The Organ Forum

You say you actively avoid some pieces and then you say if you don't precisely know what will be played (and it is romantic or 20th cent.) you don't go. How do you know you aren't avoiding something you might like?

That's indeed a risk, but I'm willing to take it. To be honest I haven't had any concert where they didn't list the composers as a minimum. You get a good idea of what's going to happen anyway. Going to a concert takes a lot of time, far more than just the concert itself. So why do that if you know that more than 50% will not please you? I don't see the point in going to a concert where they will play the schlagers of the organ music again on an organ where you have listened to several concerts already. Neither is there a point in going to a concert where you don't like the programmed music of at all.

And to lump romantic and 20th century music (apparently all of it) into one category and label it as all not worth your time is astonishing.

Sorry, but I played and heard enough of it to do so. You are right that it isn't a single category, but for me they belong to the category of "I don't go out for it".

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Expert in non-working solutions

Havoc, I cannot imagine that there is much of interest for you at any recital.    You have such rarified tastes.

I sometimes go to recitals just to support my fellow organists.  There is nothing worse than putting your heart and soul into a program and then to see ten people in the audience. 

There are lots of churches with organs where I live, but not all of them have recital series.  The churches that do have recitals are few and far between - which means some of the venues do get a little wearisome - especially if there is something irritating about the organ. 

But I try to go anyway.  Whether I enjoy the recital or not, it is nice to meet up with my colleagues and to see they are still alive and kicking. 

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Soubasse32

I sometimes go to recitals just to support my fellow organists. There is nothing worse than putting your heart and soul into a program and then to see ten people in the audience.

I'm not an organist (professional nor performing amateur) so I don't have that reason either. You're right about the motivational side, but organ concerts don't seem to pull more people than that. It was very well described at another forum: "there were 25 people that should have been there and a handful of others".

Well, organs are getting rare over here. And those that are there are not played because they don't get broken that way (at least that what is touhgt). There are no music associations or anything like that, most churches don't even have a priest let alone an organist. And those few that have an organ...really the organ isn't worth playing, let alone giving a concert on it. Those that are worth it are guarded like the crown jewels (think like having to provide letters of introduction, diploms, and a CV just to take a peek at it). There are a few that might be restored to playing order once, but I fear that I'll be dead before that is done. (they're talking about it for 30years now).

Anyway, we're way off topic now. Sorry for that. I'll keep my mouth shut in this thread.

EDIT: funny, I tought I heard some cheers in the distance just as I posted this....

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Expert in non-working solutions

soubasse32:

I sometimes go to recitals just to support my fellow organists.  There is nothing worse than putting your heart and soul into a program and then to see ten people in the audience. 

Indeed, its very sad to see that someone has gone to the time to practice their pieces to near pefection only to get a handful of people turn up - and normally its your "faithful few" who attend pretty much all the recitals at that venue that go on. Of course a lack of publicity can be to blame. Often there is only a small notice up in the porch of the Church...and because of crime most Churches are only open for mass... and shut immediately afterwards (which is not much good for people like me who like to wander in during my lunch break).

I love going to recitals though. I often take a pen with me and tick off on the program pieces that I would like to learn. I've found this to be a very effective way of sourcing new material, often from composers that I initially thought I would have no interest in at all. As a general note to anyone, don't be put off with trying pieces you've heard at a recital or on a CD. I've often listened to something at a recital or CD that sounds difficult to play, only to get the score and find its sight-readable (the organ has a wonderful way of making stuff sound more complicated than it is). Just because its played at a recital or on a CD doesn't mean the pieces are all fiendishly difficult - that also goes for stuff played by world reknowned organists at prestigious locations.

