The Organ in the New Millennium

Part 2

by Herbert Huestis & David Calhoun

 

Northwest Spaces

Physical, metaphysical, mental and spiritual; Concerts expand one's perceptions and test prejudices

 

A random survey around the convention seemed to reveal a tie vote for favorite recitals, between the paired events at Pacific Lutheran's Fritts organ and the Kynaston recitals at St. James Cathedral. The balance was tipped by the "Catholic Worship," the office of Lauds offered three times at the Cathedral, not most by the music, the ceremony, nor the incense ("not a fragrance-free corner"), but by the sermon of the Cathedral's Pastor, the Very Rev. Michael Ryan. Imagine a room of musicians listening intently to a sermon! Fr. Ryan suggested that, in a twist on the imagery of Donne, visitors and music in the place are made honest parts of the Sacrament.

The new Rosales organ was dedicated only two weeks before the convention, in a solo recital by Cathedral organist Joseph Adam proving the success of the marriage between old and new instruments in literature from Bach to Widor. The program featured a large solo work by Naji Hakim, The Last Judgment, on motifs from the windows around which the organ case is spaced on the theme, "As ye did it to the least of these, my brethren." Those who managed to be at the Cathedral at supper time on July 4th heard it in reprise; a virtuoso prelude to fireworks, of course, a sort of rondo returning to great bass clusters; a better work than the one with orchestra which ended the convention. I'd already heard the organ accompanying a professional choir the week before that, and was struck by the way Manuel Rosales has sprouted a new and different organ from the same tonal roots as grew the Hutchings-Votey in the gallery almost a century ago. If hubris can be said to have characterized the Fisk project, one can say that the Rosales work betrays a certain humility.

I can't add much to what has been said about the PLU Fritts, save that I find the work to be so blended in tone that I like to sit as close in as possible--and that the beauties of the sound bear that close examination. Neither quirky nor subdued, it is simply a work of great balance and maturity. A close third in favorite recitals was John Weaver's at the new Reuter organ at University Presbyterian Church. This church is only a few blocks from my home, and I've been there on a Sunday morning, as well as early on when I asked the organist how they were going to fit a tracker into this chancel. "Not a tracker," she said, "Absolutely not a tracker." I came to scoff, but left with praise.

The Northwest had for decades exactly one electropneumatic builder, with a sort of "American Classic" style, whose best work was heard in a Kimberly Marshall program with wind ensemble--but in reaction to which, the area has grown its strong "Baroque revival" tracker bias and trend. A Skinner, several Kimballs, a Kilgen, and an Austin are long gone; the Hutchings at St. James, possibly not the best of the lot, is all that remains of what the region has deemed an outworn style. In this vein, one very fine young teacher left the Weaver event steaming, outraged that such outdated playing should be allowed!

The pendulum swings, with a half-period of about thirty years; warm fundamental sound has come back even to "Baroque" organs. What we heard when John Weaver played this large Reuter organ seemed to me not to be highly colored; in the Brahms preludes we heard varieties and textures of gray, mauve, pastels--subtly varied and never extreme. The playing was skilled, tasteful, assured. The Bach transcription of Ernst which opened displayed a legato manner we simply don't hear around here; when was the last time I saw legato manual changes? Weaver's own Suite (1995) was followed by an encore, a paraphrase on "For All the Saints" and "When the Saints," whose themes are inversions of each other. Commissioned by the Reuter firm, the piece elicited requests for copies; it's in print (Boosey and Hawkes, I think) and appears on the CD Weaver has already made on this organ, available from the OHS. For our prejudice, we are admonished.

For the record, this Reuter organ was opened last winter by Dame Gillian Wier, as was, a couple of years back, a large Casavant across the lake in Bellevue, Washington, played by James Holloway of PLU in the convention's "Protestant Worship." On Sunday Dame Gillian made a pre-convention appearance at University Methodist Church, just down the street from home of this new Reuter organ, playing on the remains of a Kimball rebuilt by the local builder in the '70s. Despite the lateness of the program book, and thus of the ad for the event, a good house was present to admire the poised skills of another major figure.

Young Artists Edie Johnson and Paul Johnson shared a recital at the Church of the Epiphany's new Fritz Noack tracker, a finely made, chambered installation which does not speak very well into a not very hospitable room. My notes remind me that Ms. Johnson ended with Hakim's Homage to Stravinski, where a pulsing crescendo really wants an acoustic lacking in this parish church. She opened with a Handel concerto with lavish ornament and articulation, transcribed from an early barrel organ, in a stately manner reminding me of a Stanley voluntary. Mr. Jacobs played all Bach; a rhapsodic Praeludium and Fugue in a, preceded by the e-minor trio sonata whose first movement featured quite a lot of rubato which I thought not quite completely under control, and opening with the Sinfonia from Cantata #29 in Dupré's transcription, a broad orchestral sound which brought out the best of the organ's German side. This was really advanced playing from two already admired stars of the near future.

David Hurd's program on the Willis was a bit of a puzzlement. His opening Toccata served chiefly to demonstrate the under winding of the organ, a problem present since the low-bid 1987 installation. This organ was thrust upon the Jesuit-led parish before they were ready for it--it was an Organ Clearing House panic salvage from a redundant West End London church--and is still a bit of a mystery to the Jesuit-led congregation, who still ask "Is this a good organ?" Its virtues were clearer in a Mendelssohn f-minor sonata; one could imagine Felix playing on just such sounds. Sad to say, the commission by old friend Roupen Shakarian, "Inner Places for brass quintet and organ," was not a success. The inner movement was the best, with a night call and the sound of the Willis strings, but elsewhere the 20th-century brass utterly overpowered the gentle 19th-century pipes. Roupen, a widely heard conductor as well as composer, has always seemed an exuberant fellow; an introspective piece didn't reflect the qualities I know. The improvisation ending the recital made one regret the lost opportunity to have heard this playing on an adequately restored organ.

--DC

 

We often hear the term "in this space," in reference to lofty sanctuaries or cathedral churches. "Sacred places" are set aside in recognition of their special qualities of wonder, awe and spiritual power. Two such places exist in Seattle, and they are the cathedrals of St. Mark and St. James.

Christa Rakich's performance and playing ability was exquisitely matched to the justly famous Flentrop at St. Mark's Cathedral, Seattle. She seemed to innately sense the length of phrase for the magnificent acoustic of this formidable box of a room that was once a war-time armory. As sunlight streamed through the immense clear glass windows onto massive whitewashed columns, she spun phrases of Bach, Franck and Hindemith in perfect harmony with the space of the church and gorgeous sonority of the instrument. There are few places where one can hear neo-classic pipes with such a comely tone. Mixtures sparkle and pipe speech is transformed into a rich cusp of sound, announcing imminent warmth and generosity.

St. James Cathedral is not quite walking distance from St. Mark's. It is a much larger room with a vaulted ceiling and central dome of huge proportions. Like St. Mark's, it is a mystical place which invited the commission of a unique organ for the year 2000, just as St. Mark's Cathedral did in 1965.

Nicholas Kynaston must have wide experience playing English organs in immense cathedral spaces, because he presented a flawless performance on the two organs that occupy this large space. In reality, they are more than a city block apart. He played with such consummate rhythmic assurance, that one sensed only the acoustical union of the two instruments. And a May-December marriage it is.  Manuel Rosales completed this new organ for the chancel of the church just in time for the convention, yet it perfectly complements a 1907 Ferrand-Votey in the balcony! Scaling and voicing of the two organs give a "hand in glove" effect that is truly uncanny.

St. James Cathedral has such generous reverberation that a lesser organist could be trapped into "playing to the chancel," and letting chords fall like glass shards. Kynaston knew the formula for playing to the entire room with an immensely musical result. He gave a reading of mostly unfamiliar works--his choices seemed if anything, to add to the magic of the performance.

Another significant performance at St. James Cathedral was Bach's B-minor Mass, very ably conducted by Martin Haselböck with local choral and orchestral forces. Haselböck has a fluid conducting technique that is inspiring to watch. He is able to whip up crisp accents then relax as the music flows on, almost by itself. His is an innately musical approach which drives, but never forces the music.

A short conversation with James Savage, music director of this Cathedral Church, revealed that the new Rosales organ fulfilled the dreams of the late Howard Hoyt, who, as organist, pressed for such an instrument for some 17 years. Mr. Savage is justifiably proud of this accomplishment, which is surely the dream that Howard Hoyt nourished all that time.

--HH

Bookends:

Guy Bovet opening recital and Gala closing concert with the Seattle Symphony and Hatsumi Miura, Carole Terry and Marie-Bernadette Dufourcet-Hakim on the Fisk organ at Benaroya Hall

It is unusual for a major convention to bookend first and last concerts with one particular organ; however in Seattle the opening and closing concerts showcased the Fisk Organ at Benaroya Hall, the new home of the Seattle Symphony. It is far more common to exhibit important new organs with symposia of one form or another, where the weight of time bears less heavily, since the organs are finished well in advance of the event and not freshly minted just in time for a major assemblage.

We avoided a chronological account of the convention for a number of reasons, one of which was the somewhat controversial reception of this organ and the room in which it makes its home. We also point out that the immense success of this convention is the result of not one new organ in the city, but many. Seattle floats in a sea of new and impportant organs!

The Rosales organ at St. James Cathedral was, at convention time, just a few weeks old, the new Reuter organ at University Presbyterian a few months old, the Fritts organ at Pacific Lutheran University just a year old, and Martin Pasi's organ at Lynnwood just five years old. There were also some very significant organs that were not heard because the rooms were too small to house the crowd: John Brombaugh's landmark instrument at Christ Church, Tacoma, and Paul Fritts' new organ at the Church of the Ascension come to mind.  In a word, the sophistication of the organ culture in the Northwest is legendary and the task of building a new organ there might be compared to composing opera in nineteenth-century Italy. There is formidable competition!

I would like to believe that the Fisk organ at Benaroya Hall is not a finished work, but might be subject to the artistic vision of its creators for some time to come. Some organ builders prefer to withhold performance on their instruments until the moment of "acceptance." I remember one episode, where as representative of a major organ builder, I waited for that "acceptance" while a local organist called all around the village, trying to find someone who would be brave enough to "accept" the organ! I much prefer the strategy I have come to know with the organ builders Martin Pasi and Paul Fritts--new stops are played in public, one by one, as they are installed in the organ. This seems to be a sure-footed way to test the organ in the room with and without an audience. I sincerely hope that the Fisk organ has begun this process of testing so that the necessary adjustments may take place.

--HH

 

Let me admit to some bias. I've known and admired Guy Bovet for a quarter century and more, and some aeons ago made a harpsichord for him. His brilliant mind and iconoclastic bent are givens; his ear and skills indisputable. All the odder, then, that in his recital on the monumental new Fisk which now completes the Seattle Symphony's two-year-old home, he managed to convince many a hearer, including me, that this is not a success.

In The Diapason of February 1982, Calvin Hampton laid out basics of organ for use with orchestra, including needs for sheer loudness, what Steven Dieck has called "a wall of opaque sound." That article was basic reference in early planning for the new hall. Local AGO folk had witnessed a "demonstration" of the organ in February, under odd ground rules: no literature, nor anything more than four bars, was to be played, and no sounds not considered "finished" were to be heard at all. We came away then with the impression of a Great geigen chorus heard through the wrong end of a telescope, a somewhat smaller Swell chorus, some interesting flutes, promising reeds, and one overwhelming Bombarde, setting the upper limit of the sound, the only register to involve the room at all--and an injunction not to discuss the evening, lest we offend. 'Twas said that since then the normal choruses had been brought up a bit--but for impact and presence, the organ still seems to depend on high-pressure "stentor" ranks.

The Seattle Symphony, in its former home, played on a large stage below a high scenery fly into a large opera house, sawing away to make themselves heard. The new hall was planned with as small a stage and as low a ceiling as practicable, placing the band at the mouth of a horn for maximum projection and accuracy. The players have been struggling to refine their sound downward in this efficient space. Musical Director Gerard Schwartz wanted the room to be relatively dry; in an exchange with M. Bovet, he remarked that he "really likes to hear the notes." That one can do; I've heard my harpsichord perfectly from the top of the back balcony. Smoothness and blend are other matters, as we heard the last night of the convention; but that's another tale.

The confined space below that ceiling forced a horizontal design to the organ; not encased, as the Flentrop at Rotterdam's De Dolen [The Diapason, June 1969,] but really in a room extending up behind the ceiling; far from our current thoughts about spaces for organs! The chests are spaced around this room in a way far from the classical encasements of the successful Fisks in Dallas and Yokohama; whoever remarked to me that this was an electropneumatic organ which happened to have trackers was not far from the mark. Although Fisk has the best record in North America with orchestral hall instruments, this might have been a project better built by someone else.

Seattle organ fans have been spoiled, maybe, by a number of wonderful matches of organs with unusual rooms; Benaroya concert hall isn't one of them. Maybe elsewhere one would find this organ wonderful. Other observers, who moved about the hall, found the effect to vary widely. The room had been praised for the well distributed, if not blended, sound of the orchestra in every seat. Barbara Owen, for one, reported the sound from lower side seats not to be loud, and Richard Campbell, critic for the daily paper, commented at length on the organ's uneven sound about the room. Michael Barone reports that on tape the organs sounds just fine. For me, forward and back, it was mostly crude and LOUD; loud enough to be industrial, to threaten hair cells in the inner ear. Charles Fisk, on leaving a career of bomb making for organs, remarked (I paraphrase) that "the only way an organ can hurt anyone is to fall over on him." He was wrong.

