three players.

Winners of the National Competition in Organ Improvisation (which I did not hear) were Peter Krasincki (first prize), Neil Weston (second), and David Macfarlane (third). All three improvised on themes submitted by Harry Wilkinson. Judges for this event were Mary Beth Bennett, Lynn Trapp, and John Vandertuin.

A few workshops

While only four in number, my workshop choices included a wide range of topics offered by presenters at various stages of their careers. Nevertheless, each was successful, and each workshop held my interest. On Tuesday, as preparation for the evening concert, I went to hear veteran Widor-scholar John Near discuss the composition and reception histories of the work we were to hear. I am a longtime admirer of Near's exemplary editions of the Widor organ symphonies; he has added further to his luster by preparing Widor's opus 42 bis for performance! Much of what he said had been printed in the extensive notes so generously provided in the convention program book. It was particularly gratifying to hear Near's reference to our own venerable journal as he quoted The Diapason report (April 1919) of the American premiere of Widor's Symphonie in G minor featuring organist Charles Courboin with the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Leopold Stokowski. (The journal's correspondent reported 10,000 auditors in Wanamaker's Grand Court; other sources suggested the tally might be as high as 12 or 15,000.)

At Tuesday evening's performance I was seated in the balcony, close to Dr. Near, and was therefore privy to his delight as he held in his hands, for the first time, printed copies of his new edition (published by A-R Editions, Madison Wisconsin).

On Wednesday I attended "Thomas Jefferson's 'Favorite Passion'," a workshop by younger scholar Nancy Cooper from the University of Montana at Missoula. She kept us engaged in Jeffersonian biography and Cooperian wit (beginning as she quoted the musical 1776, "It's hot as hell in Philadelphia"), doled out to an overflowing roomful of interested folk. Musical examples from Jefferson's music collection were played on a lovely three-stop continuo positive organ, opus one, by Michael Rathke, now of Fort Worth, Texas (formerly employed by Fisk of Gloucester).

For the Friday time slot, I chose to sample a session on the music of my Oberlin Conservatory classmate Calvin Hampton, presented by Shelly Moorman-Stahlman from Lebanon Valley College. Some unforeseen glitches in her PowerPoint presentation and some non-sequentially copied musical examples notwithstanding, Ms. Moorman-Stahlman gave a well-organized overview of Hampton's organ music and highlighted his expertise in hymn-writing. Her performance, from memory, of The Primitives and Everyone Dance from the composer's Five Dances (1982) served as aural "bookends" to her presentation, and reminded us anew of the terrible loss Calvin's death represents to the organ world. Almost too poignant in this context was a notice posted on the bulletin board beneath the organ gallery of Arch Street Methodist Church: "Because of AIDS we remember . . ."

Finally, on Saturday, I learned again from the redoubtable Marilyn Mason, who presented a workshop, "A Lifetime of New Music," highlighting some of her 78 commissions of organ music. Beginning with prayer, continuing with focused wit, dropping nuggets of wisdom as she proceeded, Professor Mason charmed her audience. She was joined by Jean Randall, who shared the playing of several pieces by Gregory Hamilton, Gordon Young and Jean Langlais from the just-published first volume of the Mason Music Library Collection of Commissioned Works for Organ (MorningStar Music Publishers). In addition, Ms. Mason played Toccata from Suite for Organ (1947) by Edmund Haines, her very first commissioned work.

As for memorable humor, Mason shared a story from her recent trip to Spain during which an old acquaintance, a priest, told her "Madame Professor, you are looking so well preserved." She also recounted her classic tale of an encounter with a Boston matron during a recital visit to Symphony Hall.  Queried by the dowager about her Mason family pedigree, the artist replied that she was "Just Miss Mason from Michigan." To this the Bostonian commented, "Here we think breeding is everything." Without missing a beat Mason responded, "In Michigan we think breeding is fun, but not everything . . ." Of equal value in the good advice department, Prof. Mason left us with the observation, "The amateur practices to get it right; the professional practices so it can't be played wrong."

Choral components

Fine choral singing graced the convention, starting with the Monday evening Gathering Celebration at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul. Gerre Hancock led his marvelous Saint Thomas (New York) Choir of Men and Boys in Duruflé's Four Motets; The Twelve by William Walton (whose centenary also occurs in 2002), and the first performance of a new work, Jacob's Prayer by Owen Burdick (to a text by Gian Carlo Menotti). Expecially lovely was Burdick's chordal setting of the words "O God, let me not die in darkness," and timely, too, for we were informed during priestly welcoming words that a power failure at 4 p.m. had rendered the building untenable for the evening service: "Only God's love (and the quick response of the electric company) restored organ, lights, and air conditioning in the nick of time." This was a relief on several fronts, since the weather deities historically seem to have had little regard for organ conventions. (I think of recent AGO gatherings in Boston, New York, Dallas, Denver; only Seattle was vouchsafed a pleasantly cool week!) It was good to know that, at least for the opening event, God appeared to be siding with organists!

The athletic, intricate accompaniment to Walton's joyous setting of master poet Wystan Auden's memorable text was handled skillfully by Judith Hancock. Stirring improvisations to open and close the service were created by Gerre Hancock and John Weaver. Another new work, Ceremonies for Organ and Brass Quintet by Jennifer Higdon, commissioned to mark the 100th anniversary of the Philadelphia Chapter of the AGO (the first "national" chapter outside New York City), clocked in at more than 30 minutes. This was simply  too much of a good thing. In future hearings, for which individual sections could be selected, the work might prove more effective. (I would suggest Opening Ceremony, Celebration [organ solo], and the last movement, Celebration.)

At the other end of the week, a Saturday concert by the Toronto Children's Chorus introduced the convention to Philadelphia's new concert venue in the Kimmel Center. Verizon Hall is cello-shaped, with four tiers of seats; the upper balconies actually surround the stage area. A dark wood interior, somewhat dry acoustically, has seats upholstered in vibrant red. This color was repeated in robes worn by 55 girl singers; the 13 boys were garbed in white shirts and black pants.

What a superb ensemble! Founder and conductor Jean Ashworth Bartle conducted the long and difficult program, drawing impeccable tuning, clear articulation, and satisfying musical results from her young charges. Their unified diction of Latin, German, and English texts was remarkable and easily understood, gratifying since there were several unannounced changes to the printed program. Pure sounds, plus added appoggiaturas, marked the stylish opening Stabat Mater (Pergolesi). An unaccompanied Ave Maria (Holst) and Eleanor Daley's delicate setting of Hilaire Belloc's The Birds (with piano) gave some welcome relief from the incessant brightness of the accompanying large electronic instrument by the Walker Technical Company.

Composer Ben Steinberg, urbane and succinct in his pre-premiere remarks, was given an exemplary first performance of his Psalms of Thanksgiving. Skillful writing for harp and cello (when not overbalanced by the organ) and flowing, singable choral lines resulted in 20 minutes of easy listening. Impressive poise and projection characterized the Chorus member who served as narrator. However, the work as a whole lacked sufficient variety to sustain interest. Like Jennifer Higdon's, this composition should fare better in excerpted form. Not for the first time during the week's new music I thought of the late Igor Kipnis' quotable quip about an interminable John Cage happening, "It reminded me of the New York Subway, but at least the Subway goes somewhere."

Some closing thoughts

Featuring "Rising Stars," winners of the 2001 AGO/Quimby Regional Competitions for Young Organists, as pre-service recitalists for the worship services proved an effective way to showcase emerging talent. I heard an adroit program of Vierne works played by Brett Maguire at Old St. Peter's Church on Tuesday. Previously I had sampled a Dallas presentation of her convention recital by Lucinda Meredith from Houston, also an assured and able player. The other "stars" in this constellation, still to be heard at some future occasions, included Tim Pyper, Christian Lane, Charles Burks, Thomas Schuster, Martin Grajeda, Jr., and Rico Contenti.

Following Maguire's recital a service of "Worship Through the Day" was offered by the 29-member choir from the Royal School of Church Music Training Course for Teenage Boys and Girls (10th grade through second-year college students), directed by Murray Forbes Somerville, with Eric Plutz, organist. Among a wide range of musical offerings was the first hearing of Douglas Major's anthem Love Poem to God (text by Rainer Maria Rilke) for choir, organ and synthesizer, featuring a congregational refrain ("What will you do, God, when I die?") signaled at each return by the haunting sounds of wind chimes. The young singers rose splendidly to the not-inconsiderable challenges of this work.

It was general cause for celebration to note a goodly contingent of younger AGO members, truly the future of the organization. Frequently manning the Exhibit Hall information booth for Oberlin Conservatory, organ majors Owen Cannon (entering freshman) and David Mislin (junior) were representative of these fresh faces. It was fun to recall the past, too, as I visited with Marjorie Jackson Rasche, FAGO, whom I met in 1957 as an Oberlin sophomore at my own very first AGO convention, a regional gathering in Akron, Ohio. Here she was in Philadelphia, seated next to me at the dinner-reception given by the Guild for members holding certification (FAGO, AAGO, ChM, CAGO, SPC). And, as unlikely as it might seem after reading that collection of letters, the ample Italian menu consisted of more than alphabet soup!

Diversity! It should be apparent to those reading this report that the program offered a wide range of offerings geared to many differing tastes. As a respite from continual organ music during the morning spent in Princeton, the seven-member New England Spiritual Ensemble sang a program of African-American music, their selections chosen to illustrate James Weldon Johnson's descriptive poem O Black and Unknown Bards. (And later, in Philadelphia, on a recreative walk, I discovered the historic marker dedicated to Francis Johnson [1792-1844], "America's first native-born master of music, African-American . . . .")

Another program "sorbet," though not on my schedule, was a concert by the Renaissance band Piffaro, early ensemble music sandwiched between carillon selections played by Lisa Lonie at St. Thomas Church, Whitemarsh, in Fort Washington.

The many Philadelphia connections between artists, pieces, and instruments (some of them noted in the remarks above) were appreciated. (Chairman Elwell and performance chair David Furniss are to be commended for this further felicity!) The plethora of faculty, students, and former students from the Curtis Institute of Music, in particular, made it apparent how very important this place of higher learning has been to the musical scene in Philadelphia and throughout the nation.

Another appreciated "first" at this meeting was the program book mention of the maintenance persons or firm responsible for upkeep and tuning of each convention organ.

Now that the 46th national convention of the American Guild of Organists has passed into history, might I suggest that, in order to secure the continued blessings of posterity, some of the expected profits generated by such a large attendance be set aside to endow an air conditioning assistance fund, with generous grants to the next east coast venue selected as host for a mid-summer convention? After all, who knows? There might not be any free paper fans, the next time around!

                  *Thanks to Dallas colleague Annette Albrecht, who served as my surrogate ears for Robert Plimpton’s recital.

                  Photographs by William Leazer (of the Dallas AGO Chapter).

Larry Palmer is harpsichord editor of THE DIAPASON.

Anticipation was high as the hour drew near for the first staged performance
of Johann Mattheson's Boris Goudenow.
Composed in 1710 for the Hamburg Opera, but never performed (probably for
political reasons), the opera slept the long sleep of libraries, narrowly
surviving destruction in the World War II bombing of northern Germany. Moved
secretly for safekeeping, the score remained in Armenia, was returned to
Hamburg in 1998, and now, on June 14, 2005, after almost 300 years, this ink on
paper was about to become living sound for an audience.

Just as I joined the capacity crowd entering the Cutler Majestic Theatre, a
celebratory fanfare sounded forth. I was one of the lucky ones who made it to
my mezzanine spot in the 1200-seat Beaux Arts hall before the overture began.
Those who were not so fortunate created a fair amount of chaos during the
opening scene of the opera, possibly adding some 18th-century-style realism to
the occasion!

Brilliant ceremonial rites at the Russian court, colorful dancing
(especially a divertissement of the disabled that closed the second act, and
the final chaconne), some striking stage pictures (sunrise over the Kremlin at
the beginning of Act III was particularly effective), and the luminously
stylistic, homogeneous playing of the BEMF Orchestra made this a memorable
evening at the opera. Mattheson's music was nothing out of the ordinary, and
gripping, engaging singing, especially from the women, was in short supply. A
bawdy, comic role--the servant Bogda (sung by William Hite)--stood out, as did
some touches such as the percussive clatter of thrown coins (in the Coronation
scene: a foretaste of Britten's slung mugs from Noyes Fludde
style='font-style:normal'>?), and the festive addition of handbells and
castanets for the final tableau.

One strange facet of Mattheson's work is its macaronic text: Italian arias
inserted freely into a primarily German libretto. An added oddity of this particular
performance in 18th-century style was the decision to keep the house lights
dark, although, with a (21st-century) projected text, it might be considered
unnecessary for the audience to refer to the printed texts that had been
provided. 

Festival Concerts

Just how important a mesmerizing singer can be to an opera was borne home
the following evening at Jordan Hall when the Festival offered Nights at the
Opera: Highlights from Beloved BEMF Productions. Opening with a superb reading
of orchestral excerpts from Lully's Thésée
style='font-style:normal'> (staged in 2001), continuing with ravishing and
riveting arias from Conradi's Ariadne (2003), delivered with dramatic intensity by Canadian soprano Karina
Gauvin, this was voluptuous music presented with authoritative diction and gorgeous
sound, to boot.

It was especially enlightening to have the orchestra front and center, on
stage rather than in the pit, allowing one to observe the close interaction
among the players, and the ways in which they were led by Festival musical
co-directors, lutenists Paul O'Dette and Stephen Stubbs, and concertmaster
Robert Mealy. These leaders, along with the two continuo
harpsichordists--Kristian Bezuidenhout and Jörg Jacobi (who had produced
the printed score and parts used for the Boris premiere)--kept the music moving
with gut-wrenching inflections, infectious dance-based rhythmic nuance, and
some of the most satisfying cadential resolutions to be enjoyed on the planet.
For those not in attendance, these musical splendors may be heard at home in BEMF's
first commercial recording. Their performance of Conradi's Ariadne
style='font-style:normal'> has just been released as a three compact disc set
on the German CPO label (777 073-2).

