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St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Cleveland Heights, Ohio, celebration

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Cleveland Heights, Ohio, announces its Ars Organi celebration of the church’s organs by Holtkamp, Hradetzky, and Slajch, and harpsichord by Griewisch:

September 15, Jaroslav Tůma performing Baroque music;
9/16, Jaroslav Tůma, paraphrasing Smetana’s My Country;
9/19, rededication of the Hradetzky organ in the gallery followed by a concert by James David Christie and the Oberlin Conservatory Collegium Musicum;
9/23, James Higdon, lecture and masterclass on the works of Jehan Alain;
9/24, James Higdon, recital of the works of Alain on the Holtkamp organ;
9/29, “Blow Ye the Trumpet in Zion,” hymn festival with Richard Webster and brass, percussion, and organ with the choirs of St. Paul’s;
October 1, closing concert with Karel Paukert & Friends performing works by Bach, Ligeti, Liszt, Alain, and Frank Wiley.

For information: www.stpauls-church.org.

 

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54th OHS National Convention, July 5–10, 2009, Cleveland, Ohio

Frank Rippl

Frank Rippl is a graduate of Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Miriam Clapp Duncan and Wolfgang Rübsam. He is co-founder of the Appleton Boychoir, coordinator of the Lunchtime Organ Recital Series in the Appleton, Wisconsin area, and has been organist/choirmaster at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Appleton since 1971.

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I arrived in Cleveland on July 5th with a mixture of emotions. I was glad to revisit a city I enjoyed many years ago when I took a summer course in Orff Schulwerk at Case Western Reserve University, but I was in a bit of a funk after my flight that was supposed to leave the day before was canceled. United’s friendly skies were shut down by a computer glitch. But I finally found myself in this beautiful city with its elegant buildings on Lake Erie. I give extra snaps to any city that has light rail service from its airport to the center of downtown. At the Marriott, I had a corner room with lots of windows and a great view of the famous Terminal Tower. I felt better. I was reminded of the quote our brochure had printed from an ad published by Cleveland organbuilder Walter Holtkamp, Sr. (1894–1962): “A town of good organs, a profitable place to visit.” After I registered, I looked over the 284-page convention Atlas, which contained extraordinary amounts of information on the organs, venues, and towns we were to visit. It began with a fascinating monograph by Stephen Pinel entitled “The Early Organ Culture of Cleveland,” loads of colorful pictures, and ads (including a reprinted one from long ago that featured Jesse Crawford promoting “Barbasol”).

Pre-convention concert
After greeting lots of old OHS friends, I boarded a bus for Trinity Episcopal Cathedral and a pre-convention event. The cathedral grew out of Cleveland’s oldest congregation, Trinity Church, founded in 1816. They built Cleveland’s first church in 1829. The present Indiana limestone building, designed by Cleveland architect Charles F. Schweinfurth in the English perpendicular Gothic design, was completed in 1907, and contains several bits of historic beauty: a 1457 cross beam from Southwark Cathedral, London, some windows from the 14th and 15th centuries as well as some by Tiffany, plus Oberammergau carvings. If that weren’t enough, they have two organs by Dirk Flentrop: a 2-manual, 13-stop organ from 1976 in the choir, and the 1977 3-manual, 39-stop instrument in a small gallery above the rear entrance. Horst Buchholz, cathedral organist, greeted us, as did Michael Barone, who would serve as an unofficial host throughout the week. He introduced convention chairperson Joseph McCabe, half of his former self. His weight loss was the envy of all of us. We then sang “O Beautiful for Spacious Skies,” it being July 5.

Both organs were used—Dr. Buchholz played the smaller choir organ and Alison Luedecke the larger organ at the other end of the building. Most of the concert was played by Dr. Luedecke, who began with a spirited reading of Bruhns’s well-known Praeludium in E minor—a great demonstration piece. Then came Pachelbel’s Variations on “Freu dich sehr, o meine Seele,” featuring one of the organ’s lovely cornets, and the clear 4′ flutes. Next was the Bach/Vivaldi Concerto in A Minor, listed in the program as Prelude and Fugue in A Minor—J. S. Bach. This cheery music was just right for an opening concert of the convention and was well suited to the instrument at hand. She next played Irish Jig for the Feet by Mary Beth Bennett, a charmer of a piece—airy and graceful. Buchholz and Luedecke then added some pieces by Melchior Franck and Hermann Schein, using both organs to show off stops we had not heard—kromhoorns and the like. Luedecke ended with the Doppel Fugue über ‘Heil dir im Siegeskranz’ (God Save the King) by John Knowles Paine. She played it well—untangling both fugue subjects with ease.

Opening concert
The official opening concert was that evening at the Cleveland Masonic and Performance Arts Center, with a recital by Peter Richard Conte on the 4-manual, 41-rank Austin organ, Opus 823, from 1919. The building is an enormous weathered brick structure, and the large auditorium has steep stadium seating. Its former elegance is somewhat faded, but the acoustics are good and the room is still used for recordings by the Cleveland Orchestra. To the left of the stage is a 4-manual Wurlitzer console awaiting its pipes; work is ongoing. The Austin console is in a somewhat cramped nest above and to the right of the stage; the pipes are in a chamber above the console. A large movie screen center stage projected a close-up of Conte’s hands. Technical difficulties with the camera or the projector provided more distraction than necessary, but it was still good fun to see those famous hands at work. This recital was both the closing concert of the ATOS convention and the opening concert of the OHS convention—it was a treat to share a common bond. There were a surprisingly large number of people present who belonged to neither organization.
The concert was vintage Conte. He began with his own transcription of Bernstein’s Overture to Candide, then an assured and strong reading of Guilmant’s Marche Religieuse, op. 15, no 2, and two transcriptions from Widor’s Bach’s Memento: Pastorale, in which we heard the beautiful Clarinet and Oboe stops, and Mattheus-Final. Conte then played his own transcription of Fritz Kreisler’s Variations on a Theme of Arcangelo Corelli. His right hand bounced effortlessly between Swell and Choir without missing a beat—when you are used to the six-manual Wanamaker console, a four-manual instrument must be mere child’s play.
Robert Elmore’s Fantasy on Nursery Tunes followed, a charming piece, great for introducing the organ to children—if they still know the old nursery tunes! Conte brought the program to a close with the Final by Franck. Throughout the evening he spoke to his large audience with humor and grace. It was a brilliant and virtuoso performance.

Monday, 6 July 2009
After a pleasant drive out in the green countryside on a sunny, cloudless morning, we arrived at St. Martin of Tours Roman Catholic Church in Valley City, Ohio, to hear Andrew Scanlon demonstrate the tonally intact 1881 Odenbrett & Abler organ, built in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The 2-manual, 19-stop organ stands in the rear balcony of the church, which dates from 1861, and is now used as a chapel for a larger structure next door, built in 2002. A handsome organ, with polished tin façade and butternut case, it is believed to be the last extant instrument by this builder. Paul Marchesano announced that this organ will receive an OHS Historic Citation.
Andrew Scanlon, recently appointed to East Carolina University and to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Greenville, South Carolina, opened with Marche Romaine by Gounod. He played it with fine breadth, giving a good demonstration of the warm chorus sounds of each manual. Next were two pieces by Langlais: Prière from 24 Preludes, in which we heard a clear and lovely Oboe; and Elévation, from Suite médiévale, which features the tune Adoro te devote. Everyone loved this organ!
Mendelssohn’s Prelude in C Minor followed. It was registered boldly, creating a good contrast to the Langlais. Scanlon played it with great vigor using this fine organ’s resources nicely. He then played Folk Tune, from Percy Whitlock’s Five Short Pieces. I loved the solo Open Diapason 8′ with its warm, room-filling sound in the tenor register.
The hymn was “Christ the Lord is risen again” (Orientis partibus); the French Medieval tune was most appropriate for this church. Next was Everett Titcomb’s Regina Coeli, in which we heard a goodly variety of this fine organ’s stops. Scanlon closed with Bach’s Fugue in E-flat, BWV 552 (St. Anne). Every line was clearly delineated in this great piece on an organ with no mixtures. We heard refined voicing and first-rate playing!
We then proceeded to Berea and St. Adalbert’s Roman Catholic Church, the oldest Polish church in Ohio, and its 1904 organ by Cleveland organbuilder Votteler-Hettche (2 manuals, 9 stops). The performers were Dennis Northway and his student and former Biggs Fellow Adam Gruber. The parish priest reported that the organ cost $6,000, and was just restored for $25,000! Attractive white and gold altars with statues stood beneath a half dome in the apse, which featured a painting of the ascending Christ. Pink marble lined the sanctuary.
Northway began with Pachelbel’s Ciacona in D Minor, making each voice of this lovely organ shine in the 16 variations; the flutes were especially nice. Sixteen-year-old Adam Gruber gave us some Rheinberger: Three Trios, op. 49. During the hymn, “Come, Labor On,” Ora Labora, teacher and student shared the bench, playing with four hands—this added “upperwork” to the sound. Northway inserted a piece not in the program, In a Quiet Mood, a gentle reflection by Arkansas composer Florence Price. Gruber ended with the Toccata in D Minor by Gordon Balch Nevin.

We then went to the grand old Masonic Temple in Lakewood for a hearty lunch in its basement. We worked off our lunch by climbing several flights of stairs to the grand old lodge room, where we heard a concert by OHS favorite William Aylesworth, playing the 2-manual, 13-stop Votteler-Holtkamp-Sparling organ, Opus 1287, from 1916; it stands in a balcony opposite the stage in this elegant room, which is decorated in an Egyptian motif all around.
Aylesworth began, appropriately enough, with Masonic March by Theo Bonheur (Charles A. Rawlings, 1857–ca. 1930), which bounced along in good fashion. Next were Frederick Archer’s (1838–1901) Prelude, which demonstrated the lovely strings, and Motivo, a quiet little piece, followed by Summer Fancies, op. 38, no. 2, by Rossetter G. Cole (1866–1952).
Next was Choral Hymn by William Spark (1823–1897), in which the warm-throated Great Diapason alternated with the Swell Vox Humana. Guilmant’s Mélodie, op. 46, no. 4, followed. The last piece was Under the Double Eagle by Josef Franz Wagner (1856–1908). Bill got us all clapping in unison to the irresistible pulse of this music. This was another fine demonstration of a historic organ by a player with a keen insight into instruments from this period, and who always chooses literature appropriate to the instrument and the culture of its time.
I daresay that the next venue was a big reason many of us came to this particular convention: the opportunity to hear the famous 1957 4-manual, 44-stop Beckerath organ in Cleveland’s Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in an all-Bach recital by Joan Lippincott. When we pulled up to the church, it seemed somehow strange that such a fine and famous organ could be standing in a church that had clearly fallen on hard times. The 1874 structure was in a rather ordinary neighborhood. Its interior was in sad shape, with peeling paint and water stains, but up in the balcony, sure enough, was the Beckerath—its case painted in various shades of blue with gold trim. The church’s warm and positive young minister has brought the parish back from the brink of closing. The organ is being restored, and has brought in many new members, who come from other parts of the city to hear it played and to enjoy his fine preaching. The significance of this organ cannot be overstated. Our Atlas had this to say about it and other European tracker organs imported in the late 1950s: “ . . . these instruments provided fuel for the first chapter of America’s own tracker revival, for player and builder alike.”
We began with the hymn Nun Danket, and sang a verse in German and then repeated the first verse in English, singing in parts. Two selections from the Leipzig Chorales followed. In Nun Danket alle Gott, BWV 657, Lippincott used the powerful Cornet from the Rückpositiv. In Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele, BWV 654, she used that Great 8′ Principal to accompany the Cornet on the Kronpositiv. Next came the Prelude and Fugue in C Major (9/8), BWV 547. Pure exultant joy permeated every note. The phenomenal fugue has four voices on the manuals, saving the pedal for the end, when it presents the subject in augmentation. The full organ sound is magnificent: grand and yet transparent.
Lippincott then played the E-flat Trio Sonata, BWV 525. The third movement was taken perhaps a bit too fast, and got a little shaky, but she brought it along nicely. She ended with a first-rate performance of the Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582. Lippincott clearly has great affection for each piece and for this wonderful organ.
Late in the afternoon, we returned downtown to our hotel for a lecture given by John Ferguson on “The Life of Walter Holtkamp, Sr.” It was a fascinating walk through the career of this pivotal figure in American organ building. Professor Ferguson pointed out Mr. Holtkamp’s desire to learn from but not copy the old masters. His organs were on low wind pressure, and he used slider chests, but they were not encased; the pipes were displayed. Those visual designs were stunning to mid-20th-century Americans, and he would build the first mid-20th-century American trackers. Holtkamp was a strong-willed man, but was a colleague to his fellow organ builders, and went on to form APOBA in 1941.
After another superb dinner at the Marriott (the chef was amazing!), I walked the few blocks to St. John the Evangelist Catholic Cathedral for the evening concert by Ken Cowan, playing the Votteler-Holtkamp-Sparling organ from 1948. There are actually two organs: one in the gallery, and one in the chancel, with two duplicate 3-manual stopkey consoles, each controlling both organs. The gallery organ has its Great division mounted on the railing in a kind of case with pipework unenclosed. The Swell and Choir divisions are enclosed in chambers on either side of the rear window, with the Pedal spread out between the manual divisions. The chancel organ is behind a gorgeous, hand-carved wooden screen that stands behind the altar. With a generous amount of reverberation, beautiful and even voicing, this is a very nice organ. Cowan was joined by trumpeter Jack Sutte of the Cleveland Orchestra. (On a personal note, I would learn that evening that Mr. Sutte’s father, the late John Sutte, was a classmate of mine at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. Meeting this brilliant young trumpeter was very moving for me.) The fading evening sun faintly lit the stained glass windows from Munich as we eagerly awaited the concert.
Cowan opened with Mendelssohn’s Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, transcribed by Samuel P. Warren. The sounds were marvelous in the splendid acoustics of the cathedral. Cowan is a master colorist, registering his pieces with uncommon sensitivity. Elegant use of the Swell and Choir shades are Cowan trademarks. His second piece, Stimmen der Nacht, op. 142, no. 1, by Sigfrid Karg-Elert, demonstrated the beautiful strings and the Vox Humana. A warm and wonderful piece, it grew to a full sound, then pulled back to a bubbling flute on the Choir and the Vox Humana—beautiful sounds.
After a brief crash of the solid-state combination system, they managed to repair it and were able to move on to what I found to be the most interesting piece of the evening, Okna Fenster: Windows, after Marc Chagall, a four-movement work by Petr Eben for organ and trumpet. I. Blue Window dashed all over the place leaving splashes of color in every corner of the cathedral. II. Green Window was more serene, with muted trumpet and Messiaen-like sounds. The serenity gave way to darker images and louder organ tone with a growling 16′ pedal reed. A more playful section followed, and we returned to sounds heard at the beginning. III. Red Window began ff in the organ. The Swell closed a bit as the trumpet joined. The music was reminiscent of “Night on Bald Mountain.” Things calmed down a bit, but that darker imagery was never far away, and it returned. IV. Gold Window began with the theme (a Russian Orthodox chant many of us knew from the Episcopal Hymnal 1982 in a setting of “The Beatitudes”) played on the foundation stops. There was dialogue material between trumpet and organ, ending with a toccata-like section. Fantastic music!
After intermission, Cowan began the second half with Reger’s Introduction and Passacaglia in F Minor, op. 63. It rolled through the gothic arches of this splendid building. He played it masterfully, using the expression pedals to create wonders of shading. For the first time that evening, we heard the full magnificence of this organ. He next played Elegy by George Thalben-Ball. They inserted a piece by Tomassi entitled Holy Week at Cusco. Sutte joined Cowan, alternating between piccolo trumpet and regular trumpet, which was muted at times. We then sang that glorious hymn “I Vow to Thee My Country,” whose tune comes from Holst’s The Planets—Jupiter. It made every Anglophile’s spine tingle!
Ken Cowan closed the program with Variations on ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ by Dudley Buck. It was played at the request of convention chairperson Joseph McCabe, and was just the right dessert following the dense music that preceded it. We all sang along on the last variation. Cowan played with total abandon and clarity—he makes everything he plays sound so easy. Thus ended the first full day.

