Westfield Center spring conference

Andrew Willis performs on pianos of all periods. He has recorded vocal and chamber music with many artists and solo works ranging from Beethoven’s “Hammerklavier” sonata to Martin Amlin’s Sonata No. 7 (1999). A past president of the Southeastern Historical Keyboard Society, Willis holds degrees from Curtis, Temple, and Cornell universities and is a professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he directs the biennial “Focus on Piano Literature.”

The Westfield Center presented its annual conference April 4–6, in Tacoma, Washington, in collaboration with Pacific Lutheran University. Arriving in the Puget Sound area a day before the conference to explore a bit and visit friends, I was treated to the sight of Mt. Rainier aglow in the evening over the streets of downtown Tacoma. 

Thursday evening concert

On Thursday evening, the opening concert took place in Pacific Lutheran University’s Lagerquist Concert Hall, anchored by the Gottfried and Mary Fuchs Organ, built by Paul Fritts in 1998 in the tradition of Northern European instruments of the 18th century. Later in the conference, Paul Tegels would demonstrate this instrument, but on this evening the focus remained on the hall itself, a high-ceilinged, shoebox-style space with a transparent, warm acoustic—ideal for the performance of early music. Violinist Ingrid Mathews and harpsichordist Byron Schenkman presented 17th-century sonatas by Dario Castello, Isabella Leonarda, and Heinrich Schmelzer, as well as a solo performance by Schenkman of Georg Muffat’s Passacaglia. This 24-section piece, whose opening period recurs en rondeau at four pivotal moments, came to life in Schenkman’s hands. Mathews delivered an authoritative performance, presenting all three sonatas from memory with a spontaneity that bore the stamp of naturalness and identification with the improvisatory prowess of the Seicento.

The second half of the concert featured Carissimi’s Historia di Jephte, presented by the PLU Choir of the West with a chamber orchestra conducted by Richard Nance. The student ensemble achieved a wholly professional standard under its conductor. The soloists displayed a remarkable acumen for tragic characterization. In keeping with the theme of the conference, the performance was secured and animated by inventive playing from the continuo group, consisting of Nathan Whittaker, cello, Mercedes Paynter, bass, James Brown, baroque guitar, Kathryn Habedank, harpsichord, and Paul Tegels, positiv organ. If the impact of Haydn’s Little Organ Mass that closed the evening was somewhat diluted after the intense expressivity of Carissimi, it was nonetheless charming to traverse the text of the Mass in under twenty minutes. Tegels capitalized upon the opportunity to shine in the organ obbligato of the Benedictus. 

Friday

The morning began with “The Nuts and Bolts of Basso Continuo,” by Edward Parmentier. Parmentier’s lecture covered such core precepts as bringing the bass to life with the left hand, treating the bass as an independent melody, recognizing the bass as the king melody in the piece, and, rather exhilaratingly, unlistening to the ensemble so as to create the maximum dialogue between the bass and other parts. Could there be any doubt on which part the attention should be focused? In a generous annotated handout, Parmentier presented the score of a Veni Domine by Viadana and a Largo from a Handel flute sonata, showing multiple stages of preparation, each illustrating one step in his systematic approach to realizing a basso continuo part. Among the recommended steps: identifying motivic associations with the verbal text if one exists; creating phrasings, articulations, and emphases for the bass part; identifying harmonic roots and harmonic rhythm; adding numeric figures; and identifying and classifying cadences. Parmentier’s confidence in the process and the clarity of his explication left many eager to try their hands at his method, and in possession of clear instructions for doing so. 

Throughout the conference, lectures alternated with sessions of applied music, and thus a Parmentier masterclass ensued after a short break. Four harpsichord students, assisted by various soloists, presented a gavotte from a
LeRoux trio sonata, a movement from a Telemann violin sonata, a Handel aria, and a movement from a Handel violin sonata. With each, Parmentier zeroed in on one primary objective, underlining the chosen concept with energy and a wealth of colorful imagery. As soon as each student demonstrated a grasp of the essential point, he or she was congratulated and the class progressed to the next work. This brisk approach to teaching ensured that each student took away something practical and memorable. Questions from the audience were welcomed and addressed in a spirit of shared inquiry.