Excerpts from Luigi Rossi's L'Orfeo,
a back-to-back demonstration of Handel's wholesale borrowing from Mattheson
(nearly-identical arias from the latter's Porsenna
style='font-style:normal'>, 1702, as used by the former in his Agrippina
style='font-style:normal'>, 1709), and Mattheson's undistinguished, lengthy
serenata concerning the virtues of chastity, Die Keusche Liebe
style='font-style:normal'>, failed to achieve the musical excitement generated
in the first half of the program.

Sequentia, ensemble for medieval music, presented the 8 o'clock Jordan Hall
concert on Thursday evening. This was not the ticket I had requested (thinking
that I should at least try to hear one of the 11 o'clock late-night concerts),
but I decided to accept providence and attend Lost Songs of a Rhineland Harper,
a program that proved to be a stunner! Framing two large parts of the program
with songs to texts by the learned medieval musician Boethius, the four-member
ensemble was heard in a variety of voicings, from unaccompanied monophony to
settings with harp, lyre and several flutes, including one made from a delicate
swan's bone. With translations projected on a large central screen hung from
the organ case, it was not difficult to follow the lengthy Latin texts.
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> 

After intermission the dramatic impact was ratcheted up several notches,
especially in the  gripping
Icelandic saga, Atlakvida (Lay of Attila
the Hun), the earliest known retelling of the Rhinegold story later the basis
for Richard Wagner's four-opera Ring of the Nibelungs
style='font-style:normal'>. In considerably less time, Sequentia founder
Benjamin Bagby related the violent tale, becoming the embodiment of an
Icelandic harper, concentrated and severe in expression, and with such incisive
diction that the old Scandinavian text was chillingly clear. We listeners
experienced grim history as our ancestors might have done. Bagby's performance
was a startling, unforgettable theatrical tour-de-force.

Drama of another sort--that of program changes--informed the Friday evening
program Five Concerti and a Magnificat. An Overture (to the opera Porsenna
style='font-style:normal'>) and the double chorus Magnificat
style='font-style:normal'> were by Mattheson. The Overture, featuring BEMF's
principal oboist Washington McClain, was followed by the first program
substitution: the Bach Concerto in D minor for Two Violins
style='font-style:normal'> (with soloists Andrey Reshetin and Maria
Krestinskaya) replacing the scheduled Vivaldi Concerto to have been played by
Giuliano Carmignola, indisposed in Italy. Matthias Maute romped through two
Recorder Concerti (in F Major by Telemann and the G Major, RV 443, by Vivaldi)
with musical insight and astonishing virtuosity. Like soprano Gauvin, he was
unafraid to make the occasional ugly sound for dramatic effect. Replacing
Carmignola's second star turn was Johann Wilhelm Hertel's Cello
Concerto in A minor, featuring BEMF's
superb principal cellist, Phoebe Carrai, a satisfying and expressively kinetic
player.

Announcing the program changes, Paul O'Dette quipped that it was probably
the first time, at least in North America, that a program would feature two
Hertel Concerti. A native of J. S. Bach's hometown, Eisenach, the unfamiliar
Hertel (1727-1789), proved his worth in the works heard on this program, with
the Concerto in F minor for Fortepiano and Strings
style='font-style:normal'> a stronger composition. It was lovingly played by
Kristian Bezuidenhout, who achieved hushed, nearly inaudible pianissimi in the
poignant Largo, and also improvised an extended cadenza at the end of this
movement.

A Plethora of Offerings: Fringe and Beyond

The large number of concerts during Festival Week forced would-be listeners
to make difficult choices. For example, two further sets of daily concerts at 5
and 11 included duos for bass violas da gamba; choral music for the Holy Roman
Emperor Maximilian I and his daughter Marguerite of Austria; violin and
harpsichord music for the 18th-century Russian manor house; Gypsy Primadonna
music of 1820s Moscow; "Waild and Krejzy: secular music in 1730s
Slovakia"; and baroque lute music played by the indomitable duo of Stubbs
and O'Dette, who seemed to be everywhere--opera orchestra (Boris was played
four times during the week) as well as all other appearances of the BEMF
Orchestra, master classes, solo recitals, administrative matters--an amazing
musical (and physical) expenditure of energy. Every involvement I noted was at
a very high level, as well.

There were at least 57 scheduled "fringe" concerts in various
nearby venues, plus the concurrent Early Music Exhibition (Wednesday through
Saturday) at the Radisson Hotel, where dozens of demonstration recitals were
sponsored by instrument makers and dealers. As harpsichordist for the Texas
Camerata concert on Thursday (Lindsay Chapel of Emmanuel Church), I experienced
a sold-out house of involved and appreciative auditors. It was not possible to
attend many of these added events (all by groups that had been screened before
receiving an invitation from the Festival management), but I heard enthusiastic
reports about many programs. Of the Exhibition concerts I heard two: the first
a morning program with Team Mattheson (Matilda Butkas and William Carragan),
duo harpsichordists, performing works by the featured composer of the week.
They played fine harpsichords by David Werbeloff [Boston] after Zell and Robert
Hicks [Vermont] after Stehlin for an overflowing complement of listeners, many
seated on the floor or leaning against any available wall space.

In the afternoon Duo d'amore (Geoffrey Burgess, baroque oboes; Elaine
Funaro, harpsichord) again played to a capacity audience in the ample
exhibition space occupied by The Harpsichord Clearing House. Perhaps, like me,
these auditors were eager to escape "the din of antiquity" (to borrow
Daniel Pinkham's apt phrase) and to experience old instruments in some new
music. Both players made cogent cases for their commissioned repertory; the
program included two world premieres (works by Chris Lastovicka and Edwin
McLean, whose contribution Incantations gave opportunity to hear the darker,
smoky timbre of the baroque oboe d'amore)! Funaro programmed two short
harpsichord solos by Tom Robin Harris and Stephen Yates. Additional duets were
by John Mayrose, and Andrew Ford, plus Yates's hauntingly beautiful Canto
style='font-style:normal'> (2004), a lyric fantasia well suited to both wind
and keyboard. For contrast one piece of earlier music could have benefited this
program, although all of the new works were of interest. The only other
insertion of "later music" into the Festival program was a Zuckermann
Harpsichords-sponsored program by California harpsichordist/composer Shelli
Nan.

Events with a particular educational focus included a morning clavichord
symposium at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts; "Performing Baroque Music
According to Mattheson" at the Goethe Institute; "Rediscovering Boris
Goudenow: Performance and Production Issues
in German Baroque Opera"; a wide variety of instrumental and vocal
masterclasses; and organizational discussions on audience building and other
practicalities sponsored by Early Music America and a panel of early music
concert promoters. 

Friday's day-long celebration of the North German organ featured a recent,
refined Richards and Fowkes organ (opus 10, 2000) at First Lutheran Church,
with organists Edoardo Bellotti, Hans Davidsson, and William Porter playing
literature that demonstrated the organist-composer as contrapuntist, as
preacher, and as orator. In the first of the afternoon sessions, Porter used
the rich plenum and full, singing principals of this modest-sized two-manual
instrument in Buxtehude's monumental Praeludium in E minor
style='font-style:normal'> (BuxWV 142), followed by Krebs's Fantasia
on Herr Jesus Christ, dich zu uns wend
(idiomatic reed solo) and trio on Herzlich Lieb hab' ich dich, o Herr
style='font-style:normal'> (piquant, lively flutes). C. P. E. Bach's Fantasia
con Fuga in C minor served up the gravitas
of a satisfying 16-foot plenum, complete with Sesquialtera.

This provided the perfect musical segue to my other choice of fringe
program, heard in a religious edifice just across the street. First and Second
Church, destroyed by fire in 1968, was replaced, behind its damaged
façade, with a striking, contemporary building, including a second-story
high-ceilinged, freely-angled chapel. In this sky-lit quiet space Iowa's Carol
lei Breckenridge played all six of C. P. E. Bach's Sonaten für Kenner
und Liebhaber [Sonatas for Connoisseurs and
Amateurs] (Volume I, 1779) in a musical salon concert, with period poetry read
in German by Michael Herrick. 

Breckenridge, heard several years ago in memorable Mozart performances,
maintained her reputation as a master of the clavichord. Playing a large
unfretted instrument by Paul Irvin [Chicago], she limned the rapidly shifting
emotions of these Sturm und Drang compositions with unflappable technical ease.
The six sonatas, each comprising three movements, are not of equal length, nor,
frankly, of equal interest. Among all 18 movements, the very first (a dazzling
Prestissimo) was breathtaking, as was the complete (and shorter) Fifth Sonata
(F Major). Sonata Three, the only one in a minor key, required a brief retuning
(B-flat becoming A-sharp)--as did the amazing chromatics introducing the middle
movement of the final sonata.

Mid-afternoon on Friday was not a fortuitous time to attract a crowd: about
20 listeners shared this perfect pendant to the organ symposia.

At the Exhibition: An Abundance of Fine
Keyboard Instruments

At least 22 makers and distributors of keyboard instruments were listed in
the 276-page Festival program book (itself a work of art). Fine harpsichords
were much in evidence. In addition to those by builders already mentioned, some
that attracted  attention
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  were made by Adam Decker (the
Harpsichord Gallery, Atlanta); Marc Ducornet (the Paris Workshop); and by
consistently satisfying makers Richard Kingston (North Carolina)--whose Flemish
single harpsichord with colorful abstract lid painting by June Zinn Hobby was a
visual and sonic feast, Allan Winkler (Boston), and Douglas Maple
(Pennsylvania). (Harpsichords by Kingston, David Sutherland [Ann Arbor],
Winkler and Dowd were used in the opera performances and for the BEMF
orchestral programs.)

Gut-strung Lautenwerks from Steven Sorli (Amherst, MA) were beautifully
crafted, exciting instruments, as was a portable high-pitched clavichord by
Gary Blaise (San Francisco). I could not resist the 1939 John Challis
clavichord displayed by Glenn Giutarri and The Harpsichord Clearing House among
their many fine instruments, including 
chamber organs. Another triple-transposing continuo organ from Les
Ateliers Guilbault Bellavance Carignan (Quebec) had a pleasingly gentle wooden
4-foot Principal among its four stops.

Also tempting were displays on tables laden with musical facsimiles and
other scores, eye-catching recordings (among the most enticing were the 18
unorthodox and brilliant covers for the Vivaldi Edition CDs issued thus far by
the Italian label Naïve) and opulent publications such as Goldberg Early
Music Magazine, now publishing collectible single-composer issues. It was
necessary to keep checkbook and credit cards firmly under control, although
failing to do so also had its rewards (until the bills arrived).

Boston: Convenient and Memorable

Nearly all the concert venues were within walking distance or accessible by
inexpensive public transport. Food of all varieties and prices was available,
ranging from pre-packaged sandwiches to elegant restaurant menus (Legal
Seafoods was just across from the exhibition space).

And central Boston itself held so many musical associations and personal
memories. For instance it was not possible to be in Jordan Hall without
remembering Ralph Kirkpatrick's 50th anniversary harpsichord recital (in 1981,
during the very first Early Music Festival); or to walk into King's Chapel
without recalling composer Daniel Pinkham, who graced the organist/ choirmaster
position there for so many years. Lovely, now historic, harpsichords built by
William Dowd were in evidence and in use. A photograph of early music pioneer
Arnold Dolmetsch, once employed to direct the making of early instruments at
the Chickering Piano Factory across the river in Cambridge, graced the front
cover of a Boston Clavichord Society brochure.

Inexpensive dormitory housing, available in a building now owned by Emerson
College, was only steps away from Steinert Hall, endowed by one of America's
first early instrument collectors, piano dealer Morris Steinert. Directly
across the street, in the old burying ground on Boston Common, the remains of
composer William Billings are thought to be buried, and he is commemorated by a
plaque placed there during the 1976 American Guild of Organists national
convention (a conference memorable for E. Power Biggs's late-career performance
of Rheinberger Organ Concertos with the Boston Pops, despite EPB's
stress-fractured arm!).

Wagnerian swanboats long have been a feature on the pond of the Public
Garden (founded in 1839). Recent, however, is the reverent, nostalgic addition
to this venerable and well-utilized park: a Garden of Remembrance for the
victims of the 9/11 attack. Many people pause at the simple stone memorial to
meditate, and to read these touching words from Boston and Sea Poems by
Lawrence Homer, poet-laureate of Faneuil Hall:

Time touches all more gently here,

Here where man has said, No:

Trees and grass, and flowers will remain:

. . . watching swanboats glide in season.

It was a pleasure to attend this Boston Early Music Festival and Exhibition,
after a 20-year-long interval of not being there, and to observe the breadth
and vitality of the current early music scene. If Johann Mattheson's music did
not prove him to have been a composer of extraordinary genius, the event was,
nevertheless, a welcome opportunity to learn more about this 18th-century
musician and writer, to assess more knowledgeably his place among his
well-known contemporaries, and to experience yet another from the
ever-lengthening list of forgotten or unknown operas, transformed from dusty
scores to living stage productions through the inspired efforts of America's
premier early music festival. More, please.

Further Information

Stephen Stubbs: "Johann Mattheson--the Russian connection: the
rediscovery of Boris Goudenow and his other lost operas," Early Music
style='font-style:normal'> XXXIII/2 (May 2005), 283-292.
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> 

Previous BEMF reports by Larry Palmer

The Diapason, August 1981, 1, 3 [the
first Early Music Festival].

The Diapason, April 1985, 9 [the 1983
Festival].

The Diapason, October 1985, 10-11
[the 1985 Festival].

PART ONE OF TWO

For its forty-ninth annual convention, the Organ Historical Society met in Buffalo, the land of Bills and Wings, with headquarters at the Adam’s Mark Hotel, close to the waterfront marina. Nearly four hundred people were in attendance. The Organ Handbook, which included a daily schedule and information on the events and performers as well as historical background on the churches visited and instruments featured, was dedicated to the memory of Farny Wurlitzer, Herman Schlicker and Robert Noehren, all of whom contributed significantly to the history of organ building in Buffalo. There were examples of instruments from all three builders heard during the week.

Wednesday

The events began with an optional tour to Niagara Falls and a buffet lunch at the new Seneca-Niagara Casino in downtown Niagara Falls, New York. There was ample time for those who wished to try their luck at the casino and perhaps recoup some of their convention expenses.