Tuesday, 7 July 2009
Our first stop on Monday took us to Cleveland’s Pilgrim Congregational Church UCC, a massive Richardsonian Romanesque structure, to hear their 3-manual, 36-stop Farrand & Votey organ, Opus 719, from 1894. The organ was rebuilt several times; in 1992 it was restored by the Holtkamp Organ Company. (Our Atlas told us that Walter Holtkamp, Sr. attended this church as a boy.) It stands proudly right up front in this Akron-plan building. The pipes are handsomely stenciled, and the case is crowned with a wooden statue of an angel blowing a trumpet.

The concert was given by Stephen Schnurr, his student Micah Raebel, whom we heard at the 2007 convention in Indiana, and young tenor Nathan Leath. We began with the hymn “All hail the pow’r of Jesus’ Name” (Coronation), using both piano (Raebel) and organ (Schnurr). They then launched into a surprisingly effective piano-organ arrangement of Franck’s Prelude, Fugue and Variation, op. 18. Next, Schnurr played a lovely Berceuse (1911) by James H. Rogers (1857–1940). We heard many attractive sounds of this beautiful organ, especially the strings, flutes, and the Concert Flute. The next piece was also by Rogers, Theme and Variations, ‘Second Suite’ (1915), which showed off the fine Doppel Floete and Oboe.
Two more pieces by Rogers followed: Two Offertory Songs: 1. Today if ye will hear his voice, and 2. Out of the Depths. Leath sang and Raebel accompanied him on the organ. Both young men did very well with this literature, which was well-suited to this grand old building and organ. Micah Raebel then ended the concert with a dashing performance of the splendid Toccata (from Dix Pièces) by Eugène Gigout. I give Steven Schnurr and Dennis Northway much credit for sharing the spotlight of a national convention recital with their students.

Our second stop of the day took us to a sad yet proud place: the beautiful St. Procop’s (short for Procopius) Catholic Church in Cleveland, founded as a Czech parish in the late 19th century. I admired the beautiful marble altars and statuary, the windows, and wall decoration. I found myself seated next to a very old man, well into his late 80s. I asked him if he was a member of this church, and he said that he was, but added, “it’s a dirty shame, though. The bishop is going to close it on October 30. He is closing 50 churches in the diocese.” His voice was bitter and sad. He told me that he and his wife were married there many years ago. A nun who was in charge of the parish proudly touted the fact that she had brought the parish into the black—all bills were paid; but it was still closing on October 30. We presented her with an album of photographs our superb OHS photographers had taken of this beautiful church. She was deeply touched.
The organ was in the rear balcony: a 2-manual, 22-stop, 1913 instrument by Votteler-Hettche, originally tubular-pneumatic, now changed to electric action. The organ had not been heard in many years, but was made playable for this concert by several OHS volunteers. Many members of the parish had joined us, eager to hear the organ once again.
The recitalist was Randy Bourne, who began with Wagner’s Friedensmarsch from Rienzi. With the first sound emanating from the organ, the dear old man next to me jumped slightly; he then leaned forward. After a moment, I noted a tear fall from his eyes to the floor. It broke my heart. Such is the power a pipe organ and its history in the building in which it stands has over our hearts and emotions. The piece was a grand gesture to this gracious old building and the people who worshiped there.
Beethoven’s Minuet in G major, WoO 10, no. 6, was next, smartly played on a variety of 8-foot stops. A cipher, unfortunately, began on the Swell, and many hands attempted to repair it. Soon enough, it was just fine again, and we went on to the third piece, Mélodie in E-flat Major (Souvenir d’un lieu cher, op. 42, no. 3) by Tchaikovsky. (The Wagner, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky pieces were all played by Edwin Arthur Kraft at the dedication of this organ.) We all admired the sweet tones of an instrument whose fate is unknown after the church closes. We then sang the hymn “Sing praise to God, our highest good” (Mit Freuden Zart). It was very moving for all the St. Procop’s parishioners to hear the fine OHS singing. I suspect that there were few dry eyes all around. It was like being at a funeral.
Bourne ended with Mendelssohn’s Sonata in C Minor, op. 65, no. 2. It was well played and a good chance to hear the power of this fine organ. With heavy hearts, we left this sad and beautiful church wishing there was something we could do to help their circumstances.
Our buses took us to Holy Angels R.C. Church in Sandusky for a hymn sing accompanied by some of our members on the 9-stop, 2-manual Carl Barckhoff organ (1885) that had stood silently in the corner of the balcony for decades. The church got it working for us. It was a great moment! Let’s hope it continues to be used. Sandusky is an attractive town on the shore of Lake Erie, with countless churches. At one intersection, I saw three churches!

After lunch, we went to Sandusky’s First Congregational UCC to hear Christopher Marks demonstrate the fine 1875 Johnson & Son organ, Opus 462, 2 manuals, 26 ranks—an organ with a wild history of countless moves, finally finding its way to its present location in 1982 in a restoration with additions and replacement of two missing ranks by my friend James C. Taylor, of Kaukauna, Wisconsin. It stands in an alcove to the right of the altar area in an Akron-style Richardsonian Romanesque building with a beautiful stained glass window in the ceiling. Marks began with Spring Greeting (1896) by Nathan Hale Allen (1948–1925), a charming celebration of spring. Next was Night: A Meditation (1907) by Arthur Foote—lovely, evocative music, which he played with great sensitivity, using the organ’s sweet, soft sounds very well. After the hymn “Now, on land and sea descending” (Vesper Hymn), came a chorale prelude on that same tune by Samuel B. Whitney (1842–1914)—another charmer of a piece, followed by Horatio Parker’s Scherzino, op. 66, no. 3 (1910). Marks closed with a muscular reading of Dudley Buck’s Allegro vivace non troppo from Second Sonata, op. 77 (1877). This was a fine and entertaining program with Christopher Marks’s usual brilliant playing.
Our buses took us to Toledo and the elegant Toledo Museum of Art. We were to have heard a demonstration by Robert Barney of the 1785 Johannes Strumphler 1-manual cabinet organ. Alas, it was not to be, as we had gotten behind schedule. So we made our way into the large 1750-seat auditorium known as “The Peristyle” to hear the 4-manual Skinner organ from 1926 in a recital by Stephen Tharp. First, however, we were granted a fascinating lecture by Joseph Dzeda and Nicholas Thompson-Allen, two of America’s organ restoration experts. Dzeda told us that the organ had been dead—it took two years to restore it. It features an automatic player mechanism, and they told of a recently discovered collection of organ rolls. We heard one that was 80 years old by a Mr. Snow, a New York City organist, playing Saint-Saëns’ My Heart at Thy Sweet Voice. The effect was pure magic. It should be pointed out that the ushers and security staff had agreed to stay late so that we could hear Tharp’s recital on their treasured organ, a recital that was now two hours late—the only scheduling glitch of the week. We were all very grateful.
Stephen Tharp, looking quite snappy in his black and tan Captain Kirk-like attire, came out to the console, located center stage. He began with Mendelssohn’s Overture to St. Paul, which opened with the intoning of “Wachet auf” on the Tuba Mirabilis. This W. T. Best transcription makes one think that the piece was written for the organ, it’s that idiomatic. Tharp played it brilliantly.
Next came the Adagio from Widor’s Symphony VIII. Its mysterious and melancholic sonorities worked wonderfully on this organ’s strings and foundations. Tharp then played Elgar’s Larghetto, Serenade for Strings, op. 20, in a transcription by C. H. Trevor. Quiet strings accompanied a soft solo stop. He used the tremolo to great effect, turning it on and off as a singer would use vibrato, and used the shades very well, too. The last piece was the Fantasy and Fugue on ‘How Brightly Shines The Morning Star’, op. 40, no. 1, by Max Reger. It was marvelously played. Tharp managed to untangle all of Reger’s intense and driving lines and bring them into focus. On the way, we got to hear more of the very beautiful solo stops that Skinner left as his legacy. By the time he got to that amazing fugue, we were in awe once again of E. M. Skinner’s genius and the orchestral style of organ building. And we were, most assuredly, in awe of Stephen Tharp.
We then bused to Toledo’s great Cathedral of Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, easily the largest church building we would enter during the convention—it is absolutely spectacular. We were fed dinner in the cathedral parish hall, but many of us could not resist a peek into the massive church before we ate. It is truly one of America’s great cathedrals, with marble, elegantly carved wood, glorious frescoes, huge soaring stained glass windows, and a ceiling that towers over the grand baldacchino and altar. The Skinner organ, installed in 1931, has 4 manuals, 59 stops, and 75 ranks. The console is on the floor of the sanctuary, and the pipes are in a chamber above and to the left of the altar.
Stephen Schnurr presented the cathedral with an OHS Historic Organ Citation for its magnificent 1931 Skinner organ. Our Atlas told us that it is tonally and technologically intact, “with not only the pipework but all original console and relay mechanism intact.” Todd Wilson was our performer. He grew up in Toledo, and this instrument was a great source of inspiration to him. He began with Dupré’s Cortège et Litanie, op. 19, no. 2, as transcribed by Lynnwood Farnam, which made for a great program opener—a moving and powerful introduction to this organ.
Next came three English miniatures. The first was John Stanley’s Voluntary in F, which he played on the diapasons, then on the flutes as a quiet echo. A chirpy cornet-like sound danced about. The acoustic favored the music pleasantly. The next “miniature” was C. S. Lang’s wonderful Tuba Tune in D, one of my favorite Easter preludes. The huge scale of the solo reed was thrilling. The third English miniature was the beautiful Londonderry Air, as transcribed by Edwin H. Lemare. Wilson called forth gorgeous lush sounds from the organ and played it with great sensitivity. Near the end we heard the warm Vox Humana, the 32′ flue, and the celestes. He reduced the organ to a whisper and gave us one last pluck from the 32′. It was truly lovely.
Wilson ended the first half with Franck’s Choral No 1. in E—a marvelous choice for this organ and this room. The organ has all the right stops, and he used them in just the right way. His tempo was consistent throughout, which held everything together.
The second half began with Gerre Hancock’s Variations on ‘Ora Labora’. The tune was written by T. T. Noble upon the occasion of the founding of St. Thomas’ Choir School in New York. We then sang the hymn “Come, labor on.” The Hancock variations were quite good, showing lots of variety. Soprano Nancy Canfield joined Wilson in Les Angélus, op. 57, three songs by Louis Vierne evoking the three hours of prayer in a day: Au Matin, a gentle rocking piece; A Midi, noon, a bit heartier and more robust; and Au Soir, a quiet piece introduced by the ringing of a handbell three times. It ended very softly.
Wilson then performed Prelude on “Iam sol recedit” (1924) by Bruce Simonds (1895–1989), demonstrating the classic Skinner soft solo reeds on this extraordinary organ. He concluded with the well-known jaunty Allegro vivace from Widor’s Symphonie V, played masterfully. The organ fills this great marble and stone space with tones high and low, laughing reeds, and rumbling basses. Wilson plays with fantastic but controlled drive. The ending at fff was astonishing. Reluctantly, we left this great cathedral and boarded our buses for the drive back to Cleveland.

Wednesday, 8 July 2009
We began the day with a lecture at the hotel by Sebastian M. Glück on “The Grand Romantic Organs of Jewish Synagogues,” a fascinating lecture on a little-known subject. I’ve long admired Glück’s fine writing, and his lecture did not disappoint. We saw many historical photographs of temple organs, and learned how they went in and out of fashion.
Our first stop of the day was at Plymouth Church UCC in Shaker Heights, a prosperous and leafy suburb of Cleveland. The church itself has a 3-manual Holtkamp, but we were to hear the organ in their chapel: an 1844 George Stevens organ that has bounced all over the country from Boston to the west coast and back east to Plymouth Church. Many things have changed on the organ in its various moves, but it remains a nice instrument with two manuals, 27 stops, and 22 ranks. It was first heard by the OHS convention in San Francisco in 1988. The organ stands in a rear balcony. It has an ivory-colored case, with robin’s egg blue façade pipes and gold pipe shades.
We were pleased to have Bruce Stevens demonstrate this organ for us. He began what was to be another of his stellar OHS recitals with Pachelbel’s Partita on ‘Was Gott tut das ist wohlgetan’, a great choice for an organ demonstration. We sat in chairs already turned round facing the organ in the rear gallery. The room is in a New England meetinghouse style, with clear glass windows that brought in abundant morning sunshine. The wood floor and rounded ceiling gave much resonance to the room as we sang the hymn “What e’er my God ordains is right” (Was Gott tut).
Stevens then played O Clemens! O pia! from Five Invocations by Henri Dallier (1849–1934), in which we heard the Swell Dulciana with tremulant accompanying a Great flute playing in the tenor register. He ended with the ever-popular Dubois Toccata from Twelve Pieces, in which we heard the Great Trumpet used as a chorus reed. Stevens played very well, giving us much to enjoy. His usual refinement, shaping of phrase, and delicacy of articulation were all on display. This very old organ is robust yet gentle, and it was a great start to the day!

