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Biggs versus Fox

Last post 08-06-2008, 6:28 PM by jt1stcav. 29 replies.
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  •  02-02-2008, 10:08 PM 48121 in reply to 47968

    Re: Biggs versus Fox

    davidecasteel:

    I agree with SB32 and Don.  I have the original LP recording of The Glory of Gabrieli with E. Power Biggs in St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice, Italy.  It is incredible!  His multi-LP album The Organ in Sight and Sound was also very interesting, with many interesting historical instruments.  My favorite Virgil Fox recording is The Christmas Album, although Heavy Organ probably is more quintessential Fox.

    David

    Have you guys seen this site:

    http://www.haydnhouse.com/organ_loft.htm

     They have many E. Power Biggs recordings on CD.  These are the ones that Sony has not bothered to release in CD format, but where transfered over and remastered from LPs.

    I have been trying to badger Sony into releasing more of Biggs music on CD, but they don't care.  I even created the E. Power Biggs Fan site back in 2000 to try to generate more emails to Sony about this.  The Fan site by the way is defunct now as I have not transfered it over to my new service provider, maybe this summer.
     


    Thank you

    Jon Benignus
    Houston, TX

    Owner of a Wurlitzer Series 20 Organ
    built circa 1945
  •  02-04-2008, 2:29 PM 48180 in reply to 47953

    Re: Biggs versus Fox

    I personally admire and appreciate both Biggs and Fox. I have learnt a lot from them - I was not privileged enough to be a pupil of their's since they were well before my time, but reading about them and hearing them in recordings has taught me much.

    As much as I appreciate Biggs, I will say that since he abandoned the Romantic camp and confined himself to the Orgelbewegung this was probably the reason why I think Fox is more well known. Fox appealed to a wider audience. He made the organ more accessible to the listener.

     In my opinion, we as organists cannot pidgeon hole ourselves to only one aspect/era/period etc. of the organ, especially during these most challenging times for the instrument. The more versatile we can be, the more appeal we will have, the more we can do to promote the magnificent instrument. This is why I admire both of these great gentlemen because they teach me how to be more versatile. If you can somehow become a combination of both, that is the ideal.

    I cannot see myself sticking to only one aspect of the organ. It's simply not possible for me because there is so much beauty from every period and genre. If I stick to just one genre in my recitals, my listeners are losing out and so am I as the recitalist because I'm closing myself from so many wonderful works. It's been my experience that my listeners prefer a full menu. And let's face it, as delicious and delectable filet mignon is, we will get tired of it if we eat nothing else but that, if it is served to us all the time, every day. There is chateaubriand, prime rib roast, lobster, etc. which are just as delicious and delectable.

  •  02-04-2008, 7:41 PM 48185 in reply to 48180

    Re: Biggs versus Fox

    ReedGuy,

    You are so right! A wider variety of music appeals to me and I am sure to most listeners. Recently, organ recitals seem to have a wider variety of music than was used in the 70's and 80's when only a restricted class of "organ literature" was permisable. Programming pieces that appeal to a wider audience rather than just organists will help to make the instrument have a broader appeal.  

    I love the organ and wish that it would appeal to a more general audience. Organ concerts (with a few exceptions) seem to be attended by the older crowd.

    My organ teacher told me a story Sunday about a friend of hers (who is a noted classical organist) who first became interested in the instrument through hearing the Star Wars theme played on the Wurlitzer at the Paramount Music Palace in Indianopolis. He later became interested in all organ music, got a degree in organ performance and is now a classical organist. This illustrates how a person can become interested through listening to well known music and then later extending his interest to the more classical realm. 

     


    Style D Wurlitzer Pipe Organ
    http://www.bluemoonwalkinghorses.com/Style_D_Description5_rev2.html
  •  02-05-2008, 7:21 PM 48222 in reply to 48185

    Re: Biggs versus Fox

    You know, ReedGuy, you said quite succintly in one post what I was attempting to say in several. I also admire the fact that you can spell Orgelbewegung (I cheated and used cut and paste :-( )

    Once you can tie your arms into a pretzel and your legs into a knot, you've got it under control
  •  02-05-2008, 9:08 PM 48228 in reply to 48180

    Re: Biggs versus Fox

    soubasse32:
    Biggs made a point to abandon the Romantic camp - he consciously chose to walk away from his friend G. Donald Harrison, just as he walked away from Aeolian-Skinner as the ideal organ.  He confined his world to the Orgelbewegung and the foundations of the Werkprinzip to the exclusion of all else.

    ReedGuy:
    As much as I appreciate Biggs, I will say that since he abandoned the Romantic camp and confined himself to the Orgelbewegung this was probably the reason why I think Fox is more well known.

    Austin766:
    You know, ReedGuy, you said quite succintly in one post what I was attempting to say in several. I also admire the fact that you can spell Orgelbewegung (I cheated and used cut and paste :-( )

    Hmm


    Soubasse32
  •  02-06-2008, 3:56 AM 48233 in reply to 48228

    Re: Biggs versus Fox

    If Biggs had not pigeon holed himself to the world of the organ reform movement, he likely would have seen greater popularity.