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"I sometimes go to recitals just to support my fellow organists.  There is nothing worse than putting your heart and soul into a program and then to see ten people in the audience."  - Soubasse, that was a really nice thing to say. As many of us here know, it takes a lot of hard work to prepare for a concert or a recital, and you pour yourself into it. I spend so much time preparing for a recital wanting it to be just perfect, when the day comes, I throw myself into it, and then when it's all over all I want to do is raid a kitchen and then sleep for hours. Then I can't wait to do it again! Crazy, huh?

 nullogik, I like your comments. Some of the pieces which I have learned were the result of hearing them at a performance or on a CD. The more such pieces I learn, the more I recall what an Olympic athelete once said to us while visiting our school, "What the mind can conceive, the body will achieve." With God's help and lots of perseverance and perspiration, we really can accomplish just about anything. Like the Nike slogan says, Just Do It!

 

 

"The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." ???

Oh well . . .

That was funny, MenchenStimme!!!

Same goes for the Sowerby which I've started learning sometime in September. I'm on page four now, but when I first started, I could only work through it for about an hour. I wanted to do more, but my legs got sore, kinda like when you haven't been riding a horse for a while and then you do it again. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak....I'm too young to be sore!!! Oh well!!!

Which Sowerby?    I'm a big fan of his music.

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Soubasse32

 Soubasse, I'm working on Pageant. I can play the first two pages in it's actual time, page 3 slower than indicated, and page 4 which is what I'm working on right now at a snail's pace. That's how I start learning something - like a snail. Or as the fable says, slow and steady wins the race. Then once I can nail it at a snail's pace, then I start to slowly speed things up.

 When I started on the first two pages, my legs got sore after about an hour - but it's a good pain! Now I'm starting to get used to it. He literally has you going from one end of the pedal board to the other numerous times, you're even playing two notes with one foot, two notes with the other, and sometimes jumping. They say that he wrote this piece as a challenge to Fernando Germani the organist at the Vatican. Legend has it he learnt it on the boat on the way to the US, played it in performance, and left Sowerby a note, something to the effect of, "Cute piece. Now give me something difficult."

I'm also using this piece for an examination - I've been told it exceeds the requirements, but I have really wanted to learn this piece (it's my dream organ piece), and I intend to make good use of it in my career. I have a feeling though, this piece will be like some of the others in my repertoire. Once I have it, I have to keep it in shape or it'll start to slack.

You'll be pleased to know that I will also be learning the Franck Choral No. 2 soon for the same exam. If it is anything like Choral No. 3 I'll love it. I enjoyed learning No. 3 very much. I also know how much you love Franck!

I'm still thanking God to this day that I was an organ scholarship winner for this year. Things are so tight right now, it's been a real blessing and a help. What can I say, our successes are never our own. God and people help us to get to where we are. When I go to church, I look at the cross and I can't help myself and say thank you to God for the scholarship. I feel so fortunate in so many ways.

 Cheerio!

[off-topic] I'm so pleased to hear you are learning both Pageant and Choral II.    The Chorals will reward you for the rest of your life!

I've played a ton of Sowerby, but never Pageant.  I think my biggest pedal piece might be the Étude Symphonique by Bossi.  It has a big "hop" in it too!    It happens at the end when both hands and feet are in octaves, going the full gamut of the pedalboard.  The hop is quite necessary (for me at least), and it is tough to keep the pulse steady at that point.  Ah...the things we do for art. 

Best wishes on your continued progress. 

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Soubasse32

  Thanks, Soubasse!

   And thanks for the link on Etude Symphonique. That's sounded really cool!

Aloha SB32,

You like the music of *Sour-bee*?  < 8 - D 

Tbh, I have as of late begun to listen to more and more of his music and quite thoroughly enjoy it.

Cheerio,

Kphone 

Austin766:

What pieces are you tired of because they're so overplayed?

Almost none of them.

 

I have grown to realize that this tiresomeness which we feel for certain pieces is most likely a manifestation in our own mind.  Why is it then that we can also list pieces which we want to hear over and over again? Do these two circumstances stem from similar ideas but with differing perspectives or attitudes?

Every time I listen to a piece, the first time or the nth time I make an effort to make observations, find something new or find something old done differently. 

If I get tired of a piece I take it as a challange to re-register it drastically/change the tempo etc and make it something very different.

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