Next was another fine Votteler-Holtkamp-Sparling organ, Opus 1602, from 1938, in St. James Anglican-Catholic Church. The rector greeted us in cassock and surplice, carrying his beretta. The church is a small gem, with many pretty things. The organ is in the back on the main floor, with a sort of fence dividing its place from the nave. The organ is really the work of Walter Holtkamp, and was a great chance for him to work out his own ideas on organ building. The Positiv division is mounted on the wall, unenclosed. The organ has 3 manuals, 20 stops, and 25 ranks.
The program, played by John Ferguson, was to be a hymn-sing with chorale preludes. It was abbreviated, however, causing some confusion. He opened with Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in C, BWV 545, which was nicely played. Next was Herbert Howells’ Psalm Prelude, Set I, No. 2. It worked well, but seemed to want a celeste. Then came three settings of Es ist ein Ros’, by Praetorius, Dennis Lovinfosse, and Brahms, after which we sang the hymn “Earth and all stars.” Ferguson’s clever introduction and verses assigned to voice types, plus a rather cheeky verse for the organ on verse four that included references to “The Stars and Stripes Forever,” made for much fun. I was happy to surrender that verse to the organ because I can’t sing about “loud boiling test tubes” with a straight face. The hymn “Now thank we all our God” ended the program. He improvised a fitting postlude on Nun danket.
After lunch at the hotel, we had the annual meeting, and then walked across the large civic mall to the Cleveland Public Auditorium, a vast structure. Built in the Italian Renaissance-style and spanning two city blocks, it was completed in 1922. We found ourselves on a great stage somewhat awed by the place, curtains drawn on both sides of us. All 500 OHSers were completely silent as we stood there looking up into the wings, on one side, at the massive E. M. Skinner organ with its 5-manual console. The pipes were on the second story of the wings, and, we were told, went back some 45 feet. We had all seen the photos of what was to come next once the curtains would part, and the anticipation was building. Finally the curtains on our left opened revealing a large, 2,700-seat theatre—red and gold done up in Spanish motifs. And then the curtains on our right parted, and we saw the vast interior of the convention hall, which seats 15,500. At 300′ long, 215′ wide and 80′ high, with no supporting columns, it is quite a sight. And there we stood on this stage made to serve both venues, beneath this enormous Skinner organ. The location, in the wings, was not great for the projection of the organ’s sound, but the architects would not have it any other way. So, we were told, the organ did its best work in radio broadcasts. It has now fallen into disuse and only a few sounds could be heard that day.
Convention chair Joe McCabe gave a good talk on the building and the organ. Young Jonathan Ortloff played the parts of the organ that worked and then crawled around in the chamber making some of the large pipes speak. He was like a monkey swinging fearlessly from tree to tree. It was left to our imaginations to wonder at the instrument’s potential. In fact, the fate of the organ and its building is uncertain—what a pity. It is truly a stupendous place. You can view a video of the organ at <www.organsociety.org/2009/welcome.html&gt;.
Our next visit was to the great Shrine Church of St. Stanislaus in Cleveland. It is a large building, beautifully decorated in 19th-century style, with statues and elegant carvings everywhere. It was built to serve the Polish immigrants who flocked to the city at the end of the 1800s. The good-sized 2-manual, 39-stop, 33-rank William Schuelke organ was built in Milwaukee ca. 1909; it got rather beat up in a tornado that toppled the church’s enormous 232-foot steeples. The organ was rebuilt by Votteler-Holtkamp-Sparling as Opus 1579 in 1933. Work was done in 1988 that left the organ unplayable. James P. Leek Organ Company of Oberlin, Ohio releathered it, and installed solid-state switching. It stands today in the rear gallery.
Our recitalist was Rhonda Sider Edgington, making her fourth OHS convention appearance. She began with two of Schumann’s Four Sketches for Pedal Piano, op. 58, numbers 1 and 4, which gave a good hearing of the foundation stops. Next came two selections from Karg-Elert’s Choral Improvisations, op. 65: Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir and O daß ich tausend Zungen hätte, which showed off several of the beautiful solo stops on this fine organ and the generous acoustic of the church. I especially liked the Doppel Flute—but then I always like Doppel Flutes! Cantilène (1900) by David Fleuret (1869–1915) followed—very nice music, which floated blithely through the church, gently moving along without a care in the world. Next came Mendelssohn’s Fugue in E Minor, played with snap and polish.

The evening recital was at Cleveland’s First United Methodist Church, which was founded in 1839. The present 1300-seat building, of Indiana limestone, was completed in March 1905. The exterior is English Gothic, with a huge lantern tower over the crossing. The interior, however, is a delightful surprise. It appears Byzantine in color and design, with elaborate stenciling. The vast space under the lantern tower floats over the altar area behind which the organ rises. The Geo. H. Ryder organ, built for an earlier church, was brought to the new location by the Votteler-Hettche Organ Co. of Cleveland. W. B. McAllister Co. of Cleveland created the truly remarkable golden organ screen, which wraps around the back of the chancel, measuring 40′ by 60′. The pipe flats are separated by four life-sized reproductions of Fra Angelico’s angels from his Linaiuoli Triptych. The present organ uses that case. It is a Casavant, built in 1943, with numerous subsequent additions; a 4-manual console from 1998 by the Kegg Pipe Organ Company features terraced jambs and is movable.
Our recitalist for the evening was Nathan Laube, who, we learned from Michael Barone, was celebrating his 21st birthday that night; we sang “Happy Birthday” to him! He had just graduated from Curtis. He began his recital with a joyous and almost giddy performance of his own transcription of the Overture to Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss, Jr. His sense of color, touch, contrast, tempo, and dynamics is of the highest order. Next, he played Karg-Elert’s Symphonischer Choral: ‘Jesu, meine Freude’, op. 87, no. 2. In the first movement, Introduzione (Inferno), the full-length 32′ Contra Bombarde was most effective. The second movement, Canzone, had a beautiful solo from the Oboe; the strings are especially lovely. The final movement, Fuga con choral, woke the instrument from its peaceful slumber. The first half ended with the singing of the hymn Jesu, meine Freude.
The second half began with movement four (Variations on ‘Puer Nobis’) from Widor’s Symphonie Gothique, op. 70. We heard a blizzard of notes in the manuals, with the full pedal thundering forth the mighty tune. Laube ended with the 94th Psalm by Reubke. Now it should be said that this entire recital was played from memory. He had some difficulty with the combination action and had to stop to reset some things, but he managed to get back on track completely unruffled. For an encore, he played Andante sostenuto from Widor’s Symphonie Gothique, op. 70.

Thursday, 9 July 2009
The day began with a panel discussion and virtual organ crawl through the Cleveland Public Auditorium organ, built by Ernest M. Skinner. Our panelists and presenters were Joseph Dzeda and Nicholas Thompson-Allen. It was a fascinating talk, with photos showing the building in its various uses over the years, as well as the virtual organ tour. They touched on preservation of the organ, concern for its relocation, and, as the Atlas said, “practical issues surrounding instruments in public venues.”
Our first recital of the morning took place at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, built in 1917, in Elyria. A stone church on a leafy corner with a well-proportioned steeple, it has a 3-manual, 32-stop Skinner organ, Opus 398 (1923), in a chamber to the right of the altar. Anne Wilson began with the hymn “Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee” (Ode to Joy). Her introduction used elements from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony—nicely done. Then, a Sortie by Lefébure-Wély (1817–1869), written at a time when French organ music for the church resembled that of the music hall or even a circus. This was no exception—great fun with plenty of reeds and foundations making splendid oom-pahs. Next was Brahms’s setting of Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele, using the 4′ flute. Wilson then played The Musical Snuffbox by Anatol Liadov (1885–1914), which demonstrated the Celesta (Harp). Next Vierne’s Impromptu, from Pièces de Fantaisie, op. 54, no. 2, which she tossed off with great ease—I liked her use of the Clarabella and the fine Vox Humana. Wilson continued with Lemare’s Irish Air from County Derry, which featured the strings and harp. She ended with a cracking good performance of Rossini’s Overture to William Tell. Great fun, and a fine demonstration recital.
The next stop in Elyria was kitty-corner from St. Andrew’s: St. Mary Catholic Church, an 1886 red brick building with a charming Victorian Gothic portico. Stepping inside, however, revealed a church stripped of all decoration; it was as if it had been sacked. But it still had its 1865 William A. Johnson organ, rebuilt and enlarged by Philipp Wirsching ca. 1900, and later by Homer Blanchard. In 1987 James Leek gave the organ a new Trumpet, replacing one that had disappeared. Originally one manual and pedal, the organ now has two manuals, pedal, and 12 stops.
Yun Kyong Kim, making her second OHS appearance, began with Prélude (from Trois Pièces, op. 29, no. 1) by Gabriel Pierné. The hymn came from The Hymnal 1940 (Episcopal): “I heard the voice of Jesus say” (Vox dilecti)—a fine choice for this place and organ; I liked the Great Trumpet. Next, she played a partita on Ach wie nichtig, ach wie flüchtig by Georg Böhm that gave a fine survey of the stops. The last variation used the Principal chorus and the Trumpet to good effect. Her next piece was Dudley Buck’s Home, Sweet Home, op. 30 (1868), dedicated to “his friend W. H. Johnson,” the original builder of this organ—great choice! One of the things I admire so much about OHS recitals is the pleasure we take in music of this sort played straightforwardly—no winking. The dignity of the instruments and composers is preserved, and we are transported back in time, to another aesthetic—like hearing Bach on a Silbermann. Yun Kyong Kim ended her program with Etude in D Minor from Four Concert Etudes, op. 51, no. 4 (1904) by George Elbridge Whiting. This was a brilliant performance, with wonderful and varied colors from this 12-stop organ.
After a box lunch, buses took us to Wellington to hear the 1916 2-manual, 13-stop J. W. Steere organ, Opus 417, in the First Congregational Church UCC—OHS charter member Randall Wagner’s home church. The organ sits in a niche to the right of the altar in this octagonal Gothic structure. The interior is crowned with a lantern tower at the peak—a Tiffany-like dome. The manuals and stop action are mechanical, while the pedal is tubular-pneumatic.
Recitalist Grant Edwards began with John Stanley’s Voluntary in G Major, op. 7, no. 9, which worked quite well on this organ. I liked the Oboe, the only reed on the organ, which functioned well as a solo voice and a chorus reed. We heard it as a solo in the next piece, Denis Bédard’s Récit (Suite du premier ton). The slow movement from Mendelssohn’s Third Sonata was next. John and James Leek had restored the hand-pumping mechanism in 1983, and the present organist at the church hand-pumped the organ for this piece. Edwards played a Fughetta on “Austria,” after which we sang that tune to the hymn “God whose giving knows no ending,” then, Brahms’s Schmücke dich, O liebe Seele on a very beautiful flute. Arthur Foote’s Canzonetta, op. 71, no. 4 was next—a captivating piece. The last work was Noël Goemanne’s Partita on “Simple Gifts”—fine playing, and an all-around good demonstration of a beautiful organ.
This beautiful, sunny afternoon, we went to the attractive city of Oberlin, its downtown festooned with large hanging baskets of flowers—right to a church on the green at Oberlin College: the First Church in Oberlin UCC, established in 1834. The red brick building would look right at home in New England. The interior is like a New England meetinghouse, with horseshoe balcony and clear glass rectangular windows. The choir area and organ rise above the altar and pulpit. The organ reposes today in a neo-classical case retained from an Estey organ built for the church in 1908. A Skinner organ from Second Congregational Church replaced the Estey when the two churches merged in the 1920s. The Gober organ company from Elora, Ontario, and now of Oberlin, built the present organ, retaining the white Estey case and seven ranks from the Skinner. It is a large 2-manual and pedal organ of 40 stops and 47 ranks, mechanical key action and electric stop action, with solid-state combination action. Halbert Gober is curator of organs (and there are a lot of them!) at Oberlin College.
The performer was Jack Mitchener, appointed in 2008 as associate professor of organ at Oberlin. Dr. Mitchener opened with Frank Bridge’s marvelous Three Pieces, the Adagio of which has become quite a favorite. We admired the solo flutes and the Clarinet. The fascinating fugue subject is soft at first, but builds to a rolling boil complete with 32′ Contrabourdon; he brought it down gently at the end. The third movement, Allegro con spirito, was indeed fast and spirited, and the playing was well paced and articulated. The organ has a few rough edges, but the overall sound is rich in tone and powerful. Since it is right on campus, it is used regularly as a teaching and practice instrument. Saint-Saëns’ Fantaisie in D-flat Major, op. 101 came next, and was played very well. Spring Song by Harry Rowe Shelley (1858–1947) was an engaging romp—a bonbon. The hymn was “All my hope on God is founded,” with its awe-inspiring tune Michael by Herbert Howells. Mitchener’s final work was Mendelssohn’s Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, op 65. His playing possesses great power and solidity. This was a very impressive performance in every way.
The convention group was divided in half, with some taking a self-guided tour of the Julas Organ Center, featuring Oberlin’s 14 practice organs by builders including Holtkamp, Noack, and Flentrop, then attending another fine recital by Dr. Mitchener in the beautiful Fairchild Chapel designed by New York architect Cass Gilbert (Woolworth Building, George Washington Bridge) and completed in 1931. Seating just 200, it was a perfect place to hear the beautiful 2-manual and pedal organ by John Brombaugh (Opus 25), from 1981, one of the earliest examples of a modern instrument tuned in quarter-comma meantone. This gothic chapel also contains a small 1957 Flentrop (one manual with pedal pulldowns). Mitchener played a varied program—Bach: Komm, Gott, Schöpfer, heiliger Geist, BWV 667; Andrea Antico: Chi non crede; Giovanni Paolo Cima: Canzon quarta, La Pace; William Byrd: The Carmans Whistle; and Buxtehude: Praeludium in C Major, BuxWV 137. All of this sounded marvelous on this unique instrument—a revelation.
After dinner under a white tent in a park, we headed to Oberlin’s Finney Chapel, a sort of Spanish Romanesque structure, for the evening recital by Diane Meredith Belcher on the C. B. Fisk organ, Opus 116, from 2001. The 3-manual organ has 57 registers, built in the French Romantic style, taking its inspiration from the instruments of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll. The Pedal has three 32′ stops. The tone is robust and colorful. It sits in a dark walnut-colored case on a balcony above the back of the stage.
Belcher began with Three Preludes and Fugues, op. 37 by Mendelssohn. In the C-minor, she attacked the music with a confident stride. I found the room to be resonant, but not reverberant—a pity. All that money spent on this classy organ, and the room is relatively dead. The G-major began with what I assumed to be the Flûte harmonique, which sang out into the room with a rich, noble sound. The fugue grew out of 8′ 4′ 2′ principal sounds, which sparkled well and were nicely colored with the addition of a reed. The D-minor used mixtures for the first time. We also heard 16′ manual tone and the 32′ Bourdon in the Pedal. Quieter sounds on the Récit grew to a ff as the piece wound itself around. Her performance was fantastic. The full power of the pedal came out in the fugue.
Next came another visit to Lefébure-Wély land, with his Élévation ou communion en la mineur, followed by Pifferari (a piffaro is a type of Italian bagpipe). Belcher used the Fisk organ’s Effet d’Orage stop, which creates the sound of thunder by sounding about seven pedal keys at once, as a drone went on the left hand while the right hand had dialogue between trumpets and flutes. Quite a piece! Then, Guilmant’s Prière en fa majeur, op. 16, no. 2, which was a nice airing of the Vox Humana. The first half ended with Gigout’s Pièce jubilaire, which begins quietly and builds to full organ. The full organ was thrilling. After the intermission, Michael Barone, a graduate of Oberlin, read a list of his classmates there in the late 1960s. It read like a who’s who of renowned American organists, teachers, and, of course, one very famous radio personality!
The second half of the program comprised a single work: Maurice Duruflé’s Suite, op. 5. The expression “hair-raising” cannot be overused here. The Prelude was full of thunder in the bass, with the flash of manual reeds and mixtures. The Sicilienne featured a solo on the Récit’s Basson-hautbois, followed by the beautiful strings accompanying the Flûte Harmonique—things of loveliness. The Toccata was played with an incredible fury. Pure joy and elation radiated forth from Belcher and this fantastic instrument.