Bovet played for the last Seattle National Convention in 1978; a program of French and Spanish music, on an organ of the most severe North German school. Before beginning, he offered a brief demonstration of the stops "so that you can hear the organ before the magic of performance converts it into something it was perhaps never intended to be." There was no such magic this year. Like Ron Weasley's broken wand (of Harry Potter lore), Sunday's recital backfired. The early days to follow were filled with speculation, as some who read the Internet organ gossip columns will know, about Bovet's intent, even possible malice. Bovet is heavily involved in a much larger forthcoming Fisk, for the cathedral in Lausanne, and some thought he was sending Fisk a message. I had one chance to corner him to ask--but he headed the other way.

My sharpest commentator suggested to me the obvious: that what we heard was the demonstration; that, finding the organ of too little interest to inspire artistry, Bovet just let us hear what the organ really was. It might be so. The decision to open the recital with the St. Anne Prelude and Fugue played, not on the normal choruses, but on the solo stentor division, began the controversy. Steven Dieck, president of the Fisk firm, was still shaking his head two days later: "We never, ever, imagined that anyone would ever do that." Add to that such minor details as a couple of timing errors with the combination action, and one knew that at the very least we were not hearing the skill and subtleties which are Bovet's usual virtues.

It was, typically for Guy, an unusual if not an odd program, pairing familiar Franck and some of Bovet's stock Balbastre with Alain, Karg-Elert, and some of Bovet's own "compositions." We heard some lively playing on beautiful flutes and a somewhat Germanic Franck, but not the promised " . . . refined, colorful world of the German Romantic organ."

I find that I have, on tape, an interview with Bovet from the House of Hope Fisk, in which he can be heard to say, "I'm not a composer, but I compose anyway." I take him at his word. His pieces, some of them now rather famous, I suspect of being tests for the listener. These three "Tangos ecclesiaticos" did let us hear unusual sounds, but not the attractive side of this multi-faceted personality. However heard, it was an oddly disconcerting beginning to a fabulous week of music.

-- DC

 

The opening recital of the AGO Seattle 2000 convention by Guy Bovet provided no Mozartean cadences to go gentle on the ear. Rather, he threw the organ into the hall in a brutal embrace. So began AGO Seattle 2000 with a Fisk organ that duels with orchestra, rather than augmenting it. Who said the organ was required to exceed the power of an orchestra? Surely, this is a misconception, carried to its absurd conclusion at Benaroya Hall, Seattle.

Perhaps Bovet found himself in the infamous court of the emperor with no clothes, where the only alternative, given the obligation of performing the opening recital, was to "tell it like it is," pull out all the stops and let 'er rip. The angry sound that ensued succeeded in driving more than a few listeners to the far reaches of the hall. It was a simple matter of finding a back row and inquiring if there was an empty seat. There, one could hear the organ with a more rational perspective, but surely, something is wrong when the best seats in the house are in the back rows!

--HH

 

The final event featured organists Hatsumi Miura, incumbent at the Fisk organ in Yokohama; Carole Terry; and Marie-Bernadette Dufourcet-Hakim. I was pleased by several personal touches: Dr. Terry's playing of the Copland Organ Symphony was underwritten in memory of Northwest native Leonard Raver. Playing in the augmented percussion section were Matt Kozmirowski, whose earliest gig in Seattle was with Raver at St. Mark's, and Paul Hansen, son of beloved Edward.

The concluding concert with the Seattle Symphony had been prefigured the night before the convention opening, when in the official premiere of the Fisk organ (sold out a year in advance) James David Christie of Boston opened with the Bach Prelude and Fugue in G, BWV 550, and later the last movement of Guilmant's Symphony No. 1 in d. Bovet played a Handel Concerto in F, Op. 4, No. 4, and the Pièce Héroïque of Franck. Carole Terry, consultant on this project and named "Resident Organist and Curator," offered a Haydn Concerto No. 2 in C, and the world premiere of David Diamond's Symphony No. 10, begun a decade ago but lately completed to include the organ in the last two movements. The debut was broadcast and recorded. I can report from the wireless that Bovet's playing of the Handel displayed all his usual witty use of rubato and some quite beautiful flutes, and convincing Franck. Christie's playing was bravura; he was able to stay on to play the complete Guilmant for the Symphony's subscription audience after the convention. Terry's was straightforward; the Diamond was long and rather dull. (Maestro Schwartz has been a long-time supporter of Diamond; doubtless a recording will appear.)

Schwartz' faults as conductor do not run to over-subtlty. A trumpeter, he demands full-out playing from his brass, with matching brightness elsewhere. All the music for the Finale was of this model; a former conductor of Seattle's orchestra is quoted [I paraphrase again] "People don't like music; they like the noise it makes." [Wasn't it Beecham who said this? If not, never mind.] In Robert Sirota's commissioned In the Fullness of Time, with a tuned bell ostinato, the orchestra submerged the organ at the end. On the other hand, I noticed that in the Poulenc Concerto the ascending string figure was obscured by organ tone.

The whole concluded with Hakim's Seattle Concerto in three movements; big and splashy in the manner of Stravinsky, it quoted Night on Bald Mountain a couple of times, contained a Slavic march, and ended with a great noise with an echoing cheer from the audience. One anonymous Bostonian said that this convention was the first to exceed the high standard set in 1976. As a local, I think that visitors had a good view of the reasons the Northwest takes pride in its organ culture, along with some shortcomings. The weather was hospitable; for the first time in living memory, it didn't rain on the fireworks, either on the 4th of July or from the organs.

--DC

Reflections on the "Seattle Organ Culture"

As an epilogue to a review of the AGO Seattle 2000 convention, it seems mandatory to recognize the overwhelming presence of an organ culture in the Pacific Northwest that is most unusual and compelling. The organ is a vibrant instrument here, full of mystery and charm and more than anything else, known to hundreds of thousands of people in the area.

This all began with the installation of the now famous Dirk Flentrop organ at St. Mark's Cathedral in 1965. Perhaps audiences were captivated by the unique space and spiritual energy of this church; perhaps it was the acoustics; perhaps the beauty of the instrument--most likely all these qualities lead to enormously well attended weekly concerts, year after year. One cannot forget that this came about while Peter Hallock was Cantor of St. Mark's. He has left this legacy to his successors.

The Pacific Northwest, once dubbed "Tracker Alley" by John Hamilton (from the University of Oregon) is simply full of wondrous sounds of the organ from a variety of gifted builders. John Brombaugh moved out west from Germantown, Ohio to be part of it. Martin Pasi encountered these famous organs when he visited as a guest of David Dahl, recently retired professor of organ at Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma. Dahl has singlehandedly "professed" the qualities of finely crafted organs to church after church in the area and as a consequence, left an indelible mark on the history of organ art in this place.

Edward Hansen created the now famous "noon recitals" at Plymouth Congregational Church in Downtown Seattle. Most convention goers knew him as past president of the AGO. Locally, he was revered as a professor at the University of Puget Sound and looked up to by his students as a moral and spiritual icon by which they could set their compass. These disciples have gone on to major posts in the organ world, but more importantly, they have become moral and spiritual icons for their students.

Randall J. McCarty worked tirelessly to bring pipe organs to countless churches in the Northwest, especially through auspices of the Organ Historical Society and Alan Laufman's Organ Clearing House. As a performer of early music and instructor in harpsichord at Pacific Lutheran University, he influenced students and local organists year after year. A testament to his influence in the area is the fact that after his passing, local interest in the organ as a musical instrument gained momentum, rather than losing it. Perhaps this whole phenomenon is like the space shuttle--once it goes into orbit, it stays there.

The "Seattle Organ Culture" gives way to the "Northwest Fusion Organ," as organ building goes from strength to strength in the Pacific Northwest. It might be said that it has entered its second generation. Edward Hansen was succeeded by Steven Williams as organist of Plymouth Congregational Church, and chair of the AGO Seattle 2000 committee. David Dahl has been succeeded by James Halloway at Pacific Lutheran University. Melvin Butler is successor to Peter Hallock at St. Mark's Cathedral. Joseph Adam carries on the memory of Howard Hoyt as organist of St. James Cathedral. And my co-reviewer David Calhoun walks to a great extent in the footsteps of his late partner Randall McCarty. It is a second generation organ culture now, and as such, has become world class, resting squarely on the shoulders of those who created it and their able successors who foster it today. It is time to reflect on this magnificent legacy.              HH

by Joseph Fitzer

The Organ Historical Society held its forty-second annual convention in Portland, Oregon, from Sunday, July 13, through Saturday, July 19. Here are, first, a kind of organ travelogue and, secondly, some broader considerations evoked by the organs and the playing.

 

Convention headquarters was the Best Western Rose Garden Hotel,  across the Willamette River from downtown Portland. Accommodations were certainly adequate, as was transportation. So was the food, when we finally got it. Future convention leaders really must insist to caterers who are seemingly geared for bar mitzvahs and weddings that there be four food-serving lines, and if possible a single seating. Only in this way can 200 OHS convention-goers keep to their tight schedule of organ demonstrations and bus rides, and possibly have the chance of a short walk before the next scheduled activity. It is also worth noting that as the OHS ages so do its members; it is cruel to keep the oldest of them standing a long time in line. Because of a disagreement between the hotel and the convention leadership, the exhibits and evening social hour had to be transferred to the shop of organ-builder Richard Bond, with a shuttle bus. Later the René Marceau shop was opened for a social hour as well, but it appeared that the need of using the after-hours bus resulted in lower attendance. In general, the painstaking, thoughtful southern hospitality of the 1989 New Orleans and 1993 Louisville conventions remains an ideal well worth keeping in mind. But on to the music.

Sunday

The convention opened at 3 pm on Sunday the 13th, with Michael Barnes playing the 1870 Derrick-Felgemaker "portable organ," which has a diapason and a dulciana to tenor F, a stopped diapason bass that is always on, a manual super coupler, and a 17-note pedal coupler. It was played at Westminster Presbyterian Church, Portland, although Mr. Barnes owns the instrument. He was assisted by Susan McBerry, soprano.

The next event was Karl Mansfield's demonstration of the 1887 Cole & Woodberry at St. Andrew's Lutheran Church, Vancouver, Washington. (Vancouver is across the Columbia River from the Portland area. Portland is at the meeting of the tributary Willamette and the "really big" Columbia.) This II/23 instrument was rebuilt in 1996 by Jeremy Cooper of Concord, New Hampshire; it was relocated through The Organ Clearing House, as were many of the instruments heard at this convention.

It is noteworthy, indeed, that only two of the old instruments we heard at the Portland convention are in their original locations. It may well be that, as more old churches close, relocation is the shape of the future.1 It seems that there was an original stock of tracker organs set up during the later 19th century, but that few of these remain.2 The earlier stock of tracker organs yielded in time to electro-pneumatic instruments of varying merit and to the ubiquitous electronic substitutes. These, evidently, are yielding in turn to new tracker organs as well as to a significant number of old trackers transplanted from points east.

The third Sunday event was a program of Reform synagogue music presented by John Strege, organist and choral director, with Judith Schiff, soloist, and a vocal quartet, at Congregation Beth Israel, Portland, using a 1928 Reuter organ with five divisions, one of them a floating string division.

On Sunday evening, Douglas Cleveland presented a recital of French romantic and post-romantic music, including the entire second symphony of Louis Vierne, at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. The instrument there is a 1987 III/89 of Manuel Rosales; one local organ enthusiast described it as being a true "magnet" for the organ art in the Portland area. Because of previously set travel plans I was unable to arrive in Portland before late Sunday evening; but I heard that Sunday's happenings were something for the builders, rebuilders, movers, singers and players--and their local fans--to be justifiably proud of.3

Monday

Monday the 14th began with a lecture on the organ history of the Pacific Northwest by David Dahl, professor of music and university organist, Pacific Lutheran University, and director of music at Christ Episcopal Church, both in Tacoma, Washington. He emphasized the importance of the installation, in 1965, of a large Flentrop organ in St. Mark's Cathedral, Seattle, under the leadership of then organist Peter Hallock. This, along with other, smaller European instruments gave impetus to local builders to begin using north German models, and ultimately, according to Professor Dahl, to a climate of opinion wherein the first choice of the educated northwest organist will be a tracker organ. Organ "reform"--the term is deliberately used--is primarily a reform back to the northern 17th or 18th centuries.

The next two presentations provided examples for Dahl's lecture. The first was at St. Mark's Cathedral (Anglican Church in America) in Portland where we heard a III/44 by Werner Bosch of Kassel, Germany. We are particular indebted to Mark Brombaugh, who at the last minute substituted for the ailing Delbert Saman. Mr. Brombaugh also showed off a thoroughly charming Dutch chamber organ from around 1790, restored with new casework in 1982 by Frans Bosman.

Then we moved on to Beaverton, Oregon, and St. Andrew's Lutheran Church, where William Porter (professor at The New England Conservatory) gave a fine short program on an excellent 1994 instrument (II/20) by Tacoma Builder Paul Fritts. One sensed here a thoughtful and successful adaptation of the baroque model, designed for the large, hard-surfaced European church, to a not-so-large and rather dry American room. Professor Porter improvised, and played Bruhns and Buxtehude expressively, in a manner suggesting improvisation. One assumes improvisations listed in a program are pieces not written down (as opposed to made up on the spot); that, too, is doubtless authentic baroque practice. There are beyond question countless baroque masterpieces known now to the angels alone, but Professor Porter's pieces, known to us, too, were enthusiastically applauded.

On Monday afternoon James Hammann of New Orleans gave (handsomely as always) an all-Mendelssohn program on the 1890 II/13 Kilgen at St. Pius X Catholic Church, Portland, which organ was moved to its present location in 1985 by Bond Pipe Organs. This small but refined instrument (22/3' and 2' but no mixture) suited the Mendelssohn very well. On other occasions OHS audiences have heard Dr. Hammann play elaborate numbers; they would have been out of place here, so he offered the short Mendelssohn pieces instead.

