Subject: Adventures in Creative Futility: Organ Lesson 31 (and some other stuff).
Date: Sat, 13 Jun 1998 19:02:59 -0700
From: "James H. H. Lampert" <jamesl@hb.quik.com>
To: {The Adventures in Creative Futility Network}

Ladies and Gentlemen, Maestras and Maestros:

    Last weekend (June 6), I didn't have an organ lesson, because my
friend in the video business was double-booked again, and I had to run
the crew in Ontario (the California city, not the Canadian province!)
for two days. Also, Maestro York was out of town, so even if I'd been
available, there still wouldn't have been a lesson. I did, however, have
a chance to practice for about an hour on the chamber organ in the
office of Art Nisson's garage (rather small, and only slightly less
unified than a theatre organ, but it's got real pipes, 2 manuals, and an
AGO pedalboard, and it was on the way to Ontario.)
    Based on my experiments from after Lesson 30, and further
experimentation on the chamber organ, I was able to figure out a fun
arrangement of Beethoven's Ode to Joy, for my upcoming (Father's Day!)
recital. It's in G, and goes through two verses ("Freude schoener
Goetterfunken . . ." and "Wem der grosse Wurf gelungen . . ."), with
repeats on the last eight measures of each verse (as in the Symphony
movement); counting all repeats, it's 48 measures long, and includes a
16-measure pedal solo (the second verse, up to the repeat, played
heel-and-toe by the right foot, except for one D picked up with the
left); except for the pedal solo, the pedal part consists of chord roots
(right foot for G; left foot for C and D).
    Unfortunately, the stress and cold of last weekend did my immune
system in, and I ended up with a bad chest cold by Monday evening, which
forced me to stay home about two and a half days from work. That did,
however, give me plenty of time to get out the pencil and music paper,
and actually score the arrangement.
    This morning (Saturday, June 13, my 36th birthday), my lesson was an
hour early, to make way for an 11:00 A.M. wedding. We spent half the
lesson working on the Bach; then, I took out my Beethoven arrangement,
and we began to figure out registrations. What we came up with is this:
First verse: 8' oboe (on Swell) in the right hand, over soft flutes in
the left hand (Choir) and Pedal, with the repeat in 8' and 4' prestants
(on Great). Second verse (pedal solo, with both hands on Great for the
repeat) on Maestro York's standard "Gen 3" piston (loud, bold and
brassy, but not overpowering). I was actually a bit skeptical about
Maestro York's idea of playing both hands on Great for the final,
fortissimo repeat, expecting the melody to get buried under the
accompaniment, but it actually worked rather well.
    As most of you already know, from my broadcasts on PIPORG-L, I've
recently begun attempting to develop a taste for theatre organ, and am
currently attempting to analyze my reactions to Gledhill's "Kavalkade"
CD (and also attempt to identify precisely what registrations I like and
dislike). I'm glad to have learned that theatre organs are capable of
something OTHER than the syrupy stuff I've always associated with them,
but they'll probably never really be my "cup of tea," and I may forever
be unable to figure out why theatre organ enthusiasts LIKE the syrupy
stuff. But if anybody on my "Adventures in Creative Futility" list would
like to be added to my "theatre organ discussion" list, please let me
know.
    One other thing: Most of you are already aware that on June 2, I
attended a rather nice "Scholarship Recital" put on by the Orange County
Chapter of the AGO. Five young virtuosas, all of them quite talented,
and not a "Left-foot Linda" in the bunch. If young ladies like these are
the future of the organ, then the future looks good indeed. Two
comments: the seat I'd chosen for the concert put me directly in line
with the chamades, in a perfect position to have my hair parted, and the
first young lady (young Maestra Kacsir) started out with a piece that
called for them (the Fanfare, Op. 85, by C. S. Lang), and did a very
effective job of parting said hair. And Maestra Parker, the last (and I
think, the best) of the five finished with a piece (Toccata Brevis, by
Daniel Gawthrop) that included a brief, but fast and furious pedal solo
that had my lower jaw hitting the floor. After the concert, I asked her
when her first CD is coming out.
--
James H. H. Lampert
http://www.hb.quik.com/jamesl