After lunch, Gregory Crowell took the helm for an illuminating talk on “Continuo for Organ.” Armed with slides and recorded excerpts, Crowell addressed numerous concerns specific to organ continuo playing, arguing for a bolder, more substantial sonority than is often heard. Adducing evidence drawn from the disposition of various German organs and illustrated by recordings of both problematic and successful organ continuo sonorities, Crowell offered practical advice relating to chordal voicing, the use of embellishment, matching releases to the ensemble sound, and the substitution of sonority for cleverness. No fewer than three modern flutists with their keyboard partners had been assigned to his masterclass, and he gently encouraged each toward realizations that addressed inflection, phrasing, and the awareness of harmonic and rhythmic structure, pointing out that a realization should be neither interesting all the time nor boring all the time. Crowell’s reward came in the form of a refined and assured reading of a Biber violin sonata by two experienced professionals, allowing him to offer suggestions at a more sophisticated level. A paper on “Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Italian Continuo Improvisation and its Application to Buxtehude’s Trio Sonatas Op. 1 and 2” was read by Jeong-Suk Bae to round out the afternoon’s activity.

The evening featured a brilliant chamber concert anchored by the indefatigable Parmentier. Joined in turn by four soloists on each half of the generous program, the harpsichordist became the avatar of the conference’s subtitle: “the art of creative collaboration.” Flutist Jennifer Rhyne, violinist Svend Rønning, cellist Nathan Whittaker, and tenor James Brown assisted him in presenting a wide spectrum of Baroque styles, from Viadana, Caccini, Frescobaldi, and Purcell (Brown), through François Couperin and Hotteterre (Rhyne), and Veracini and Handel (Rønning), to Vivaldi and again Frescobaldi (Whittaker). As a finale, all joined forces in the aria, “So schnell ein rauschend Wasser schiesst,” from J. S. Bach’s Cantata 26. 

Responsive to each composer’s individuality and supportive of each soloist’s musicianship, Parmentier animated movement after movement with energy and imagination, proving the efficacy of the practice outlined in his morning lecture. His independent, strong, clear bass lines—he might call them “argumentative”—generated and justified freely shaped right-hand parts of great textural, rhythmic, and decorative variety. It was a tour de force by a master who did not disdain to shuttle chairs and stands about the stage between pieces.  

Saturday

Day three opened with a presentation by Charlotte Mattax Moersch on “The Style of Basso Continuo Accompaniment in France according to Denis Delair.” From Delair’s 1690 treatise, described as “sympathetic to the performer and the beginner,” and thus a good resource for pedagogy, Mattax Moersch extracted much guidance for realization in the French style. A useful distinction was drawn between science and art, corresponding to rules and style. Rules are fairly universal, reflecting the laws of tonal composition, but styles differ according to time and place. The elements of style that Delair discusses relate to such refinements as ornaments, arpeggiation, alteration of the bass, and added dissonance, leading to a chord treatment not unlike the unmeasured prelude tradition. Mattax Moersch’s playing of examples drawn from the treatise eloquently illustrated Delair’s taste in considerable detail, demonstrating the abundance of practical guidance that may be drawn from this source. 

Although none of the works presented in the masterclass that followed was French, Mattax Moersch’s comprehensive grasp of the repertoire generated sage guidance toward the realization of Caccini’s “Amarilli mia bella,” of an Allegro assai from a Telemann flute sonata, of Purcell’s “The Blessed Virgin’s Expostulation,” and of the Andante from J. S. Bach’s Flute Sonata in E Minor. Her suggestions immediately proved effective, as in the Purcell, where a highly expressive realization was developed by employing an unobtrusive 1 x 8′ registration, varying the direction and degree of arpeggiation, releasing long basses during recitative, and closely following the singer’s punctuation. When the need for improvised melody arose in the introduction of the Bach sonata movement, a wealth of options involving scale figures, arpeggiation, ornaments, and leaps was proferred. It was clear that the art of creative collaboration would continue to thrive in the hands of many a talented young artist. 