Next came the demonstration of a similar instrument in St. Thomas Moore Catholic Church, Portland. In this case Bond in 1982 somewhat altered a 1914 Kilgen, but was constrained by the congregation to locate it in a thoroughly unsuitable place, a sort of organ cave behind the main altar. Portland organist Thomas Curry did the best he could in an interesting program of period pieces by Walter Spinney and Wenham Smith. But the sound fall-off from cave to nave was most regrettable; one hopes the owners will sacrifice some nave pews to better sound. Smith's variations on Beecher, one of the finest, most dramatic variation sets by a 19th-century American, thus lost much of their impact.4

After St. Thomas More's we went to St. Patrick's, Portland, where Dean Applegate first played briefly on a small English organ (c. 1875, unknown builder, two whole and two half ranks), restored by Bond. But the main attraction was Mr. Applegate's Cantores in Ecclesia, a choir of women, girls and boys who under his direction performed a program of 20th-century British music for treble voices. An excellent accompaniment was provided by Douglas Cleveland, who was asked to do this on short notice.

The final event of this busy day was also a kind of double-header, if not triple-header. In St. Mary's Catholic Cathedral Bruce Neswick played first the 1996 II/19 Martin Ott organ in the chancel and then the III/41 Los Angeles Art Organ (Murray Harris) instrument in the rear gallery. The latter organ seemed to be a kind of conventioneer, too, having migrated here from San Francisco, where it was heard in the 1988 OHS convention. It was rebuilt in 1996 with some additions by Bond, and Mr. Neswick's choice of (among other things) Brahm's Prelude and Fugue in A minor was particularly apt for showing it off. As a closer, this artist and Oakland organist and composer Ronald McKean improvised a passacaglia using both organs.

Tuesday

Tuesday, July 15, began with a lecture on OHS-sponsored European organ tours by executive director William Van Pelt. Then we went to All Saints Episcopal Church, Portland, where we heard Cheryl Drewes, the incumbent organist, give one of the most musically satisfying demonstrations of the convention--and on one of the most satisfying instruments. The Bond firm enhanced an 1892 Jardine organ, adding, subtracting and moving assorted ranks (now II/15); the result is dramatic, well suited to the room. Some observers did wonder a bit at Bond's penchant for enameling organ pipes white: they tend to remind one of objects not normally associated with the organ.

Oh happy day: the next presentation was also one of the musically most satisfying of the convention--David Dahl's demonstration of a five-rank, divided single-manual Hinners of 1915. This was in the Presbyterian Church in Aurora, south of Portland. In repertory ranging from Francisco Peraza (d. 1598) to Haydn, Dahl made skillful use of the divided keyboard. The church's pastor, Mary Sue Evers, made a very telling point about getting people to play it: if they got a decent though small pipe organ they stood a much better chance of getting a credible musician for their worship. After hearing the Hinners we heard an excellent lecture on the Hinners firm by Allison Alcorn-Oppedahl. Her remarks had the considerable merit not only of discussing the Hinners instruments, but of incorporating many more social-science reflections than remarks by organ historians usually do. Hinners organs were cannily marketed  to a market that came (the small, usually rural church) and then went.

After an ice-cream social and a longish bus ride to Vancouver, Washington, we next heard Marilyn Kay Stulken ably demonstrate a one-manual, eight-rank Moline organ of 1879. Since this organ did not have a divided keyboard, Ms. Stulken made very creative use of a stop-puller assistant; her selections ranged from John Redford to Johannes Brahms, and this little 8-4-2' instrument handled them remarkably well, provided one overlooked some problems of tuning temperament. The final event of the day was also in Vancouver, at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, where Paul Klemme played organ solo numbers and accompanied trumpeter Gerald Webster on a II/17 W. K. Adams' Sons (Providence, RI, 1890), rebuilt and modified by Bond (1985).

Wednesday

Wednesday, July 16, opened with the annual meeting of the Society, presided over by outgoing president Kristin Farmer. We were encouraged to hear that the OHS is in good financial shape, but reminded--friends of the OHS, take note--that a substantial and necessary part of the Society's income comes from book, score and CD catalogue sales. The OHS now has a web page. When the ballots had been counted Barbara Owen emerged as the new president, with Scot Huntington as vice-president, and Michael Barone, Lois Regestein and Peter Sykes as new board members. Michael Barone, producer of the public radio series Pipedreams, also received the Distinguished Service Award. The 1997 Biggs fellows (recipients of an award designed to aid in attending a first OHS convention) were Joseph McCabe of Buffalo and Nicole Bensoussan of San Diego, both of whom are seventeen. Next year's convention will be in Denver (June 21-27), and that of 1999 in Montréal.

After the meeting we went to Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Portland, to hear an 1885 II/12 instrument, builder unknown, rebuilt with additions by Bond. Perhaps because of excessive carpeting and its location under an arch, it sounded rather thin. Where there seems to be a problem with the marriage of a relocated organ--or any organ--and its church the listener must, of course, take into consideration that the OHS are often an SRO crowd of sound-absorbers. The scheduled demonstrator, William Schuster, was detained, and while we awaited his arrival David Dahl accompanied an impromptu hymn-sing. Mr. Schuster's billing of four slight pieces by André Fleury as "An Organ Symphony" rather stretched a label. (It should be noted in passing that Fleury composed two real symphonies.)

Next stop was St. Ignatius Catholic Church, also in Portland, where Timothy and Nancy Le Roi Nickel presented a duet program on a (now) II/17 from around 1880, builder unknown, rebuilt in 1901 by Kilgen and rebuilt again in 1982 by Bond, with notable additions. The duet players did well, but they might wish to consider whether what is executed as a duet actually sounds like a duet, that is, with two real musical contributors in it. In piano duet-playing this is more readily evident, but the many levels of organ pitch tend to produce many notes but not necessarily the impression of two executants.5 Alas, our players were assigned a gallery organ, and part of the fun of duets is seeing them done.

Next came Grant Edwards's demonstration of the instrument in the Presbyterian Church at Milwaukie, an 1898 Pilcher rebuilt to II/13 by Bond in 1992. It is, in its present reincarnation, a handsome instrument, placed in the corner of a kind of liturgical stage in a fairly reverberant room. Mr. Edwards made it reverberate, but he and other players might consider that the repertory the "little American organ" does least convincingly is the French baroque.

The afternoon ended with a roller-skating session at the Oaks Roller Rink, Portland, while Don Feely played the four-manual 1926 Wurlitzer, formerly in the Broadway Theater, Portland. But the Wurlitzer is out in the middle of the rink with no swell boxes. Here once more is an instance of an equivocal situation for the player, listener and reviewer. We have to be grateful the thing was done at all, that is, the organ preserved, and yet we can easily think of cogent reasons for doing things differently.

After supper came what many at the convention considered its finest event, the recital by Peter Sykes (Longy School, Cambridge, and New England Conservatory, Boston) on the 1883 Hook & Hastings II/20 located in the Old Church concert hall, Portland, and restored by the Bond firm. Player and organ were superb. The first half of the program consisted of C. P. E. Bach's Sonata 6, Mozart's K. 594 Fantasia, a "Canzonetta" by G. W. Chadwick, and Lemmens's "Fanfare." After an intermission came Mendelssohn's Sonata 6, two short chorale-preludes of J. S. Bach, and a rousing rendering by all of J. S. Bach's harmonization of "Jesus, Priceless Treasure." For the Old Church Society, Inc., Delbert Saman accepted an OHS Historic Organ Plaque. Not least in this instrument's attractions is the fine restoration of its front pipes in brilliant red, green, blue and gold. It is worth noting, too, that Sykes followed the old OHS custom of providing a handout listing the registrations used. Before this recital people were recalling with pleasure his 1987 recital in Newburyport; now, no doubt, they will also fondly remember this one.6

Thursday

Thursday, July 17, started with a demonstration by James Holloway at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Castle Rock, Washington. The instrument is in the orgue de choeur, or chancel, manner, built in 1990 by Frans Bosman, II/15 with additions prepared for. The 8' foundations together were delightfully clear. As for the tutti, all this organ needs is a "French" room; the whole ensemble (at least to this listener) tended to split into its elements, though again one must consider the acoustical effect of an SRO crowd.

The next demonstration was by James Denman, at Epiphany Episcopal Church, Chehallis, Washington. The organ was a II/10 Lancashire-Marshall of 1895, renovated in 1979 by the late Randall McCarty. In the same town we heard an 1890 Koehnken & Grimm, II/12, restored by Huestis & Associates and S. L. Huntington & Co. in 1993. The demonstrator was Joseph Adam. The silver pipes stenciled in crimson and dark green and the butternut casework were particularly handsome.

After lunch we traveled to Cathlamet, Puget Island, where in Our Savior's Lutheran Church Jane Edge ably demonstrated a fine I/9 Roosevelt of 1895 relocated from Katonah, New York. Her program included one of Mozart's church sonatas, K. 336, in which she was assisted by violinists Anne Edge and Phyllis Kessel and cellist Mary Flotree. Her program also included a community rendition of "Roll On, Columbia," one of the songs the Bonneville Power Authority hired Woody Guthrie to write in 1941 to popularize their dam.7

After returning to Portland we next heard a truly magnificent instrument, a 1916 E. M. Skinner IV/49, built for the Portland Civic Auditorium, restored in 1971-75 by the late David Bruce Newman, and now located in an auditorium at the Alpenrose Dairy. After a prayer and the singing of the national anthem we saw a short Laurel and Hardy silent film, quietly accompanied by Paul Quarino. Then came supper as guests of the dairy, and then a recital by Minneapolis organist Robert Vickery. In a series of mostly short pieces Vickery showed off a great variety of lovely Skinner sounds. Since this was an evening recital one could have wished for musically more developed numbers. Opening the chamber-access doors for the closer, a slight Firmin Swinnen toccata, seemed in poor taste; Skinner certainly did not aim for the threshold of pain with sheer loudness. We can hope that this fine instrument, created for a site significantly larger than its present home, will some day find a more suitable one.

Friday

On Friday, July 18, the first demonstration was by Charles Rus of San Francisco, using the 1904 II/13 Möller in the First Christian Church, Albany, Oregon. With its elegantly curving woodwork, this little organ is one of the most attractive pipe-fence organs I have seen. Mr. Rus' selections were well chosen to show off the instrument and very well played; they included a Buxtehude praeludium (pace temperament!) and what one listener called an attractive example of "90s American light," Three Pieces by Craig Phillips, tonal though dissonant, lively, thinly scored.

We next visited St. Mary's Catholic Church, Corvallis, Oregon, which has an 1892 II/20 Jardine rebuilt and altered by Bond in 1986. The demonstrator was Portland organist Paul Wood Cunningham. Also in Corvallis we heard another Portland organist, Lanny Collins, play a program of Orgelbüchlein chorales on the robust II/28 Noack installed in 1980 in the First United Methodist Church. Quite robust as well is the 1996 II/27 Bond in Cone Chapel (a large classroom, really) at Willamette University, Salem, Oregon, which was demonstrated by Marian Ruhl Metson.

One the way back to Portland we stopped at St. Anne's Chapel, Marylhurst College, where Tamara Still demonstrated a fine large Bozeman instrument, built in the French romantic style in 1994, III/37 with additional ranks prepared for, incorporating many ranks from a 1901 Hutchings-Votey. Back in Portland we were treated to another of the especially satisfying musical happenings of the convention, a demonstration by Michigan artist Mary Ann Crugher Balduf of an 1851 Henry Erben organ, which is in the "Chapel Hall" of the First Presbyterian Church and appears to have been in Portland since some time in the 1860s. With expert, split-second assistance from stop-puller Brian Buehler, Ms. Balduf used the one manual and six ranks with great imagination.

Friday ended with a program of recently composed works, including some of his own, performed by Ronald McKean on the 1996 II/37 Bond instrument (incorporating many pipes from an 1881 John Bergstrom) in Holy Rosary Catholic Church, Portland. The rich plenum includes a seven-rank mixture on the great--this in a high-ceilinged, reverberant hall. This instrument and the one in All Saints Episcopal Church were among the favorite Bond instruments heard. The presence in the pews of little plainsong hymnals (Liber Cantualis) suggested the possibility of alternatim literature involving the whole assembly, but that was not to be. Too bad, since so much baroque organ music (and Boëly, too) was meant to be used that way.

Saturday

The last day of the convention, Saturday, July 19, started off pleasantly with Will Headlee's demonstration of the 1913 II/18 Hinners in St. Charles Church, Portland. The attractive and reverberant room let shine what elsewhere might have been a rather bland instrument.8 Next we took a longish trip south to Mt. Angel Benedictine Monastery, in a striking hilltop setting, where of course we sang Engelberg and where Beverly Ratajak demonstrated two instruments. The 1966 II/16, built by Martin Ott for the monks' choir, was meant to accompany their sung office, which we heard it do, but its sound does not carry well into the nave. This is doubtless why the abbey has commissioned the Ott firm to begin, in 1998, a three-manual tracker in the rear gallery. Also heard was a delightful little three-rank instrument, now in a meeting hall, built in 1896 by one Joseph Speldrich, a dairy farmer working for the monastery. After a stop at the Eola Hills Winery we heard Barbara Baird of the University of Oregon, Eugene, demonstrate the 1972 Ahrend IV/51 in Beall Concert Hall at the University. The temperament is Werckmeister III, which gave Sweelinck's "Est-ce Mars" variations rather more sprightliness than they often get. One wished Boyvin's suite in the first tone had been alternated with a sung (or failing in that, a played in unison) Magnificat or Gloria, which would have presented the integral musical form.

Concluding the convention was the John Brombaugh instrument in Central Lutheran Church, Eugene, III/51, 1976, but altered by the builder in 1983, 1989 and 1992. The demonstrator was Margaret Evans of Southern Oregon State College, Ashland. The day ended with a round of applause for convention chairman Cliff Fairley and his colleagues, including program chairman Tim Drewes.