Fred Swann played the opening recital that evening on the reconstructed 3-manual Johnson & Son, Opus 797 of 1893 in the vast and beautifully appointed St. Stanislaus R.C. Church. After a welcome by the pastor (who is also auxiliary bishop of the diocese), Swann played the following program: Sonata 8 (op. 132), “Introduction and Passacaglia,” Rheinberger; Woodland Flute Call, Dillon; Fantasia in A, Franck; the hymn “Holy God, we praise thy name” (sung lustily by all) to the tune, Grosser Gott; By the Waters of Babylon, Huston; Petite Suite, Bales; the Symphonic Chorale, “Ach bleib bei deiner Gnade,” Karg-Elert; Meditation, Duruflé; and Fantasia and Fugue in G, Parry. Swann’s own delightful transcription of an Allegro of Corelli served as an encore. His expert programming and playing displayed the dignified and powerful sounds of the organ as well as the more delicate ensembles and solo colors—all enhanced by an acoustical environment favored by the church’s high vaulted ceiling and a octagonal dome at the crossing. After a well-deserved and enthusiastic standing ovation, the audience, which happily included many parishioners, went across the street to the parish hall for a reception. As people left the church, the tower bells pealed their joyful sounds. This event was certainly an apt beginning for a week of convivial celebration.

Thursday

The convention’s first full day began at the hotel with a lecture by Donald Ingram, who presented an enlightening and often humorous recollection of his association with Herman Schlicker (1902-1974) and the Schlicker Organ Company. The presentation dealt primarily with an overview of Schlicker’s tonal and mechanical innovations. At its height, the firm employed a work force of approximately forty-seven persons.

A short bus trip brought us to the sumptuous Delaware Avenue Baptist Church located in an area noted for the monumental beauty of many of its residences. The church building is a feast for the eyes with its Richardsonian design and attention to decorative detail. A particularly ornate baptistery set off by six marble columns with Ionic capitals and featuring a symbolic shell design immediately draws one’s eye to its inset location behind a coffered arch. Floating above in the curve of the domed church are representations of ten winged figures illustrating the text from Psalm 91: “He shall give His angels charge over thee.” On a balcony over the baptistery and thus completing a central focal point in the large auditorium is the 3-manual Johnson & Son, Opus 827 of 1895 (with later reworkings by both Viner and Schlicker) on which James Hammann played fourteen examples from Dudley Buck’s Studies in Pedal Phrasing (op. 28), followed by the hymn, “All glory be to God on high” sung to the tune  Allein Gott in der Höh. Hammann can always be relied upon to supply an unusual program well-suited to the organ at hand.

The fourteen Studies selected for this program displayed three important characteristics:

(1) the fact that these technical studies can be lovely little pieces in themselves thanks to Buck’s musical and melodic creativity;

(2) the various colors, solo stops and ensembles of a fine instrument can be featured effectively;

(3) in the hands of a fine artist such as James Hammann and his registrational sensitivity coupled with his flexibly shaped phrasing, music can be made out of what are basically pedal studies over which Buck wove attractive counter melodies. Hammann also provided a handout showing the registration for each study.

The 1896 Hutchings organ, Op. 465, at Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church offered an interesting contrast to the approximately contemporary Johnson (1895) just heard. Whereas the Johnson was originally supplied with mechanical action, the Hutchings had an early version of electro-pneumatic key and stop action and may have been the first organ in Buffalo to have had this “modern” action. Later additions and modifications were made by Wurlitzer, Viner and Schlicker (console). After remarks by both the interim pastor and the former music director, Derek Nickels played the following program: Sonata 5 in D (op. 65, no. 5, 1845), Mendelssohn; “Harmonies du Soir” from Trois Impressions (op. 73, 1911), Karg-Elert; “Scherzetto” from 24 Pièces en style libre (op. 31, 1913), Vierne; Elegy (1916), Brewer; the hymn, “Guide me O thou Great Jehovah,” sung by the entire assembly to the tune, Cwm Rhondda; and the “Finale and Fugue” from Sonata 7 in F (op. 127, 1881), Rheinberger. Even though the acoustically treated barrel vault plus the substantial grille work (added later in front of the original Hutchings case) prevented clear projection of the organ’s sound, the usual firm and distinguished basic Hutchings tone emerged quite well under Dr. Nickels’ expert playing. He wisely chose a very effective group of pieces to display the instrument’s colors and its highly expressive enclosed divisions.

A short bus trip brought us to the former First Church of Christ, Scientist, recently purchased by David and Marsha Karpeles of Santa Barbara, California. After renovation, it will become yet another venue for their extensive collection of original documents and manuscripts. We were served a box lunch as we sat in the pews and listened to a demonstration of the ex-church’s 1913 3-manual Möller, Op. 1500, rebuilt by Möller in 1956. David Blazer’s short and eclectic program included the Prelude from Duruflé’s Suite; a transcription of the theme from “The Young and The Restless,” and Bach’s Schmücke dich and Prelude in C Minor (BWV 546). The loud, somewhat boomy and opaque sound of the Möller successfully covered up munching and paper-rattling sounds produced by the hungry conventioneers. Blazer deserves our plaudits for putting up with what must have been a less than congenial performance situation on a difficult instrument.

The First Presbyterian Church, across from Kleinhans Hall, home of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, was the next stop for two demonstrations. The first was by Timothy Smith who presented a short program on the fine 1957 Schlicker in Hindman Chapel. The well-balanced 2-manual organ contains some pipework from the chapel’s previous ten-stop Roosevelt organ installed in 1889 as that firm’s Op. 426. Since we arrived at First Presbyterian early enough, many people chose to wander around and enjoy the richly decorated interior of the church including its Tiffany windows. Incumbent organist David Bond played the following program on the church’s landmark 4-manual Noehren organ of 1969-1970: the hymn, “Ye watchers and ye holy ones,” sung to Lasst uns erfreuen; Prelude in C (BWV 547), Bach; Noël Etranger, Daquin; “Humoresque” from L’organo primitivo, Yon; and Chorale No. 1 en mi majeur, Franck. The organ, situated in the rear gallery with its often-pictured suspended Positiv, was one of Noehren’s largest instruments and said to be his favorite of all the ones that came out of his atelier. It features broadly intense principal choruses, commanding chorus reeds, wide-scaled flutes and piquant and colorful baroque-style solo reeds. A bit of whimsy is reflected in the inclusion of a stop control (knob only) for 4/5’ Chivas Regal, evidently intended for eventual subtle Celtic blending characteristics. Bond performed brilliantly, showing that the instrument has ample broad support for a room full of OHS hymn singers and featured the delightful baroque color reeds against a plenum in the Daquin, the lovely Great Rohrfloete (with just enough chiff) in the Yon, and the massively voiced Great 8’ Principal at the beginning of the Franck. Since the console is located in close proximity to the pipes, the organist undoubtedly has to take into account problems of perceived balance and make adjustments for proper perceptions in the room. The organ has benefited from a recent thorough cleaning, re-regulation and some re-voicing by the Niagara Organ Works who thoughtfully provided complimentary copies of a newly produced CD in which one could hear another recital program and also a “before-and-after” example of some reed work.

Later that afternoon, Scot Huntington, organ builder and restorer as well as OHS Vice-President, presented the following program in Nativity of The Blessed Virgin Mary R.C. Church: Organ Motet, Tallis; Prelude in C, Thayer; Minuet in A, Smart; Maria Zart, Schlick; Violin Sonata #5, Bach (with Allison Alcorn-Oppedahl, violin); and Allegro maestoso, Roseingrave. The lovely instrument, apparently originally built by Hall and Labaugh in 1853 and moved to Buffalo later in the nineteenth century, stands proudly in the rear gallery of the lofty sandstone Gothic church. The church interior has been tastefully restored and is in a fine acoustical and visual setting for the seldom-used organ. Even though it needs a thorough restoration, Paul Marchesano, Joe McCabe and Kevin Gilchrist together with Scot Huntington provided many hours to give the instrument enough of a voice so that many of its colorful and delicate tones were able to sing through the vaults and accompany the violin to give a tantalizing taste of what a future restoration might produce.

The evening event was a demonstration and concert of appropriate music played with verve and enthusiasm by Scott Foppiano on the large and restored 1925-1926 Wurlitzer (Op. 1206) in Shea’s Buffalo Center for the Performing Arts. The vast and ornate auditorium was originally Shea’s Buffalo Theatre, one of the nation’s premier entertainment palaces built for the presentation of both stage shows and motion pictures. Foppiano demonstrated many of the organ’s solo and ensemble effects, both with and without the characteristic generously pulsating tremolos. In addition to playing music usually associated with this outstanding example of theatre organ building, he accompanied the showing of the 1922 silent film, “The Cops,” starring the hilarious and athletic Buster Keaton.

Friday

The morning began with Jonathan Ambrosino’s lecture on Robert Hope-Jones, the infamous, quirky, often misguided and personally haunted genius of the organ building world. The theme of his illustrated talk was centered on Hope-Jones’s ideas on “radical change.” Included were appropriate remarks on the ups and downs of the often stormy relationship between himself and the Wurlitzer firm, then located in nearby North Tonawanda, New York. As usual, Ambrosino, well-known for his combination of articulate delivery and depth of scholarship, seasoned with affectionate good humor, did not disappoint the conventioneers who filled the room with resounding applause.

There followed a short walk to St. Anthony of Padua R.C. Church for a short recital presented by Donald Fellows on a more-or-less “stock” model Hook & Hastings 2-manual tracker, Op. 1429 of 1889. The instrument had been moved to St. Anthony’s from Plymouth Methodist Church in 1911. The interior of this elegant and beautifully maintained church had been restored in 1991 and reflected the subtle care taken to emphasize the many architectural features of this Italianate Classic room. A high coffered ceiling and hard surfaces in the building helped to supply an ideal acoustical ambiance for the following program: Prelude and Fugue in d (op. 37, no. 3), Mendelssohn; “Stèle pour un enfant défunt” from Triptyque, Vierne; the hymn, “If now, thou seekest miracles,” sung to the tune Si quarus miracula; “Adoro te devote”—Prelude with Four Variations, Near; and Te Deum, Reger. The pieces were well-played and displayed the firm and distinguished tone of the Hook, which, in spite of some minor tuning problems, acquitted itself well.

Following a catered lunch at St. Francis Xavier R.C. Church, organist Tom Trenney presented the following short memorized recital on the church’s very early example of the work of Herman Schlicker: the hymn, “I sing the mighty power of God,” sung to the tune Forest Green; Bishop’s Promenade, Coke-Jephcott; Variations on “The Last Rose of Summer,” Buck; and “Prelude,” “Scherzo” and “Toccata” forming a three-movement improvisation on submitted themes. The 2-manual, largely enclosed organ of 1933, located in the rear gallery of the high and tastefully decorated room, does not sound as one’s “mind’s ear” might expect of a Schlicker. It has a warmth and breadth of tone more typical of that of a previous generation. The instrument is provided with two consoles, one in the gallery and one on the floor of the nave. It was from this floor console that Trenney played his program. The submitted themes, which Trenney had not seen prior to the performance, were Jerusalem (the wonderful Parry tune), “Come thou fount of every blessing” (Nettleton), and the inevitable Harry Warren show tune, “Shuffle off to Buffalo” (it had to happen sometime during the week!). Trenney achieved the unbelievable task of combining these disparate melodic concoctions into an entertaining and surprisingly unified musical offering. Here is a fine young artist who combines technical security and fire with a fine and sensitive lyric awareness.

Because of limited seating for the next two events, the conventioneers were split into two groups, which then exchanged places and thus heard a repeat of the program. This report will follow the order given in the official Handbook.

Stephen Roberts gave a short demonstration on the Church of the Ascension (Episcopal)’s 3-manual Kimball, K.P.O. 7129 of 1934, which is undergoing restoration. Since much of the organ is currently unplayable, Roberts chose pieces that would work on what is available. His program opened with the lusty singing of The Royal Telephone (“Central’s never busy, Always on the line”) followed by Four Versets on Ave Maris Stella (op. 18, nos. 6-9), Dupré; Vision, Rheinberger; and Variations on “America,” Ives. Roberts, with the aid of a student console assistant, was able to give us more than a few hints of what will eventually be the resurrection of a really fine Kimball.

After a refreshing reception in Ascension’s Parish Hall, the group walked the short distance to Holmes Chapel in Westminster Presbyterian Church for a  demonstration played by Lorenz Maycher on what he calls his favorite instrument, the beautifully balanced 2-manual Aeolian-Skinner, Op. 1136 of 1951. The organ features a floating Positiv division, which is hung on the rear wall of the chapel, thus creating a stunning visual effect as well as a source for antiphonal effects, and, when desired, an enveloping sound for singing support. His program: How Brightly Shines the Morning Star, Telemann; Fugue in d (“Fiddle”), Bach; the hymn, “Holy, holy holy! Lord God Almighty,” sung with plenty of support from the organ to the tune Nicaea; Whimsical Variations (1950), Sowerby, and Fugue in C (op. 36, no. 3), Dupré. As usual, this young artist played with a total “no nonsense” command of the instrument, allowing his technical control to serve the organ and its music.

The previously split groups then met in the main church for Felix Hell’s full recital on the 4-manual Aeolian-Skinner, Op. 1249 of 1959 located in the rear gallery. His program: Fantasy and Fugue on B-A-C-H; Reger; Chorale No. 2 in b (1890), Franck; the hymn, “Praise to the Lord,” sung in a good, broad “Anglican” tempo to the tune Lobe den Herren; and Fantasy and Fugue on “Ad nos ad salutarem undam,” Liszt. For an encore, he played the last movement from Trio Sonata 1, Bach. Hell has the distinction of being the youngest person (at age 18) to graduate with a Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music. Last  fall (at age 19), he began graduate work at the Peabody Conservatory where he studies with Donald Sutherland. The charming and totally unaffected young virtuoso possesses an impressive technique, and it will be revealing to observe his increasing musical sensitivity as his career develops.

Central Park United Methodist Church was the site for a relaxing catered dinner followed by ample time for a post-prandial stroll in the lovely neighborhood. The handsome limestone church houses the Ward Memorial Organ, a 4-manual Skinner, Op. 356 of 1922-1923. The instrument’s layout is somewhat unusual in that the console and part of the Pedal division as well as the Swell and Choir are located in a transept, while the Great, Solo and the Pedal reed are in the central ceiling of the nave and over the crossing. These latter elements are concealed (very effectively) by a grille cloth colored to blend into the ceiling. This is certainly a clever arrangement, but one can only imagine the tuning and balance problems such an installation can create.