Friday, 10 July 2009
Our first concert of the day was at Temple Tifereth Israel, a most impressive landmark on University Circle. The architecture was described in our atlas as “Romanesque and Byzantine.” Dedicated in 1924, it features a vast dome rising 85 feet over the sanctuary, which seats 1,227 on the main floor and another 659 in the mezzanine. The original organ was a Kimball with four manuals and a horseshoe console. The console was rebuilt by Ruhland Organs of Cleveland in 1967, and is now a Holtkamp-style 3-manual with stop keys. They retained much of the Kimball pipework, including diaphones and tibias. The organ is in the front of the building in chambers to the left and right of the choir gallery.
Justin Hartz played a wonderful recital of period pieces on this unusual instrument. He began with A Song of the Sea by English composer H. Alexander Matthews (1879–1973), which featured the Diaphone. Next was Caressing Butterfly by Richard Barthélemy (1869–1937) in a transcription by Firmin Swinnen. This was a tour of the grand old organ’s solo stops—there were many enchanting Kimball sounds.
Then we heard three pieces in theatre organ style: Forgotten Melody by Gus Kahn and Jesse Crawford, arranged by Rosa Rio who just turned 107; Hartz’s transcription of The Whistler and His Dog by Arthur Pryor; and Trees by Otto Rasbach, based on the poem by Joyce Kilmer. The hymn was “May He who kept us” by James H. Rogers. Hartz ended his concert with a good reading of Franck’s Pièce héroïque.

We then drove to the tony and very beautiful neighborhood of Cleveland Heights for a recital at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, a large English Gothic structure of Indiana limestone. The 1951 building was designed by J. Beyers Hays of Walker & Weeks, Cleveland. Our Atlas states that the same firm also designed the Public Auditorium in 1922 and Severance Hall in 1930. Karel Paukert is the organist at St. Paul’s and presides over three pipe organs, the most famous being the large organ by Walter Holtkamp built in 1952. It rises behind the altar screen, and has three manuals and pedal, with 44 stops. John Ferguson wrote in the atlas: “St. Paul’s Episcopal organ can be taken as a good example of the mature style of Walter Holtkamp. It was his favorite instrument. Many consider it to be his masterpiece.” But we’ll come to this organ later.
David Schrader began his program on the smallest of the three organs in this church: a one-manual portative organ from 2002 by Czech builder Vladimir Slajch. It stood in the side aisle to our right. Its bright red case with blue and gold trim really made a statement in this mostly white room. Schrader stood as he played some pieces from Frescobaldi’s Fiori Musicali (1635). In the Bergamasca, the gentle flute, Copula, filled the large room easily. He then made his way to the rear balcony, where a second organ awaited him: a 2-manual and pedal, 21-stop Hradetzky from 1986. The pipes are mounted on the railing, and the console is behind the case. The organ is in 17th-century Northern Italian style. It can be hand pumped, and has all manner of toys: drums, bells and whistles. The Toccata per l’Elevazione used the organ’s Voce umana. That was followed by the Ricercar cromatico dopo il credo. Then the fun began with the toy counter as he moved from Frescobaldi to Claude-Benigne Balbastre’s Variations on the Marseillaise and Ça Ira—it was a hoot from start to finish.
Schrader then moved to the Holtkamp behind the altar. The hymn we sang was not well chosen for our group or for the instrument: “God of our fathers, whose almighty hand” (National Hymn). We sing with great gusto, and with this hymn you need powerful solo reeds for the fanfares. The fanfares were written in our music, but he chose not to play them. So that was confusing right from the start. He also played it in a lower key, C major, I think. Then, between the third and fourth verses he played an extended interlude that seemed to wander through the circle of fifths for so long, as he modulated upward, that we were left uncertain as to when we should enter for the last verse. When he played a quasi-fanfare, half of us began to sing, and half waited for two measures. It was quite a rubble. The last piece was Trois Danses by Jehan Alain. I love this work and had been looking forward to it. The organ seemed well suited for it, but Schrader seemed to lose his way. The music lacked an inner pulse, which holds the musical line together.
We then went to the huge Church of the Covenant, another grand English Gothic building made of Indiana limestone. It features a large tower over the crossing containing a 47-bell carillon of Dutch bells. The first thing we did was gather in the church to sing the hymn “All Creatures of Our God and King” (Lasst uns erfreuen), with Jonathan Moyer playing the 5-manual Aeolian-Skinner rebuild of a Skinner organ. The pipes of this organ are placed all over the room, so the effect is rather overwhelming. He played it well and gave us a good demonstration of the instrument. We then ate a box lunch on the beautiful grounds as we listened to carillonneur John Gouwens, who played with fine shading and color music from many periods including an improvisation on a submitted theme.

We then walked over to the beautiful Cleveland Museum of Art. Unfortunately, the large Holtkamp organ was in storage due to renovations in the auditorium. But we did get to hear the Holtkamp Art Deco Portativ from 1935 in a recital by organist Gregory Crowell and soprano Kathryn Stieler. The organ’s case, designed by architect Richard Rychtarik, looks like something that stepped out of a 1930s Fred Astaire movie. The organ marked a return to tracker action in American organ building—a thing that would not be seen again until the 1960s. The recital was held in a reverberant gallery. Dr. Crowell began with Partite sopra La Romanesca by Michelangelo Rossi (1601–1656). Ms. Stieler began with Amarilli, mia bella by Caccini. Her even tone was rich and pure, filling the gallery with sound. Giovanni Legrenzi’s Che fiero costume was next, sung with great fire and freedom. Crowell’s accompaniment was superb.
Then we heard two movements from OHS member David Dahl’s An Italian Suite. Dahl’s writing is quite fine, and Crowell played this music very well, beginning with Pavana and ending with Gagliarda. Ms. Stieler returned for two more songs: the gracious Intorno all’idol mio by Antonio Cesti, followed by the well-known and joyous Già il sole dal Gange by Alessandro Scarlatti. It was an elegant program beautifully performed by two gifted musicians.
We returned to the Marriott to have dinner and get ready for the evening concert, the closing event of what had been a truly great convention. A record 530 registrants took part, even in the difficult economy we were having. The convention sold itself, with stunning photos on display at last summer’s convention in Seattle, in a gorgeous calendar we all received before Christmas, and, of course in the brilliant convention issue of The Tracker magazine, with more photos and tantalizing prose.
And now we found ourselves entering the grand and famous home of the Cleveland Orchestra: Severance Hall in the beautiful University Circle neighborhood. The classical exterior of the 1931 building includes organ pipes in the pediment above the main entry. The interior is pure Art Deco splendor. The big 4-manual Skinner organ from 1931, Opus 816, with 86 stops and 94 ranks, was originally in chambers 41 feet above the stage, speaking downward. Eventually it fell into disuse, and was walled up, thus preserving it. The hall was renovated in 2000, and the organ was moved to new chambers at the back of the stage. Jack M. Bethards was the consultant, and the Schantz organ company renovated the instrument, giving it modern solenoid drawknobs and a multi-level combination action. A façade of 43 non-speaking pipes graces the organ’s front. The console, painted a deep blue, with ivory and walnut colored Art Deco trim, was front and center on the stage.
The recitalist was Thomas Murray, university organist and professor of music at Yale University. He opened with Toccata in F Major, BWV 540, by J. S. Bach, slowly allowing the organ’s sound to grow and blossom. His flawless sense of rhythmic pulse and immaculate technique propelled every phrase. He made the most of those marvelous deceptive cadences. The powerful 32′ reeds came on at the end, leaving us breathless. We had all fallen in love with this organ, and the concert could have ended right there. But we were grateful that there would be more.
Next came Hindemith’s Sonata I (1937), written six years after this organ’s debut. Murray made the most out of this organ’s many fine solo voices. His approach was more orchestral, more dynamic than the usual. The Sehr langsam, for example, began with a plaintive cry from the Choir organ’s Contra Fagotto 16′ played one octave higher. Some of the softer foundation stops were heard, then the Orchestral Oboe—beautiful
E. M. Skinner sounds. Phantasie, frei featured good contrasting sounds. It ends, of course, with Ruhig bewegt, softly reminding us of the first movement. Murray’s pace and choice of color were perfect. The ppp ending on the Choir strings was deeply moving.
Regina Pacis from Guy Weitz’s (1883–1970) Symphony I on Gregorian Themes (1932), a good period piece for this organ, contained the Gregorian Ave Maria. I loved the soft 16′ pedal stops, Dulciana and Gamba, speaking with precision and presence. It grew to a loud dynamic. Instead of a sacred hymn, we sang a hymn to music: Schubert’s An die Musik, a practice they have at Yale graduations. It was a fine touch. For a brief moment we were all Yalies!
After intermission, Murray played Mouvement by Jean Berveiller (1904–1976). Only a few minutes in length, it packs a lot of music with a truly riotous pedal part. He concluded with Calvin Hampton’s transcription of Franck’s Symphony in D Minor. It sounded wonderful in this room, which has just enough reverberation to make the detached chords ring. Murray’s legendary console technique and registration skill were on full display. One also had the sense that this instrument clearly inspired him. The strings and soft reeds are to die for. The Oboe, English Horn, French Horn, and so forth are the stuff of genius. Thank God we still have this instrument’s voices intact as Skinner left them. This symphony, written for orchestra, makes a great organ piece; the transcription was excellent. Thomas Murray played it magnificently. His playing on this glorious and historic masterpiece of an organ—brought back from near extinction—is what the Organ Historical Society is all about. We were all deeply moved by that realization.
My hat is off to the planners of this convention. It ran like a clock. Endlessly fascinating instruments and venues kept us constantly entertained. The hotel was terrific, as was the food. The performers outdid themselves. The Atlas is a great document: kudos to Rollin Smith, Jonathan Ambrosino, Stephen Pinel, Stephen Schnurr, Scot Huntington, and Joseph McCabe for an outstanding job. The photography of William Van Pelt, Victor Hoyt, and Len Levasseur will provide inspiration for years to come. Next summer is Pittsburgh (information: <www.organsociety.org&gt;). I can’t wait! 

Photo credit: William T. Van Pelt, III

OHS 2013: In the Green Mountain State

Barbara Owen
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The 58th annual Organ Historical Society national convention differed in several ways from some of the recent ones. Its hub, Burlington, is the largest city in northern Vermont, but hardly in the same size league as Washington, Pittsburgh, or Chicago—the sprawling urban sites of recent conventions. Yet it is accessible via train, plane, and interstate, culturally vital, and full of amenities from good food to spectacular views of Lake Champlain, not to mention parking. Burlington has some important recent organs, although no really huge ones, and is within easy distance to a pleasing array of smaller towns to the north, east, and south, with a corresponding selection of smaller and older organs, all of them discussed in interesting detail in the substantial accompanying Atlas, edited and largely written by Stephen Pinel. However, that was bedtime reading for many of us, as all the programs, stoplists, and performer biographies were contained in a well-organized and more portable schedule booklet.