After lunch, lutenist and leader of Pacific MusicWorks Stephen Stubbs discussed “The Conceptual Shift between 17th and 18th Century Keyboard Continuo.” Tracing the historical context for the development of continuo, Stubbs claimed the chittarone as “the humanistic instrument” during the “humanistic revolution” of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Though the instruments are physically unrelated, the chittarone’s name evokes the image of the ancient Greek kithara and reflects its role in support of the fusion of poetry and music during the rise of opera. Its ascendence fostered chordal consciousness, “breaking the stranglehold of polyphony,” and its technique gradually evolved from artistic strumming to include the plucking of individual notes. Of particular interest was the distinction drawn between the 17th-century conception of harmony in confrontation with the melodic parts and the 18th-century conception of harmony as accommodating to them. The succinct 1607 continuo tutor of Agazzari was recommended to those seeking guidance contemporary to this period.  

At midafternoon, a splendid harpsichord recital by Ignacio Prego revealed the harpsichord in a different light from that of continuo instrument (though I dare say many were by now extra attentive to the bass lines!). Much was expected of Prego, winner of the 2012 Westfield International Harpsichord Competition, and he did not disappoint, traversing works by Cabezón, Cabanilles, Frescobaldi, Froberger, and J. S. Bach with intelligence, command, and warmth. Bravo Prego, and bravo Westfield for supporting the future of early keyboard performance in an eminently tangible way.  

A gathering for final questions brought together all four presenters with the attendees to clarify, reinforce, and further contemplate many points developed during the conference, and conviviality reigned as all decamped to a local restaurant for dinner. Local hosts Paul Tegels and Kathryn Habedank cannot be praised enough for their unflagging attention to the visiting conferees.

Those who have heard Stephen Stubbs may predict that one of the highlights of the conference still lay in store, and indeed, his unobtrusive yet spirited leadership from the continuo section molded a magnificent all-Handel concert by Pacific MusicWorks, a professional ensemble blending virtuosity, beauty of tone, perfect ensemble, and refined historical awareness. Anchoring the program were two early vocal works, Apollo e Dafne (1709) and a Gloria (1707). Though oddly described in the program as “A Sacred Oratorio,” Apollo e Dafne is in fact a secular cantata that deploys the mythical figures as archetypes in a grand battle of the sexes. Singers Amanda Forsythe and Douglas Williams both possess beautifully resonant instruments and both delivered Handel’s vividly styled lines with accuracy, agility, and dignity. Even more electrifying, if it were possible, was Forsythe’s coloratura in the Gloria that brought the concert to a brilliant close. This was a level of historical performance that will long reverberate in the memory.

To my regret, I was unable to attend the organ recital played by Greg Crowell on Sunday afternoon.

Through this conference, “Continuo: The Art of Creative Collaboration,” the Westfield Center has once again invigorated America’s historical keyboard culture in a way that is certain to pay dividends through the better-informed and more creative playing and listening of all who participated. May the future continue to smile upon this mission.

Larry Palmer, Harpsichord Contributing Editor of The Diapason, is the current President of the Southeastern Historical Keyboard Society.

Musical research came to vibrant life in a Friday evening interactive program presented by the Southeastern and Midwestern Historical Keyboard Societies at Stetson University’s Elizabeth Hall. Michigan instrument maker David Sutherland (Ann Arbor) introduced his just-completed fortepiano based on a design by Giovanni Ferrini, an associate and successor to piano inventor Cristofori of Florence. Small details from the Dresden pianos of Gottfried Silbermann indicate an acquaintance with Ferrini’s Florentine piano. Sutherland proposes that instruments of this particular style may have provided the pianos that ultimately gained the approval of J. S. Bach: thus, the genesis of the idea for including early piano in the group of keyboard instruments suitable for Bach’s ensemble music.