The artist for the recital was Thomas Murray who presented the following program, which he interspersed with highly appreciated and helpful comments: Introduction and Passacaglia in d  (1899), Reger; Fantaisie in D-flat (op. 101, 1895), Saint-Saëns; a group featuring “Four Americans:” Hommage to Perotin (1956), Roberts; Novelette (1908), Parker; Reverie (1962), Still; and Ride on, King Jesus, Greenlee; followed by Notturno (1942) and Impetuoso (1933), Wiedermann. After intermission, we all sang “Battle Hymn of the Republic” to the tune Vision; the program concluded with Rhapsody (op. 17, no. 3, 1919), Howells; Overture to Ruy Blas (1839), Mendelssohn (arr. Lemare); and three movements from the Byzantine Sketches (1920): “Rosace,” “Noël,” and “Toccata: Tu es petra,” Mulet. Murray received a richly deserved standing ovation for his expert playing and was able to bring out the best from this somewhat unusually designed and very fundamental-toned organ. The controversial John A. Bell was the consultant for this particular project and may have been largely responsible for some of its odd tonal characteristics. One cannot help comparing this instrument with the earlier Skinner of 1922 (Op. 327) in St. Luke’s, Evanston, played by Murray at the Chicago OHS Convention in 2002. The Evanston installation, even allowing for the vastly different architectural and acoustical setting, gives the impression of being a much more cohesive and “modern” instrument.

Saturday

The day’s events began with a lecture by organ builder Charles Kegg on the topic “Pipe Organ Restoration,” subtitled “more than you really wanted to know.” His basic tenet is that a true restoration is “ . . . bringing back what was lost.” Much of his talk dealt with specific problems involved in the continuing restoration of the 1934 Kimball heard in the Church of the Ascension the day before. He emphasized the fact that the Kimball’s original materials and design were of very high quality indeed. Among the points he raised were the fact that water damage in organ chambers is sometimes due to inherent building design flaws and that “ . . . falling plaster is not our friend.”

The first recital of the day was held on the landmark 1954 Schlicker in Trinity Episcopal Church with Stephen Schnurr presenting the following program: Fantasia super Komm, Heiliger Geist (BWV 651), Bach; Toccata in d (BuxWV 155), Buxtehude; Balletto del granduca, Sweelinck (attrib.); Concerto del Sigr. Meck, Walther; the hymn, “Lord, enthroned in heavenly splendor,” sung to the tune Bryn Calfaria; and Variations de Concert (op. 1), Bonnet. The organ, situated in the rear gallery, features a tight and well-balanced plenum together with perky small ensembles and colorful solo registers. As usual, the multi-talented Schnurr demonstrated his sure technique and subtle musical sense.

Will Headlee played the final recital of the morning on a thoroughly grand and somewhat altered Kimball of 1903 located in the high rear gallery of the equally grand St. Louis R.C. Church. This was one of several highlight programs with the organ, organist and restored church creating an overall magnificent experience. Headlee thoughtfully provided a sheet of written commentary done up in his usual entertaining style and gave information on both the music and his registrations. His program: two of the Trois Préludes et Fugues (op. 7, 1918), B Major and F Minor, Dupré; Air for Organ (1963), Hancock; from the Partita on “Sei gegrüsset, Jesu gütig” (BWV 768), Bach (Choral, Variations, I, VII and XI); Introduktion und Passacaglia in d (1899), Reger; and the rousing hymn, “Round the Lord in glory seated,” sung to the tune Rustington. Following Headlee’s superb performance, which was justifiably acknowledged with a standing ovation, the departing audience of parishioners and conventioneers was treated to the celebratory ringing of a bell located in a beautiful and lofty tower, which, together with the tower of the First Presbyterian Church, can be seen from many points in the city of Buffalo.

The next locale was Holy Trinity Lutheran Church (located diagonally across the street from the historic Anchor Bar, home of the original “Buffalo Wings”). After a catered lunch we took part in a hymn festival with the redoubtable James Bigham in charge. The main church houses the largest organ in western New York, the 5-manual Margaret L. Wendt Memorial Organ of some 152 ranks, originally a 1949 Möller (Op. 7852) with many changes and additions made by others over the years. Charles Kegg, who rebuilt both the massive console in the chancel as well as the one in the gallery and who was also responsible for most of the recent tonal work, explained some of the features of this remarkable instrument’s layout. Its divisions emanate from a variety of locations in the attractive room, and it is amazing that all of the spread-out portions of the organ worked cohesively and were in fine tune. To say that the instrument has room-filling potential would be an understatement as we were to find out later during the program. Bigham, widely known for his creative improvised hymn accompaniments, expertly played one division against another during the singing of the hymns, effectively demonstrating both large and small ensembles and colorful solo effects. Unfortunately, the creative muse overcame a sense of balance and soon proved how loud an organ can go to swallow up the sound of a room full of singers, several of whom were seen quietly replacing the hymnals in the racks or, in at least in one case, frantically waving a white handkerchief signifying sonic surrender. As a giddy postlude to this event, several people on the buses transporting conventioneers to the next recital pointed out the location of St. Mary’s School for the Deaf just a few blocks away.

The final event of the afternoon took place at the Jordan River Missionary Baptist Church with Randy Bourne playing the following program: “Wedding March” from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Mendelssohn; “Adagio sostenuto” from Moonlight Sonata (op. 27, no. 2), Beethoven; “Air (on the G-string)” from Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D (BWV 1068); “Little” Prelude and Fugue in G Minor (BWV 557), Bach; Song on an Old Negro Melody, Deep River (1917), Burleigh; and the hymn, “I’ve just come from the fountain,” the African-American spiritual, which was done up “in the style” by the room full of singers. The organ, a Votteler-Holtkamp-Sparling, Op. 1343 of 1919 and obviously in great need of a total restoration, created multiple challenges for Bourne who lovingly struggled to make the organ sound as well as it could. It is a rare example of a small original and unaltered essentially 8-foot instrument by this important midwest builder. A curious feature of the console is its use of color-coded stop tabs. Congratulations are due to the church for not replacing the organ and to Randy Bourne for his considerable efforts to elicit sounds from it.

St. Paul’s Cathedral (Episcopal), just a short walk from the headquarters hotel, was the locale for the evening events—a choral evensong and an organ recital. The evensong featured the Men and Girls of the Cathedral Choirs under the direction of its recently appointed organist-choirmaster, Andrew Cantrill, with Andrew Scanlon, assistant organist-choirmaster, providing the accompaniments. After a short interval, Scanlon played the following program of three sonatas: Sonata No. 3 in A (op. 65, no. 3), Mendelssohn; Sonata II (1937), Hindemith; and Sonata Eroïca (op. 94, 1930), Jongen. The organ is an interesting one in that the chancel portion was built by Schlicker in the 1950s with more recent rebuilding by Ralph Richards and Bruce Fowkes. The gallery division’s magnificent case, originally by Hope-Jones, houses the remains of a 1908 Hope-Jones unit as the Solo. Over the years, further work was done by Wurlitzer to the gallery and chancel divisions, both of which had been of Hope-Jones design. It is a rarity to find vintage Hope-Jones pipes and unit chests existing together with Wurlitzer and Schlicker and later tonal and mechanical material all available in a single effective instrument.

The author thanks Scott Carpenter and Harry Martinas for editorial help with this report.

The 46th annual convention of the Organ Historical Society
(OHS) took place June 21-28, 2001, in North Carolina, centering around
Winston-Salem. Convention registration brings with it the fabulous Organ
Handbook, with recital programs, organ specifications and photographs, and bios
and photos of performers. It's the Bible for the week, eagerly devoured, and
kept in one's library forever. As with last year, the editor this year was
Jonathan Ambrosino.

Thursday, June 21

The opening concert was held at First Presbyterian Church in
Greensboro, the perfect convention opening on several levels. The building is
stunningly beautiful, designed by Hobart Upjohn, modeled on the cathedral at
Albi in France, and somehow built in 1929 and 1930, in the height of the Great
Depression. It was able to accommodate the entire convention, not the case with
quite a few buildings later in the week, when we were often divided into
smaller groups. The organ, finished by Létourneau just last year, fills
the 1400-seat building with great clarity and power. It is a grand creation,
with large instruments in both gallery and chancel, beautifully encased. The
acoustic of the building is organ-friendly, but nothing more. Having chancel
pipes on both sides and a large gallery division placed very high up gives the
instrument a great presence. There is a very effective en chamade reed atop the
gallery division. The whole enterprise is undergirded by digital 32's, not
obnoxious all of the time, but often enough.

Bruce Stevens plays with grace and elegance. The program
opened with the Kerll Passacaglia in D Minor, which introduced us to the clarity of the instrument's choruses and
other combination possibilities, through a great variety of variations,
building to a quite sturdy ending. Next, Beethoven, Adagio in F Major (Organ Sonata 8) played on a pleasantly limpid flute registration. Somewhere, at every recital of an OHS convention, a hymn gets sung, mostly meant to show the effectiveness of the organ as an accompanimental instrument, but the custom has taken on a life of its own. There is even a special hymnal printed, especially attractive this year. The recitalist gets to choose the hymn, and to accompany it with as much or as little freedom as wanted. The hymn, "I will give thanks with my whole
heart," to the tune Herr Jesu Christ, was sung in glorious harmony,
supported magnificently by Stevens. Next, Rheinberger, Introduction and
Passacaglia (from Sonata No. 8). This sonata is glorious, and both player and
organ did it complete justice. The huge power of the Pedal, some of it achieved
by illicit means (I would personally prefer a good Resultant), gave the ending
particular force. Then, Franck, Choral No. 2 in B-Minor
style='font-style:normal'>; next, Stevens and flutist Marcella Leonard
performed The Hedding Suite by
Everett Titcomb. Liszt's Prelude and Fugue on B-A-C-H
style='font-style:normal'> received a totally splendid performance, virtuosic
in the extreme, registered without fear, including the en chamade in the
balcony. The Liszt was a glorious ending to a great recital, and a promising beginning for the week to come.

Friday, June 22

The first full day plunged us right into the OHS convention
bus-church-bus-church routine at its richest and fullest, complete with an 8:30
a.m. departure (and I might add, an 11:30 p.m. homecoming). We had a wide
variety of experiences this day, in the vicinity of Danville and Chatham,
Virginia, a two-hour bus ride from the hotel.

The first stop was Mount Vernon United Methodist Church,
Danville, housing a gentle and lovely 1860 Boston-built Simmons and Willcox
organ, rebuilt with significant additions by George Bozeman in 1988. As this
organ was saved and relocated through the good work of the late Alan Laufman
and the Organ Clearing House, it was somehow entirely appropriate that this
recital was played by the new director of the Clearing House, John Bishop. The
program: Bach, Prelude and Fugue in C Minor (BWV 549), began quietly, very slowly, and passionately; the fugue, on the other hand, was quite quick, almost Newmanlike, on a reedy registration, building naughtily with the gradual opening of the box; Pachelbel, Aria Sebaldina (from Hexachordum Apollinis); Derek Bourgeois (b. 1941, student of Howells), Serenade, written for the procession at his own wedding, a fine, accessible work, in a fresh but not shocking harmonic idiom. The hymn, "Christ is made the sure
foundation," was sung to Westminster Abbey
style='font-style:normal'>--we got to sing in parts in our usual impressive
way, complete with descant. Langlais, Noël with Variations, Choral (from 24 Pieces for Organ or Harmonium); Lefébure-Wély, Sortie--this was so well done, it made up for the over-exposure from which this piece now suffers. He who occupies the director's chair of the Organ Clearing House is able to shape and encourage one of the greatest programs to ever come out of the OHS. Its achievements under Alan Laufman were noteworthy. We offer John Bishop thanks for showing us his musical side, and wish him the very best in guiding OCH in the years ahead.

At Sacred Heart R.C. Church, Danville, James Darling,
well-known for his many years at Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg, gave an
excellent recital on a Simmons organ from 1877, rebuilt with some tonal changes
by Andover in 1980-81. The program began with the Concerto in C Major, op. 6, no. 10, by Corelli, adapted for organ by Thomas Billington; then Grave (with variations) from Voluntary in D Major (op. 6, no. 5) of Samuel Wesley. The hymn, giving us a good chance at some excellent harmonizing, used the tune Hereford by Samuel Sebastian Wesley  for the text "O thou who camest from above" by
Charles Wesley. The program next promised more Wesley, but the artist had a
change of mind and moved smartly into the 20th century with a quite flashy and
wonderful chorale-based work, Christ ist erstanden
style='font-style:normal'> by Ludwig Lenel, long associated with Muhlenberg
College in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

After a good lunch at the Knights of Columbus Hall (bar
closed!), we moved on to First Christian Church, still in Danville, which
became the scene of an unfortunate confluence of realities. OHS really tries,
with the help of always willing volunteers, to get organs into shape for our
pleasure and edification. This recalcitrant machine (built at a time when
Möller could actually build good instruments), through poor design,
including really ill-thought-out tuning and maintenance access, and long-term
neglect, in recent years due to the poverty of the congregation, defied all
attempts to bring it "online." Just to get inside the thing, lots of
heavy case pipes have to be removed, this landing one on the huge reservoir,
and leading to other contortions to actually get at the pipes that badly need
ministrations. With the complexities of running smoothly a convention of this
kind, and it does indeed run amazingly smoothly, this poor old organ and its
condition did not get sufficient attention. Baxter Jennings, longtime organist
at Sacred Heart Church, where we had just been, was the unfortunate player
assigned to play this instrument. Susanne Martin, choir director at Sacred
Heart, came along to sing the "Pie Jesu" from the Fauré Requiem, but was overwhelmed mostly by a too-loud registration, which in turn, might have been necessary if none of the softer stops had sufficient notes actually playing. I think too, that Mr. Jennings was totally terrified by the experience of not ever knowing what notes might play at any given time, and by knowing that under these almost impossible
circumstances he was playing for a church full of organists from all over the
country.