Monday, June 24

The convention opened on the evening of Monday, June 24 in the Recital Hall of University of Vermont’s Redstone Campus, with welcoming words by Executive Director James Weaver, Convention Chair Marilyn Polson, and outgoing President Scot Huntington. This year’s Biggs Fellows were introduced, and the 2013 Ogasapian Book Prize was awarded to David Yearsley for his groundbreaking work on organ pedaling and its history. 

This was immediately followed by a recital on UVM’s French-influenced 1975 Fisk organ by well-known recital and recording artist Joan Lippincott, who impressively displayed its French personality in works by Marchand (an opening and decidedly grand Grand Jeu) and de Grigny, and its more hidden German flavor in works by Bach, which included a knowledgable performance of the classic Prelude and Fugue in E-flat Major as the “sandwich” of a varied program that included de Grigny’s Veni Creator, performed liturgically with baritone John McElliott singing the appropriate chants between the registration-oriented organ movements. 

Tuesday, June 25

Tuesday morning we were off and running in buses heading for the east of Burlington, beginning with Hook & Hastings organs in Plainfield (United Methodist, 1873) and Cabot (UCC, 1896)—coincidentally 1,000 opus numbers apart. Although of similar small size, their tonal philosophy differed noticeably, yet both were surprisingly capable of varied repertoire tastefully registered and played by Lynnette Combs (Plainfield) and Permelia Sears (Cabot). In these two programs we heard excellent interpretations of music from the Baroque (Pasquini, Boyce, Muffat, Pachelbel, Homilius), 19th century (Thayer and Buck), and 20th century (Murphy, Langlais, Huston, Sears). 

Two more organs, both somewhat tonally altered (although not greatly to their detriment), rounded out the day’s offerings. The resources of a small organ in Hardwick by a little-known Vermont builder, Edward H. Smith (1887), were capably employed by Robert Barney in a Bach concerto, a Mendelssohn sonata, and a short trio by Vermont native S. B. Whitney, while Samuel Baker also made excellent use of a larger 1868 Johnson organ in Greensboro, which began and ended with 20th-century works by Gawthrop and Willan, sandwiching four varied Baroque and contemporary preludes on Wer nur den lieben Gott by Bach, Krebs, Walcha, and Dupré in between. 

The evening program was back in Burlington at the Congregational Church. It was unique in that it featured two 21st-century continuo organs by
A. David Moore and Scot Huntington, plus an Estey reed organ, in a program of concerted works by Soler, Froberger, Caldara, Wagenseil, and Dvorák (this last with the Estey), all admirably interpreted by organists David Neiweem and Mark Howe, with string players of the Burlington Ensemble.

Wednesday, June 26

Wednesday brought us to the Montpelier area and three larger two-manual organs, all by notable Boston builders. In Montpelier’s Unitarian Church, Carol Britt displayed the 1866 Stevens organ’s varied colors well in four chorale preludes by Willan and Brahms, and showcased the Oboe stop in a delightful Récit de hautbois by Emmanuel Chol, before closing with a robust transcription of an Elgar March. 

In the auditorium of the Montpelier College of Fine Arts, the 1884 Hutchings organ was expertly put through its paces by Paul Tegels in a varied program ranging from two of Haydn’s chirpy “Musical Clock” pieces to three movements of Mendelssohn’s Second Sonata, and closing with contrasted settings of Wer nur den lieben Gott by Böhm and Bach. 

In nearby Stowe, the 1864 Simmons organ in the Community Church, although twice rebuilt and enlarged (but retaining mechanical action), proved a perfect vehicle for an engaging program by John Weaver and his wife, flutist Marianne. Beginning with a smashing Bach Toccata and Fugue in D Minor and ending with Franck’s Choral in E Major, it included two fine works by Weaver, plus his pleasing arrangement for organ and flute of an excerpt from Franck’s Fantasie in A, performed with a borrowed Estey reed organ. Although rain had been threatening all day, the sky cleared that evening for an enjoyable and relaxing sunset dinner cruise on beautiful Lake Champlain.

Thursday, June 27

On Thursday we journeyed north to towns near the Canadian border. St. Albans was the first stop, with three programs. Isabelle Demers led off in Holy Guardian Angels Church in a full-scale program well suited to the resources of the organ built in 1892 by Ernest Desmarais, a Canadian who built organs for a short time in Vermont. Beginning with some little dances by Praetorius, she segued into another set of short pieces by contemporary Canadian composer Rachel Laurin, and then a fine interpretation of Mendelssohn’s Fourth Sonata. The real pièce de resistance, commented upon by many, was her own transcription of four excerpts from Prokofiev’s Cinderella (operatic transcriptions are not dead!), and was followed by a rousing performance of Dupré’s Prelude and Fugue in B Major as a closer. 

Christopher Anderson led off his program on the 1893 Hook & Hastings organ in the Congregational Church with four pleasingly light pieces from Daniel Pinkham’s First Organbook, followed by a sensitive performance of two hitherto unknown and very contrasted works by the young Charles Ives (only published in 2012): a sedate and melodic Canzonetta and a rather crazily bitonal smash on “London Bridge.” Demers had included some of the recently republished Reger and Straube organ expansions of Bach harpsichord pieces, and Anderson did likewise in his closing selections. 

The 1889 Jardine organ in St. Luke’s Church was the final St. Albans stop, and OHS favorite Rosalind Mohnsen did not disappoint in a varied full-scale program that began brightly with the solo organ version of Handel’s Fifth Concerto. Works by Dubois and Dvorák followed, authentically registered on this organ’s Romantic colors, and a Fuga by Cernohorsky revealed its classical side. Contrasting American works were Elmore’s brash Alla Marcia, and a sensitively performed Air from the Suite No. 1 by Florence B. Price, a gifted African-American composer whose classically crafted works have only recently begun to appear on concert programs, as have those of Anglo-African Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, whose Impromptu closed Mohnsen’s program.

From the Romantic and orchestrally flavored late 19th-century organs of St. Albans, a fairly short trip to two nearby rural towns transported us back to the English-inspired early 19th century, represented by two delightful and more gently voiced organs by New York’s Henry Erben in the Episcopal churches of Sheldon (1833) and Highgate Falls (ca. 1837), both remarkable for being unaltered, sensitively restored, and still in use liturgically. Most unusual was the Highgate Falls instrument, with only three stops—Stopped Diapason, Principal, and Trumpet (yes, you read that right). Gregory Crowell made imaginative and effective use of these stops in “period” selections by Handel, Mozart, Loud, and Byrd, plus one of Daniel Pinkham’s Saints’ Days pieces in honor of St. John, for whom the church is named. 

The Sheldon organ is larger, though still of only one manual, transplanted many years ago from St. Paul’s in Burlington. Period-appropriate works by Shaw, Taylor, Pasquini, Stanley, and Rinck again predominated in Peter Crisafulli’s nicely varied program, but the organ also proved equal to a more Romantic Elevazione by Peeters, and even Alec Wyton’s prelude on “We Three Kings,” a tribute to its Vermont-born author, grandson of Vermont’s first Episcopal bishop. 

Evening brought us back to Burlington, and the fine 1864 Hook organ of the First Baptist Church, where Ray Cornils presented an imaginative program of mostly shorter works by American, German, French, and Spanish composers designed to showcase “The Colors of This Organ.” Beginning with Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel’s Prelude in F Major, it ran the gamut from Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in G Major to works featuring flute and trumpet solos, a French toccata by Bédard, and even a theatre-organ staple, Nigel Ogden’s smile-producing Penguin’s Playtime.

Friday, June 28

Friday, the last full day, began with two organs in Randolph. On the United Church’s 1912 organ by Vermont’s most notable organ builder, Estey, George Bozeman expertly brought out its warm and Romantic flavor in his creative use of its eight ranks (and various couplers) in decidedly “period” works by Honegger (Two Pieces, 1917) and Frank Bridge (Three Pieces, 1905). A nicely varied program of works by 20th-century American composers Nevin, Near, Thomson, and Pinkham played by Glenn Kime showcased the 1894 Hutchings organ in Bethany UCC Church, and by concluding with a well-paced performance of the Fugue in E-flat Major proved the organ to be quite capable of convincing Bach performance as well. 

The next stop was Northfield, home of a Hook and two Simmons organs—all, interestingly, “transplants” from other churches. The Hook in St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, dating from 1836 and the builder’s earliest extant two-manual, took us back to the gentler sounds heard the afternoon of the previous day. The English flavor of these early 19th-century American organs was fully exploited by Lois Regestein in a program that began with varied works by Purcell, Stanley, Samuel Wesley, S. S. Wesley, and Arne. The latter’s “Rule Brittania” was given an authentic performance with the verses sung by tenor Edson Gifford, with appropriate interludes. The program concluded with a Trio by Vermont-born S. B. Whitney, and a selection from contemporary composer David Dahl’s English Suite

The versatility of the substantial 1855 Simmons organ in the United Methodist Church was exploited in a varied program by Lubbert Gnodde that included two nicely registered works by Jehan Alain, and seemed quite ideal for two of Karg-Elert’s chorale preludes as well as the smashingly executed Finale from Vierne’s Symphony No. 1 that closed the program. 

Another Simmons of a decade later in St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church also proved equal to a varied program by James Heustis Cook that began with a flowing Frescobaldi Toccata on the warm 8 Principals and a bright Albrechtsberger Prelude and Fugue in B. Works different styles by 19th-century composers Hauser, Lemaigre, Mendelssohn, and Whitney followed, along with orchestrally inspired works by once popular 20th-century composer Harry Vibbard.

It will be observed that throughout the week, works by 19th-century American composers, both early and late, appeared on many programs. And in the final tour stop in the Federated Church of Williamstown, on an organ originally built by Vermonter William Nutting in 1868 and rebuilt by another Vermonter, Harlan Seaver, in 1895, Christopher Marks treated us to a program that was not only based on works by American composers born mostly in the middle decades of the 19th century, but works by these composers—Yon, Lutkin, Whitney, Chadwick, Parker, and Buck—in which canonic forms of the classical style occurred. Yet the ways that they did so also displayed great variety. Yon’s Eco was a double canon, Lutkin’s a quiet Pastorale; five of Chadwick’s Ten Canonic Studies displayed a variety of registrations, and even the hymn sung was the well-known Tallis’ Canon. But the climax was Marks’s brilliant performance of Buck’s Choral March, in which “Ein feste’ Burg” and other themes are expertly canonically woven.

Back in Burlington, we gathered for the final concert on the 1973 Karl Wilhelm organ in the modernistic and acoustically fine St. Paul’s Cathedral that had risen after a devastating fire. While by no means lacking foundation, the organ’s tonal design is Baroque-based, and James David Christie was in fine form for a varied program of Baroque works by Sweelinck, Schildt, Scheidemann, Vivaldi, Krebs, Buttstett, and, of course, Bach. High energy was displayed throughout, not only in the brilliance of Scheidemann’s Alleluia! Laudem dicite Deo and works by Krebs and Buttstedt, but also in the more somber Paduana Lagrima variations of Schildt, the delicately registered little dances from the Van Soldt manuscript, and Christie’s own “Bachian” transcription of Vivaldi’s Concerto in D Major. A vigorous and driving interpretation of Bach’s Fantasia and Fugue in G Minor brought the audience to its feet at the close, and proved a fitting conclusion to a week of fine organs, music, and fellowship.

Saturday, June 29

But wait, there’s a bit more. Just as a shorter and quieter encore can complete a more vigorous concert, so does a lighter optional coda often follow an intensive OHS convention. So on Saturday a smaller number signed up for a brief tour south of Burlington. The first stop was in the unique Round Church (now a museum) in Richmond, where Demetri Sampas successfully coaxed short pieces by Zeuner, Whitney, and Krebs from a rather strange little 19th-century chamber organ of anonymous parentage. 

The next stop was in Vergennes, where in a well-chosen program of works by Bingham, Albright, Langlais, Yon, and Reger at the Methodist Church, Estey expert Philip Stimmel impressed us with what the (on paper) seemingly limited resources of a nine-rank 1927 Estey were capable of in the hands of one who knows what can be done by judicious use of sub and super couplers. 

Also in Vergennes is a pleasing one-manual Hook organ of 1862 in St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, where Margaret Angelini stepped a bit out of the expected box by proving it capable of three short pieces by Jongen, a reed organ Service Prelude by W. H. Clarke, and Daniel Pinkham’s six Versets for Small Organ, which indeed worked well on this small organ. 

The final stop was the sprawling and impressive Shelburne Museum, where we had a leisurely time to wander around some of the exhibits and have lunch in its restaurant before the final program in the Meeting House, home of a small transplanted five-rank Derrick, Felgemaker & Co. organ of ca. 1869, where the OHS’s current Executive Director, James Weaver, also slightly “out of the box,” treated us to a varied program of short works by Stanley, Pachelbel, Merula, and Bach, closing with Domenico Zipoli’s lively Toccata all’ Offertorio

All OHS members, whether attendees or not, received a copy of the impressively researched, written, and illustrated 234-page Atlas, with its detailed history of the organ in the State of Vermont. Non-members, including libraries and historical societies, may still obtain a copy from [email protected]. In addition, the closing recital at St. Paul’s Cathedral was digitally recorded, and has become available. 

The 58th annual Organ Historical Society national convention differed in several ways from some of the recent ones. Its hub, Burlington, is the largest city in northern Vermont, but hardly in the same size league as Washington, Pittsburgh, or Chicago—the sprawling urban sites of recent conventions. Yet it is accessible via train, plane, and interstate, culturally vital, and full of amenities from good food to spectacular views of Lake Champlain, not to mention parking. Burlington has some important recent organs, although no really huge ones, and is within easy distance to a pleasing array of smaller towns to the north, east, and south, with a corresponding selection of smaller and older organs, all of them discussed in interesting detail in the substantial accompanying Atlas, edited and largely written by Stephen Pinel. However, that was bedtime reading for many of us, as all the programs, stoplists, and performer biographies were contained in a well-organized and more portable schedule booklet.

Monday, June 24

The convention opened on the evening of Monday, June 24 in the Recital Hall of University of Vermont’s Redstone Campus, with welcoming words by Executive Director James Weaver, Convention Chair Marilyn Polson, and outgoing President Scot Huntington. This year’s Biggs Fellows were introduced, and the 2013 Ogasapian Book Prize was awarded to David Yearsley for his groundbreaking work on organ pedaling and its history. 