The Portland convention differed somewhat from many earlier OHS conventions. To be sure, the Pacific Northwest, like other large sections of the United States and Canada, simply does not have that many old organs. Given our national inclination to discard organs perceived as old, if they had fewer to start with, they now have even fewer left. Thus the 1997 convention heard, it appears, just about all the old organs--still in the original site, or transplanted--in the geographic area selected for the convention. Of particular note and a cause for celebration is how these old organs are loved and cared for; I did not hear a single organ that was not, it seemed, in a good state of repair. Many of the thirty-nine organs heard, however, were actually quite new instruments, or instruments that had been not restored precisely but rebuilt, so that even if this latter class of instruments contains more or less of old components, they are effectly new instruments.9 What we encountered in Portland, one might say, is along with organs an organ idea, an idea that has always figured in OHS concerns but that figured here more prominently. It is that tracker organs, often with a north German flavor, are the good organs, no matter what their age. One wonders if for some folks they are good for you like Saabs, Birkenstocks and benignly fertilized vegetables: when you get them you will be reformed.

The choice of organs to be heard in the Portland area inescapably tended to impress on the auditor, reformed or not, how tonally different organ-reform organs are from the area's stock of unaltered old American organs. As to choice of organs, we were led to wonder further how many admirable instruments might exist in the Portland area that are old, more or less, but just not trackers and/or in some manner baroque in tonal design. Of the thirty-nine instruments heard there were only three non-trackers, the 1928 Reuter, the denuded 1926 Wurlitzer, and, most importantly, the 1916 E. M. Skinner. Of course, if the number of unaltered old organs, whatever their type, were to be the criterion for holding an OHS convention in a certain area, and if that number were pegged to the level of the Northeast, then no convention would ever be held in Portland or other areas lightly endowed with old organs. That would not be good either for these areas or for the OHS at large. However, when a convention is held in such an area it would be well to aim for the greatest conceptual clarity attainable, and recognize that organ reform is not good organs tout court, but an idea, or complex of ideas, about what makes a good organ, and about which there remains some disagreement.10

The juxtaposition of truly old American with organ reform organs, the greater number of them being small to medium-sized two-manual instruments, leads to two further considerations.

First, one of the strengths of the Portland convention was that it offered the possibility of hearing baroque literature in other than equal temperament. Naturally, it sounds much better that way. Might we go a step further and ponder whether pre-equal-temperament literature sounds wrong played in equal temperament?11 I do not propose to answer that question, but several strategies come to mind. Might churches in a community or a denominational administrative area agree informally to offer different temperaments and literature? Or maybe the wave of the future laps on the shores of Cathlamet, where an interesting group of people with a one-manual instrument are considering installing another one-manual instrument: what if the second one were to be tuned in mean-tone? Some of the organists we heard seemed to think that "full organ" meant using most or all of the stops (and especially in passages where it wasn't needed, the 16' pedal reed). But might not a medium-sized organ, dedicated to the disciplined player, include alternatively tuned ensembles? In one of those tutti frutti OHS programs designed to show the prospective electronic-substitute buyer that a little American organ from 1895 really can play all manner of music, Sweelinck sounds "all right," but with a certain wistfulness one recognizes that he sounds much better out of equal temperament. The other side of this thought is that 19th-century instruments are better employed in doing 19th-century and later music, with judicious selections from the 18th century.

Secondly, a staple of OHS demonstrations--and properly so--is the program made of short pieces, miniatures. It shows off the possibilities of the instrument, and does it fast. Hearing a week-long succession of such demonstrations, necessary as they may be, does get you  thinking. Specifically, is there a danger that a procedure for a quick demonstration might become a musical ideal, the notion that organ music consists of miniatures, either versets or dance-movements, or fantasias put together from short-winded expositions? As anyone familiar with the problems of the opera composer knows, whereas under driving emotion words contract, music expands. Music is naturally expansive, both in opera and in music history generally. In other words, the so-called symphonic organ and the invention of various sorts of playing aids resulted from a real musical felt need, and not from the invasion of the organ world by wicked engineers. One hopes that future convention leaders and players, particularly those entrusted with the longer, evening recitals, will show us more instruments and literature characterized by a certain expansiveness.12 (The Cleveland and Sykes recitals set a worthy example.) To be avoided is the impression that the OHS fancies little instruments that do little snippets of music, and do them sometimes in tunings that would make the composers wince. Such an impression would, of course, belie the actual breadth of outlook found in the OHS, which is thus a good reason for taking care not to create it. The organs are the stars, yes, but they shine brightest in a heaven of clear musical thinking. One of the best achievements of the Portland convention is that it stimulated thinking about the organ art.

Notes

                  1.              Transplanted organs, often, are not spared the paradox that now affects so many old, now restored objects: all cleaned up and placed in rather antiseptic surroundings, they lose what Edith Wharton called the "rich low murmur of the past." Fast and Loose & The Buccaneers, ed. V. H. Winner (University Press of Virginia, 1993), p. 369.

                  2.              In 1870 prosperous Portland had some 10,000 inhabitants. Cf. Judy Jewell, Compass American Guides: Oregon (Oakland, 1996), p. 42.

                  3.              For the instruments see remarks by Barbara Owen and Alan Laufman in "OHS to Visit the 'City of Roses'," The Tracker XL: 1 (1997), pp. 6-7; and also Lee Garrett, "American Organ Reform in Retrospect," part II, The American Organist XXXI: 8 (August, 1997), pp. 74-75. For the convention programs of July 13 see "Dulciana's Diary," first autumn, 1997, issue of The Stopt Diapason (news-letter of the Chicago Chapter of the OHS).

                  4.              My copy is found in W. E. Ashmall, ed., The Organist's Journal, vol. I (New York, 1889-90), pp. 53-60. The title page lists Smith as active at Henry Ward Beecher's Plymouth Church in Brooklyn and carries the dedication, "To the memory of a Great and Good Man." Beecher had died in 1887. Variation 8 is entitled "Funeral March on the death of a hero." So Smith took an upbeat view of Beecher's legal problems.

                  5.              Robert Cundick's Three Pieces (Concordia, 1991) are a model of the kind of texture I have in mind.

                  6.              Hook & Hastings installed five organs in Portland between 1872 and 1886. This is the only one left. There are those, this writer included, who think the Hook & Hastings instruments of this time (and a little before and after) are the finest of all American work.

                  7.              Jewell, op. cit., p. 224.

                  8.              The church furnishings here were turned sideways, so that the altar is now on what was formerly the "gospel," or left side of the nave. It would not always work, but this is certainly a thoughtful way of getting more of the congregation closer to the altar while leaving the organ in place. (In this case, however, an organ was relocated from another church to the space originally provided for a pipe organ.) In sum, this rethinking of the nave makes it a theatre as opposed to a pseudo-medieval hall.

                  9.              Alas, two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time, so 19th-century aeolines yield their chest space to upperwork. Still, there has from time to time been some debate as to whether aeoline-like ranks served as overtone-making "blending" stops and as such are integral to various registration combinations. In this view they are not just for giving pitch to the choir and additional piquancy to ministerial prayers.

                  10.           Garrett, op. cit., p. 77, wisely comments, "The important thing is that builders from both traditions [tracker and electric action] are talking to each other in a fashion not known 30 years ago." In time this more ample, generous reading of organ history will doubtless become more widely accepted.

                  11.           In time the organ with a 17th-century stop list and a 19th-century tuning may well be seen as a kind of compromise, just as some now view the more or less baroque stop list played with an electric action.

                  12.           I do not mean recitalists should yet again inflect their graduation recital on the OHS, as has occurred from time to time in previous years; if they are going to expand something, let it be their repertory.

A Review by Herbert L. Huestis and David Calhoun

Perhaps it is a good idea to state right away that there are several goals which may be served by a report on the AGO 2000 convention in Seattle, Washington. The first is to validate the experience of those who were there, the second is to describe and interpret the events that took place for those who could not attend, and the third is to mention the word "millennial" only once! A convention report is like "Highlights of the Opera"--hopefully the important arias are there for all to hear. Alas, it is impossible to tell the whole story, and surely some events will be left out all together. This is the woeful experience of all reviewers; it is impossible to be in two places at once and sometimes impossible to be in the right place at the right time.

 

There were two of us rummaging around throughout the convention, looking for tales of human interest and analyzing events as we encountered them. David Calhoun (items marked DC) is a harpsichord builder and long time resident of Seattle; Herb Huestis (items marked HH) is a contributing editor for The Diapason. Their differing perspectives of various events (and sometimes the same event) offer the reader some interesting viewpoints as they look back on the AGO Seattle 2000 experience.

--HH

Planners would usually like their conventions to open and close with a bang. Sure enough, this one came in with a roar and went out with a mighty noise. For most participants, the most nourishing events will have been the weekday workshops, while the closing concert and especially the opening recital will linger as strange memories to mull. (I admit my bias; to quote Sean Connery paraphrasing Couperin, I would rather be stirred than shaken.) These "Bookend" events on the new Fisk organ at Benaroya Hall will be the subject part 2 of this article, and will be discussed in the November issue of The Diapason.

Seattle organ fans have been spoiled, maybe, by a number of wonderful matches of organs with unusual rooms. Added to the three major venues of our two Cathedrals and Pacific Lutheran University, the convention displayed at least two more fine matches: a new Reuter organ at University Presbyterian Church and the 1984 Paul Fritts and Ralph Richards organ at St. Alphonsus Church in Ballard.

--DC

 

Is there a "perfect match" of performer and instrument?

 

 

If there is a persistent conundrum in convention programming it is matching performers to instruments. How handy that most concert pianists are perfectly well at home on a Steinway or Bosendorfer! Not so with the organ. In some cases, the designated artist must zip their lips when confronted with the instrument lady luck provides.

 

Obviously, a given performer and program may fly on one organ and crash and burn on another. Who hasn't seen this happen? Suffice to say, several recitals heard at the AGO Seattle 2000 convention might have been far more successful had they switched from tracker to electric-action organ or vice versa. One wag noted that for Seattle's incredible and informed diversity of tracker organs, it remains "Skinner deficient"! There might have been some better matches of performer to organ had there been a few more "American Classic" organs available. All things being equal, I was struck by a very large number of "perfect matches."

 

There were some matches that were obviously not made in heaven, but under skilled hands worked out very well. One of these was a performance with the Seattle Wind Ensemble by Kimberly Marshall on a large Balcolm and Vaughan organ. This organ typified "tinklespeile" voicing, but Ms. Marshall used it so effectively that it embued a performance of Hindemith with surprising "authenticity." The organ accented the neo-classical textures perfectly and Ms. Marshall played with precision and panache. Organ and artist coalesced, perhaps not out of choice, but out of experience and intellect.

 

Another perfect match seemed to be a new four-manual Reuter organ and the organist John Weaver. Surely, he is one of the generation of organists who followed Lynnwood Farnam, Alexander McCurdy, Alexander Schriner, and in our very own generation, David Craighead. Weaver played entirely from memory and there is no doubt that a completely internalized repertoire could flow from his fingers in ways impossible for players whose eyes are tied to a score. His adjustment to this  very large, sumptuous and smooth Reuter organ was complete. After hearing Weaver's playing, one found oneself saying, "suppose so-and-so had also been able to play the Reuter--it would have been so fine." Weaver is an acknowledged master of the American classic type of instrument--of that there is no doubt. His sure performance remains indelibly etched in my memory.

 

Along with perfect occasions, one must mention what seems to be a striking omission. Surely, there should have been a concert in memoriam for the late Edward Hansen and even more surely, it should have been played by one of his students, and even more surely than that, it should have included the "St. Anne" prelude and fugue, a work which he played with great reverence and humility throughout his career. This gesture would have been more than fitting and its absence was sorely missed.

 

--HH

 

 

From the Heart:

 

 

James D. Christie plays a Fritts/Richards organ at St. Alphonsus Church, Seattle

 

 

James Christie gave a recital of early music at St. Alphonsus Catholic Church in Ballard, a Scandinavian suburb of Seattle. This is a unique organ made by Paul Fritts and Ralph Richards in 1984. Building this organ required a tremendous leap of faith for Fritts and Richards in that they took their study of the work of the old masters and translated it into their own masterpiece in a very contemporary building. It is an organ that has as much soul and spirituality as any of the models upon which they based their work.

 

Christie explained to the audience how this organ made him weep to play it! He explained that it was an immeasurable lifetime privilege to be able to give these recitals--this from an organist who routinely plays the Taylor and Boody organ at the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts.

 

Needless to say the music he played made a spiritual impact upon the listener, just as Charles Brown in his workshop on "The Organ as Mask" said an organ can do--if the player enables a musical instrument to become a channel of metaphysical as well as physical values. This recital was a special situation where the organist provided an unforgettable experience for the listener through his emotional attachment to both the music and the organ.

 

I met with James Christie to explore these feelings a bit further and was amazed at the depth he brings to the performance of both early music and orchestral music with organ. Tours with the Boston Symphony have provided some memorable vignettes which come to the fore in conversation and interview. In the presence of James Christie, one feels the power of emotion and the broad "romantic" gesture, that is a reminder of the late Douglas Butler. There is a sensitivity here that truly comes from the heart.

 

--HH

 

 

From the Pen:

 

 

Christa Rakich plays the music of Pamela Decker

 

Robert Bates plays the music of Robert Bates

 

 

Pamela Decker, assistant professor of organ and music theory at the University of Arizona in Tucson is, in real life, a bubbly effervescent person. One would think from the title of her work (commissioned by the American Guild of Organists for organ solo) "Rio abajo rio" that the dance movements Boliviana, Diferencias and Fantasia might be light and fanciful. Though the work is dedicated to the memory of William Albright, this is not so.