The next event took place at Chatham Presbyterian Church in
Chatham and involved a 1912 Möller. This 17-stop organ showed that in the
early 20th century some very good things could come out of Hagerstown. What a
solid and lovely instrument, and what a player is Randy Bourne. For the first
two pieces, the organ was hand pumped, with all the well-known benefits of
this: a Praeludium (WV33) of
Scheidemann, followed by the Prelude & Fugue in F Major
style='font-style:normal'>, from the "Eight Little," with supple and
sensitive playing. Bourne spoke during much of this concert, and the compelling
nature of both the playing and the chat kept the audience at full attention all
the way. One of the first things he mentioned was his use, in the Bach, of an
old edition of 1909, a product of its time, suggesting soloing out sections
using a solo Flute accompanied by strings. Would this have been taken seriously
by many organists as little as ten years ago? Some would say we are returning
to the corrupt old ways of the pre-Orgelbewegung days. Others, I with them,
might say that we have matured musically, and can now ask what is musical
rather than what do the "rules" say. Next, four gently busy Variations on "St. Catherine" written in 1999 by Robin Rokey. Bourne then played a ravishing transcription of Mélodie in E-flat Major (op. 42, no. 3) of Tchaikovsky, with the Flute solo accompanied on that rarity, "an audible Aeoline!" This was followed by another successful transcription, of a Mussorgsky piece, Fair at Sorochintzy, with images of the Cossacks
riding into a village, destroying it, and riding off--exciting stuff! The
program ended with the hymn "Love Divine, all loves excelling," sung
to Beecher. And here was a
recitalist who understands the wonder of hymn singing, and he gave us a chance
at some harmony, and accompanied rather than dominated.

J. R. Daniels, who is organist and choirmaster at Saints
Simon and Jude Church in Pittsburgh, has been around OHS conventions since
1994, in which year he was an E. Power Biggs Fellow. He gave a concert this
year at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Chatham, on a much-moved 1865 S.S. Hamill
organ of about 12 stops. Taylor and Boody did a restoration in 1992, adding a
pedalboard and a Pedal Bourdon. Here is another recitalist who understands
hymns--he supported us gently in a sweet old traditional Roman Catholic hymn,
letting us happily harmonize to our hearts' content. He then made an apt little
speech about how much louder this gentle instrument would have sounded when it
was built, to people who had so little noise and music in their lives. His
recital made me wonder whether we have matured sufficiently to accept most of
the music on this program! Daniels is, at present, researching the music of
Théodore Salomé (1834-1896). The program began with The
Canterbury March, by Harry Crane Perin
(1868-1933), not a work of much substance. This was followed by the essential
Lefébure-Wély, Choeur de Voix humaines (The Nuns'
Chorus), consisting of Flute solo with
flourishes, accompanied on strings. Next, a kind of ornamented aria on "My
hope is built," by John Behnke, born 1953. It was then Salomé time.
Daniels warned us that the next piece, Offertoire in D-flat
style='font-style:normal'>, had been referred to by John Henderson, in his A
Directory of Composers for Organ, as the worst piece of organ music ever
written. The recital ended with a more interesting work of Salomé, Grand Choeur in A, altogether a better piece than the previous offering.

After a good dinner at the Stratford Inn Conference Center
in Danville, we headed to The Church of the Epiphany. George Bozeman,
organbuilder and a regular recitalist at these conventions, played the first
half on a 1928 Skinner of 16 ranks, I thought not a very successful example of
the breed. Bozeman, as always, gave us something unusual and interesting--the Sonata Cromatica (Seconda) of Pietro Yon. I was sure that what we were handed next was not going to work, but I underestimated us. We had in our hymnals a choral score of the Yon Gesù Bambino, and led by an excellent soloist who also conducted, Robert Sutter, we did a wonderful job. What a great idea, and what an interesting recital.

After a brief stretch, the program  moved to the balcony, with its 1978 Andover organ of 38
stops, for a contrast of epic proportions. There are 12 ranks of mixtures,
given unpromising names like Cymbal, or simply "Sharp." These are a
bit uppity, but judicious registrational pruning can work wonders, and there is
much that is beautiful in this instrument. The upstairs organist was Kathleen
Scheide, and she began with  Aria: Quis mutuos amores, by F.-X. Murschhauser; the hymn "Everlasting Arms of Love" to the tune Galliard; O Lamm Gottes (BWV 656) of Bach; the Reger Prelude and Fugue in B Minor,  and then we heard from Ms. Scheide as composer in a very pleasant piece called Aria
La Romanesca. The program finished with
Scheide's own transcription of a Mozart piano duet, K. 358.

Saturday, June 23

This day began with John Farmer's fascinating history of the
much travelled Skinner (opus 248 of 1916), now comfortably and happily living
in the great Vanderbilt mansion, Biltmore, in Asheville, North Carolina, thanks
to Farmer's alertness and skilled ministrations. The following rather long
Internet address will give the story in some detail:

<http://www.biltmore.com/just_for_media/news_releases/whats_new_concert_…;
and this address will show the handsome console:

<http://www.biltmore.com/visit/biltmore_house/pipe_organ.html&gt;.
There are a few infelicities, like a "genuine forced-air organ," and
other minor oddities, but if you don't know Biltmore, or even if you do, this
is all interesting reading. My thanks to Harry Martenas for locating these
sites.

Next we boarded six buses for the longest journey of the
convention, a bit less than three hours, during which we were shown a rather
good video about the Biltmore mansion. The Asheville part of North Carolina is
wonderfully hilly, giving the bus drivers some anxious moments maneuvering the
sometimes narrow streets, including the one which brought us to Mount Zion
Missionary Baptist Church.

Presiding over Felgemaker Opus 713, 1901, two-manuals and 26
stops, was Will Headlee, always a wonderful presence at these conventions. He
spent some years of his life in Asheville, so this was something of a
homecoming. Out of respect for the organ's lineage, he began  the first movement of the Mendelssohn
A Major Sonata on original Felgemaker
sounds--distinguished and beautiful sounds they are, too. For the Andante, he
used the original strings. Next, two choral preludes by Ludwig Lenel: "Now
praise we Christ, the Holy One" and "How brightly shines the morning
star;" then, Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan
style='font-style:normal'>, Kellner; Voluntary No. 1 in D Major, Boyce. This organ really does sing. I think everyone realized that we were in the presence of royalty, an organ with
distinguished beginnings well and lovingly restored tonally and mechanically,
with some additions, by John Farmer and Company. Also, somehow, in its
simplicity, the organ is really fine visually as well. Then, "Sarabande" and "Rhythmic Trumpet" (from Baroques), Bingham; "Balm in Gilead" and "Swing Low," Utterback; Fantasy on "Roll, Jordan, Roll," Ralph Simpson (b. 1933), a really great fun piece (published by Morning Star); and the 1875 hymn, "I am thine, O Lord."

The next program took place at St. Matthias' Episcopal
Church, Asheville, and featured Carol Britt playing a one-manual organ built by
Reuben Midmer. Britt, organist and choir director at St. Augustine's Episcopal
Church in Metairie, made fine use of the single-manual instrument. The organ,
built in 1898, is original to this building. Ponder this from the program note:
"Original to the church, the Midmer organ is in a remarkable state of
preservation. Apart from maintenance and some patching to the bellows leather,
the instrument is essentially as installed 103 years ago." Was that a good
investment or what? The program: Triptych
(Prelude, Scherzo, and Fugue), Robert Powell; Grand Triumphal March, Nicholls (1877), a real two-step played with wonderful panache. To play the Partita on O Gott, du frommer Gott of Bach on an instrument with limited variety takes a bit of work. With impeccable phrasing and some careful registration planning, this was a fine and arresting performance. It made perfect sense for us to next sing "O Gott, du frommer Gott," and we did indeed, happily with some directions for harmony and unison verses.

The next move was well up the social ladder, as we visited
the Vanderbilts in their stately home, Biltmore, in Asheville. After a lovely
dinner in "The Stable" on the estate, we then proceeded to the main
house to hear the organ, played partly by the Skinner player mechanism, and
partly by Kristin Gronning Farmer. Kristin, who chaired this convention, and
whose good and thoughtful work in that capacity we benefited from daily, has
also played for OHS conventions in the past, including Boston last year. In
addition to which, she is an organ builder, working with her husband, John
Farmer, and specializing in "gilding, pipe stencilling, polychrome
painting and faux finishes," which skills she makes available not only to
the "family firm," but also to other builders. After a demonstration
of some of the resources of the instrument, she let us sample some of what is
available on the Skinner semi-automatic rolls. It was all good fun.

Sunday, June 24

After yesterday's long ride to Asheville, we spent today
staying quite close to Winston-Salem, beginning the day at the hotel with the
annual meeting of the OHS. Bill Van Pelt presided, and those in charge of other
projects and committees of the society reported on activities since the last
meeting (in Boston in 2000). There were two E. Power Biggs Fellows this year:
Ryan Celestin of Metairie, Louisiana, and Bruce Ludwick, Jr. of Keyser, West
Virginia. An election of officers was held by mail prior to this meeting, with
some ballots submitted on the day. Elected as President: Michael Barone, whose
radio program, Pipedreams, produced and disseminated by Minnesota Public Radio,
is known throughout the U.S.

On to the buses at 11, going to the workshop of J. Allen
Farmer, Organbuilders--a great barn surrounded by beautiful countryside. On
display, a two-manual and pedal mechanical-action residence organ, two stops on
each manual division and a pedal 16'. Outdoors, on a perfect day, we were
treated to a fine buffet lunch.

Next stop, Maple Springs United Methodist Church to hear
James Hammann, who is on the faculty of the University of New Orleans, is
organist of St. Francis Xavier Church, and in his spare time runs an organ
maintenance business! The organ is a 1926 Casavant, originally located in
Detroit, but moved to Winston in 1982. Voluptuous describes it well, a 3-manual
instrument with all the good (big) stuff and a sound that is broad and warm.
The program: James Houston Spencer (1895-1967), Symphonesque
style='font-style:normal'>, op. 12 of 1933, a rich work, somewhat inventive
harmonically in a way occasionally somewhat reminiscent of Sowerby, followed by
our second convention performance of "Rhythmic Trumpet" from Seth
Bingham's suite, Baroques, of
1944. This had the benefit of a wonderfully bold Trumpet, and was given a
really swaggering performance. Last, in this concert of music by composers who
lived at just about the same time, Air with Variations (
style='font-style:normal'>written for William Strickland) by Leo Sowerby
(1895-1968).

Here, we did our famous split, dividing into two groups
because of some limited seating in one of the churches. My group went first to
Ardmore United Methodist Church, which houses an organ by Fritz Noack from
1978. Although I recognized a bit of aggressiveness in the sound occasionally,
its was more than compensated for by a luminous clarity and some really lovely
stops and ensembles. This was a most interesting recital, played by William H.
Bates, professor of organ at University of South Carolina in Columbia. He chose
"When in our music" to Engelberg as his hymn, which he played very broadly and did interesting things with the accompaniment. Abruptly changing modes, he played Retrové (Estampie III) from the Robertsbridge Fragment of the early 14th century; then Fantasie sus orgue ou espinette, arr. Guillaume Costeley, mid to late 16th century; the choral prelude Der Tag, der ist so freudenreich of Buxtehude, with the cantus on a beautiful Tierce with tremulant; John Stanley, Voluntary in C: Adagio and Andante; then, Brahms, Herzlich tut mich verlangen, played sensitively on Principal sounds; and Partita on "When in our music God is glorified" by Professor Bates himself. This recital was carefully designed to match the instrument, and all was played with great musicality, technical skill, charm and as needed, wit!

The buses took us then to St. Timothy's Episcopal Church for
a recital by Rachelen Lien, from New Orleans, where she is organist and choir
director at St. Matthew United Church of Christ and Parker Memorial United
Methodist Church. Lien chaired the OHS's national convention in New Orleans in
1989. Her assignment this day was to perform on the smallest instrument heard
in the convention, a charming Erben from 1851, temporarily living in the chapel
at St. Timothy's, while its home church in South Carolina is undergoing
structural work. The organ has one manual, no pedal, 5 stops, 5 ranks, 190
pipes! An 8' Open Diapason goes down to Tenor F, a Dulciana does the same, and
both are anchored by 17 pipes of a Stopped Diapason Bass. There is a 4'
Principal and a Flute to Tenor F. There is a very tight Swell box. For some of
the pieces, the hand pump was used. The program: Adagio in e minor
style='font-style:normal'>, J.S. Bach; Allegro
style='font-style:normal'> from a Thomas Arne Concerto; Soeur Monique of François Couperin, using the Swell box for the contrasts called for in the piece; Pastorale by Charles Wesley, using first the Dulciana, and then the 4' Flute for contrast, sounds of enormous beauty and integrity; Partita on "Ah, vous dirai-je, maman," Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach (1732-1795). Next, mezzo-soprano Mary Martin, violist Tony Pruett, and cellist Worth Williams collaborated with Rachelen in the Brahms Lullaby for the Christ Child, opus 91. A really special treat, followed by another, the Saint-Saëns The Swan with cellist Williams. Following this, the hymn "Built on the Rock." A fascinating program, beautifully played, ended with a good chance to sing.

The convention then moved into the main church for two more
events, and they were something of a family affair, in the broadest sense of
family. It honored people of this community and people who worked to make this
wonderful convention possible. Starting with the organ builder: this amazingly
versatile one-manual instrument is Opus 22 of 1994, by John Farmer. Through the
judicious use of common basses, space and money was saved, and divided stops
made possible accompanied solo effects. The organist who next played a recital
and then accompanied Evensong was Scott Carpenter. He is assistant organist at
this church--Kristin Farmer is director of music. The composer whose music we
heard both in the pre-service recital and in Evensong itself is Margaret
Sandresky, another treasure of this area, of whom more later. The recital: Préambule (24 Pieces), Vierne; next, an anonymous 18th-century English Cornet Voluntary, and courtesy of divided stops, we heard a beautiful accompanied Cornet, three ranks just from middle c up; next a full Trumpet divided at middle c made possible a Trumpet Voluntary of Thomas Dupuis (1733-1796); then, Nun freut euch (BWV 734) of Bach; next we heard the really lovely Celeste in Prayer in E-Flat of Guilmant. The final works on the program were two
parts of an Organ Mass by
Margaret Sandusky based on the little 15th-century waltz tune L'Homme
armé. This was a wonderful recital,
which fact the audience acknowledged fully. Scott Carpenter is a player of
great assurance, musicality, and clarity.