Enid Sutherland played the opening of Bach’s Sonata in G for viola da gamba and obbligato keyboard instrument, partnered successively by three possible period instruments: a large Germanic harpsichord after Gräbner (built by John Phillips, played by Wayne Foster); a lautenwerk (by Willard Martin, played by Charlotte Mattax); and the Sutherland-Ferrini piano (played by Gregory Crowell). With each the music worked in subtly differing ways. The harpsichord was loudest; the lautenwerk offered a complementary gut-strung sonority; the piano provided increased possibilities for dynamic gradation. Each was suitable and viable. No absolute favorite emerged, but an intriguing possibility was illustrated and, perhaps, provided some explanation for the many parallel triads and thick repeated chords found in the written-out keyboard parts of certain slow movements in Bach’s accompanied instrumental sonatas.

Another opportunity to hear how effective the early piano could be in solo works of Bach came on Saturday afternoon when the ever-illuminating pianist Andrew Willis (Greensboro, NC) played a mesmerizing program comprising Prelude and Fugue in F (WTC II), Partita in A minor, and the first Contrapunctus from The Art of Fugue. Reminding listeners just how different a modern Steinway piano is from its ancestors, the following program, presented by Marcellene Hawk-Mayhall (Youngstown, OH), featured compositions based on the B-A-C-H motive [B=B-flat, H=B-natural in German musical notation]. Beginning where Willis had ended, Mayhall played the unfinished Contrapunctus 14 from The Art of Fugue on the fortepiano, continuing on the modern piano with unfamiliar works by Rimsky-Korsakov, Roussel, Casella, Poulenc, Malipiero, Honegger, and Liszt (the composer’s piano version of his Prelude and Fugue on BACH).

The same Liszt work, in its more familiar organ version, served as brilliant conclusion to the meeting’s opening concert, played by Stetson University organist Boyd Jones. Opening with works by Buxtehude and Hindemith (the BACH-related Sonate II), Jones offered Bach’s ornamented chorale prelude Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr and the “Dorian” Toccata and Fugue--all selected to limn both the theme of the conference and to showcase Stetson’s historic von Beckerath pipe organ, one of the first large new mechanical-action instruments in America, installed in 1961 on the initiative of [now] emeritus professor of organ Paul Jenkins, and recently spruced up with a handsome new case designed by architect Charles Nazarian, as well as a refurbished action and new console.

A wide range of paper topics kept the interest level high during well-paced daily sessions. Joyce Lindorff (Philadelphia, PA) reported on her recent discoveries of baroque keyboard instruments and music in China during the 17th and 18th centuries, concluding with the reading of a just-translated Vatican Archive letter from missionary/composer Theodorico Pedrini (died 1746)! Ed Kottick (Iowa City, IA) outlined the current state of knowledge about Bach’s harpsichords (“none”) but detailed 18th-century German instruments possibly familiar to the great composer. Two perfectly-timed discussions of possible Bach organ registrations engaged Gregory Crowell (Grand Rapids, MI): “Crazy for France: French Influences on Bach”; and Elaine Dykstra (Austin, TX): “The Range of Possible Organ Registrations in Bach”--each lecturer urging further investigation into the registrational practices of Bach’s contemporaries as a route to a richer palette of tonal possibilities. Sarah Martin (Atlanta, GA) gave an overview of Bach’s number symbolism in his Clavierübung, Part III.