 

Christa Rakich gave the composition a rich and illuminating performance at St. Mark's Cathedral. The beloved Flentrop organ was as much at home with this contemporary idiom as any instrument could be. The first movement is based upon the hymn Venid, pastores, a Puerto Rican melody. The second movement is is a series of transformations of the hymn, Hosanna en el cielo, and the third movement is based on original themes and contains a complete tango, yet comes to an intensely powerful ending that culminates in an immense minor sonority. The final chords of the Fantasia leave the listener with a sense of astonishment that is monumental and compelling.

 

Robert Bates is such an inovative performer and composer that one approaches his works with a sense of anticipation that the composition will be significant, rather than the "bubble and squeak" class of contemporary music. Under the magnificent facade of the phenomenal Fritts organ at Pacific Lutheran University he placed two rather small speakers that transmitted an amazingly credible sound image of this pipe organ. Under Bates' hands, it was an organ playing with a digital refraction of itself.

 

How Robert Bates does this is some kind of Einsteinian wonder. He spins out the composition, then joins it with its mirror image like a contrapuncti in  the Art of Fugue. Somehow it all makes sense and the listener perceives a logic that underscores the work.

 

To say that Bates captivated the audience is an understatement. In fact, at the conclusion of the concert most of the audience refused to leave! Even when threatened with a clearing of the hall, these organists retained their seats in an act of civil disobedience that must be rare indeed!  To say the least, the next-scheduled recital by Bruce Neswick was very well attended. This is a true measure of the impact made by Robert Bates' playing of this exceptional organ made by Paul Fritts.

 

The closing gala concert of the AGO Seattle 2000 convention was highlighted by an award from ASCAP to the AGO "for its outstanding contribution to the art of music through commissions for the performance of new music in our time." The works of these two composers certainly represented a pinnacle of talent for modern organ music.  Their compositions are not to be missed!

 

--HH

 

 

For the mind:

 

 

Workshops on practice, harpsichord playing, Bach organs, countless workshop topics (and the sheer problem of getting around the city)

 

 

I contrived to get to three workshops. Charles Rus, newly appointed organ faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory, was assisted by my colleague Gary Blaise in a demonstration of the clavichord as the traditional practice instrument for organists. A more utilitarian instrument might have supplemented Mr. Blaise's exquisitely finished, tiny transposing example.

 

Barbara Baird of the University of Oregon introduced concepts of harpsichord playing, using mainly the method published by Nancy Metzger, now of Sacramento, to a good-sized class with many questions. Later Christoph Linde, long-experienced voicer now with Klais of Bonn, discussed the organs which Bach is known to have tested, his criticisms, and the current state and proposed renewal of some of them.

 

I counted an offering of ninety-seven workshops, not including the post-convention event featuring M. Hakim at an  Allen; nothing exceeds like excess. If there was a common complaint, it was the problem of getting around this maze of offerings. Busses were provided, of course; they left the hotel on time, but often before others returning from the previous events. In the midst there was no time to eat. I met one lady turning in an evaluation form marked with the most extreme negatives, based on a run of such bad luck.

 

In this way, the organizing committee was a victim of Seattle's exploding traffic congestion. There were other organizational issues; no list of enrollees was provided, handicapping professional contacts and social life. The sheer expense of Seattle's downtown hotels sent some registrants north to cheaper lodgings.

 

--DC

 

 

Theatre:

 

 

Charles Brown and "The Organ as Mask"

 

The Paul Fritts Organ at Pacific Lutheran University

 

 

Charles Brown has a talent rarely found in the organ world--he is a gifted story teller who is able to totally captivate his audience.  And so it was when he began a workshop on "The Organ as Mask," with a tale of a little boy dressed up as Batman, making Halloween rounds. Successive stories consisted of the tales of three organists and their discovery that the organ (like a mask) has tremendous spiritual as well as physical values. His thesis was simply that the the mask, as conceived in ancient, contemporary, and aboriginal societies, imbues the wearer with special attributes and, conversely, is a vehicle for special attributes to be channeled through the wearer--and the pipe organ, curiously, shares these attributes in its own way.

 

He showed how Batman could do good deeds once he enabled himself with mask and costume, but also that the good citizens of Gotham City could expect good deeds from the person who wore the mask. Masks both enable and channel spirituality in aboriginal societies and Dr. Brown made a leap of intellect to speculate that the organ as a "City of God" does the same thing. It enables spirituality to flow both into the organist and outward through the organist to listeners and all those who come into contact with the instrument. In a word, it has special powers. Charles Brown, organist of the United Church of Christ in Dallas, Texas, created theatre in this workshop space, captivated his audience with these stories and enabled his spellbound audience to see some very special relationships.

 

A Paul Fritts organ that is the embodiment of "The organ as mask" vessel of spirituality espoused by Charles S. Brown, is the monumental instrument at Pacific Lutheran University of Tacoma. This organ brings a transcendental quality to Lagerquist Hall at PLU--it is a phenomenon that must be experienced first hand to be believed. Proof of this was ample enough when audiences simply refused to leave the room to go to the next event. They wanted to see the movie again!

 

From the inception of this organ, there has been a term employed to describe it--the "fusion organ" of the Northwest builders. Long after a performance, the listener remains enthralled with the singing principals and gorgeously refined reeds, not to mention the extraordinary visual impact that some may see only once or twice in their lifetimes. From my perspective, it was magnificent theatre.

 

--HH

 

 

Dance:

 

 

Christopher Young plays a Martin Pasi organ at Trinity Lutheran Church, Lynnwood, Washington

 

 

Charles Fisk knew how important it was for the organ to dance both in the buoyancy of the wind system and the natural expression of lead pipes. He described the North German organ as " . . . a plain-faced girl in a dirndl who jumps up and asks you to dance." Those qualities are more than abundant in the Martin Pasi organ that resides in Trinity Lutheran Church, Lynnwood, Washington. This organ more than anything, wants to dance! Trinity Lutheran church was on the edge for convention planning, both in distance from Seattle and size of the room, but thankfully made it under the wire! Christopher Young played this organ and it danced to the music of J.S. Bach!

 

The Fritts organ at Pacific Lutheran University can be described as an instrument of superb elegance, and in contrast, it might be said that the Pasi organ wears with the comfortability of an Eddie Bauer flannel shirt. (Martin Pasi was Paul Fritt's pipe maker for five years.) One never tires of the Pasi organ and somehow it plays the music of Bach with the authenticity of gut strings, natural horns and the rhythm of folk dancing.

 

In this Martin Pasi organ there is an intuitive affinity for the music of the master and fortunately, Christopher Young devoted the last half of his program to J.S. Bach. When Young drew the Cornet stop for "O Mensch bewein" the organ was on familiar ground. The Cornet sang and the wind ebbed and flowed like tides in the ocean.  The final selection was the G Minor Fantasia and Fugue, where the organ transported the listener back 300 years in a flash. This is a real Bach organ that can energize, entertain, and inspire.

 

--HH

 

 

A Measure of Time:

 

 

Improvisations of Bruce Neswick on the Paul Fritts organ at Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, and David Hurd on the Henry Willis organ at St Joseph's Catholic Church, Seattle

 

 

It might be said that an improviser has but one task--to make time stand still for the listener. When a melody is quoted and often recognized as a childhood hymn or familiar tune, it is a challenge to the player to produce a credible work. The improviser begins a dare with the audience: "Can they make this music come alive?"

 

The performer settles down to work and the listener waits, perhaps drifting off in thought while things get underway. Then it happens; time stands still because scholarship and preparation give way to inspiration and music fills the air. A transformation takes place and a composition-in-the-making takes flight.

 

Bruce Neswick's improvisation on Pacific Lutheran University's Fritts organ was based on the modal tune "Wondrous Love." Somehow, during a well crafted fugue on the beloved tune, time stood still and music flowed from his fingers in an act of both preparation and inspiration. Yes! This is how improvisations should be.

 

Neswick is an alumnus of Pacific Lutheran University and was, in a sense returning home. He explored all elements of the organ: wind, tuning, throaty reeds and spirited cornets. He captivated the audience with singing principals playing Lutheran tunes that were so much at home in that hall. He found a wonderfully lyric Oboe and united it with Pierne's Cantilena. Time stood still while this serpentine melody played itself out on this elegant stop.

 

Neswick's improvisation on "Wondrous Love," was structured so concisely that the audience could almost follow a mental score. Later, your scribbler could not resist putting the question to him: "Are the modal tunes harder or easier for improvisation?" Neswick pondered for a moment and said that for him they were easier. It was a self effacing response for one who is a master of the craft.

 

In a later recital at St. Joseph's Catholic Church, David Hurd presented an improvisation on the noble plainsong chant "Creator Alma Siderum." He began with a lofty plenum on the 1881 Willis organ--probably the only extant Willis instrument in the Americas. Hurd played the organ as if he were conducting a grand choir. "Creator of the Starry Night" was personified in bold brush strokes that prevailed to the end of the piece--then all that remained was the memory of a huge choral paean and the melodious, booming Ophicleide.

 

The memory of that organ remains somehow linked to the Gregorian melody in that magnificent Roman church. There is a fascinating story about the relocation of this organ from England to Washington State, replete with the usual deadlines barely met. A hasty installation neglected various aspects of a true restoration and the organ presently makes its home behind an oak cabinet that one day should be replaced with genuine Willis casework. Since this noble organ begs for an artful and sympathetic restoration, we must, as listeners, be genuinely moved to support any and all efforts to reclaim this magnificent instrument.

 

In his book "The American Classic Organ in Letters," Charles Callahan quotes Henry Willis' complaint that he was never able to build an organ in North America. A full restoration of this organ would give the opportunity to rectify Willis' grievance in some small measure.

 

--HH

 

 

 

Part 2 will appear next month.

 

Harbinger of 21st Century Directions

Marcia Van Oyen

Marcia Van Oyen earned master's and doctoral degrees in organ and church music at the University of Michigan, where she studied organ with Robert Glasgow. She is the Director of Music at Glenview Community Church (UCC) in Glenview, Illinois and is past Dean of the North Shore AGO. She also writes reviews for The Diapason.

At "The Organ in the New Millennium" conference held in April 1999 at Pacific Lutheran University, it was reported that, "The Pacific Northwest builders are in the process of creating a new organ type that will not merely incorporate, but will fuse the previous organ styles that feed into it, and thus will transcend all of them."1   The new Fritts organ at Pacific Lutheran University, which was featured prominently at the conference, is undoubtedly a noble example of flexibility, faithfulness to historical precedent, and innate beauty. That instrument and the work of other Northwest builders may indeed be heading toward the creation of a new type of organ, but this phenomenon isn't confined to the Pacific Northwest. An examination of the "new instruments" columns in pipe organ journals reveals that many organ-builders claim to be striving towards and reaching new stylistic territory with their recent work. Two noteworthy instruments whose attributes point to the coalescence of a new style of pipe organ are the Fisk-Rosales at Rice University and the Fisk at the Myerson Symphony Center. Large instruments such as these give builders artistic latitude to explore eclecticism and amalgamation of various elements. Smaller instruments display qualities that transcend established practices as well, beautifully exemplified by organs such as the Taylor & Boody at St. Thomas Church in New York City.

The post-modern trends of the late 20th century are being fused with the eclecticism that has dominated American organ-building for decades. These elements, combined with a desire to create instruments that serve the whole spectrum of organ literature, have motivated the creation of instruments of great flexibility. Remaining true to the organ's nature as an ensemble instrument, espousing proportion and balance, and emphasizing tonal color, organ-builders are reconciling opposing stylistic elements by blending them with one another. They are melding high-level craftsmanship founded on classical principles with tonal diversity and ingenuity, guided by an over-arching goal of musicality and beauty. These efforts have led to the creation of a new style of organ that I have dubbed the post-modern fusion style.

That the new style is a goal of many organ-builders today is proved by their own statements. Consider F. Christian Holtkamp's view of the matter: "While not being period or nationality specific, [the Holtkamp organ at the Peabody Institute] possesses a range of timbre and an internal balance that enables it to deal effectively with the full range of the literature. Because it is not eclectic, not a pastiche or collage of sounds drawn from unrelated sources, it is an artistically unified whole, an instrument of coherent integrity and sound."2 Dan Jaeckel espouses the idea as well. In commenting on the new Jaeckel organ at Trinity Lutheran Church in Duluth, Minnesota, Director of Music Greg Vick observed, "Although the concepts come from various styles, it is possible to blend them into one organ without the loss of integrity if the builder understands where the concepts overlap. Having designed and built highly stylized organs of various historic ideals, [Jaeckel] believes that the resulting amalgamation in this organ achieves integrity without compromise. Instead of being simply an 'eclectic' organ, this organ has the ability to play a great variety of music without compromising the stylist tonality, but, at the same time and because of its inherent integrity, can make wonderful music of other styles as well, even though the tonal design does not specifically take these into account."3 Despite such claims, however, the new style is in process. Few instruments built to date have reached the goal. The desire to build instruments which fuse disparate elements and the actual attempts to do so have not yet led to a mature aesthetic. Based on that, some would argue against the declaration of the arrival of a new style. 

In an extensive article for The Tracker, Jonathan Ambrosino has commented that the end of the twentieth century finds the organ-building world in the United States highly pluralistic, defying definition: "The organ world has become as complex as modern life. Like our televisions, it has gained numerous channels in place of a former few. We have almost ceased to try to define our culture because it has grown beyond the tidy definitions we used to enjoy. Without any recognizable consensus on style, the organ of today is amorphous, difficult to codify."4 To his credit, Ambrosino does later add that "if we . . . look at where things seem to be headed, [ . . . ] the eclecticism that is currently driving us forward [may become] an identifiable style that may be in place by the year 2010."5

The organ-building world at present does indeed defy "tidy" definitions; however, it does not defy definition of any sort. Identification of a style according to a common set of principles evident in a spectrum of work is not only possible, but is also a productive way of making sense of the current situation. Furthermore, it is impossible to ignore a trend that is recognizable in the work of the most respected organbuilders in the United States. Pluralism is dominant; it is this very atmosphere of diversity that has allowed and promoted the birth of a new style, providing fertile soil for its development. The post-modern fusion style, still in its infancy, encompasses a variety of manifestations, but it is fair to say that the style has taken up residence in American organ-building.