Next was a really glorious Evensong, sung by the splendid
unauditioned choir of St. Paul's, Winston-Salem, conducted by Barbara Beattie.
Evensong began with the Richard Strauss Solemn Entry
style='font-style:normal'>, with the Giannini Brass Quintet. Preces
and Responses were by Martin Neary, then
followed the hymn, "O blest creator, source of light," to the Haydn
tune Bromley. The Psalm was No.
19, impeccably sung to a fine S.S. Wesley chant. The canticles (Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in D) were by Sir Herbert Brewer (1865-1928). For the anthem, another lovely piece by Margaret Sandresky, The Turtle Dove. The closing hymn was "The day thou gavest, Lord, is ended," to the magnificent tune St. Clement.

After a good dinner at the Adams Mark Hotel, it was off to
St. Paul's Episcopal Church, and a joint concert by Margaret and John Mueller.
The organ is Skinner Opus 712 of 1929. Aeolian-Skinner did some revoicing work
in 1965, and in 1996-97 the Thompson-Allen firm of New Haven, Connecticut, did
a complete restoration. The St. Paul's organ has four manuals, 42 stops, 51
ranks--not huge, but quite telling in the space. The event began with Margaret
Mueller at the console as we lustily sang "For All the Saints," to Sine Nomine, complete with harmony for stanzas 5 and 6. After that, came an organ demonstration (Margaret). We were handed a two-sided, tightly-spaced sheet describing the demonstration. There were seven sections for the demonstration of the reeds, six for the Diapasons (no Prinzipals here), seven for Flutes, and three for the Strings; ah, and one
short section for the Harp and Celesta! Each of the sections dealt with
divisions separately, and ensembles and stops alone in those divisions. We then
heard March on a Theme of Handel
by Guilmant; Fantasie in C,
Franck; and finally the charming A Wreath of Carols
style='font-style:normal'> by Margaret Vardell Sandresky (b. 1921), making use
in lovely and clever ways of the Sussex Carol, Greensleeves, Lo how a
rose, and In dulci jubilo
style='font-style:normal'>. John Mueller then took over for a very fine Sonata da Chiesa for Flute and Organ assisted by flutist Julie Frye, written (1998) by North Carolina composer Dan Locklair (b. 1949). Dr. Mueller ended the program with the Allegro from the Widor Sixth. The audience essentially erupted at the end of this definitely "feel good" program, a tribute to two North Carolina composers, two well-loved North Carolina organists, and a most beautiful instrument.

Monday, June 25

The day began with a fascinating lecture by Jonathan
Ambrosino, who was just finishing a two-year term as President of the OHS.
"The Residence Organ, 'The Final Touch of Beauty for the Well-Planned
Home,'" took us back to those days of "yesteryear," the early
part of the 20th century when even radio did not exist commercially. If you
wanted music, you made it yourself. Just about everyone had a piano in the
parlor, and someone in the family who could play it. Those with wealth and
space had pipe organs.

After the lecture, a short bus ride took us to Centenary
United Methodist Church, Winston-Salem, for a concert involving Margaret
Vardell Sandresky and Dan Locklair. Centenary U.M.C. is not a small church,
surely seating at least a thousand souls. The church was begun in 1929, and
Austin installed an organ in 1931. With its usual uncanny thoroughness, the
Organ Handbook for the convention provides both the original specification and
that of today, after a number of revisions. The main redo was in 1963, not a
promising year! Right away, one notices that the Great lost its 16' Double Open
Diapason in favor of a Quintaten! Five 8' stops were whittled down to three.
The Second Open (albeit an upward extension of the 16') is gone, as is the
Doppelflute. The Great reed unit, Trumpet and Clarion, is gone. To be sure, in
the 1931 instrument the Great only went up to a 2' Principal, and that was an
extension of the 4'; now there is a IV Mixture, surely an improvement. The
Swell did not fare too badly, although it did lose its 8' Open Diapason, always
a shame, I think. It gained a 16' Contra Fagotto. I think I weep a bit for the
Choir organ, which must have had breadth and presence with an English Diapason,
Concert Flute, Flute Celeste, Dulciana and Unda Maris. These morphed into just
a Nason Flute, Dulciana and Unda Maris. It lost its Clarinet and Orchestral
Oboe in favor of a Larigot and Krummhorn. The Solo and Echo divisions are
changed somewhat in character, and possibly improved by the 1963 rebuild. In
1987, Austin made two additions of great significance: a not-too-frightening en
chamade reed in the back, and a solid 32' Bombarde in the Pedal.

The first part of the program was played by Margaret Vardell
Sandresky, who began with a work by her father, the first organist in the new
1931 building, Charles G. Vardell, Jr. (1893-1952). Appropriately, Mrs.
Sandresky registered using only stops from the 1931 organ. Skyland is a
wonderfully atmospheric work, with great soaring lines, and bits of nice glassy
effects, using also the French Horn and the Harp. Next, three works by Mrs.
Sandresky herself, beginning with a year 2000 commission from the Home Moravian
Church, a suite entitled The Good Shepherd, consisting of four chorale preludes based on Moravian Chorales; then a Wedding March written in 1982 while Mrs. Sandresky was organist of this church--somewhat British sounding, with great flourishes; and ending the first half of the program, En Chamade, written for OHS 2001. There are several movements, some with chimes, and some cleverly using the big reed in the back.

After a short break, the program resumed with Dan Locklair
playing his own music, beginning with a Fanfare for Organ
style='font-style:normal'>, written in 2000 on commission from Fourth
Presbyterian Church of Chicago. This was followed by three sections from the
Windows of Comfort (Organbook 2),
commissioned in 1996 by First Presbyterian Church, Topeka, Kansas, and inspired
by that church's Tiffany windows. Then, Ayre for the Dance and Jubilo
(A Prelude for Organ), a 1998 commission
from the AGO for the 2001 regional competitions for young organists. Finally,
we had a chance to sing, and a good chance indeed with the Parry tune to
"O praise ye the Lord!"

We next did a rather free-form triple split. We all drove to
the great estate that Tobacco built, Reynolda House in Winston-Salem, spacious
and elegant. The room from which to hear the organ is not huge, hence the split
with assigned times for each group for hearing the recital, for eating lunch in
the various restaurants on the estate, and for simply walking around the
beautiful grounds. It did not work out exactly as planned, because it took
rather a time to check out the various restaurants and to get into fairly long
lines and to wait for service.

After this visit, the buses took us back to the hotel for a
rest period. Then, we rode to Greensboro for dinner at First Presbyterian
Church, and then to Christ United Methodist Church, the scene of which could
have been a convention planner's nightmare, but turned out more than o.k. We
were to have heard Lenora McCroskey. Ms. McCroskey suffered an injury to her
arm some days before she was to play, and realized it would not be possible to
meet the commitment. Her excellent former pupil Stewart Wayne Foster was,
fortunately, available to play. He is artist in residence and associate
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  organist of First (Scots) Presbyterian
Church and is founder/musical director of the Orchestra of St. Clare,
Charleston's first full-scale Baroque orchestra. Mr. Foster has been
coordinating the pipe organ component of the Piccolo Spoleto Festival since
1999.

We began with a hymn, "O Gladsome Light," to the
tune Cantique de Simeon, a Louis
Bourgeois tune harmonized by Claude Goudimel. The notes on the instrument
indicate that this was one of the organs completed in the last year of Charles
Fisk's life, 1982, and mentioned that it is  considered a sister organ to the one at Downtown United
Presbyterian Church in Rochester, New York. Mr. Foster is a superb player, possessing a very easy sort of grace, his movements sure and musically based. With very little notice, he was able to put together a most interesting program. He also spoke very clearly and well, with comments carefully chosen and useful. Nicholas Bruhns, Praeludium in e minor; Bach, Toccata in d minor, BWV 913 (written with harpsichord in mind); Clérambault, Suite on the Second Tone; a setting of "Amazing Grace" by Robert Hebble, who was one of Mr. Foster's teachers; Toccata on "Old Hundredth" by Jack Jones (another of Mr. Foster's teachers). The recital ended with the Final from the Vierne Third Symphony, brilliantly played. By this point, I had wondered if Mr. Foster, given the late notice about playing, had actually had a chance to go out in the room and listen to the instrument with his registrations. Some judicious pruning could have made the big moments more bearable, something that was very much wanted in the Vierne, which was so splendidly done, but was also painfully loud.

Tuesday, June 26

The day began with a lecture by Peter Cameron entitled,
"George Jardine and Son, New York Organbuilders--An Era of Spectacular
Organs." Cameron has had a long career in organ maintenance, repair, and
restoration, and from 1977 to 1994 served as maintenance coordinator for the
Andover Organ Company. His lecture was a wonderful appreciation of a once great
company, from one who has had extensive hands-on personal experience with their
output. A great story, well told.

After the lecture, we did our three-way split to accommodate
one very small but beautiful venue in Historic Bethabara within Winston-Salem,
the "Saal" of the 1771 "Gemeinhaus," the meeting room in
which services were held in the Congregation House. While one part of the group
was hearing the recital, the other two parts were visiting the historical exhibits and enjoying the beautiful grounds. The little three-stop, single-manual organ in the "Saal" is by Charles McManis, built in 1971 after a 1772 organ by North Carolina builder Joseph Bultischek, an instrument that perished in a fire in 1942. Sadly and strangely, no one knows what the specification of that organ was, so Charles McManis, fortified with some knowledge of other very small organs used by the Moravians, settled on an 8' Gedact, 4' Principal, and 2' Octave.

Michael Rowland is director of music at Ardmore United
Methodist Church, and staff accompanist at Salem College. He played an
18th-century program beginning with Four Preludes of the English Moravian,
Christian Latrobe (1758-1836), followed by three Bach chorale preludes: Erbarm dich mein (BWV 721), Gelobet seist du (BWV 697), and Allein Gott (BWV 717). We then sang Allein Gott, two stanzas with harmony provided--sheer joy in that lovely place. Mr. Rowland was then joined by Lauren Kossler, a fine violinist, and together they played a suite for violin and keyboard by John Stanley. Thanks to them both for a perfect program for a most attractive and historic place.

Andrew Unsworth played an 18-stop Hook and Hastings
instrument of 1924, with no stop over 4', in a quite dead acoustic at Calvary
Moravian Church in Winston-Salem. Both Unsworth and the organ conquered all,
aided, no doubt, at times by the 73-note chests and attendant super coupler.
Currently organist and choirmaster at St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church in
Durham, he holds a Ph.D. in performance practice from Duke. The program began
with two pieces by Henry Dunham (1853-1929), who taught organ at New England
Conservatory for 52 years: from the First Sonata in G Minor
style='font-style:normal'>, op. 10 (from 1882), an Allegro moderato, followed
by Impromptu from a set of 12
pieces of 1912, op. 24; next, "Vision," Rheinberger, a lovely piece
requiring some dexterity at registration changes, which were very deftly
handled. The last of the organ pieces was the War March of the
Priests, Mendelssohn, played with great
flair and a fat and powerful registration--very satisfying indeed. Unsworth
proved himself to also be a very fine hymn player, giving really good support,
and doing clever bits of descanting, with a rather nice reharmonization of the
last verse of the hymn Redeemer of Israel, to a tune by Freeman Lewis.

Lunch was served at Centenary United Methodist Church,
Winston-Salem, following which we bused to Old Salem where we again broke into
three groups in order to accommodate the limited capacity of the "Saal" in the Single Brothers' House. While one group was at the recital, others were touring Old Salem. In the "Saal," Lois Regestein played her excellent recital three times in order to fit everyone in. The organ, by David Tannenberg, 1798, is gentle and sweet, and comprises five stops. The console is slightly detached and reversed. The instrument was rebuilt by Charles McManis in the mid-60s. The program: Organ Obbligatos to an Anthem, by Johann Ludwig Freydt (1748-1807); Fuga, by Johann Gottfried Gebhard (1755-?); Prelude No. 2 in C Minor, Prelude No. 6 in E-flat, by Christian Latrobe; Nun rühen alle Walder, by Ernst Immanuel Erbe (1854-1927), then another "Chorale Verse" based on the same tune, by Carl Anton Van Vleck; Voluntary IV in G, op. 7, by John Stanley; and then the hymn Morning Star, written in 1836 by Francis Florentine
Hagen (1815-1870). James Boehringer, former director of the Moravian Music
Foundation, and Kevin Brown, present administrator of the foundation, were both
acknowledged as having provided help in organizing the program.

We next walked to Home Moravian Church, where Paula Locklair
presented a most interesting slide-talk about the work of David Tannenberg and
his relationship with the Moravians in North Carolina. Mrs. Locklair has worked
with the various collections at Old Salem since 1975, and has been director of
collections since 1987, and is married to composer Dan Locklair. After her
talk, she introduced John Boody of the firm of Taylor & Boody, who gave a
slide-talk presentation about the company's project for restoring the 1799
Tannenberg organ for the Home Moravian Church. This is the oldest American-made
two-manual instrument extant. (For information on the project:
<www.taylorandboody.com&gt;.)

We then moved upstairs to the church, where the Piedmont
Chamber Singers, directed by James Allbritten, and accompanied by David
Pulliam, led us in a Singstunde, which is just what it sounds like--a wonderful
hour of singing, much of it done by us, with some choral works sung by the
Chamber Singers. We sang hymns that would be known to a Moravian congregation,
but not necessarily to us, and thus learned some new and quite interesting
hymns.

OHS planners always try to find occasional experiences other
than organs and organ music, and tonight was the night. We bused quite a long
way out of town to the Pollirosa Restaurant, obviously a very popular spot.
There was a long line and the place was really packed, but they were ready for
our group, and we had some wonderful barbecue and lots of other good things,
all accompanied by bluegrass music, live, on stage. There were also hayrides
available, but I did not notice any of our group indulging. We had six buses,
and they left for the hotel at intervals, so you could leave when you had had
your fill of food--and possibly of bluegrass. A lot of our gang really got into
it, singing and dancing up a storm, and me without my camera!