This was immediately followed by a recital on UVM’s French-influenced 1975 Fisk organ by well-known recital and recording artist Joan Lippincott, who impressively displayed its French personality in works by Marchand (an opening and decidedly grand Grand Jeu) and de Grigny, and its more hidden German flavor in works by Bach, which included a knowledgable performance of the classic Prelude and Fugue in E-flat Major as the “sandwich” of a varied program that included de Grigny’s Veni Creator, performed liturgically with baritone John McElliott singing the appropriate chants between the registration-oriented organ movements. 

Tuesday, June 25

Tuesday morning we were off and running in buses heading for the east of Burlington, beginning with Hook & Hastings organs in Plainfield (United Methodist, 1873) and Cabot (UCC, 1896)—coincidentally 1,000 opus numbers apart. Although of similar small size, their tonal philosophy differed noticeably, yet both were surprisingly capable of varied repertoire tastefully registered and played by Lynnette Combs (Plainfield) and Permelia Sears (Cabot). In these two programs we heard excellent interpretations of music from the Baroque (Pasquini, Boyce, Muffat, Pachelbel, Homilius), 19th century (Thayer and Buck), and 20th century (Murphy, Langlais, Huston, Sears). 

Two more organs, both somewhat tonally altered (although not greatly to their detriment), rounded out the day’s offerings. The resources of a small organ in Hardwick by a little-known Vermont builder, Edward H. Smith (1887), were capably employed by Robert Barney in a Bach concerto, a Mendelssohn sonata, and a short trio by Vermont native S. B. Whitney, while Samuel Baker also made excellent use of a larger 1868 Johnson organ in Greensboro, which began and ended with 20th-century works by Gawthrop and Willan, sandwiching four varied Baroque and contemporary preludes on Wer nur den lieben Gott by Bach, Krebs, Walcha, and Dupré in between. 

The evening program was back in Burlington at the Congregational Church. It was unique in that it featured two 21st-century continuo organs by
A. David Moore and Scot Huntington, plus an Estey reed organ, in a program of concerted works by Soler, Froberger, Caldara, Wagenseil, and Dvorák (this last with the Estey), all admirably interpreted by organists David Neiweem and Mark Howe, with string players of the Burlington Ensemble.

Wednesday, June 26

Wednesday brought us to the Montpelier area and three larger two-manual organs, all by notable Boston builders. In Montpelier’s Unitarian Church, Carol Britt displayed the 1866 Stevens organ’s varied colors well in four chorale preludes by Willan and Brahms, and showcased the Oboe stop in a delightful Récit de hautbois by Emmanuel Chol, before closing with a robust transcription of an Elgar March. 

In the auditorium of the Montpelier College of Fine Arts, the 1884 Hutchings organ was expertly put through its paces by Paul Tegels in a varied program ranging from two of Haydn’s chirpy “Musical Clock” pieces to three movements of Mendelssohn’s Second Sonata, and closing with contrasted settings of Wer nur den lieben Gott by Böhm and Bach. 

In nearby Stowe, the 1864 Simmons organ in the Community Church, although twice rebuilt and enlarged (but retaining mechanical action), proved a perfect vehicle for an engaging program by John Weaver and his wife, flutist Marianne. Beginning with a smashing Bach Toccata and Fugue in D Minor and ending with Franck’s Choral in E Major, it included two fine works by Weaver, plus his pleasing arrangement for organ and flute of an excerpt from Franck’s Fantasie in A, performed with a borrowed Estey reed organ. Although rain had been threatening all day, the sky cleared that evening for an enjoyable and relaxing sunset dinner cruise on beautiful Lake Champlain.

Thursday, June 27

On Thursday we journeyed north to towns near the Canadian border. St. Albans was the first stop, with three programs. Isabelle Demers led off in Holy Guardian Angels Church in a full-scale program well suited to the resources of the organ built in 1892 by Ernest Desmarais, a Canadian who built organs for a short time in Vermont. Beginning with some little dances by Praetorius, she segued into another set of short pieces by contemporary Canadian composer Rachel Laurin, and then a fine interpretation of Mendelssohn’s Fourth Sonata. The real pièce de resistance, commented upon by many, was her own transcription of four excerpts from Prokofiev’s Cinderella (operatic transcriptions are not dead!), and was followed by a rousing performance of Dupré’s Prelude and Fugue in B Major as a closer. 

Christopher Anderson led off his program on the 1893 Hook & Hastings organ in the Congregational Church with four pleasingly light pieces from Daniel Pinkham’s First Organbook, followed by a sensitive performance of two hitherto unknown and very contrasted works by the young Charles Ives (only published in 2012): a sedate and melodic Canzonetta and a rather crazily bitonal smash on “London Bridge.” Demers had included some of the recently republished Reger and Straube organ expansions of Bach harpsichord pieces, and Anderson did likewise in his closing selections. 

The 1889 Jardine organ in St. Luke’s Church was the final St. Albans stop, and OHS favorite Rosalind Mohnsen did not disappoint in a varied full-scale program that began brightly with the solo organ version of Handel’s Fifth Concerto. Works by Dubois and Dvorák followed, authentically registered on this organ’s Romantic colors, and a Fuga by Cernohorsky revealed its classical side. Contrasting American works were Elmore’s brash Alla Marcia, and a sensitively performed Air from the Suite No. 1 by Florence B. Price, a gifted African-American composer whose classically crafted works have only recently begun to appear on concert programs, as have those of Anglo-African Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, whose Impromptu closed Mohnsen’s program.

From the Romantic and orchestrally flavored late 19th-century organs of St. Albans, a fairly short trip to two nearby rural towns transported us back to the English-inspired early 19th century, represented by two delightful and more gently voiced organs by New York’s Henry Erben in the Episcopal churches of Sheldon (1833) and Highgate Falls (ca. 1837), both remarkable for being unaltered, sensitively restored, and still in use liturgically. Most unusual was the Highgate Falls instrument, with only three stops—Stopped Diapason, Principal, and Trumpet (yes, you read that right). Gregory Crowell made imaginative and effective use of these stops in “period” selections by Handel, Mozart, Loud, and Byrd, plus one of Daniel Pinkham’s Saints’ Days pieces in honor of St. John, for whom the church is named. 

The Sheldon organ is larger, though still of only one manual, transplanted many years ago from St. Paul’s in Burlington. Period-appropriate works by Shaw, Taylor, Pasquini, Stanley, and Rinck again predominated in Peter Crisafulli’s nicely varied program, but the organ also proved equal to a more Romantic Elevazione by Peeters, and even Alec Wyton’s prelude on “We Three Kings,” a tribute to its Vermont-born author, grandson of Vermont’s first Episcopal bishop. 

Evening brought us back to Burlington, and the fine 1864 Hook organ of the First Baptist Church, where Ray Cornils presented an imaginative program of mostly shorter works by American, German, French, and Spanish composers designed to showcase “The Colors of This Organ.” Beginning with Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel’s Prelude in F Major, it ran the gamut from Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in G Major to works featuring flute and trumpet solos, a French toccata by Bédard, and even a theatre-organ staple, Nigel Ogden’s smile-producing Penguin’s Playtime.

Friday, June 28

Friday, the last full day, began with two organs in Randolph. On the United Church’s 1912 organ by Vermont’s most notable organ builder, Estey, George Bozeman expertly brought out its warm and Romantic flavor in his creative use of its eight ranks (and various couplers) in decidedly “period” works by Honegger (Two Pieces, 1917) and Frank Bridge (Three Pieces, 1905). A nicely varied program of works by 20th-century American composers Nevin, Near, Thomson, and Pinkham played by Glenn Kime showcased the 1894 Hutchings organ in Bethany UCC Church, and by concluding with a well-paced performance of the Fugue in E-flat Major proved the organ to be quite capable of convincing Bach performance as well. 

The next stop was Northfield, home of a Hook and two Simmons organs—all, interestingly, “transplants” from other churches. The Hook in St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, dating from 1836 and the builder’s earliest extant two-manual, took us back to the gentler sounds heard the afternoon of the previous day. The English flavor of these early 19th-century American organs was fully exploited by Lois Regestein in a program that began with varied works by Purcell, Stanley, Samuel Wesley, S. S. Wesley, and Arne. The latter’s “Rule Brittania” was given an authentic performance with the verses sung by tenor Edson Gifford, with appropriate interludes. The program concluded with a Trio by Vermont-born S. B. Whitney, and a selection from contemporary composer David Dahl’s English Suite

The versatility of the substantial 1855 Simmons organ in the United Methodist Church was exploited in a varied program by Lubbert Gnodde that included two nicely registered works by Jehan Alain, and seemed quite ideal for two of Karg-Elert’s chorale preludes as well as the smashingly executed Finale from Vierne’s Symphony No. 1 that closed the program. 

Another Simmons of a decade later in St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church also proved equal to a varied program by James Heustis Cook that began with a flowing Frescobaldi Toccata on the warm 8 Principals and a bright Albrechtsberger Prelude and Fugue in B. Works different styles by 19th-century composers Hauser, Lemaigre, Mendelssohn, and Whitney followed, along with orchestrally inspired works by once popular 20th-century composer Harry Vibbard.

It will be observed that throughout the week, works by 19th-century American composers, both early and late, appeared on many programs. And in the final tour stop in the Federated Church of Williamstown, on an organ originally built by Vermonter William Nutting in 1868 and rebuilt by another Vermonter, Harlan Seaver, in 1895, Christopher Marks treated us to a program that was not only based on works by American composers born mostly in the middle decades of the 19th century, but works by these composers—Yon, Lutkin, Whitney, Chadwick, Parker, and Buck—in which canonic forms of the classical style occurred. Yet the ways that they did so also displayed great variety. Yon’s Eco was a double canon, Lutkin’s a quiet Pastorale; five of Chadwick’s Ten Canonic Studies displayed a variety of registrations, and even the hymn sung was the well-known Tallis’ Canon. But the climax was Marks’s brilliant performance of Buck’s Choral March, in which “Ein feste’ Burg” and other themes are expertly canonically woven.

Back in Burlington, we gathered for the final concert on the 1973 Karl Wilhelm organ in the modernistic and acoustically fine St. Paul’s Cathedral that had risen after a devastating fire. While by no means lacking foundation, the organ’s tonal design is Baroque-based, and James David Christie was in fine form for a varied program of Baroque works by Sweelinck, Schildt, Scheidemann, Vivaldi, Krebs, Buttstett, and, of course, Bach. High energy was displayed throughout, not only in the brilliance of Scheidemann’s Alleluia! Laudem dicite Deo and works by Krebs and Buttstedt, but also in the more somber Paduana Lagrima variations of Schildt, the delicately registered little dances from the Van Soldt manuscript, and Christie’s own “Bachian” transcription of Vivaldi’s Concerto in D Major. A vigorous and driving interpretation of Bach’s Fantasia and Fugue in G Minor brought the audience to its feet at the close, and proved a fitting conclusion to a week of fine organs, music, and fellowship.

Saturday, June 29

But wait, there’s a bit more. Just as a shorter and quieter encore can complete a more vigorous concert, so does a lighter optional coda often follow an intensive OHS convention. So on Saturday a smaller number signed up for a brief tour south of Burlington. The first stop was in the unique Round Church (now a museum) in Richmond, where Demetri Sampas successfully coaxed short pieces by Zeuner, Whitney, and Krebs from a rather strange little 19th-century chamber organ of anonymous parentage. 

The next stop was in Vergennes, where in a well-chosen program of works by Bingham, Albright, Langlais, Yon, and Reger at the Methodist Church, Estey expert Philip Stimmel impressed us with what the (on paper) seemingly limited resources of a nine-rank 1927 Estey were capable of in the hands of one who knows what can be done by judicious use of sub and super couplers. 

Also in Vergennes is a pleasing one-manual Hook organ of 1862 in St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, where Margaret Angelini stepped a bit out of the expected box by proving it capable of three short pieces by Jongen, a reed organ Service Prelude by W. H. Clarke, and Daniel Pinkham’s six Versets for Small Organ, which indeed worked well on this small organ. 

The final stop was the sprawling and impressive Shelburne Museum, where we had a leisurely time to wander around some of the exhibits and have lunch in its restaurant before the final program in the Meeting House, home of a small transplanted five-rank Derrick, Felgemaker & Co. organ of ca. 1869, where the OHS’s current Executive Director, James Weaver, also slightly “out of the box,” treated us to a varied program of short works by Stanley, Pachelbel, Merula, and Bach, closing with Domenico Zipoli’s lively Toccata all’ Offertorio

All OHS members, whether attendees or not, received a copy of the impressively researched, written, and illustrated 234-page Atlas, with its detailed history of the organ in the State of Vermont. Non-members, including libraries and historical societies, may still obtain a copy from [email protected]. In addition, the closing recital at St. Paul’s Cathedral was digitally recorded, and has become available. 

AGO National Convention, Washington, D.C., July 5–8, 2010

Marijim Thoene, Francine Maté, Thomas Marshall

Marijim Thoene received a DMA in organ performance/church music from the University of Michigan in 1984. She is an active recitalist and director of music at St. John Lutheran Church in Dundee, Michigan. Her two CDs, Mystics and Spirits and Wind Song, are available through Raven Recordings. She is a frequent presenter at medieval conferences on the topic of the image of the pipe organ in medieval manuscripts.

Francine Maté has lived in Washington, D.C. for 26 years. She has been organist/choirmaster and director of the Bach Festival at Grace Episcopal Church in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. since 1998.

Thomas Marshall is instructor of organ and harpsichord at the College of William and Mary in
Williamsburg, Virginia, where he also serves as organist/associate director of music at Williamsburg
United Methodist Church. He holds degrees in organ/harpsichord performance from James Madison University and the University of Michigan. His teachers include Carol Teti, Richard McPherson, Marilyn Mason, and Edward Parmentier.