Additional evidence that suggests the arrival of an identifiable new style is the export of American pipe organs. This exportation points toward the international recognition of the high quality workmanship of pipe organs produced in the United States. The ambassadors of the American organbuilding industry are firms that are building classically-inspired instruments which represent an amalgamation of styles. Shortly before his death in 1983, Charles Fisk had been in discussion with the leadership of St. Giles Cathedral of Edinburgh, Scotland about the possibility of his firm building a new organ there.6 Nearly twenty years later, Austin, Brombaugh, Fisk, Noack, and Taylor & Boody have installations and/or contracts in Asia. On the European front, John Brombaugh's two-manual instrument for Göteborg, Sweden, was a breakthrough. Equally significant are the two organs Fritz Noack is building for Reykjavik, Iceland.7 Still more compelling, though, is the selection of Fisk to build an instrument of 141 ranks for the Cathedral of Lausanne, Switzerland. Guy Bovet eloquently stated the significance of this organ in a report for La Tribune de L'Orgue: "By choosing Fisk as its builder, Lausanne will have an instrument which is different from anything which has been seen in Europe until now, and which will without a doubt define an epoch. As not long ago, grape vines which had been transplanted to the New World, and thereby escaped the disease which destroyed French viniculture, were then re-imported to reconstruct the noble viniculture ancestry, so the organ for Lausanne re-institutes for us a true tradition of organ building, which comes back 'home' enriched by the experience of a long journey of fruitful education."8 The best of American organ-builders are poised to become the world leaders in the 21st century, and it is these leaders whose work represents a new American style.

Six principles comprise the framework of the post-modern fusion style.

1. Emphasis on Historical Tonal Archetypes

The "historically-inspired" organ-building trend which reached its zenith in the 1980s, represented by instruments such as the French Classic Bedient at St. Mark's Episcopal in Grand Rapids, has received much attention and has been well-documented.9 Emulation of historic European organs based on painstaking study has provided a spectrum of facsimiles of the sounds heard in the instruments of Clicquot, Silbermann, Schnitger, and Cavaillé-Coll, among others. The use of ornate casework modeled on historic examples, including luxurious materials such as gold leaf and exotic species of hardwood (e.g. Honduras mahogany), can be construed as a post-modern reaction to the utilitarian arrangements of exposed pipework and lackluster facades of years past. Although it can be described as an unprecedented looking backward in American organ-building history, the "historically inspired" movement has nevertheless left a deep imprint on the organ-building milieu. It has motivated builders in their quest for artistic integrity, based in part on the realization that facsimiles of historical voices aren't necessarily successful in American acoustical environments.

2. Cultural Conditions Germane to the United States

Far from being a tradition-bound society on the whole, the atmosphere in the United States, home of democratic capitalism, gives free reign to creativity and free enterprise, especially if it proves viable in the marketplace. The concept of freedom of speech is extended to every corner of American life, and at its best this freedom unleashes experimentation and ingenuity. Embracing pastiche is part of our culture. The current trend toward worship which blends a variety of styles, reflected in recently published hymnals, is but one example. American organ-builders have followed suit, creating instruments that are "melting pots" for a variety of historical, technological, and home-grown characteristics. As Steve Dieck has said, "It is a fun game to mix and match different styles into one American style. Americans want everything."10

3. Pre-eminence of Musicality

The tonal personalities of the best organs built today are characterized by profundity and lyricism, coupled with a legibility of tone, to borrow a phrase from the late Charles Fisk. These organs speak with passionate, emotional voices and they speak clearly. They are delicately forthright, articulate yet powerful, and possess ensembles characterized by vitality and color. Harsh edginess and mushy unintelligibility are avoided. Here again we can thank the influence of historical models. European craftsmen of past centuries were building organs primarily to be musical, to fill a room with beautiful sounds, inspiring the composition of music for their instruments. Organ-builders have returned to this touchstone, realizing that the pursuit of authenticity or flexibility at the expense of tonal quality results in instruments that are idiosyncratic or uninteresting.

4. Repertoire-Driven Designs

Organs built today are subject to the crucible of being able to adequately, if not authentically, play the entire range of organ literature. Compromise is inherent in such a task; however, builders are discovering that pursuing the goal of versatility need not result in either pastiche or blandness. They are also learning where the boundaries of the "all-purpose" organ--a myth in the minds of some--need to be set. In a report on recitals heard on the Fritts organ at Pacific Lutheran University, Herbert Huestis commented, "This organ speaks to our own time with the same authority as the age of J.S. Bach. Historically-inspired organs can attain tremendous flexibility for the performance of the repertoire. The Fritts organ was not at all restrictive. It is capable of playing a very big slice of organ literature very well."11 Successful instruments are those which can render a significant portion of the literature musically rather than authentically. The best organbuilders display a circumspect artistic sense regarding service to organ literature, resisting the urge to sacrifice integrity to the whims of performers, even if the resident organist voices a desire to play the Grigny Tierce en taille and the Franck E major Choral with precisely the correct sounds. "Sometimes the specific commission the artist is working on will challenge the rules, and it is how well he can honor his convictions, but also meet the need of the commission, which will determine the creative prowess of the artist."12 Artistic maturity is crucial.

5. Pre-eminence of Artisan Builders

The leaders in American organbuilding today are small firms, led by highly-educated individuals who have found organ building a cause as much as a job.13 Generally founded by an individual with a vision and a passion for organbuilding, these shops emphasize craftsmanship and artistry. A social platform now undergirds quality organ building. It has evolved out of renewed interests in formal design, craftsmanship, education, and personal participation. These "artisan builders," spurred on by fervent convictions, preach their gospels through the organs they build. In their minds, pipe organs are works of art, not merely functional entities. A post-modern rejection of the utilitarian in favor of beauty and a shift away from mass production in favor of consummate workmanship by individuals is the modus operandi of the artisan builders. According to Lynn Dobson, "We must recognize the art in our profession in order to give purpose to the craft and science of organ-building. In all of life it is the human spirit which sparks the inquiring mind. The art of our work is what sends our minds and souls soaring when we experience the sight of a beautiful organ, or hear subtle sound, or even feel the vibrations of its power. It surely is our art which gives us the cause to master the technology."14

6. Fusion of Disparate Styles into a Blended Whole

The melding of disparate stylistic characteristics represents a return to balance and integrity, progress beyond a polyglot approach. Screaming mixtures, hyper-chiffy flues and other idiosyncratic qualities that draw attention to themselves have been cast aside in favor of a sophisticated eloquence, a matured eclecticism. Historical European voices are both emulated and manipulated, designed not only to be contiguous with their American neighbors, but also to dovetail with them. John-Paul Buzard has articulated the importance of process in creating an instrument that blends several styles: "A balanced eclecticism must be embraced. It is through the refiner's fire of a single artistic vision that such eclecticism can be cohesive and have integrity as the organ-builder's individual style."15 In order to produce instruments that are beautiful, functional, and unique, organ-builders must have the artistic capability to make wise stylistic decisions, or as Frank Lloyd Wright put it, "Style is a by-product of the process and comes of the man or the mind in the process." Success in the post-modern fusion style is achieved when history begets benchmark, syncretism gives way to synthesis, pastiche becomes poetry, and genuine artistic expression emerges.

The path that organ-building in the United States has taken has been a productive and instructive continuum. The growth and the growing pains experienced along this sometimes convoluted path (populated by the likes of E.M. Skinner, G. Donald Harrison, Hope-Jones, M.P. Möller, the Orgelbewegung, et. al.) has yielded answers about what isn't desirable as much as it has illuminated worthy goals. It has truly been, as Bovet observed, "a long journey of fruitful education." The most astute American organbuilders have heeded the lessons well. These organ-builders are maintaining their personal convictions, building upon the integrity of historic antecedents, and harnessing the energy of eclecticism in order to craft organs that have stylistic endurance. "A fine builder does not merely 'abide by the rules,' but injects such qualities as mystery, playfulness, majesty, or warmth. This character comes about in an ineffable rather than 'scientific' way, although it involves great care in choice of materials, the overall concept of the instrument, its winding, and voicing, and scaling of the pipes. The best instruments might be said to have a quality of flesh and blood, or to breathe, and have lives of their own."16 Such instruments will stand the test of time.

Steve Dieck, describing the Fisk organ recently built for St. James's Episcopal Church in Richmond, Virginia, made a comment which succinctly summarizes the post-modern fusion style: "While rooted firmly in historical principles, the organ's tonal profile is fresh and innovative, a modern-day fusion of diverse elements, offering a singular and resolute musical statement."17 Historically grounded and inventive, serving the repertoire and delighting the ear, post-modern fusion organs offer an intricately woven tapestry of sound created by skilled artisans. Manifestations of one or more of the characteristics in my definition can certainly be found in the work of many an organ-builder; my six-pronged framework is intentionally broad. I do not consider an instrument to be representative of the post-modern fusion style, however, unless it contains all of the six elements to some degree.

Let's examine the Fritts organ at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington for features of the post-modern fusion style. It is an instrument with strong North German roots as interpreted through the personal artistic convictions of Paul Fritts. David Dahl comments that the resulting sounds are "not so much 'historically specific' as they are credible within various musical contexts." I have already cited Herbert  Huestis's comments regarding its flexibility in rendering a large array of literature. To offer performers more choices, Fritts has provided two pedal boards--flat and BDO--and an on/off control for the wind stabilizer. Also note these pertinent features: 250 square feet of hand-carved pipe shades on a case whose design is inspired by the 1658 Stellwagen organ of the Marienkirche in Stralsund, Germany. Regarding musicality, Huestis reports, "The listener was introduced to a kind of feminine nobility that few organs possess. Beyond power, this organ has profundity and lyricism."18 This instrument clearly fits the post-modern fusion profile. (For a more complete description of the instrument, refer to the June 1999 issue of The Diapason, p. 19).

Another fine example of the style is the Edythe Bates Old Grand Organ at Rice University, built by Fisk and Rosales. Its tonal personality is based primarily on French organs of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, which its designers felt would offer the greatest flexibility in performing a large selection of literature. The vertical towers of the organ's case were inspired by French Classical examples. Despite its traditional appearance, however, this case doesn't have a roof, a back, or sides, in an innovative effort to direct its powerful sounds towards the ceiling to achieve an appropriate effect in the recital hall. The organ has tracker action that is assisted by a servo-pneumatic machine on the lowest manual, developed by Stephen Kowalyshn of Fisk, that reduces resistance when full organ with couplers is engaged. Like the Fritts at Pacific Lutheran, the Fisk Rosales organ at Rice has an on/off control for its wind stabilizer. In addition, the performer may also select one of three methods for controlling the pistons: mode Americain--the usual way; mode Français I--toe studs function as ventils; or mode Français II--ventil pistons unaffected by combination action.

While honoring the artistic visions of both Fisk and Rosales, this organ combines tone colors from French, German, Spanish, and American organs with new sounds that move beyond the stylistic parameters of each firm. Jonathan Ambrosino has provided a detailed description of the instrument's tonal features in "A History of the Organ" on the Rice University web site (http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~organ/history.html). Not only has the combined expertise and experience of each firm been fully exploited, but together they have forged exciting new paths.19 Their achievements with this instrument pervasively traverse the territory of the post-modern fusion style, representing its superlative manifestation.

Eclecticism and the American Classic style are both important precursors of the post-modern fusion organ. One might in fact say that eclecticism has matured and developed to become a second-generation American Classic organ, albeit more sophisticated and eloquent. Again, builders are claiming to have accomplished that, for example, "While on paper the stoplist might seem to point toward yet another large American Classic organ, in practice this instrument is no mere echo of its predecessor or of any other instrument. The organ's tonal principles reflect a more eclectic nature, renewing rather than merely reviewing the tenets of that style."20 But let's be cautious with the term, "American Classic." It has been bandied about and used in both pejorative and positive sense to refer to various expressions of organbuilding, and upon occasion to organ performance.

For the purposes of my study, the term shall refer to the work of the Aeolian-Skinner firm under G. Donald Harrison, roughly over the years 1935-1955. It was Emerson Richards who actually coined the term in 1943: "I am endeavoring to give [this] the name of American Classic, although it is going to be awfully hard to dislodge the word Baroque. An expressive word for the new organ which is only quasi-Baroque in principle with some French, English and American practice makes a new word imperative but difficult to find."21 It is also important to be aware, however, that Richards had earlier clarified his understanding of the use of the word "classic" in a letter to William King Covell written in 1935: "When I speak of a 'forward step in the Renaissance of the classic organ in America' I am talking about the new birth of the classic organ in the U.S.A. I don't mean to imply that it ever existed here before, but that it is as much a creation of Art based upon classic lines as the work of Michelangelo or Raphael. [Their work] was nationalistically Italian not Greek, so in this case I think the thing will develop as nationalistically American."22

No doubt some readers have noticed by this point that I have avoided discussing issues of mechanism, resisting the temptation to jump into the electric-action vs. tracker action fray. I do so with intent. Although these issues will be touched upon in passing, my investigation deals primarily with tonal concerns. It is true that most of the instruments typifying the post-modern fusion style have tracker action. That is not to say, however, that an organ built with electric action could not be a post-modern fusion organ. Tracker and electric actions are becoming less and less tied to a particular tonal style and, therefore, I find the issue of action to be largely irrelevant to this discussion.

