New Organ Console at First Presbyterian!

Note mismatched, crumbled, and blank knobs.

As part of the church's upcoming renovation project, in addition to new lighting and an overhauled chancel, we are having a new console installed!

This is a huge deal! To understand... let me give you an idea of what the current console is like.

The current console was built by the Moller organ company for an organ (which no longer exists) in Allentown in the late 1940's or early 1950's. In 1976, when our organ was rebuilt, instead of making a new custom console just for our organ, the Fritzsche organ company (who rebuilt our organ and had possession of the Moller console from Allentown, and probably the pipe work too - our organ has one rank built by Moller, which Fritzsche installed). So it's not meant for our organ. Because of that, there are blank stop knobs and the bottom keyboard doesn't do anything except couple and play the harp and chimes.

In addition to this, the console physically shows wear. Being about 60 years old, many labels have broken off (so one doesn't know what certain pistons do). In addition to that, many stop knobs have crumbled because of the age of their plastic. They have been replaced (several times) with new knobs that don't match the old ones. Some knobs don't even say the correct stop names! The keys are yellow and chipped, the wood is scratched, numerous pedal coupler contacts do not work, divisional unisons and busted swell to choir couplers are busted. New problems like these occur on a regular basis.

Note mismatched knobs and crumbled labels.

Being very old electro-pneumatic action, the console has developed some enormous leaks in it's wind supply, and develops new leaks on a fairly regular basis. Due to the action itself, let alone with the leaks, pistons are very slow to act and some reversible pistons hardly work at all. The console literally weases. One can hear quite audibly the wind leaks wooshing inside, and the sag when a piston is hit.

Further, the organ console is enormously tall and deep. Enable to fit all the pneumatic action inside, the shell of the console had to be huge in those days.

Lastly, the current organ console is not movable, which makes seeing an organist play during a concert impossible. This also makes it impossible for an organist to properly judge the balance between the pipes on the West side of the chancel and pipes on the East side of the chancel.

With a new console, all these problems will be solved!

Here we see the monstrous pneumatic action of the current console.

Note yellowed keys, missing key faces, yellowed pistons, and general wear.

A new console will use Solid State Electric action, which is quieter, more versatile, and more reliable than Pneumatic. This electric action allows for a much smaller console shell, a console which can be moved throughout the chancel for concerts and for the organist to hear the balance between the pipes on the West and East sides of the chancel. Solid State will also allow us to have more pistons and multiple levels of combination memory.

With a new console, all aesthetics would match, there would be no blank knobs, all coupler contacts would work, all pedal contacts would work, all reversibles would work, and pistons would act much faster without putting any strain on the console whatsoever (as the current pneumatic system does).

The cost of a new console would be in the area of $50,000.

Our console will most likely be built by Patrick J. Murphy and Associates Pipe Organ Builders. Here are some pictures of what their consoles look like (and what ours may look like).

This movable console is in concert position so an audience can watch during a concert.

Since people are going to see it, a new console will be much more attractive.

Not how much shallower this console is from front to back as compared to our old Moller console. Also note how the horizontal stop jambs and flat top make the console much shorter.

Best of all - here is the Solid State electric action of a new console. Much smaller (as well as more versatile and reliable) than the mechanical pneumatic action in our old Moller console.

To rank or not to rank?

Recently, a music critic for the New York Times published an article which ranked 'the top 10 greatest composers of all time', in order. The idea being that number one is the greatest composer of all time, number two the second greatest and so forth. What do you think of such a list? May we be clear that this is not a list of his favorite composers, but, rather, the ones he thinks are the greatest. Ten who he says are superior to all others in innovation, creativity, and impact.

I could make a list of my favorite composers. That would be a relatively easy task, and says nothing of the so-called 'greatness' of those composers; it merely displays the whose music I enjoy listening to the most.

What this New York Times article asserts, on the other hand, the undisputed, generic greatness of composers.

By now, you have no doubt came to your own conclusion about this article. Likewise, you've probably figured out what I think of it. I believe the entire idea of this article is absurd. It is ridiculous. Not only that, it is also offensive to the legacies of all great composers, in my opinion.

Here is the article where you may find the list:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/arts/music/23composers.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&ref=anthonytommasini

An altogether insane idea.

Spring Concert Program!

I know have a tentative program for Spring organ recital! Here it is. You'll notice it is for the most part a rather mellow recital. First the lovely Sinfonia from Cantata 29 to get their attention (everybody seems to love that piece), then the gorgeous little Andante from Mendelssohn's third organ sonata to calm things down, this is followed by two monumental pieces by Cesar Franck in B minor and B major. The first half of the program is ended with a fun piece, d'Aquin's Noel X in G Major (known as the 'Echo Noel'), to loosen things up after around fifteen or sixteen minutes of Franck.