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It was sad to see four days of music-
making in which each performer invested every fiber of his or her being into producing sounds that dazzled, soothed, and transported the listener come to an end; however, as the poet Kenneth Rexroth said, “It is impossible to live in a constant state of ecstasy!” Certainly the four days of the AGO national convention provided the listener with the opportunity to be swept up in ephemeral and fleeting beauty that can be recalled as sacred moments in time.
There were several pre-convention programs that set the stage for the opening program at the National Cathedral, two of which were the organ recitals on July 4 at Grace Episcopal Church in Georgetown by Thomas Marshall, who played the complete organ concertos of J. S. Bach, and at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception by Roland Maria Stangier of Essen, Germany.

July 4
Thomas Marshall
In his performance of J.S. Bach’s complete organ concerti, Thomas Marshall gave us a glimpse of a young Bach, a brilliant organ virtuoso and composer who filled his organ concerti with scintillating, pyrotechnical dances and lyrical melodies. This pre-convention event was part of the Seventeenth Bach Festival at Grace Episcopal Church in Georgetown, directed by Francine Maté, organist and choirmaster at Grace. Marshall made this music his own by adding eloquent ornaments, shaping and moving tempi. All of the concerti were played with a rhythmical vitality.
However, it was the seldom-heard Concerto in C Major, BWV 594, an arrangement of Vivaldi’s “Grosso Mogul” Concerto in D Major (op. 7, no. 5, RV 285a), which was the most riveting and tantalizing. Here the forces of the concerto form, tutti vs. soli, become a new genre for the organ—all of the movements are expanded to new dimensions and the dialogue between soli divisions are more intense. In the slow movement, Marshall added a few ornaments to the already ornamented coloratura melody and seamlessly bound the melody to the accompaniment. In the third movement, he reflected the contrasts between the formal and mannerly tutti section and the soli sections with registration that recalled full ensemble vs. gossamer strands of birdsong. Marshall’s formidable technique and sense of drama made the voices within this transparent texture shimmer. His CD, The Organ Concertos of Johann Sebastian Bach, is available through Arts Laureate, <A HREF="http://artslaureate.com">http://artslaureate.com</A&gt;.

July 5
Opening Convocation

On July 5 at 7:30 am, tour buses pulled away from the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, carrying over 2,000 organists and organ music enthusiasts to the opening convocation at the National Cathedral, featuring the Washington National Cathedral Choir, Cathedral Voices, Michael McCarthy, director of music, Scott Dettra, organist, and the Washington Symphonic Brass with Phil Snedecor, music director. The prelude music was riveting in its grandeur and freshness: Ancient Airs and Dances, Suite No. 3 (Passacaglia and Air di Corte) by Ottorino Respighi; Symphony No. 3, op. 27 (I. Finale: Allegro) by Carl Nielsen, featuring the Washington Symphonic Brass and A. Scott Wood, conductor; and a commissioned work, Theme and Variation on “Le P’ing,” by Michael Bedford, winner of the 2010 AGO/Holtkamp award in organ composition. Bedford incorporated a variety of compositional styles in his poetic interpretation the text of Psalm 19:4b–5: bird song, elements of jazz, a fiery toccata, and floating arabesque figures. The television screens that focused on the performers, especially the feet and hands of Scott Dettra, gave a welcome immediacy to the performance.
The processional hymn, Lasst uns erfreuen, was sung with great gusto as the pageantry began. Eileen Guenther, president of the American Guild of Organists, commented that the convention was really international in scope, for it included performers, lecturers, and guests from many countries. Ronald Stolk, the AGO 2010 convention coordinator, thanked all of the many volunteers who gave generously of their time and worked tirelessly in planning the convention. The commissioned hymn, Great Voice of God (music by Mary Beth Bennett, words by Shirley Erena Murray), aptly expressed the text: “Great voice of God in all your good creation, make us your instruments of blessedness.” It was introduced by a brass ensemble and percussion, and the hymn verses were sung in alternatim with the instrumental ensemble.
The Reverend Dr. Thomas H. Troeger, AGO national chaplain, spoke of his own profound love of J. S. Bach, and said there are things technology cannot solve—the need for a discerning heart and a mind to be attuned to the spirit of the living God. He concluded saying: “Every time you make music you are calling people back to the better spirit—to beauty, wonder and joy.”
The commissioned anthem, Exultate iusti by Rihards Dubra, like Michael Bedford’s anthem, is an exemplar of text painting. Here the texts of Psalm 33:1–6, 8–12, 18, and 20–20 are exquisitely reflected in multiple resources and textures: an orchestra with solos for chimes, muted trumpets, a counter tenor, a children’s choir, full chorus, kettle drum, xylophone, and organ. This score is a great addition to the repertoire of sacred music.
The service closed with the joyous and triumphal hymn, As Newborn Stars Were Stirred to Song, introduced by a brass choir, with words by Carl P. Daw, Jr. and music by John Karl Hirten. The organ voluntary, Festival Fanfare by Kenneth Leighton, was deftly played by Scott Dettra. The energy and stamina of the cathedral organist is amazing, for later in the day he would play at the Bach Vespers as well as at the opening concert at the National Cathedral, where he played Samuel Barber’s Toccata Festiva, op. 36 and the demanding organ part in Paul Paray’s Mass for the 500th Anniversary of the Death of Joan of Arc.

Workshop, Dr. Leo Rozmaryn
The workshop “From Brain to Fingertips: Neuro-Muscular Control,” given by Dr. Leo Rozmaryn, addressed the physiological processes involved in organ playing and gave some helpful advice on how to avoid injuries. Dr. Rozmaryn, a surgeon, has worked in the field of what he calls “Music Medicine” for thirty years. He pointed out how the brain of a professional keyboard musician is different from a non-musician’s brain. A keyboard player has more gray matter: the “corpus callosum”—the division between the right and left parts of the brain—is much bigger than in a non-musician. He defined the debilitating injury of focal dystonia, saying that it is a neurological disorder originating in the brain that causes loss of coordination and motor control in the hand, and that some of the following has been effective in its management: retraining, i.e., changing one’s technique by way of the Dorothy Taubman method; instrument modification; botulinum injection; and physical therapy. He praised the work of Sandy Austin, a physical therapist at Arlington Hospital, for her success in working with injured musicians.
Dr. Rozmaryn began his second session by recommending Janet Horvath’s award-winning book, Playing Less Hurt, for musicians on how to avoid injuries. He admonished organists to pay attention to their bodies, saying that when injured musicians come to him, they tell him they don’t have time to eat a balanced diet, to exercise, or to get a good night’s sleep. He advises every organist to remember they are athletes. They should have music in one hand and a gym bag in the other. In music schools in Scandinavia, musicians do aerobics after 40 minutes of practice.
He discussed a number of injuries common to organists and possible treatment modalities. Some common ailments and possible treatment included low back and neck problems due to poor, static posture for long periods of time. He suggested taking frequent breaks and avoiding drooping shoulders. To avoid carpal tunnel syndrome, he advised keeping the wrist in neutral position and to never practice for longer than 30 minutes at a time. If surgical intervention is necessary, you should not use your hands for four weeks following surgery. He suggested Richard Norris’s book on the topic, Return to Play, and the website <A HREF="http://www.theorthocentermed.com">www.theorthocentermed.com</A&gt; for doctors and hand exercises. For cubital tunnel syndrome he suggested sleeping with arms outstretched, and for thoracic outlet syndrome he suggested arm rolls.

July 6
Hymn Festival
The cavernous National City Christian Church was packed with standing room only for the hymn festival, “We Believe in One God,” led by Bruce Neswick. The prelude included five demanding hymn arrangements played by the Virginia Bronze Handbell Ensemble, directed by Carol Martin, the National Brass Quintet, and percussionists Doug Wallace and Bill Richards. Especially memorable was ‘Twas in the Moon of Wintertime, arranged by Cynthia Carlson. Here the handbells were augmented with a marimba and tiny wind chimes. The spirited and energetic commissioned work, Doxology on Conditor Alme Siderum for handbells, brass quartet, and tympani arranged by Hart Morris, set the tone for the entire festival of hymns.
Bruce Neswick’s choice of hymns and organ descants reflected his keen awareness of the best of the repertoire: Christ is made the sure foundation, descant by Richard Wayne Dirksen; The stars declare his glory, descant by Richard Proulx; Of the Father’s love begotten, introduction by Gerre Hancock and descant by David Willcocks; and Lord, you give the great commission, introduction for brass and organ, solo organ, interlude for brass and organ, and descant by Bruce Neswick. The anthem, O risen Christ, still wounded by Bruce Neswick and commissioned by Christ Church Virginia, was performed by the Cantate Chamber Singers directed by Gisèle Becker, and is another great addition to sacred literature.
The final hymn, Lord, you give the great commission, sung exuberantly by over a thousand and joined by brass and soaring organ descant, was truly the most fervent prayer imaginable: “Lord, you bless with words assuring: ‘I am with you to the end.’ Faith and hope and love restoring, may we serve as you intend, and amid the cares that claim us, hold in mind eternity.” The concluding voluntary, Neswick’s improvised toccata, was stunning and a fitting Amen to the festival of readings and hymns of the liturgical year.

Jean-Baptiste Robin and Elizabeth Blakeslee
In the elegant and historical St. John’s of Lafayette Square, Jean-Baptiste Robin, organist of the Royal Chapel in Versailles Palace, and Elizabeth Blakeslee, harpist in the National Symphony Orchestra, performed music by Debussy, Jehan Alain, Robin, and a commissioned work by Rachel Laurin with assurance and remarkable virtuosity. The delicacy and transparency of Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune transcribed for harp and organ by Robin were apparent in the dry acoustic at St. John’s. Robin performed Alain’s Trois Danses from memory and gave a meticulous rendering of the score, observing Alain’s fiendishly demanding tempi markings.
I wish Robin had written more about the “23 reflecting modes” that he created and alluded to in his program notes describing his own composition Cercles Réfléchissants (“Reflecting Circles”). The two movements he played from this work reflect his unique compositional vocabulary, which in turn hinted at mysterious shifting wind movements. In her commissioned work, Fantasia for Organ and Harp, op. 52, Rachel Laurin interwove the intimate color palettes of the harp and organ with remarkable dexterity, especially in the second movement when flutes 8′, 4′ and 2′ played in dialogue with the harp. The same balance was present in the third movement in a totally contrasting mood—triumphant chords on the organ vs. powerful chords and flourishes on the harp.

Ezequiel Menéndez
Historic Organs in Argentina
Ezequiel Menéndez gave an informative and intriguing lecture on “Historic Organs in Argentina: A Hidden Treasure” that reflected his many years of research and study on the subject. He began by stating that in Buenos Aires, within one square mile one can see organs from France, Germany, England, and Italy. During the Age of Enlightenment, Argentina was the richest country in the world, and people from all over Europe settled there and brought with them their culture, which included pipe organs from their own countries. The inventory of pipe organs in Argentina built by famous builders is impressive: there were 39 organs from Italy, one built in 1868 by Serassi for the Church of Monserrat; 101 organs from Germany; and a Cavaillé-Coll was shipped in 1885 to a Jesuit church in El Salvador and moved in 1912 to the Basilica Del Santissimo Sacramento in Buenos Aires.

July 7
Morning Prayer
Attending Morning Prayer in the large reverberant sanctuary of St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church was a beautiful way to start the day. The Psalms were sung in by the choir (the Countertop Ensemble, directed by Chris Dudley) in alternatim with the assembly. The masterful and thoughtful improvisations on the antiphons played by Ronald Stolk, director of music at St. Patrick, were a welcome contrast to the austerity of the reading of the lessons and the intoning of the Psalms and Canticles. I wished he had played more.

Worship Service for Children
The Worship Service for Children, featuring the Children’s Chorus of Washington directed by Joan Gregoryk, held in the 1860 Calvary Baptist Church, was choreographed with amazing precision. Following the organ voluntary composed and played by 22-year-old Justus Parrotta, the choir of young singers (30 girls and four boys) quietly processed down the two side aisles, and Dr. Gregoryk, without saying a word, motioned her choir to begin singing the canon Dona nobis pacem, then cued each section of the audience to join in singing the canon, which was an effective introit. A portion of the text was repeated as an antiphon throughout the singing of Psalm 85. The program—music from the Taizé Community, Mendelssohn, an African-American spiritual arranged by Moses Hogan, and Jewish song by Allan E. Naplan—was sung with enthusiasm and from memory. Dr. Gregoryk is obviously a strict taskmaster to present such a polished choir with excellent diction, good blend, and good pitch. She also communicates her joy in the music, which was mirrored in the faces of her singers. Parrotta’s spirited playing of the first movement of J.S. Bach’s Concerto in A Minor, BWV 593, was a perfect ending to this program.

Isabelle Demers
For me, Isabelle Demers’ memorized recital was one of the most memorable recitals of the convention. St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church was a perfect venue for her program: Prélude from First Symphony, op. 36 by Rachel Laurin; Three Psalm Preludes, op. 32, Set 1, No. 2, by Herbert Howells; Symphonic Chorale on “Jesu, meine Freude,” op. 87/2, Introduzione (inferno), Canzone, Fuga con Corale, by Karg-Elert; Organ Symphony No. 2, op. 20, by Louis Vierne; Scherzo and Toccata from First Symphony, op. 36 by Rachel Laurin. Demers made each work her own, investing herself in the music, from Howells’s quiet lyricism to Karg-Elert’s diabolical roar. Her brilliant technique served always to make the music soar. This gift was especially apparent in Rachel Laurin’s Toccata. The audience was dazzled by her magnificent performance.

July 8
Nathan Laube
Nathan Laube opened his recital at the National Presbyterian Church with his transcription of Johann Strauss’s Overture to Die Fledermaus. Laube’s deftness at registration was apparent as each section flowed seamlessly into another. He is a gifted dramatist, and succeeded in catching up the audience in the dance. After thunderous applause he announced that the day was his 22nd birthday, and we all promptly sang “Happy Birthday.” His performance of Joseph Jongen’s Sonata Eroïca pour Grand Orgue, op. 94, and Charles Tournemire’s L’Orgue Mystique, Cycle de Noël, Suite No. 7, op. 55, also showed him to be a master at registration as he moved smoothly from one section to another.
The tour de force of his concert was his performance of Maurice Duruflé’s Suite pour Orgue, op. 5. His playing was flawless, inspired, and for want of a better word, transporting. As an encore he played Chopin’s Etude in C-sharp Minor, op. 10, no. 4, and met with even more thunderous applause.