Wednesday, June 27

This penultimate full day of the convention featured an
array of various instruments. Here is the pipe count for the day: 362, 363,
951, 4926, 1038, and finally 6663. The day began with an almost two-hour bus
ride to New Hope Presbyterian Church in Chapel Hill, to hear Steve Barrell play
the 1987 one-manual organ by John Brombaugh. The program: Pieter Cornet (c.
1560-c. 1630), Four Versets on "Regina Caeli," featuring various combinations of sound, some of the fuller
bits somewhat on the harsh side, some individual voices quite beautiful.
Divided stops make possible solo and accompaniment, used to good effect. Then,
Johann Pachelbel (from Hexachordum Apollinis
style='font-style:normal'>, 1699), Aria Prima with Six Variations, the second variation on a beautiful Flute with tremulant. For something entirely different, we sang the hymn "Were you there," with a harmony of Barrell's own devising, based on the music of Fats Waller.

A very short bus ride brought us to Hillsborough and St.
Matthew's Episcopal Church for a recital by Grant Hellmers, an Australian by
birth, who has been at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Richmond for 20 years,
and was assistant for the four years before that. Before his time in Richmond,
he held church positions in Australia and in Vienna. The two-manual Hook &
Hastings stock model organ dates from 1883. The program: Humoresque (L'organo
primitivo), Toccatina for Flutes, Pietro
Yon; the beautiful Schübler Wer nur den lieben Gott lasst walten, Bach, after which we sang the two stanzas given for the chorale, one in harmony, and the second in unison with a very nice reharmonization. The power of even half of an OHS convention was just too overwhelming (we were split in two groups at this point)--every stop was indeed on! Following the hymn, three charming pieces by Leopold Mozart, from Der Morgen und der Abend (Morning and Evening); then, "Lied" (from 24 Pieces in Free Style), Vierne, with the lovely Open Diapason for the melody; Percy Whitlock, Divertimento (No. 2 from Four
Extemporisations); and finally, Allegro
(Number 6 of Six Short Preludes and Postludes, Set 2, op. 105) of C. V. Stanford. Well conceived and beautifully played was this program, and the little stock organ really is
lovely.

Both New Hope Presbyterian and St. Matthew's Episcopal
provided lunch for their half of the convention party, after which we gathered
at the Chapel of Peace College in Raleigh, where Rosalind Mohnsen played her
16th OHS convention recital. The organ is a transplant, a gift to the college
given by Christ Church, Raleigh. I don't know how many intact organs by
Pomplitz & Company are extant. Here at Peace College, this 17-stop Pomplitz
found an excellent home, and it and the college were presented with an OHS
Plaque in recognition of this. It was accepted by the president of the college,
who said a bit about how much she enjoys this instrument. With only 17 stops,
this two-manual organ nonetheless has both a 16' Double Open and a Bourdon, and
is quite robust in other ways as well. The program began with March from Ten
Progressive Pedal Studies of George
Whitefield Chadwick; then, Gavotte Pastorale by Frederick N. Shackley (1868-1937); Prelude
in E-flat Minor (op. 66-1911), Vincent
d'Indy (1851-1931); Prelude and Fugue in B Major
style='font-style:normal'> (op. 99), Camille Saint-Saëns; Pastorale in D Major, op. 13, William Wolstenholme (1865-1931); and finally an Allegro Moderato in D by Henry Smart (1813-1879). The recital came to a rousing close with the hymn "The Day of Resurrection" in glorious harmony to Henry Smart's well-known tune Lancashire
style='font-style:normal'>.

A bus ride brought us to the beautiful campus of Duke
University, with a chapel boasting three remarkable organs, upon each of which
we heard what could only be described as a perfect recital, tailored to match
the qualities of the instrument. We began at the west end of the chapel with
the famous four-manual Flentrop of 1976, with Mark Brombaugh offering a recital
of Buxtehude, Scheidemann, de Grigny, and a partita by James Woodman,
commissioned by Brombaugh in honor of his father. Woodman's Partita on
"Spanish Hymn" was written in
1999 and comprises seven sections: Prelude, Chorale, Bicinium, Trio, Aria,
Fughetta, and Canon. The program ended with the hymn "Spanish Hymn,"
complete with three harmony verses and even a bit of a descant! The Flentrop
organ had a robust sound in the louder works and permeates the building wonderfully. The chapel's walls have been treated with several coats of sealant with excellent results. Equally impressive were the clarity and color of the quieter sounds.

The next event generated something akin to hostility. I
suppose the behavior of a few of our colleagues might be compared to the
reactions of some who demonstrated their opprobrium at the first performance of
Rite of Spring. Well, in truth, no
tomatoes were thrown on this occasion, but it saddens me to report that a
number of people left the building, saying things like "I don't have to
listen to this." Some even said things like: "I listened to the damn
Flentrop, but this is too much!" Meantone is not nearly as sinister as it
sounds! I heard Margaret Irwin-Brandon at OHS Boston the previous summer, where
she had the assignment of playing the Charles Fisk dual-temperament instrument
at Wellesley College. The anti-anything-different folks were in evidence there,
too. As at Wellesley, she chose a program absolutely perfect for the instrument
at hand: Frescobaldi, Toccata Sesta, Bk. II, per l'organo sopra i pedali, e senza; Canzona Quarta; Toccata Quinta, Bk. II, sopra i pedali per l'organo, e senza. Then we sang "Savior of the nations, come" (Nun komm der Heiden Heiland), five harmony stanzas in our hymnlet, which means we all sang in meantone without any permanent injury, with the exception of stanza 3, which got switched amazingly into a triple meter, which we all managed quite well. Then Canzona II of Froberger, followed by Ballo della Battaglia of Bernardo Storace. Now, if anyone was in doubt about the personality of meantone tuning, the Frescobaldi works left no doubt. There are intervals that jar our "well"-conditioned brains and ears, and I found myself, as at Wellesley, looking straight up at the organ and listening with as much attention as I could muster--this contemplation coupled with a totally relaxed attitude. This is edgy, this is somewhat unsettling, but I can get used to it, and find these sounds more of a condiment than a threat. The very gentle beauty of this Brombaugh organ at Duke beguiled me into complete acceptance, and pleasure at having the opportunity to hear something from the history of our instrument. The Froberger was wonderfully gentle and sweet, and then the Storace was, well, a battle, with the little Regal on the Brustwerk doing yeoman service!

The journal of the Organ Historical Society is called The
Tracker, and back in the very early days, this was the perfect name.
Conventions included visits to, if not totally exclusively, almost exclusively
mechanical-action instruments. The broadening happened gradually, and now
convention goers visit historic E. M. Skinner organs, on which are often
conferred OHS plaques in honor of their preservation and maintenance. We have
often even visited new organs of note, no matter what mechanism makes the pipe
speak, e.g., the new Létourneau instrument at the first recital of this
convention! Welcome, I think, to the real world, with a broader view of real
excellence. I have not, and I know others who are driving the work of OHS have
not, abandoned a belief in the great virtues and advantages of tracker action.
This does not prevent me from thrilling at the sound of the Wanamaker Organ,
for example. The full circle we have made was brought into full view by all the
buzz and almost palpable anticipation of the next event, a recital on the
Aeolian organ in the east end of the chapel, an organ so reviled in times past
that there was a powerful movement to junk it. It makes the heart glad to know
that the OHS had a role in the campaign to save it, so there was some reveling
in all of this as we settled down to hear Ken Cowan give a convincing
demonstration of this instrument: Allegro vivace from the Widor 5th; Ave
Maria of Marco Enrico Bossi (1861-1925) demonstrating the ravishing strings of the instrument; Roulade, Seth Bingham; Overture to The Flying Dutchman, Wagner; the hymn "In our day of thanksgiving one Psalm let us offer," to the glorious tune St. Catherine's Court, with harmony. (Let it be here stated that Ken Cowan does know how to accompany a hymn. I wrote in my book: "What an accompaniment!!") Words won't do in describing Cowan's simply stunning performance of a perfect piece for right where we were, the Liszt Ad nos, ad salutarem undam.

Thursday, June 28

The last day of the convention began with Rachelen Lien from
New Orleans, a regular performer at OHS conventions, giving a preview of a
January 2002 mini-convention entitled "A South Louisiana Organ
Odyssey." This event, to be held January 3-5, was to include tours of
plantations, monasteries, and convents, as well as the famous French Quarter.

A 45-minute bus ride brought us to the First Presbyterian
Church of Lexington, for a recital by Edward Zimmermann, a native of North
Carolina, now teaching at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. The organ, Opus
499 of Geo. S. Hutchings (1900), was relocated to this church through the Organ
Clearing House and members of the staff of Andover Organs, which company
rebuilt and enlarged the instrument in 1994. The program consisted entirely of
works by Otto Dienel (1839-1905), beginning with a chorale prelude on Lobe
den Herren, for which Zimmermann used only
original Hutchings stops; we then sang just one stanza of the chorale. This
two-manual instrument of 23 stops and 28 ranks is very fine. There followed
three more chorale preludes: Komm, O komm, du Geist des Lebens; Mach
dich, mein Geist, bereit; and Wer
nur den lieben Gott lasst walten. The
program ended with a three-movement Grand Sonata No. 3 in F Major, op. 18, on the chorale Wie gross ist des Allmaecht'gen Guete. At some of the convention recitals, we are joined by varying numbers of members of the
congregation, which suggests the good news that there is interest in the organ.
From this church, there were many congregants, and I am sure they had their
interest and pride in the instrument strengthened.

After lunch in Winston-Salem, we moved on to another
surprisingly effective organ, speaking out of a very small rectangular hole
high on the east wall, looking for all the world like a large
style="mso-spacerun: yes">   speaker enclosure. No date is
given for this Kilgen unit organ of 11 stops and 13 ranks. The church was built
in the early 1930s by a Presbyterian congregation, and the organ would seem to
be of the same period. In 1964, the congregation of St. James A.M.E. Church
bought the building. The organ was last played publicly 30 years ago. The last
time it was played at all was 20 years ago. At some point, before the organ
ceased to be used, some tonal changes were made under the direction of John
Mueller, which now, at this time of our organic thinking in the 21st century,
will either bring cheers or jeers. The Great 8' Open was replaced by a Mixtuur
III. The 8' Clarabella became a Gedeckt. The Dulciana became a 4' Octaaf. On the
Swell, the Vox Humana became a 2' Vlakfluit. When members of the convention
committee went to inspect this instrument, it was not playing at all--there was
no longer electricity to the blower. John Farmer and a crew, along with a
licensed electrician, got it all cooking again. There were a few members of the
congregation around for the recital, and I hope they might be persuaded to make
some use of the instrument, now that it can be played again. Those there seemed
impressed. Here we were treated to a concert by bass-baritone John Williams and
organist Max Smith. The program: Handel, Thanks be to Thee
style='font-style:normal'>; Mendelssohn (Elijah
style='font-style:normal'>), Lord God of Abraham (preceded by the recitative);
Margaret Vardell Sandresky, O God, my heart is fixed on thee
style='font-style:normal'> (Psalm 108); for organ alone: Adagio from Widor Symphony No. 6; "I Stood on the River of Jordan," arr. Harry Burleigh; "Let Us Break Bread Together"; provided with full harmony, we happily sang "Fairest Lord Jesus" to the tune Crusaders' Hymn.

A 45-minute bus ride brought us to the third and last
"stately home" of the convention, the Chinqua-Penn Plantation,
devised and built by Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Jefferson Penn. A Skinner organ,
Opus 565, was installed in 1926. The pipes are in the basement, speaking out
into the great living room through large grates. For this visit, we were
divided in two groups to avoid crowding in the room where the organ resides.
While one group was walking the extensive and interesting grounds, the other
was listening to a recital, well played and chosen for the organ and venue, by
Mary Gifford, who is director of music at St. Leonard Catholic Church in
Berwyn, Illinois. Her program was perhaps a reproduction of at least the spirit
if not the specifics of what might have been heard by the residents of this home. There were four charming Edward MacDowell piano works arranged by Ms. Gifford: Hunting Song, An Old Love Story, To a Humming Bird, and the inevitable To a Wild Rose; next A Southland Song by William Lester, an English organist who settled in Chicago in the early part of the 20th century, and was for some years a reviewer for The Diapason; then we attempted to sing "When Mother Played the Organ," by George B. McConnell (text by Dick Sanford) and did not do
too badly at all. The perfect closer was the Mendelssohn War March of
the Priests arranged by Theodore Dubois.

After dinner at the plantation (one could get used to that),
we hopped on the bus for a one-hour relaxing trip to Greensboro, and West
Market Street United Methodist Church, where Peter Sykes played the final
recital of the convention. Organist at First Church in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, Sykes teaches organ, harpsichord, and chamber music at the Longy
School, and serves on the faculty of the extension division of New England
Conservatory. The organ at West Market Street is by Dobson in collaboration
with Manuel Rosales. Quoting from the Organ Handbook: "In the final
equation, Dobson designed and constructed the organ; Rosales provided basic
scaling with input from Dobson; and both companies shared equally in the
voicing and tuning process." Key action is mechanical, stop action,
electric. Some Pedal ranks are on electric action. There are three manuals and
39 stops, the third manual being a small Solo Organ, with an Harmonic Flute, a
5-rank Tenor G Cornet, an 8' Trumpet and an 8' Clarinet. The program:
Mendelssohn, Sonata No. 3 in A Major; a five-movement "suite" by
James Woodman, All Creatures of Our God and King: Sister Moon, Brother Sun, Mother Earth, All of Tender Heart, and Alleluia; the tune Lasst uns erfreuen appears here and there. Then, Tocccata in F (Bux 137); Fantasia and Fugue in C Minor, BWV 537, Bach; three "Tonstücke," op. 22 of Niels Gade; and to close, Duruflé Prélude, Adagio, et Choral varié on Veni Creator. The last hymn to be sung at this convention followed, a rather angular but ultimately attractive and singable tune by Derek Williams (b. 1945) to the text, "Give us the wings of faith." The Dobson/Rosales instrument, though not large, provided plenty of variety and color for such a varied program. There were, for me where I was sitting, a very few overpoweringly loud and harsh moments, and I thought it had to do with the Great Reeds, 16, 8 & 4, but others will have felt differently, I am sure. The instrument is surely a great success, and Mr. Sykes' performance was superb. The buses soon departed for the hotel, and one last look at the exhibits and the convivial bar  and it was all over for another year.