    That said, I also think that Fox's outsize personality helped make him popular, especially with the rock and roll crowd, and his embrace of Romanticism sure didn't hurt either.

    Once you can tie your arms into a pretzel and your legs into a knot, you've got it under control
  •  02-06-2008, 5:41 AM 48238 in reply to 48233

    Re: Biggs versus Fox

    I had the opportunity to see Virgil Fox a couple of times while at university; those experiences were absolutely electrifying!  For him, music, especially organ music, was a source of exuberant joy.  I think that's why he attracted such a loyal following (of course, the fact that he was an extraordinary musician certainly helped).

     Some time in the 70s, Fox made an LP recording that included Ives' Variations on America.  His spoken introduction to the piece was a hoot, and his performance made the most of the comic possibilities in the piece.  I laughed out loud when the calliope started!  Not long after that, I heard a recording of the same piece played by E. Power Biggs.  Technically perfect, but absolutely dry, pedantic, uninspiring, and humorless.  If there was any joy in the performance or the performer, it certainly was well hidden.

    DR 

  •  02-06-2008, 11:10 PM 48294 in reply to 48238

    Re: Biggs versus Fox

    By any chance do you remember what live LP Fox included Variations on America?

    Thanks

    Rob 

  •  02-07-2008, 12:04 AM 48295 in reply to 48294

    Re: Biggs versus Fox

    The Entertainer

    Fox at Witchita Wurlitzer

  •  02-07-2008, 12:09 AM 48296 in reply to 48233

    Re: Biggs versus Fox

    Biggs was very popular.

    I attended at capacity crowd concert at midnite 1971 St George Episcopl  a  double Ernest White electro-pneumatic Moller plus percussion and brass.People were sitting around the altar for lack of space and they were young blue-jean wearing hippie-types of that era. Biggs was dignified but mucical in the playing that nite and it was a broad spectrum of organ and other instruments arrangements.

  •  02-07-2008, 7:16 AM 48301 in reply to 48296

    Re: Biggs versus Fox

    Having lived thru the neo classic revival of the 60s 70s 80s I now see it in a different perspective as to Biggs vs Fox. Actually there was animosity between the camps and followers of each and spin like in politics. In hindesight tho they were two different yet similar artists. They were both excellent and influential. Today I appreciate their respective contributions moreso than previously. Each had his high points that distinguished himself.

    Biggs was disciplined yet tasteful. Fox was bedazzling and exhuberant. Back then you were either with one or the other and the propoganda was fierce. Now I like them both. They play music. Pipe organ music. It is beautifully played and enriching. Nature provided two exquisite men simultaneously. You can like them both. I do and am profoundly thankful that I had the chance to see them hear them meet them and now savor their artistry.

  •  02-07-2008, 9:23 AM 48304 in reply to 48301

    Re: Biggs versus Fox

    I agree completely.

    Organists would do well to banish the idea of Biggs versus Fox.

    We're not talking about a Friday Night Smackdown Surprise and unfortunately shows such as Star Search give too many folks the idea that there can be only one 'winner'.


    Soubasse32
  •  02-07-2008, 11:06 AM 48309 in reply to 48304

    Re: Biggs versus Fox

    Aww, but i was hoping to watch the two of them duke it out in Celebrity Deathmatch!  Wink

    'It isn't that difficult. All one has to do is press all the right keys at the right time and the organ plays itself.'
    Yeah RIGHT.
  •  02-07-2008, 11:08 AM 48310 in reply to 48304

    Re: Biggs versus Fox

    Soubasse32,

    Sorry there, I did not intend to plagerize from your post. (Next time I better get more sleep before posting!)  (-:

    I am almost at the finish line with my B.Ed. Fourty assignments between Sept-Dec and another horrific amount between Jan-May. Sleep? What's that? Anyone studied towards one of these? Was it just as demanding?

    I have a recital coming up too. I can't help myself. Not play the organ? That's like asking me not to eat.

    Ciao for now,

    ReedGuy

  •  08-06-2008, 6:28 PM 59783 in reply to 48310

    Re: Biggs versus Fox

    Ol' E. Power could dazzle, too, but in a refined way. Like when he recorded the 4 Great Toccatas on that quad LP back in the late '70s (the 4 organs at Freiburg). And didn't Mr. Biggs also record BWV 565 on numerous organs throughout the world during the '50s, and then he and his wife(?) later edited portions from these recordings together to make the one performance of the piece? Of course, the latter would be impossible to perform live, and even Virgil could make those 4 Freiburg organs sing (wonder if he ever performed there?).

    I was a teen when they both passed on...wish I could've had the opportunity to hear them both in recital. And I agree, you simply cannot compare one over the other. I still enjoy listening to both of their recordings, but I suppose I prefer a slight edge in favor of Fox due to his groovy Heavy Organ recordings!


    ~ Jim Tidwell ~



    The former owner of the 1983 G. Tidwell & Sons 19 rank American Classic residence pipe organ...
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