Isabelle Demers
Max Reger workshop
Isabelle Demers’ workshop on Max Reger’s Orgelbüchlein was held at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, an elegant, isolated chapel in Rock Creek Parish, surrounded by a cemetery. Ms. Demers gave an overview of Reger’s chorale preludes, alluding to those suited for church services and those better suited for concerts. She discussed aspects of Reger’s life and how events shaped his compositional style, his quirkiness and spirituality. In her handout, she ranked each of the 52 preludes according to difficulty and listed the timing of each. It was enlightening to hear some of Reger’s chorale preludes played from memory by Ms. Demers in this reverberant space on the mechanical action organ II/27 built by Dobson.

Marijim Thoene received a DMA in organ performance/church music from the University of Michigan in 1984. She is an active recitalist and director of music at St. John Lutheran Church in Dundee, Michigan. Her two CDs, Mystics and Spirits and Wind Song, are available through Raven Recordings. She is a frequent presenter at medieval conferences on the topic of the image of the pipe organ in medieval manuscripts.

July 5
Jonathan Biggers
Jonathan Biggers, who holds the Edwin Link Endowed Professorship in Organ and Harpsichord at Binghamton University, began his program with Craig Phillips’s Fantasia on “Sine Nomine” (2007). This work was commissioned by the University of Iowa to honor Professor Delbert Disselhorst’s retirement, and is based on the tune by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Among the many interesting sections of the piece are octave “D” leaps in the fugue, which refer to Delbert Disselhorst. Dr. Biggers ended his performance of the work with a brilliantly played toccata.
The Passacaglia by Leo Sowerby (from the Symphony for Organ, 1930) is similar to Sowerby’s posthumous passacaglia, which was edited by Ronald Stalford. The earlier passacaglia from the symphony is less tight than the posthumous piece. Biggers’ interpretation, however, provided a convincing musical continuity in the multi-variation work.
National Presbyterian Church is a modern edifice that provided a stark contrast to the Gothic style of Washington National Cathedral, the site of the opening service just 1½ hours before Biggers’ recital. The present building was designed by Harold E. Wagoner, with the main sanctuary seating 1,260. The church’s cornerstone was laid by President Eisenhower on October 14, 1967; the first worship service at this site took place on September 7, 1969. The organ at National Presbyterian Church is an Aeolian-Skinner, Opus 1456, IV/115, installed in 1970. From 1987 to the present, the organ has been rebuilt and added to by the Di Gennaro-Hart Organ Company.
Biggers’ recital ended with the Reger Phantasie und Fuge d-moll, op. 135b. It was thrilling and brought the full house to a rousing standing ovation! Biggers repeated this program at 11:30 am on July 5.

Paul Jacobs
Next was a marvelous recital at St. Anne’s Catholic Church by Paul Jacobs, chairman of the organ department at Juilliard School of Music. St. Anne’s is a lovely church located a few blocks north of National Presbyterian Church. Jacobs’ recital was performed by memory, and was absolutely perfect. The 1999 Létourneau three-manual organ is in the rear gallery. I was sitting close to the gallery in the back of the church, and it was relatively easy for me to simply turn around and watch him. However, there was a giant screen in the front of the church, and by watching the big screen, Jacobs was magnified and in full view for the entire audience. The program included the Reger Sonata in D Minor, op. 60 (1901), Prelude in F Major (1912) by Nadia Boulanger, and the Franck Final, op. 21 (1866). Jacobs was treated to a rousing standing ovation at the end of his flawless performance.

Bach Vespers at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church
The Washington Bach Consort
The venue for the Bach Vespers at St. Paul’s Lutheran in Washington, D.C., was perhaps similar to what the setting might have been like in the Thomas-kirche during Bach’s tenure in Leipzig. St. Paul’s, like the Thomaskirche, has lovely stained glass. I thought the light illuminating through the stained glass on this day was very similar to the way the stained glass in the Thomaskirche looked the times I have been fortunate enough to be there.
J. Reilly Lewis, director of the Bach Consort, conducted the vespers service. Lewis has been a Bach icon on the East Coast for many years. His performances are always very musical, and his interpretation of Bach’s music is impeccable.
Scott Dettra was the organist for this service. He serves as organist and associate director of music at Washington National Cathedral, as well as assistant conductor and keyboard artist of Washington Bach Consort and the Cathedral Choral Society. Dettra was organist for the opening service at 8:30 am on Monday, organist for this service, and organist for the evening concert back at the National Cathedral. He is an outstanding musician, and his ability to seamlessly go from the cathedral organ to the Johan Deblieck continuo organ for his continuo part in the Bach cantata at St. Paul’s, up to the organ loft at St. Paul’s to play the St. Paul’s Schantz three-manual organ, and then to the cathedral again that evening, was more than remarkable.
The St. Michael’s Day Vespers service began with the organ prelude, Toccata in F, BWV 540/1 of Bach, played splendidly by Lewis. This was followed by the Bach Kyrie, BWV 233A, and the complete Cantata BWV 130, Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir. The Bach Consort, as always, sang with great exhilaration and musical conviction. All chorales in the service were sung in German by the congregation—the singing by the organists at this service was marvelous. The service also included a fine sermon, prepared especially for organists, by St. Paul’s pastor, The Reverend Dr. John Witvliet.

Opening Concert
Washington National Cathedral
The opening concert of the convention was performed at Washington National Cathedral by the Cathedral Choral Society and members of the National Gallery Orchestra conducted by J. Reilly Lewis. This program was a continuation of
J. Reilly Lewis’ 25th anniversary as conductor of the Cathedral Choral Society.
The program began with Scott Dettra performing the Toccata Festiva, op. 36 (1960) by Samuel Barber. Dettra performed this work with excitement and verve as if he had rested and prepared all day in order to wow this audience of 2,000-plus organists.
The second and major work on the program was Paul Paray’s Mass for the 500th Anniversary of the Death of Joan of Arc (1931). The acoustics of Washington National Cathedral provided the perfect venue for this monumental work. The lyricism of the Kyrie was quite beautiful, and the Cathedral Choral Society’s superbly blended voices filled the glorious space of the cathedral. Even though the cathedral was full to capacity in both the morning opening service and the concert that evening, one could hear a pin drop due to the intensity of listening that all organists possess, and which we exhibited on this day.

July 6
David Higgs
The United States Naval Academy
The recital by David Higgs was flawless, so very musical, and the audience of organists was so breathtakingly attentive, as was the case at all of the recitals and concerts at the convention. This organ was originally built by the Hutchins Organ Company in 1908, and rebuilt by the Möller Organ Company of Hagerstown, Maryland. Many renovations were made this past year, and the organ is currently 268 ranks with two consoles.
I typically would rather hear Bach played on a mechanical action instrument, but Higgs’s playing of the Passacaglia in C Minor, BWV 582, was a masterpiece of performance and pure musicality. His drive and care given to the monumental work was simply thrilling. The final piece on the programmed portion of the recital, Widor’s Symphony VI in G Minor, op. 42 “brought the house down” with the audience’s immediate standing ovation. How could there be more excitement to come? Ah, yes!! The encore, In a Persian Market by Albert Ketèlbey and arranged by Frank Matthews, just swept us off our feet, literally! “Persian Market” was not only “fun” music, but the magnificent organ at the Naval Academy Chapel has theatre organ stops. The polite, reserved and attentive organists of all the previous recitals and concerts, became “out of control” with enthusiasm for this piece! All the bells, drums, whistles, and stops were pulled out!
The United States Naval Academy Chapel holds 2,000 people, and of the 2,200 attendees at the convention, 2,000 of them attended Higgs’s recital. One of the many marks of great organization came at the end of the concert when the 2,000 organists were bused back to the Marriott in Washington after the concert. Kudos to Dr. Carol Guglielm for orchestrating this important, and most complicated transportation event—there were 35 buses waiting to pick up 2,000 organists after David Higgs’s program!

Pre- and post-convention events
Among the numerous pre-convention events was the first part of the 17th Annual Bach Festival at Grace Church, Georgetown, of which I am the director. My colleague and friend, Roland Stangier from Essen, Germany, performed in our Bach Festival on July 3, and 23 hours later performed a completely different program at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Professor Stangier’s recital in the Bach Festival was entitled “Bach and His European Colleagues.” Grace Church is home to an A. David Moore 1981 two-manual mechanical action instrument. Composers on Stangier’s program included Pablo Bruna (Spain), Samuel Scheidt (Germany), Andreas Kneller (North Germany), Gaspard Corrette (France), Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (Italy), Charles John Stanley (England), and J.S. Bach (Trio Sonata in D Minor). Professor Stangier, as his usual practice, ended the recital with an improvisation.
Stangier’s program was full of variety and nuance—he is a very energetic and musical performer. His performance of Bach’s trio sonata was full of ornamentation that I had never before considered. This made the work fresh and new, even though the works of Bach rarely need any new performance ideas.
I presented Professor Stangier with two themes on which to improvise that were from the concert I had performed at 3 pm in our festival that afternoon: 1) the “Nun komm der Heiden Heiland” chorale tune, and 2) the lilting flute melody from the famous “Sheep May Safely Graze.” Stangier wove these two themes into a tightly knit piece. I only wish we could have a score of his superb improvisation. However, in today’s world of the instant reproduction of just about anything, it is a nice thought to consider that an improvisation can simply be as ethereal as Washington, D.C.’s cherry blossoms.
Professor Stangier performed his basilica recital on the 172-rank, four-manual electro-pneumatic Möller organ. His program began with the four Schumann Sketches, opus 56, written in 1846. It has been in vogue for several years now for organists to write and perform their own transcriptions of orchestral works. Particularly popular is Gustav Holst’s The Planets, written in 1914. Stangier performed his transcription of “Venus, the Bringer of Peace” and “Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity”—what beautiful transcriptions to showcase both the basilica’s organ and Stangier’s playing! And, not to be forgotten as well, the inside of the basilica is breathtakingly beautiful! Following the Holst transcriptions were the Fantasie and Fugue in C Minor by Alexander Winterberger (1834–1914) and the Grand Choeur by Zsolt Gardonyi (b. 1946). Stangier ended the program with another one of his dynamic improvisations. Tonight he was given the Ubi Caritas et amor Gregorian chant and an Irish folk-song as his improvisation themes.
Jeremy Filsell performed all of Vierne’s symphonies at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Washington D.C. on the church’s 1994 44-rank Lively-Fulcher organ. Although I was back at my job at the Library of Congress on Friday, July 9 and was unable to attend Dr. Filsell’s program, this was indeed a monumental endeavor. Word from colleagues who were able to attend was that Filsell, in his usual style, performed every movement of every symphony with great splendor.
Another notable post-convention event was a performance by Isabelle Demers of her own transcription of Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet at Capitol Hill Methodist Church on July 9. From friends I know who attended, it sounds as if I missed another splendid event.

 

Francine Maté has lived in Washington, D.C. for 26 years. She has been organist/choirmaster and director of the Bach Festival at Grace Episcopal Church in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. since 1998.


July 5
Kimberly Marshall
For her recital at St. Columba’s Episcopal Church on the first day of the convention, Kimberly Marshall played a well-selected program for a 1981 Flentrop organ, displaying the well-balanced specification. Her unique and outstanding knowledge of the remote corners of the literature for the organ produced a recital with great variety and interest. Dr. Marshall is a treasure among us all for her ability to combine brilliant performance with good scholarship in an intelligent and informative way. This was a delightful and perhaps surprising recital.

Jason Roberts and Michael Unger
For some with “first-day-bus-issues” sometimes associated with these very large AGO conventions, the change in order of both performers and pieces being played was confusing to latecomers to the recital at Chevy Chase Presbyterian Church. Jason Roberts, 2008 winner of the AGO National Competition in Organ Improvisation, and Michel Unger, 2008 winner of the AGO National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance, together presented a program demonstrating the true art of improvising, whether from score or indeed on the spot. Organ performers are too quick to define “improvisation” at the organ as the art of totally extemporized composition, when much is added to the printed score by the performer who can sense the improvisatory nature that CAN be brought to all music.

July 6
Diane Meredith Belcher
The recital by Diane Meredith Belcher on the Létourneau organ (2000) at the Church of the Ascension and St. Agnes was performed with elegance, showing great attention to careful and tasteful phrase development throughout. Her inclusion of a voluntary by English composer William Russell (1777–1813) was refreshing. Her performance of all six fugues on the name B-A-C-H, op. 60, of Robert Schumann, gave the audience a clear impression of the compositional prowess of this composer, now enjoying the 200th anniversary of his birth. While this music may be a bit too “academic” for the average organ recital audience, this venue gave an “organists only” audience the opportunity to hear all of these pieces well knit together in a fine and exciting performance.

The Woodley Ensemble
The Woodley Ensemble, under the artistic direction of Frank Albinder, presented a fine and varied program of choral music from many lands, including Sweden, Russia, Scotland, Israel, Estonia, England, New Zealand, Indonesia, and, of course, the United States. The ever-growing number of choral ensembles, both amateur and professional, has also given rise to the composition of unusual and wonderful music for all to experience both as performer and listener alike. The featured work for this concert was by American composer Leo Nestor—a large-scale anthem for SATB chorus and organ. While mainly for concert use in its entirety, it would be useful to find some selections from this work excerpted for use during the Pentecost season in churches as well.

This AGO national convention did an outstanding job in making a variety of workshops and seminars available. The Washington, D.C. chapter is also to be commended in its presentation of both pre-convention and post-convention events. Of particular note was the stunning performance by Julie Vidrick Evans of all six organ trio sonatas by J. S. Bach. For most organists, the inclusion of one or two of these technical masterpieces is daunting, let alone ALL of them, performed in this instance with technical mastery. The seventeenth annual Bach Festival presented by Grace Episcopal Church brings fine performances of the works of Bach and other related composers to a steadily growing audience each summer after summer, under the direction of the church’s organist/choirmaster, Francine Maté. ■

 

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