In order to shed more light on the roots and manifestations of the post-modern fusion style as I have defined it, I spoke with seven organ-builders about their work. I asked them to share with me how it relates to the American Classic style, how it compares and contrasts with the work of their peers, and where it fits in the organ-building scene in the United States. In the interest of presenting a balanced picture, I selected two distinct groups of builders, ostensibly identifying them with the terms "classic" and "romantic," although the picture is considerably more complex than those terms would imply. For my purposes, "classic" will indicate adherence to organ-building principles established in Europe during the 15th-19th centuries. This group includes Gene Bedient, John Brombaugh, Steve Dieck, Manuel Rosales, and George Taylor--the five lecturers at the 1998 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Conference on historically informed organ-building. "Romantic" indicates an emphasis on 19th-century French and English elements, expressive capacity and a symphonic or orchestral tonal profile. I spoke with Jack Bethards, president of the high-profile Schoenstein and Co., and John-Paul Buzard, who has been identified as a leader among electric-action builders.23 Buzard's unabashedly English cathedral style meshes with my definition of the term "romantic," while Bethards himself uses the term "American Romantic" to refer to his work.24

By including two "romantic" builders in my study, both known for electric-slider and electro-pneumatic actions, I hope to present a balanced picture. The fact remains, however, that tracker builders have led the historical style revival, a key component of the post-modern fusion style, and by and large they receive the lion's share of attention and respect. Comments such as "The electric-action people surely realize that among them there isn't a single name that is taken as seriously as the leading lights of the tracker world,"25 underline that fact. To dismiss or ignore the high quality work of electric-action builders because of such remarks or fashionable opinion is irresponsible. Their work merits serious consideration. Furthermore, at the risk of being accused of having an entirely convoluted view of organ-building, I will venture to say that each of the builders included in my articles is pursuing a common goal, albeit reaching that goal with vastly different methods. I am striving solely to identify areas of common ground, all of which I believe represent the post-modern fusion style, in order to encourage the development of a fresh, and perhaps more productive, perspective.

Consider well an admonishment from Stephen Bicknell: "Though there are countless areas in which the builder can strive to make the instrument better (more musical and artistic, more truly worthy of its role in worship or concert), it is ultimately the rest of us--listeners, players and purchasers--who need to be most alert to questions of good and bad. There is a task to be performed in trying to decide amongst ourselves what is truly excellent and worth encouraging, and what may be ignored. That task may not be easy, but the endless variety to be found in our instrument should make it enjoyable and informative. Gradually, by comparing instruments, analysing what we hear, and discussing our opinions, we can help mold the path of organ-building and thus of organ music and playing."26

The author wishes to thank Brian K. Davis for advice and consultation in the development of this article.

Symposia held April 7–9 by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Herbert L. Huestis

Herbert L. Huestis is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, where he studied organ with David Craighead 40 years ago. After a stint as a full-time church organist, he studied psychology and education at the University of Idaho, where be obtained his Ph.D. in 1971. He spent time as a school psychologist, and was subsequently lured back into the organ world and took up pipe organ maintenance with his wife Marianne and son Warren. For some years he has specialized in reed voicing, and as he approaches retirement spends more and more time tuning pianos. Ironically, his interest in temperaments comes from developments in piano tuning, where 19th-century tuning styles have been recovered in the manner of a lost art.tt

In 1993, over 30 organ builders met in Tempe, Arizona to discuss the significance of “The Historical Organ in America” and to ponder the future of historically informed organ building. Twelve years later, a new Martin Pasi organ in Omaha’s St. Cecilia Cathedral is the realization of a future that could only be a matter of conjecture a decade ago. Pasi’s Opus 14 is a magnificent achievement--musical, spiritual and architectural. 

In 2005, from April 7-9, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of Music and the Westfield Center held a symposium entitled “The Organ as Mirror of Religion and Culture--Temperament, Sound and Symbolism.” This symposium was also sponsored by the Schola Cantorum of St. Cecilia Cathedral in Omaha, Nebraska.  The new Pasi dual temperament organ made these far-reaching discussions possible in a way one could only dream of a decade ago.

I must admit that since dual temperament is a rare undertaking in organ building, I thought of it as an experimental and possibly excessive luxury. After a thorough acquaintance with this fine instrument, its setting and its players, I find that dual temperament is extremely practical in its application to church music, both old and new. This was a big surprise. After attending the symposium, I felt that it was possible to reflect on three aspects as they relate to the new Martin Pasi organ: philosophical, metaphysical and practical. 

My first impressions in this magnificent cathedral were hardly philosophical. I marveled at the sound of the organ, the splendid acoustic and the phenomenal artistic decoration and design of the church. This is truly an extraordinary space, where the celebration of both sonic and visual art is evident throughout the building. Once my ears were filled with the vocal sound of the organ, I felt purity and harmony beyond expectations. The effect of meantone tuning is visceral. It calms the nerves and soothes the soul! Whatever understanding of “temperaments” I carried into this space evaporated in a sense of sheer sound and harmony. So much for reading about temperaments in the context of western civilization and pouring over comparative charts. Pure sound is pure sound!

The rather complex symposium entitled “The Organ as Mirror of Religion and Culture” opened April 7 with a recital by Kevin Vogt, director of St. Cecilia Cathedral Schola Cantorum. Interspersed between organ selections was a reading of John Dryden’s “Ode to Saint Cecilia” given by Marie Rubis Bauer, also an organist of the cathedral. The immediacy and impact of the music and spoken word set the stage for discussions of philosophy and culture which followed. A presentation called “The Organized Cosmos” was made by Quentin Faulkner (University of Nebraska-Lincoln), followed by discussions of philosophy and organ music. Calvin Bower (Notre Dame University) gave a talk entitled “Sign, Reference, and the Communion of Saints: First Steps Toward an Aesthetic of Sacred Music,” which emphasized the “transcendent” nature of church music. Music, at the moment of its inception in the church, “transcends” for a brief moment the worlds of temporal and spiritual reality, residing for a transient period of time in both spheres. This is the “communion” or the magic of the moment--pretty heady stuff for a lowly organist and scribe.

That evening, we repaired to a concert by Hans Davidsson (Eastman School of Music), David Dahl (Pacific Lutheran University, emeritus), and Kevin Vogt, which featured works by Matthias Weckmann, J. S. Bach and David Dahl. The ancient philosophers believed in the melding of the mind and body, and I had no doubt that the combination of beautiful vocal tone and purity of tuning in the organ had a complex physiological and psychological effect. One’s attention was drawn so forcibly to the organ that time was forgotten. The music of Matthias Weckmann came to life as if it had been composed yesterday. Bach’s works took on a whole new meaning. 

Friday, April 8, Hans Davidsson offered several presentations on the subject of “The Harmony of the Spheres,” which explored what he called “sacred geometry” or the patterns of construction that organ builders knew throughout the ages. He explained that these “building blocks” enabled the building of cathedrals and organs in times past, much like cow barns in our own time, built by common folk without the aid of drawings or architects. Organ building had a practical, intuitive nature that made it possible for builders to construct monumental organs without the aid of drawings or architects, just like the cathedrals that housed them and the stained glass that adorned them.

With these thoughts fresh in our minds, we attended Solemn Vespers with improvisation by Susan Ferré in alternation with Gregorian chant. Again, inspiration came from well-established patterns and style  (like “barn building”). There was an uncanny ease with which the improvised musical examples fleshed out the philosophical discussions we had just heard. It seemed that the Westfield Center folks were on the same wavelength as the academics.

Metaphysical aspects of the organ were further explored by Fr. Anthony Ruff of St. John’s Abbey. Along these lines, a unique presentation on “The Organ as Symbol” was made by Charles S. Brown. Curiously, he also took up the metaphor of barns, and took the participants on a “Pilgrimage through Round Barns.” This rather far-reaching discussion of the symbology of the organ touched on discussions of eschatology, folk religion and masks in aboriginal cultures. All this did not lose sight of the organ as a unique instrument, embedded in a very long history of western civilization. Panel discussions gave the opportunity for much storytelling. Many participants were able to give an account of their own unique experiences of “organ encounters,” some rather touching.

Temperament was a significant subject of formal presentations. On April 9, Ibo Ortgies gave a synopsis of his study of tuning as it pertains to the works of Dietrich Buxtehude and his contemporaries. He presented a picture of 17th- and 18th-century performance practice that was extremely compatible with meantone tuning and did not at all support the idea that “well-tempered” tuning was necessary for the performance of this music. In fact, a central part of his thesis seemed to refute the notion that Buxtehude had the Marienkirche organ retuned in well-temperament. In his words, that seemed not to be the case, despite the fact that it was widely assumed to be true.

Along these same lines, Hans Davidsson made presentations on the new four-manual 17th-century North German organ at Göteborg University, Göteborg, Sweden. This is now the largest meantone organ on the continent, and goes a long way to support Ortgies’ thesis that meantone tuning was far and away the most common tuning clear through the 18th century. Along with these insights, Bruce Shull of Taylor & Boody Organbuilders gave a presentation on the newly discovered Bach/Lehmann temperament, which opens up new avenues for the appreciation of Bach’s music. This audience, already committed to early music, was able to appreciate such information and insight and see its application in the daily recitals and musical examples of the symposium. 

These presentations stretched the mind of every listener in preparation for a concert of new music for the organ by Robert Bates. I confess that I was apprehensive about modern music performed on a meantone organ. How could contemporary music work on an organ that captured the tuning of the 17th and 18th centuries? Bates presented works by Arvo Pärt, Gyorgy Ligeti, Joan Tower, Naji Hakim, and his own Chromatic Fantasy and Charon’s Oar. Would he explore the dark, dissonant side of meantone tuning? With this question in mind, I discovered the genius of an artist committed to beauty and yes, the “metaphysical” properties of this organ in our time. The concert was followed by a reception and listeners could regain their poise. This was a not-to-be-forgotten experience!

There was still an unaswered question: Was a dual temperament organ a luxury in the worship service? A number of participants stayed an extra day to find out. St. Cecilia Cathedral is a very large church, and the two services were filled with many families, young children, a seeing-eye dog, and, fortunately, a group of nuns from the entire community. The music was simple, straightforward and traditional. Kevin Vogt played the service, and I marvelled at his ability to shift effortlessly between the meantone and well-tempered divisions of the organ, depending on the nature of the music. Modal compositions came to life in meantone tuning--not surprising, but what a rare opportunity to hear “ordinary” church music with such an “authentic” flavor. The simplest psalms and congregational responses jumped off the page with fresh meaning and inspiration. In this sense, it underscored the absolute practicality of dual temperament. Tuning that makes ordinary church music appeal to hardened traditionalists surely deserves to be called a practical application.

So there it was: philosophy, metaphysics and practical application--all explored through in-depth lectures and discussions, elegant performances and appealing church services in less than a week. These events came together smoothly through the efforts of all the individuals who contributed so mightily to this fine symposium. They included Quentin Faulkner, George Ritchie, Susan Ferré, Hans and Ulrika Davidsson, David Dahl, John Koster, Bruce Shull, Roger Sherman, Ibo Ortgies, Kevin Vogt, Marie Rubis-Bauer, Charles Brown, Calvin Bower, John Koster, Gene Bedient, John Brombaugh, Fr. Anthony Ruff, Robert Bates and of course, Martin Pasi, organbuilder.

by Marcia Van Oyen

Fifty-two registrants from 21 states gathered in sun-soaked Lincoln, Nebraska for the 21st annual University of Nebraska-Lincoln Organ Conference held September 17-19, 1998. The title of the conference was "Perspectives on Recent and Future American Organbuilding," with five organbuilders invited to give lectures: Gene Bedient, John Brombaugh, Steven Dieck of C.B. Fisk, Manuel Rosales, and George Taylor. Gene Bedient immediately answered a question which had been on my mind by saying that all organbuilding is historically informed to some degree, suggesting that a better term would be "historically inspired." In the case of the five builders represented at the UNL conference, being historically inspired indicates producing instruments which emulate specific features of European organbuilding of past centuries. The list of historic attributes these builders employ includes mechanical action, low wind pressure, wedge bellows, stop nomenclature, flat pedal boards, mechanisms such as ventils, shove couplers, split keys and short octaves, 56 or 58 note keyboards, elements of case design, and of course, scaling and voicing appropriate to replicating historic sounds. These builders have comprehensive knowledge about historical styles developed through extensive study of instruments built by Schnitger, Silbermann, Clicquot, and Cavaillé Coll, among others, and working under the tutelage of builders such as von Beckerath, Flentrop, Noack and Fisk.

Each builder was given a two-hour time slot to reflect on his work and to address the following questions:

How have your organs been influenced by historic organs? By today's practices?

What is the future of historically informed organbuilding?

Can you envision your firm being influenced by the American Classic style of organbuilding?

How have your perspectives on organbuilding and your instruments changed over the years?

What organbuilding problems or questions currently interest you?

What new directions might your firm take in the future?

What do you consider to be your most important contributions to American organbuilding?

 In the mahogany-paneled conference room of the Wick Alumni Center, armed with slides and specifications, each builder spoke about his background, how he got established in organbuilding, and shared information about his most important projects.

Builders' Lectures

Gene Bedient took the audience on a tour of his opus list, narrating his slide presentation with descriptions of the historic influences and techniques used in building each instrument. Bedient's early work is concentrated on the 18th-century French and North German styles, perhaps culminating in the organ built for St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, an approximation of the French classic style, complete with marche pied pedal board. Opus 22, a two-manual organ for the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Charleston, South Carolina completed in 1987, brought a transition to the 19th-century French style. Organs for St. Rita Catholic Church, Dallas, Texas (1992), and Idlewild Presbyterian Church, Memphis, Tennessee (1989), were also built along French 19th-century lines, including ventils, orage, and octaves graves couplers. Opus 52 and Opus 53, completed in 1996 and 1997 respectively, incorporated American Classic ideas, combining North German elements in the Great and Pedal with French ideas in the Swell, in one case retaining a contrebasse in the pedal on 5≤ of wind and providing a concave-radiating pedal board. At that time, work was in progress on a Spanish-style instrument for the Cathedral of St. Vincent de Paul in Omaha.