The second half of the program is a little more dense, it starts with a set, two pieces in A flat Major. First the Adagio from Mendelssohn's first organ sonata, followed by the Romance sans Paroles, No. 3 by Gabriel Fauré. It is my hope that I can make these pieces run together, since they are both in A flat Major and are of similarly sweet dispositions. I put them in this order because the Romance is slightly more light and bubbly, to give them a little break before the Messiaen starts. After the A flat Major set, I will be playing two monumental Messiaen pieces, the 'Apparition de l'Église Éternelle' and (from the Ascension suite) 'Prière du Christ montant vers son Père'. Each one is about ten minutes in length, neither are easy listening, they are both very heavy music. This will be a test of stamina for myself as well as the audience! After the Messiaen, to loosen things back up, I will play a lovely Andantino in G minor by Franck. The Andantino has sections in G Major and B flat Major which, in addition to it's light character, will help to get the attention of anybody who was lost with the Messiaen. I will conclude the program with Franck's Offertoire (Andantino) in C Major from 'l'Organiste'. I plan on playing this piece a little differently than we are used to. Firstly, most people play this piece at the pace of a slower Andante, but it is an Andantino and should be played slightly faster. Secondly, this piece was written for Harmonium, which has a much smoother system of volume dynamics than an organ; at the same time, the harmonium's variety of types of sounds is much more limited. For this reason, when playing it on a pipe organ, I will be using the organs systems of volume dynamics (via crescendo pedal) the same way one would pump faster on a harmonium. In essence, I'll be playing this piece much differently than people are used to. However, I do not do this without reason. I believe this is the way a harmonium piece should be played on an organ. If we look at other transcriptions by composers of their harmonium pieces to the organ, one notices the registrations of often dynamic and complex, not singular as so many people play the pieces from 'l'Organiste'. Truly I believe playing the way I play makes more sense considering the music. The Offertoire will be a gorgeous and dynamic way finish to the concert.

Johann Sebastian Bach

    - Sinfonia from Cantata 29

Felix Mendelssohn

    - Andante Tranquillo from Sonata 3 in A Major

César Franck

    - Prelude, Fugue and Variation
    - Cantabile in B Major

Louis Claude d'Aquin

    - Noel X

                                     ~Intermission~

Felix Mendelssohn

    - Adagio from Sonata 1 in F minor

Gabriel Fauré

    - Romance sans Paroles, Op. 17, no. 3

Olivier Messiaen

    - Apparition de l'Église Éternelle
    - Prière du Christ montant vers son Père

César Franck

    - Andantino in G minor
    - Offertoire in C Major

Indianapolis again!

What's new? We're supposed to be going to Indianapolis in mid-April for four or five days! OH YEAH!

Chancel of Saint Paul's in Indianapolis

I cannot wait! I love Indianapolis. Aside from that, there are so many wonderful friends and mentors there!

I can't wait for the music! I can't wait to hear Saint Paul's AMAZING choir, to play their amazing organ, to hear the trebles sing to the heavens with notes so high and perfect, to hear Robert Richter's fabulous playing on the organ, and hopefully more!

I can't wait for the people! I can't wait to see my grandparents, Aunt Ariana and Uncle Dave. I can't wait for Father Carpenter and Mother Denton to brighten up my day with their cheerful personalities and senses of humor. I can't wait to see Evie, Cait, Anna, Charlie, and everybody in the choir! I can't wait to see Marilyn Vargo at her desk, trying to give me candy! I can't wait to see Frank Boles and have him tell me to practice quieter! I can't wait to see Randy Frieling sitting on the piano bench with both legs to the same side, his amazing personality abound! I can't wait for everybody at Archway! I can't wait to see the Balke family!

I can't wait for the city! I can't wait to brave the intersection of Meridian and Kessler (lets hope I survive)! I can't wait to drive through Broad Ripple at night! I can't wait to see the ducks and geese on the canal! I can't wait to see all the mansions on Meridian! I can't wait for Center City Circle! I can't wait for the Canal Trail and the Monon Trail! I can't wait to eat in the sun room! I can't wait to go to the IMFA! I can't wait for the dark mornings and bright evenings!

I love Indianapolis so much! And I can't wait to visit!

The Uniformity of Gabriel Fauré

Fauré in 1864

Gabriel Fauré is an extremely under-appreciated composer in my opinion. I would easily rank him among the top ten greatest composers of all time, and probably even the top five.

I have numerous reasons for this. First, his music has such a distinctive voice. Upon hearing a piece by Fauré, one instantly knows it is by Fauré. He is very unique and distinctive. The texture, structure, dynamics, emotion, and melody are all so distinctively charming and recognizable.