Lee Lovallo (Sacramento, CA) surveyed a broad swath of Sicily’s history in documenting several surviving organs there. David Chung (Hong Kong) gave a thorough comparison of two versions of Bach’s Toccata in D Major, BWV 912, and played the later version stunningly. Midway on Saturday afternoon Larry Palmer (Dallas, TX) spoke on the deeply felt Bach-related art works created by Miami artist Elena Presser. Interspersed among these verbal and visual presentations were short programs of music. Elaine Funaro (Durham, NC) showcased “20th-Century Inventions for Harpsichord” (by composers Stephen Yates, Ruth Schonthal, Miklos Maros, Alexei Haieff, Virgil Thomson, and Béla Bartók). Judith Conrad (Abington, MA) led the group through multiple treatments of the Phrygian cadence in her clavichord recital “What should we, poor sinners, do?”--works by Scheidt, Pachelbel and Bach’s Partite BWV 770 on the eponymous chorale. Dana Ragsdale (Hattiesburg, MS) was joined by baroque violinist Stephen Redfield in a brilliant program of concerted works by Biber, Muffat, and Schmelzer, plus an alternative reading of Bach’s Sonata in G, BWV 1019, in which the solo harpsichord Corrente from Partita VI replaced the unique solo movement usually heard in this often-revised sonata.

Young Israeli-born Michael Tsalka (Philadelphia, PA) played three of Bach’s concerto transcriptions from original works of Telemann and Vivaldi in an engaging early-morning harpsichord program. Charlotte Mattax demonstrated Bach’s affection for the lautenwerk by programming his Prelude, Fugue and Allegro, BWV 998, Suite in E minor, BWV 996, and concluded with her thrilling traversal of the masterful Sonata in D minor, BWV 964. SEHKS founding president George Lucktenberg (Waleska, GA) demonstrated just how effectively a triangular spinet and Bach’s Little Preludes might serve as basic teaching tools for young players. Max Yount (Beloit, WI) beguiled the group with his expressive playing of music by three Bs: Bach and Böhm on the Beckerath organ.

In addition to the instruments already mentioned, harpsichords by Richard Kingston, Douglas Maple, and Robert Greenberg (brought to the meeting by Carl Fudge) were available for playing and viewing by the 80 attendees.

Stetson alumnus S. Wayne Foster, playing with rhythmic drive and musical verve, gave the closing recital on Saturday evening. Continuing the theme of varying keyboards in his program, Foster began with two organ works by Buxtehude (assisted by Boyd Jones playing the pedal lines on the extended-range manual) using the magnificent nine-foot Phillips harpsichord, on loan for the conference from Foster’s church, First (Scots) Presbyterian, in Charleston, SC. For the remainder of the well-crafted program he played Bach: two organ works, Concerto in A minor (after Vivaldi) and Prelude and Fugue in B minor, BWV 544 on the harpsichord; and the (harpsichord) Toccata in D minor, BWV 913 on the organ, offering, in this lengthy work, sufficient color changes to make palatable the hyperbolic sequential writing favored by the young composer. Fine readings of the (organ) Concerto in D minor, BWV 596, and the (harpsichord) Ouverture in the French Style, BWV 831 on their composer-stipulated instruments completed the evening’s elegant music making.

Stetson University provided gracious staff assistance, beautiful, venerable venues for lectures and concerts, and rooms, both accessible and pleasant, for dining and receptions. Given that this conference was organized from scratch in less than a year’s time it was a remarkably cohesive and successful one. The meeting occurred earlier than usual because the following week was “Bike Week,” a huge rally of thousands of Harley-Davidson riders who take over the entire area surrounding Florida’s Daytona Beach. SEHKS and MHKS programs included several extra-musical sounds on Saturday as engines were revved up for the weekend! Harpsichordist/author Frances Bedford quipped that the conference should have been called “The Two-Wheel Inventions!” Not a bad idea, but the broader Bach theme allowed recent scholarship to be shared, friendships and professional relationships to be buttressed once again, the business of the societies to be accomplished, and, most importantly, great music to be experienced and enjoyed together.

For further information on the Ferrini piano, see David Sutherland’s “Silbermann, Bach, and the Florentine Piano” in the most recent volume (21) of Early Keyboard Journal, published by SEHKS and MHKS [available from Oliver Finney, Journal Business Manager, 1704 E. 975 Road, Lawrence, KS 66049-9157; [email protected]]. 

Joyce Lindorff’s article “Missionaries, Keyboards and Musical Exchange in the Ming and Qing Courts” was published in Early Music XXXII/3, August 2004, pp. 403-414.

Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Herbert L. Huestis is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, where he studied organ with David Craighead 40 years ago. After a stint as a full-time church organist, he studied psychology and education at the University of Idaho, where be obtained his Ph.D. in 1971. He spent time as a school psychologist, and was subsequently lured back into the organ world and took up pipe organ maintenance with his wife Marianne and son Warren. Now retired, he spends more time tuning pianos and reconditioning harpsichords.

Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, and the Westfield Center, Orcas, Washington, presented an international conference entitled “Central/Southern European influences on Bach,” June 7–10, 2006. The conference celebrated the new cathedral organ by Hellmuth Wolff, Laval, Quebec, Canada, and honored organ virtuoso, historian and teacher, Harald Vogel, Osterholz-Scharmbeck, Germany.

The Westfield Center

The Westfield Center is a national resource for the advancement of keyboard music, serving professionals and the public since 1979. In pursuit of this goal, they host symposia to celebrate major instruments of our day, and have sponsored more than 30 conferences. This year they met in Victoria to honor the career of Harald Vogel, noted organist and scholar, and a new organ built by Hellmuth Wolff for Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria, British Columbia.

The new Wolff organ

I have dubbed this organ of 60 stops a “singing organ” because it stands nearly alone in its ability to bring to life the vocal effects and Italianate characteristics that infused the music of Bach and his predecessors. For Hellmuth Wolff, the creation of this organ was no small accomplishment. In fact, this masterpiece caps a career that is filled with instruments of artistic merit.
Delicate and well-balanced voicing is a hallmark of Wolff organs, and in this case the organ matches the room perfectly. Wolff has a reverence for historical organs and is able to build in various styles for his clients and the contemporary buildings they offer. The musical requirements of Christ Church, Victoria, and inclinations of the builder came together when a design was chosen that followed the work of builders such as Holzhey and Riepp, who were linked to French, German, and Italian organ building practices in the 18th century.
Hellmuth Wolff established his firm in 1968, after serving his apprenticeship in Switzerland with Metzler and continuing as a journeyman with Otto Hoffman in Texas and Charles Fisk in Massachusetts. In Canada, Wolff worked with Casavant Frères in the development of their mechanical-action workshop and subsequently worked in collaboration with Karl Wilhelm until he started his own workshop in Laval, Quebec. There, he heads an elite group of organbuilders who participated in the design and construction of this organ over a period of several years.
The organ comprises 61 stops, located in five divisions, including the pedal. Three manual divisions begin with 16' sub octaves, while the pedal has two stops at 32' pitch. There is an abundance of unison tone on every level, and the harmonics of the pipework are enhanced by both third- and fifth-sounding mixtures spread over four keyboards. Wolff was able to integrate character and variety into an extremely broad ensemble while at the same time emulating vibrant examples of organ style from times past. This sense of integration is perhaps the strongest aspect of Wolff’s art.
Spatial variety is a very strong characteristic of this organ. The wide case with Hauptwerk split on either side and Oberwerk in the center provided unique opportunities for registration at many volume levels by combining these two divisions into a large ensemble or playing them separately. The Rückpositiv lies well forward of the rest of the instrument and speaks directly to the listener, creating a clear, three-dimensional sound.
The variety of stops is compelling, both in flues and reeds. All are voiced with a sense of just the right volume so that interplay between stops is remarkably well balanced. Trumpets of all national styles are available on each keyboard and pedal, providing a tonal palette seen in few organs. Wolff has an intuitive sense of proportion in the placement of these reeds, so that volume and stylistic variation work very musically. He has taken great care in the selection of pipework to amplify his concept of the Holzhey organ style found in southern Germany in the late 18th century.