This was another wonderful OHS convention! Readers please
note: the 2002 OHS national convention will take place June 25-July 1 in
Chicago, Illinois. For information: 804/353-9228;

<www.organsociety.org&gt;.

Charles S. Brown is a former organ faculty member at the University of North Texas, Denton, and formerly organist/choirmaster at St. John's Episcopal Church, Dallas. His first two plays with organ  music, Mon Cousin (music of Bach and Walther) and Queen of Hearts (music of Bach, Handel, Haydn, and others), were premiered in Dallas in March and November of 1996. One of his current performance projects is Il Dottore's Magic Music Pipe and Puppet Show.

On April 7, 1997, at 6:00 p.m., the first Triennial Dallas International Organ Competition began with three 30-minute recitals by James Diaz of Indianapolis; Christian Schmitt-Engelstadt of Rhein,German; and Neil Cockburn of Dundee, Scotland. The competition continued at 8:00 that same evening with recitals by Tobias Frankenreiter of Ellwangen, Germany; Jeremy Bruns of Shreveport, Louisiana; and John Schwandt of Appleton, Wisconsin. The next night, Junko Ito of Tokyo, Japan; S. Wayne Foster of Melbourne, Florida; Erik Suter ofChicago; Holger Gehring of Ludwigsburg, Germany; Kenneth Cowan of Thorold, Ontario; and Yuichiro Shiina of Tokyo performed.

Each of the recitals consisted of a Buxtehude free work (either the great F Major Toccata or the great E Minor Prelude), a Bach trio sonata (either No. 2 or No. 6), and the first movement of Dupré's Second Symphony . The organ was the three-manual, 51-stop C. B. Fisk, Op. 101, in the Caruth Auditorium of Southern Methodist University's Meadows School of the Arts.

The twelve competitors, ranging in age from twenty-two to twenty-nine, had been chosen at screening auditions  held in Stuttgart, Germany (January 7-11, 1997), Dallas (January 20-23), and Gifu, Japan (January 27-31). At that time, each had played Couperin's Tierce en taille (from the Gloria for the parishes), Bach's Prelude and Fugue in G Major (S. 541), the trio on Allein Gott (A Major) from Bach's Eighteen Chorales, Brahms' A-flat Minor Fugue, and the Messiaen Transports de joie.

On April 10, 1997, Yuichiro Shiina, Kenneth Cowan, Christian Schmitt-Engelstadt, James Diaz, Holger Gehring, and Wayne Foster advanced to the semi-finals and played hour-long recitals (two a day for three days) on the Lay Family Organ (C. B. Fisk, Opus 100) in the Meyerson Symphony Center.  Each program consisted of De Grigny's Ave Maris Stella, Bach's Jesus Christus, unser Heiland (4/4) and Allein Gott in der Höh  sei Ehr' (tenor cantus) from the Eighteen Chorales, Persichetti's Shimah b'koli, and one of three 19th-century German works: the Reubke  Sonata, Reger's Wachet auf, or the Reger Second Sonata.

Late in the evening on April 12, Yuichiro Shiina, Holger Gehring, and Wayne Foster were named finalists and, on April 15, 1997, in the Meyerson Symphony Center, each played a Bach work for solo organ followed by William Bolcom's Humoresk for organ and orchestra with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra under associate conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson. For the Bach work, assigned by lot, Mr. Shiina performed the Toccata, Adagio and Fugue, Mr. Gehring the Fantasy and Fugue in G Minor, and Mr. Foster the great E Minor Prelude and Fugue. After hearing the three performances of the Bolcom, jurors Robert Anderson, Marie-Claire Alain, Gillian Weir, Hans Fagius, Ludger Lohmann, Martin Haselböck, and Tsuguo Hirono retired to rank the finalists, while Mary Preston, Dallas Symphony Association organist and curator of the Fisk organ, Opus 100, played Dupré's Evocation Symphony.

Evocation. A calling forth. What was all this calling forth from me?  Why after twelve yars of avoiding organ recitals and organists' conventions, was I sitting riveted to my chair, listening to organ playing for parts of eight days?

When the competition began, it was my intention to sample a few of the preliminary recitals, then choose the one or two semifinal programs that interested me most and, perhaps, if I were in the mood, take in the finals.

I heard the first three recitals on April 7, but not the next three.  On April 8, I sat through five performances of the Dupré as well as assorted Buxtehudes and Bachs, decided I would listen to Mr. Shiina's Buxtehude (the F Major Toccata), then leave, to beat the crowd, you understand.

But I didn't leave. I heard every note Mr. Shiina played, and every note was a revelation. The organ could sing after all. The organ was a wind instrument after all. A Buxtehude prelude could be connected into a whole. The pedal part in the slow movement of a Bach trio sonata could be smoothly elegant as well as sensitively articulate. Every statement in a sequence could sound as if it had caught light from a different source.  A prickly 20th-century piece could begin assertively, grow in intensity, and arrive at the last chord in a dramatic yet satisfying resolution of ten minutes of turmoil. The organ could be played as if it were an extension of the organist and the organist an extension of the music.

I made up my mind.  This deep-bowing young man from Japan, a young man from a very young organ culture, should win. It would be the Zen thing to have happen. Mu.

But Mr. Shiina did not win. Wayne Foster did.

On April 15, 1997, at approximately 10:00 p.m., Stewart Wayne Foster of Melbourne, Florida (and Stetson University and the L'École Normale Supérieure de Musique de Paris and the University of North Texas) won the first Triennial Dallas International Organ Competition. As he should have. The jury made the correct decision, and that is another story.

In his preliminary recital, Mr. Foster played the Buxtehude E Minor properly, with appropriate registrations, but with a tendency to fussiness and more formal disjunction than the piece deserves. The sixth trio sonata was similarly detail-conscious--until the last movement, that is. In the middle of the Allegro, Mr. Foster stopped playing around with the piece and started playing it. Or better, he started letting it play him. One particular trill did it, and I thought: Wayne Foster will go far in this competition. His Dupré told me he would go far. The Preludio was assertive, even overplayed, the sections carved in such high relief that the entire piece became intelligible to someone who did not know it. A singular achievement.

This was going to be an interesting competition.

A contest between a natural musician and a natural showman or perhaps, so as not to prejudice my judgment against Mr. Foster before all the rounds had been played, a contest between a musician/showman and a showman/musician.

And, if either Mr. Shiina or Mr. Foster should stumble, there were others already on the field, ready to take his place. Mr. Diaz' proficiency and professionalism or Mr. Schmitt-Engelstadt's brute drive or Mr. Gehring's intriguing musical choices might push one of them to the front. But, for now, it was a duel, and the duelling ground would be the Fisk Op. 100.

The organ for the preliminary round, Op. 101 in Caruth Auditorium, is a kindly instrument, gentle, honest but forgiving; it doesn't bite either the hand or the ear.  It seems well suited to study and teaching but is not particularly interesting for virtuoso displays. In other words, a good source of fiber but not a feast.

The Meyerson organ, on the other hand, is sui generis; it presents challenges and temptations in degrees most organists never face: the pedal is heavy rather than clear, powerful reeds dominate the ensemble, the principal choruses glitter rather than bind, the full organ thresholds pain, and there are problems of balance which only long familiarity with the instrument or a second pair of ears can resolve.

The battlefield was set, the weapons drawn. Mr. Shiina played first, Mr. Foster last.

In De Grigny and in Reger's Wachet auf, Mr. Shiina handled the organ aggressively but conservatively. He took no chances with the registrations. He shaped the music beautifully. No note was out of place. But in Allein Gott, the accompaniment was too loud for the solo line and, in Shimah b'koli, Mr. Shiina seemed to be at a loss how to treat Persichetti's twelve-tone idiom, musically, registrationally, and temperamentally.

Mr. Foster's semi-final performance was virtually faultless.  (If anything, it was too smooth.)  His grand jeux were clear; he sounded as if he, or someone, had considered how to make Jesus Christus, unser Heiland more than a sight reading exercise; he gave us a true tierce en taille in Allein Gott; and he chose to play the Reger Second Sonata, the only contestant to do so, and played it well. But, as in the preliminary round, it was his sympathy for and assured approach to a twentieth-century work, this time the Persichetti, as well as his almost unbelievably flawless handling of the Fisk Op. 101, that made his performance memorable.

Advantage, Mr. Foster.

When the final round started on April 15, I was uncomfortable. During the preliminaries and the semi-finals (4:30 and 6:30 p.m. on spring weekend days), I had been able to sit where I liked or as far away from other people as I liked; just me and the performer, if I liked. The finals, however, were almost sold-out. I felt crowded and super-sensitive to any restlessness my imagination might project onto the large number of non-organists sitting around me.

After hearing three Bach works played almost throughout on unrelieved plenums, I was even more uncomfortable. How could we expect to win new audiences for the organ this way?  Wouldn't all these organ-concert neophytes go away thinking "how dull"?

Mr. Shiina maintained the same bel canto touch in the Toccata, Adagio and Fugue he had displayed on April 8 and April 10, but I found myself tiring of such perfect roundness when the music called for more contrast, more brio, some electricity. Mr. Foster sustained the same polished, stylistically accurate, technically fluent, and registrationally superior effect he had shown earlier-- there were no missteps I could detect--but my attention wandered: each section of the E Minor had the same expressive posture as the others; the whole lacked growth or at least variety. So far, a lackluster evening.

Score, tied.

After intermission, Mr. Shiina and the orchestra began the first reading of the Bolcom, another piece I did not know.  Immediately, I was disappointed the competition committee had chosen to balance "authentic" Bach with a colorless work that had a merely obbligato organ part, a part I was obliged to strain to pick out from the egregious orchestral texture. I dreaded hearing Humoresk twice more.

When Mr. Foster and the orchestra began the third reading of the Bolcom, surprise! I was attracted to it, then amused, then delighted, then pleased and pleased and pleased again. The piece swung, the organ sounded snazzy, the rhythms were jazzy, the textures gassy, it ended with flair. A real crowd-strummer. A winner. Worth every two bits of the $25,000.00 first prize, as well as the audience prize of $5,000.00, an appearance with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in a future season playing a commissioned work by Samuel Adler, and representation by a major organists' management agency (Phillip Truckenbrod).

Mr. Shiina took home the second place medal and $10,000.00, and a fitting and honorable second place it was.  I admired, and what's left in me of the little boy envied, Mr. Foster's achievement. But I was, and am, grateful to Mr. Shiina for letting me hear on three different evenings a way of playing the organ that first touch to last was pure music, pure singing, a way of touching the organ that, if I were to play or teach again, I would use as a touchstone.

Two young men and two young stories.

But there was a third story that undergirded, passacaglia-like, The First Triennial Dallas Internatinal Organ Competition from its inception several years ago on into its assuredly successful future. The story of a man, an organist and teacher, who has labored on the playing fields of Dallas, Texas, and Southern Methodist University since 1960. The story of Robert Anderson.

On the face of it, the Dallas International Organ Competition is the work of high-profile movers and shakers:  Eugene Bonelli, president of the Symphony Association; George Schrader, former Dallas City Manager; H. Ward Lay, whose family and businesses gave the Meyerson organ and much of the money for the competition and its prizes; and the executives of such powerhouses as Frito Lay, Inc., the Dallas Foundation and American Airlines. But at heart, the competition is, I suspect, Robert Anderson's child and largely the result of his unremitting and dedicated nurturing. Dallas owes a number of fine organists and fine organs (especially the two Fisks) to Bob Anderson's imagination, his perseverence, his intensity, and his zeal for excellence. Now Dallas, and the world, owes him even more.

There were, of course, other stories being written during the competiton.  One, expanded at length in The Dallas Morning News, concerned contestant Jeremy Bruns, a home-town boy from the small home-town of Muleshoe in East Texas, who had arrived at the competition by way of Texas Tech University, the Eastman School of Music, and First United Methodist Church of Shreveport, Louisiana, with the unstinting encouragement of his family, teachers, and friends.  For him, as with all the other contestants, the competition will be a part of the way their stories continue, with some, perhaps, ultimately playing a more important part than in the stories of Yuichiro Shiina, Wayne Foster, and Robert Anderson.

For example, James Diaz is a formidable technician, in his white tie and tails the perfect picture of a concert artist, but, please, more involvement with, less detachment from, the music.  I want to experience your immediate experience of what you are playing. I am not interested in a matter-of-fact recital of the music's attributes.

Christian Schmitt-Engelstadt plays with fire, with wild hares sprung from his imagination, but, please, be their master, not their slave, or they will overwhelm what you play.

Kenneth Cowan has chutzpah.  He played the Bach trio sonata and the Reger Wachet auf from memory. A lapse in the Reger aside (and it is insignificant in the non-competitive scheme of things), please let me enjoy those moments in the music, and they are many, that are not hard-driven, not percussive.

Holger Gehring is an accomplished player, whatever that gray phrase means.  He was an appropriate choice as a finalist (and the third prize winner of $5,000.00) because he sustained a high level of accuracy and made distinctive interpretive decisions throughout the competition. But, please, Mr. Gehring, don't let eccentricities and quirks render your performance willful instead of purposeful. Any desired effect has its own interior logic, its own natural processes, and, as anything else, fails when burdened with a whim.

Driving home after hearing the first three contestants on April 7, I recalled Antonin Artaud's admonition to actors: be like "victims burnt at the stake, signaling through the flames" (The Theater and Its Double). I recalled it again driving home from the finals.

Artaud was a madman.  He explored the dramatic arts from a lunatic cell.  But how much we can learn from madmen.  And how fascinating it is to watch an immolation, where the writhings of the immolated are clearly communicated to the audience at the instant they are happening.

The intensity of a competiton has something of the auto-da-fé about it.  Even for the listener, it burns in a way a recital does not. All that is missing, all that was missing in Dallas in April, 1997, is a way of playing the organ in which the performer's inside is consistently on the outside and that inside-on-the-outside is consistently on fire, with the unmistakably costly gestures of fire.

Artaud's sacrifice is probably too much to ask of young musicians who will require many kinds of experiences over may years in order to mine and store the fuel for their own musical fires. But that is the mountain-peak ideal, the volcano, as it were, toward which The First Triennial Dallas International Organ Competition points and toward which it has pointed me.  That is where the competition becomes part of my own story, and perhaps part of your story, too.