Another reason for which I consider Fauré to be one of history's greatest composers: his impeccable gift of conceiving melodies. One will instantly think of the 'Pie Jesu' or 'Libera Me Domine' from his Requiem, his Pavane, his Sicilienne, his 'Romances sans Paroles', Op. 17 (especially number 3), and his Barcarolles (especially the first, Op. 26). But the average listener knows little more about Fauré and his music. Like I said, he is, in my opinion, tragically under-appreciated composer. The majority of works by Fauré are little known to the majority of classical music listeners, and rarely see live performance anywhere. All of his works show the same taste for incredible melody as the ones mentioned above. Consider for instance his Nocturne No. 6 in D Flat from Opus 74, the frame work for a GORGEOUS melody is set in the beginning of the work, the matured theme which is based on this form comes later on. This melodious theme is an utterly beautiful and genius conception, and the way Fauré sets up the structure in the beginning and builds up to a flourishing maturation is as genius as the theme itself. (I should add, all of his Barcarolles and Nocturnes are genius masterpieces. Fauré never composed a single bad note in his entire life.)

Fauré around 1900

Another little known masterpiece (in fact far less known than the nocturne, one of the least known masterpieces in the entire history musical literature) is his opera, 'Pénélope'. This opera has only been recorded twice and has only been performed in the United States twice, ever. Performances in Europe are only slightly more common than here in the United States. But this opera is a gorgeous work, full of wonderful harmonic construction and development, development and maturation of motifs, gorgeous evolution and melody.

Still, the thing which strikes me as his strongest point, his most genius quality as a composer, more than any other advantage (and Fauré had no shortage of those!), is his unending uniformity. This uniformity between movements and works is astonishing, no other composer in history had such perfect and natural inter- and intra-work uniformity. Themes and motifs and structures and more are reused with again and again, each time with a different spin and overall meaning. This quality finds its epitome in Fauré's piano-chamber music: his Piano Trio, his two Piano Quartets, and his two Piano Quintets. The uniformity between the two Piano Quartets, I feel, is the strongest, but all five of these works are closely strung with genius and diverse uniformity. They are all a combined, continuous work, in my opinion. The Quartets and Second Quintet share a stronger connection to one another than they do the Piano Trio and first Quintet. Likewise the Trio and first Quintet share a stronger bond to one another than the Quartets and second Quintet. Still, all five are connected and bonded to each other. These chamber works are his greatest masterpiece in my opinion, and on top of that, among the greatest works of the entire literature.

Compare, for instance, these movements from his Piano Quartets:

Piano Quartet no. 1, Movement 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPZGPIdv07c

Piano Quartet no. 2, Movement 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekCCsVp4pi8

Piano Quartet no. 1, Movement 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YKAgucdSC4

Piano Quartet no. 2, Movement 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7l5JPr-KN8

This inter- and intra-work thematic and structural uniformity and inter-work bondage is basically unparalleled anywhere in musical history.

Now consider the first movement of the Second Piano Quintet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyfPpwZe0_U

We hear a much more mature and earthy composition here (it was composed much later in his life than the two quartets), but the elements are still continued. The bond is still strong.

This phenomenon continues much further, and not just in these chamber works. I should add, his Piano Quartets and his Second Piano Quintet are among my favorite all time works. Every movement of these three chamber works is sublime, pure heaven. Take a listen to them in their entirities... absolutely gorgeous music. Absolutely genius music.

Fauré remains for me one of the greatest composers in history, and one of the greatest geniuses to ever walk this Earth.

Great Developments at First Presbyterian

Update: I'm now going to be doing all my posting on my everyday page! :-)

So what is new? Yesterday I met with Thomas Dressler, a notable organist and harpsichordist. Thomas is coming to Bloomsburg to play a concert at the First Presbyterian Church this upcoming Autumn. I met with Robert Fertitta, noted organist and musicologist in Connecticut, in December. Robert is playing a concert at the First Presbyterian Church this April.

Bright things are in the future for the music program at the First Presbyterian Church of Bloomsburg!

Thomas Dressler and myself at the organ

From 2000-2009, we had only one organ concert at First Presbyterian. The concert was in 2003; the organist was the German virtuoso, Felix Hell. In 2010 I played my premier recital, marking the beginning of many more concerts to come. This year, we'll see three organ concerts: one in April, by Robert Fertitta, one in May, by myself, and one in the Autumn, by Thomas Dressler. That makes four organ concerts in the past two years, as compared to one in the preceding ten years. That's all on top of the two piano concerts we have had by accomplished pianist Dr. Dylan Savage in the past two years.

Thomas Dressler, testing the organ at First Presbyterian

With more concerts, more opportunities to bring great music of all kinds to the town of Bloomsburg, and with our new Blüthner Concert Grand piano, everything is looking bright for the music program at First Presbyterian!

These improvements are unbelievably exciting!


I am so happy helping to bring great music to Bloomsburg, and that incredibly skilled musicians out there are willing to come all the way to Bloomsburg to play concerts for quite low pay (donations/free will offerings are the only source of revenue for these concerts). The generosity of these musicians is astounding. I am delighted to the extreme for their willingness to share great music with people in this community.

By the way, if you're in the are, you're INVITED(!) to come to all three organ concerts this year. I think they will all be fabulous events!

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A month ago I said I would no longer be posting. However, I was frustrated and just got caught up in a lot of emotions. I wasn't thinking clearly and was being stubborn. I have been much better since then, so I've decided I can still blog after all.