The conference

The conference topic, “South/Central Influences on J. S. Bach,” grew out of advances in musical scholarship and organology that have increased the understanding of influences of Pachelbel, Frescobaldi, Kerll and others on the music of Bach. The celebration of the work of Harald Vogel reaches to the beginnings of the Westfield Center, founded by two of his early students, Lynn Edwards Butler and Edward Pepe. This all culminates in the largest publication of the Westfield Center to date: Orphei Organi Antiqui: Essays in Honor of Harald Vogel. This Festschrift brings together 21 articles and essays that delineate the Vogel personality as well as performance practice, improvisation, congregational singing, organ restoration and organ culture. This work was edited by Cleveland Johnson, professor of music history and dean of the School of Music at DePauw University. Harald Vogel’s legacy as a teacher was outlined by Elizabeth Harrison, assistant professor of music at Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. She gave an inside look at the North German Organ Academy, the founding of which she described as his most pivotal accomplishment.

Recitals

One should note that there are two audiences who have interest in an event such as this, “those who were seen and those who were unseen.” For those who heard this amazing instrument and the recitalists who presented this organ literature in a vital way, this report may serve to crystallize the event itself. For those who were not able to attend, it is hoped that some idea of the freshness and originality of these players will be communicated.
It is invigorating to see how a group of players could present varied aspects of this unusual organ in such a concerted way. Harald Vogel praised the instrument as one of the finest of its type in the world, and each artist contributed a unique vision to the celebration of this organ. One had the feeling that all recitalists read from a similar script, with great attention paid to Southern influences on German music.
William Porter, professor of organ and harpsichord at the Eastman School of Music, presented the inaugural concert with a fresh idea that served the symposium very well. He designed his concert after the style that Bach himself used when he played, as described by Forkel, his biographer. This showcases the instrument rather than the repertoire. Porter has a strong reputation as an improviser, which led him in this direction for the concert. He maintained that “since the repertoire of the 17th and 18th centuries has its roots in improvisational practice,” he could take the opportunity to show off all the colors of the organ. Italian influences were immediately apparent, and Porter, like all of the recitalists, concentrated on variation and ciacona forms.
Michael Gormley, Christ Church Cathedral organist, and Erica Johnson, a student of Hans Davidsson, Eastman School of Music, continued the concert series with an exploration of the breadth of the instrument and a further presentation of Italianate aspects of the music and instrument. Johnson explored the concerto style and played with a lightness and delicacy that characterized subsequent recitals. Her theme for the recital was the dance—both in her playing style and aspects of the musical styles of Italy and Germany. She characterized this as a “pas de deux” where Italy led and Germany followed. Indeed, Italian influences on German music were the order of the day.
Harald Vogel continued these ideas with toccatas, canzonas, a spectacular battaglia and the famous Capriccio Cucu of Johann Kerll. His program reached a zenith with intense colors found in his interpretation of the second Biblical Sonata of Johann Kuhnau. In this organ he found a tonal palette with which to characterize the depression and madness of Saul as Kuhnau envisioned it. Beauty was everywhere, but more than that, the organ could communicate real emotion, passion and feeling, even fear and anxiety.
Edoardo Bellotti, who teaches organ, harpsichord, and continuo playing in Trossingen, Germany, and Bergamo, Italy, brought these recitals to a climax with a presentation of Frescobaldi, Pachelbel and Bach. By limiting his repertoire to three composers, he was able to explore the styles of variation, toccata and ciacona, building in the listener an expectation of both floridity and drive culminating in a rendition of Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue full tilt, with no resorting to the usual registrational variation in the Passacaglia. His performance was so musically varied, and the organ so clear and delicate in its ensemble that he could play the whole piece in a continuous, driving plenum. He was so convincing in this performance that he gave immediate credence to statements that Harald Vogel had made, that organists are often the victims of “bad traditions,” which they must rethink in order to fully appreciate this music.
The final concert was a mix of vocal and organ works in which Michael Gormley, director of the CapriCCio Vocal Ensemble (of Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria) and Carole Terry, professor of organ at University of Washington, Seattle, stood the conference topic on its head and presented a concert entitled “Bach influences on Central/South Europe.” These included vocal works of Mozart, Bruckner, and Reger, among others. Dr. Terry made a final and climactic statement of what the organ could do with masterful renditions of the works of Max Reger. Reger’s music gave a final contrapuntal and harmonic lushness to the sound of this organ, whose 60 stops exhibited a monumental heroism. Again, it seemed that all of the recitalists had similar goals: to show the full effect of this magnificent new organ and to trace the beauty of the musical styles that made their way from Italy to Germany in the 17th and 18th centuries and beyond.
These musical influences were further elaborated in noontime recitals by Colin Tilney, harpsichordist, and Ulrika Davidsson, fortepianist. Tilney explored the Italianate forms and Davidsson followed J. S. Bach’s influence through C. P. E. Bach to Joseph Haydn.