Bedient concluded his lecture by outlining his contributions to the field of organbuilding: educating American organists about French instruments by building historically-inspired instruments, interesting children in the pipe organ, promoting the viability of small instruments, educating people about the cost of a pipe organ, and efficiency and production control. He summarized his view of the American Classic organ as including standard 61-note keyboards, a concave-radiating pedal board, combination action, and equal temperament, with a main goal of the style being accessibility.

John Brombaugh took a conversational approach in his lecture, relating his early fascination with Hammond organs and love for the sound of old organs which developed from listening to recordings made by E. Power Biggs. He has been strongly influenced by North German organs, having spent time working in Hamburg, and receiving training from Noack, Fisk, and von Beckerath. Brombaugh is particularly fascinated with old Dutch instruments, most notably those in Gronigen, which he toured with Harald Vogel.

Reminding the audience that the organ is primarily a musical instrument, one of the oldest types of instruments in existence, Brombaugh asserted that ancient organs were very musical, and music was written for them because of their sounds, rather than the present practice of building organs to accommodate repertoire. He sees great value in studying organs older than those of the North German and French Classic styles. He also added that he believes all major cultural centers need mean-tone organs in order to hear early music in the temperament for which it was written. Brombaugh sees historic instruments as the basis and foundation for his work, and uses them as a guide to help him develop his own style. He believes organs built today according to historical styles will not be exact copies, but will bear the mark of the individual builder, in his case a strong North German accent. This belief influenced his choice of the Italian style for the organ he built for Duke University chapel since he felt he could build an Italian-style instrument most authentically, providing a good contrast to the Flentrop and Skinner organs already in the chapel. 

Brombaugh entertained questions from the audience, one of which spurred a discussion about acoustics in American churches and whether or not they provide a hospitable environment for European/historic organ sounds. He responded by saying American organbuilding has developed and evolved despite acoustical limitations, and organbuilders having developed ways of dealing with those conditions, adding that one has to be realistic about what he's building. He suggested the best way to approach bad acoustics is to keep in mind the functions the organ needs to fulfill, especially in relation to congregational singing.

Anticipation was in the air as Steve Dieck approached the podium, tacitly acknowledging the Fisk company's lofty stature in the organ-building world and expectation that the lecture would be first-rate. We were not disappointed. Dieck laid the groundwork for his remarks by suggesting that Fisk's work has always been influenced by historic instruments.  He construes such instruments as tools to help us become informed about a particular style. He believes the American approach is to take elements from the past and combine them into something new, aspiring to create instruments that can "do it all." Citing the work of G. Donald Harrison, Holtkamp, and Schlicker, Dieck proposed that his firm and others are continuing the American Classic style, a remark which elicited a noticeable shuffling among the other builders present. Dieck said that working with clients guides eclecticism through discussions about their needs and wants, adding that organbuilders are always learning. Following his studies at DePauw University, Dieck apprenticed with Charles Fisk. He had originally investigated studying in Germany with von Beckerath, but von Beckerath advised him to work with Fisk.

Pointing out the noteworthy features of each project, Dieck focussed his remarks on the innovations and eclectic qualities of the following Fisk instruments, in addition to citing historic influences: Wellesley College, Mount Holyoke College, the University of Michigan, Memorial Church at Stanford University, Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University, House of Hope Presbyterian Church, Meyerson Symphony Center, and Rice University. Interspersed among his slides of facades and keyboards were many photos of the internal details of the instruments. A highlight of the slide presentation was pictures taken during the assembly of the Meyerson organ, including the 32' pipes being hoisted into place. As we viewed those slides, Dieck mentioned that one of the Fisk company's most important contributions has been success in the concert hall market.

Manuel Rosales began his organbuilding career by working at the Schlicker company, later establishing his own company at the prompting of Charles Fisk. He prefers not to focus on just one style, and has yet to build an organ than can "play it all." He believes it's important to build different types of organs, keeping in mind the needs of the client, especially when the client is a church. Although his earlier projects had been more eclectic, Rosales' Opus 14 for Mission San José in Fremont, California was inspired by the organs of Mexico and Spain, tuned in quarter-comma mean tone, which makes early music come alive. The organ for First Presbyterian Church, Oakland is the largest instrument Rosales has built and was inspired by Fisk's House of Hope organ, with an emphasis on early French and French romantic sounds. Here again, the topic of acoustics surfaced. Given a sanctuary with a dry acoustic, as in the case of First Presbyterian Oakland, Rosales said that to give the impression of a better acoustical environment, he gave the organ more strength to surround the listener with sound. Rosales also shared his thoughts about the organ at Rice University, a collaboration with Fisk, noting that it was his dream organ to build since it is very gratifying to build an instrument for a client whose wishes closely match his own ideas.

Of particular interest were Rosales' plans for an organ for the new Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, a performing arts center for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. Rosales has proposed an instrument which he describes as French/German/eclectic/ traditional/modern, designed to functional well with an orchestra, respect the music of the past, and stir up controversial ideas for the future. The Llamarada division will feature a battery of southern Californian/Spanish reeds, including a horizontal "Trompeta de Los Angeles." Following the architect's concept for the structure, which is based on curves and a scrupulous avoidance of straight lines, Rosales has explored the possibility of building curved wood pipes which will still be tonally functional.

George Taylor, a native of Virginia, has had a life-long friendship with John Boody, and in his early organ-building days worked with John Brombaugh as well. He spent three and a half years working under von Beckerath in Hamburg, an experience he says taught him the discipline he needed to be a successful organbuilder. Taylor has always been interested in all types of music and has a special fondness for hymn singing.  He was initially interested in more eclectic instruments and studied many American Classic stoplists, but soon became disillusioned with the style. The organs tended to "look great on paper," but he generally found the sounds disappointing and began to search for something musically more rewarding.

His early organbuilding days were characterized by experimentation. Recalling his exploration of the use of short keyboards and bone keys, Taylor recounted a memorable episode in which he ventured to the slaughterhouse to acquire the needed bone. Early projects reflected his experimental bent, and he cited organs built for a church in Vincennes, Indiana, for which he developed what he affectionately calls a "Hoosier flute," and a church in Charlottesville, Virginia which has shutters on the back of the Brustwerk.

Taylor spoke about his landmark instruments for St. Thomas Church in New York City and Holy Cross Chapel in Worcester, Massachusetts, both of whose cases were modeled on those of early Dutch instruments. He was much more animated, however, when he began to talk about a recent project--the restoration of a two-manual Tannenberg organ located at the Museum of Southern Decorative Arts in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Taylor treated the audience to a slide-show, giving us a glimpse into the painstaking work required to decipher the disparate components of the fragile treasure and bring its beautiful sounds to life again.

When the topic of acoustics surfaced once more, Taylor strongly recommended that builders always urge churches to improve their acoustics, even if they are already fairly good.  He believes acoustics are 80 percent of the success of any organ. He feels the biggest challenge for contemporary organbuilding in the United States is the wide variety of settings builders must work in. European builders in the past had much more consistency of venue.

Lunchtime Tours

On Friday, the conference schedule included an extended break in the middle of the day for lunch and visits to organs in Lincoln churches, provided one wasn't bothered by extensive walking in the sun and 90-degree heat. For a community of its size, the list of significant instruments in Lincoln is impressive. Participants could choose from the following array: 1969 4-manual Aeolian-Skinner at First Presbyterian, 1998 4-manual Schoenstein (then under construction) at First-Plymouth Congregational, 1991 3-manual Van Daalen at First Lutheran, an 1875 2-manual Kilgen at First Christian Science, 1984 3-manual Rieger, a 1976 3-manual Casavant at Westminster Presbyterian, and four 2-manual Bedient instruments, among others.

Christie Recital

On Friday evening conference participants were joined by a local audience for a recital played by James David Christie on the Hoesch Memorial Organ at Cornerstone Chapel. The instrument is Gene Bedient's Opus 8, a 20-stop, 2-manual tracker organ of 17th-century design. Not surprisingly, Christie's program featured 16th, 17th, and 18th-century music, including works by Buxtehude, Sweelinck, Scheidemann, Scheidt, Johann Bernard Bach, and Christie's own transcription of a Vivaldi concerto. His playing was rhythmically vibrant: spirited and buoyant in the quick tempos, sensitively nuanced on the slow pieces. The most striking element of his playing was the ornamentation. All too often, ornamentation is appended to early literature and the effect is like that of a stylish but ill-fitting suit which merely draws attention to itself. Christie's ornaments were a natural outgrowth of the music, fully integrated into the texture and rhythm. Located in the gallery of the intimate chapel, the Bedient organ has a commanding presence in the room, but is not piercing or overpowering. The sound has warmth and depth as well as an elegant clarity, enhanced by the organ's elevated position and the high ceiling and peaked roof of the chapel, whose acoustics hinted at ambience.

Panel Discussion

Each year, the conference closes with a panel discussion, allowing participants to interact with the lecturers and performers and formulate conclusions about conference topics. George Ritchie opened this year's discussion by suggesting that 20th-century organbuilding has swung back and forth between the eclecticism of the American Classic style and the purity of historic styles. He asked each of the builders to identify where along that continuum they are most comfortable; they offered a spectrum of responses.

Dieck said that historic builders continually developed their styles, and he feels that American builders should do likewise, continuing to grow as they interact with clients. Rosales said an organ such as the one at House of Hope goes too far, trying to do too many things. Instruments can be built to do one thing really well and other things reasonably well, though every organ should be suitable for playing Bach. Bedient believes the eclectic organ is a product of the need for organs to do many things since the role of the organ is different now than at any other time in history. He strives to build instruments which will be as useful as possible, serving the needs of his clients, although he admitted that hearing literature on the "right" instruments is preferable. Taylor wants to build instruments designed to accompany hymn singing and have a thrilling sound. He questioned whether certain historical sounds are right for American churches, adding that organs for our time need to be built the way we think they should sound. In small instruments, he noted that consistency is very important, but in larger instruments, eclectic questions surface. Small historical instruments have far more flexibility than one might imagine, however, he was quick to add. As he had stated in his lecture, Brombaugh believes that above all the organ must be a musical instrument and expressed dismay at recent developments which have gotten away from that. He sees the need for many different types of instruments, each of which can handle a specific literature.

When the floor was opened for questions from the audience, a participant commented that bringing the best of the past forward is good, but the use of short keyboards and flat pedal boards is a tragedy. Several others chimed in, expressing frustration with flat pedal boards, short-compass keyboards, and non-adjustable benches, viewing them as impediments. The builders were asked why they build short compass keyboards and flat pedal boards. Steve Dieck responded by saying that whatever we build, we're imitating European models, creating instruments like those for which the music was created. He noted that the concave pedal board is actually English. He prefers a flat pedal board because it's more sensitive with tracker action, adding that he sees a new American standard of building flat pedal boards developing. John Brombaugh gave the example of a project for which he provided two pedal boards--one flat, one concave--reporting that the flat pedal board is the one which is used regularly. His rationale for short compass keyboards is putting your energy where the notes are played most since the uppermost notes of the keyboard are used only one percent of the time. All of the builders acknowledged the need for the organist to be comfortable, however.

Another participant raised the subject of digital sounds and the use of MIDI. In response, Rosales queried, "Why have samples when you can have the real thing? Electronic sounds, even for 32' stops, are ghastly." Brombaugh agreed, adding his assertion that if an instrument incorporates electronic sounds then it's not truly a pipe organ. His colleagues nodded their assent.

Wanting to delve further into the American Classic issue, I asked the builders if they agreed with a statement Steve Dieck had made in his lecture proposing that their work is continuing the American Classic style. Bedient answered by saying the American Classic style has come to represent thin, uninteresting sounds, a departure from its early, much more colorful manifestations. Dieck reaffirmed the point he had made in his lecture, but also suggested that perhaps historic influences are handled differently now than they have been in the past. Taylor said it depends what you mean by the American Classic style: Does it refer to a console style? What are the style's characteristics in the minds of organists? Rosales thinks G. Donald Harrison was a great innovator and believes that had he lived longer, Harrison might have been building tracker organs. Tracker action is not tied to a particular sound in Rosales' mind.

One particularly astute participant commented that perhaps organbuilding at the end of the 20th century will ultimately define the American Classic style, rather than what has come before. I was left with the impression that there is much more to be explored on the subject, and made work of speaking with each of the builders one-on-one, in order to illuminate the intertwined paths of the so-called "historically inspired" and "American Classic" styles of organbuilding further. My findings will be presented in a future article.

The conference was excellent throughout. The subject matter was thoughtfully conceived and clearly outlined in the brochure promoting the event, and in fact, is what initially piqued my interest in attending. In just 48 hours, I received a fascinating glimpse into the world of organbuilding and a valuable opportunity to get a personal impression of the builders who are fundamentally shaping the pipe organ scene in this country. The program was ambitious, but the events were sensibly scheduled, allowing adequate time for breaks, meals, a stroll around town, and a peak into the UNL bookstore filled with Cornhusker regalia. The registration fee was an inexpensive $40 ($20 for students) and lodging prices were reasonable. I hadn't previously visited Nebraska and confess to having had stereotypes in my mind, but I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived. The vast flatness of the plains, congestion-free airport, and unpretentious affability of the citizens were refreshing. George Ritchie and his colleagues are providing a great service by offering this high quality educational opportunity each year.