Keynote addresses

The academic side of the symposium centered on the presentation of a Festschrift, Orphei Organi Antiqui by Cleveland Johnson, to Harald Vogel on the occasion of his 65th birthday. The publication (“Orpheus of the Historic Organ”) is a collection of 21 articles and essays. It features writings about Vogel as teacher, performer and scholar, and deals with keyboard literature, performance practice, improvisation, congregational singing, organ restoration and organ culture.
Harald Vogel took the opportunity in his keynote address to open up some very interesting concepts regarding organ culture. He examined “organ tradition” and outlined some rather subjective but important considerations. The most notable of these seemed to be the idea that somehow “traditions” were carried from Bach through the 19th and 20th centuries unbroken, when in fact, they are deeply flawed in terms of playing style, registration and type of instrument. He appealed to his listeners to look toward historical evidence to make decisions regarding playing style, rather than rely on old traditions that have been passed through many teachers and students, with all the attendant changes in organ culture, of each period of time and style of instrument.
Lynn Edwards Butler also presented a keynote address on the general topic of organ examinations, which harkened back to the celebration of the Paul Fritts organ at Arizona State University and the topic of “The Historical Organ” presented in 1993.
In a third keynote address, Keith Hill, the noted harpsichord maker, took a look at the psychological aspects of artistic performance in a topic called “The Craft of Musical Communication.” This is a difficult subject, and he was able to create the imagery to help his audience grasp important concepts involved in music making. He outlined various building blocks of artistic performance so that some analysis could be made of performers and their art. A certain objectivity was welcome in an area that is almost always purely subjective!
Masterclasses were provided by the artists, and of course there was the joy of discovering all the various aspects of the organ and its construction. Michael Gormley and the cathedral staff were most gracious, and the setting in the provincial capital of British Columbia was magnificent. From a meeting in the parliament buildings on the first day to high tea on the last, there was the constant infusion of Canadian culture and magnificent weather, found only on this enchanted isle on the west coast of North America. I suppose the only thing that can be said is “You should have been there!--Herbert L. Huestis

Improvisation jam session

For many of us the culmination of the symposium was the jam-session of the three improvisers by name of Vogel, Porter and Bellotti. The demonstration was divided into three parts, first the reeds, second the solo possibilities and then the different organo pleno possibilities.
Harold Vogel demonstrated the many different reed stops—there are six trumpets at 8' pitch, four reed stops at 16', and one 32' Posaune, besides softer reed stops, such as Hautbois, Krummhorn, Schalmey and Vox humana. The sound of the latter, a Voix Humaine after Dom Bédos, can easily be coloured by adding flutes at different pitches. Mr. Vogel’s improvisation was haute voltige—flying high, through all kinds of places unheard of—and concluded his flight with the glorious roar of the trumpets!
A good number of the organ’s solo possibilities where shown through William Porter’s delightful and poetic improvisations. The various flutes and strings—typical for organs of Southern Germany and Austria—and the mutations (there is a jeux de tierce in every keyboard division, except for the Swell) were shown in a single piece, wonderfully constructed by a great player.
One could have thought that demonstrating the mixtures might be a much more arduous task, but Edoardo Bellotti brought us to new heights with his magnificent demonstration.
Each organist was an inspired Orpheus, playing with great power and imagination—and each of them should have received an Olympic trophy!
—Hellmuth Wolff