Blog
June 28, 2014
I spent this past week in Boston at the national convention
for the American Guild of Organists attending concerts and workshops and
networking with other organists.
This is the banner from the Boston AGO Convention website
showing a Boston skyline, the organ at Methuen Concert Hall and the organ at
Old West Church
There were many highlights of this convention:
On Monday, June 24, I was one of about 14 people who played
the organ at the Mother Church, First Church of Christ Scientist, during an
open console time graciously hosted by the church organist, Bryan Ashley, who
set the registrations for the players.
This organ is Aeolian Skinner’s Opus 1203, the largest single organ that
the firm ever built. I played J.S.
Bach’s fugue in E Minor (The Cathedral).
Just getting to the console requires the organist to pass through Mr.
Ashley’s music library and enter through a doorway that is only about four and
a half feet high.
Aeolian Skinner Opus 1203, The Mother Church, First Church
of Christ Scientist, photo from the church website
At the console of Aeolian Skinner Opus 1203, photo taken by
Robert Atnip
On Monday afternoon, I traveled to Brookline for a session
called “The Timeless Beauty of Hook Organs,” where the group heard Maury Castro
play two historic Brookline organs built by E. & G. G. Hook: the first in the Sears Chapel, Opus 307
(1861) (2 manuals, 21 ranks) and the second at Church of Our Savior, Opus 1366
(1887) (2 manuals, 11 ranks). Mr. Castro
played works of Stanley, Grieg, Laurin, Mendelssohn, Clarke, and Albright.
The convention started on Monday evening with a concert of
Concerti featuring James David Christie, organ, and the Boston Landmarks
Orchestra, Christopher Wilkins, conductor.
This concert featured works of Guilmant, Langlais, Pinkham, Piston, and
Barger. What a thrill to hear the organ
featured with a full orchestra!
A photo from the Boston AGO website of the rehearsal for the
Christie concert. Photo from the AGO website
Tuesday morning began with an ecumenical worship service at
the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston.
This Cathedral is the home of E. & G. G. Hook’s Opus 801
(1875). This service featured the choir
and organist from Trinity Church (Episcopal) of Boston. Leo Abbott, the music director at the
Cathedral, played the postlude, which was a newly commissioned work by Daniel
Roth, “Fantasie sur l’hymne à Saint Jean Baptiste.”
I then attended a concert at Trinity Church played by Scott
Dettra on the Trinity Skinner Organ Company Opus 573 (1926), Aeolian-Skinner, Opus
573-C (1961). Mr. Dettra played works of
Willan, Escaich, Howells, Bingham, Jongen, and Duruflé. Tuesday evening featured a concert by
Christian Lane featuring both organs at the Memorial Church at Harvard
University in Cambridge. He began on
Skinner Organ Co., Opus 793 (1930) with works of Sowerby, Rorem, Hovhaness, and
Reger, and continued on C.B. Fisk, Inc., Opus 139 (2012) with works of Cooman,
Alain, and J.S. Bach. Mr. Lane was
joined by trumpeter, Chris Gekker who joined him on the Hovahaness “Prayer of
St. Gregory” and the Cooman “Solstice Sonata,” a new work commissioned for this
convention.
Christian Lane and Chris Gekker in front of the Harvard
Memorial Chapel Fisk organ, photo from the Boston AGO website
Wednesday featured Catherine Todorovski playing works of
Vivaldi, Pachelbel, J.S. Bach, Krebs, Verdi, Galupi, Gasparini, and Bellini at
the First Church in Cambridge, Congregational, on their Frobenius & Sonner,
Opus 765 (1972) organ. This was followed
by a concert at Old West Church entitled “The Seasons of Sebastian” Music of Johann Sebastian Bach” played by
Janette Fishell. Old West Church is home
to C.B. Fisk’s Opus 55 (1971). This
special organ used to be the recital organ for the New England Conservatory
when they had an organ program. It is
now conserved by both the congregation of the Church and the Old West Organ
Society, which features this organ in regular concerts and raises funds for its
maintenance.
Wednesday evening I attended a Solemn Evensong Worship
service at Church of the Advent Episcopal Church. The music for this was provided by Mark
Dwyer, Ross Wood, and the Advent Choir.
This was a very uplifting and inspirational and included Herbert Howells
“Magnificat and Nunc dimittis for the Cathedral Church of the Holy and
Indivisible Trinity, Gloucester.” The
St. John’s Chamber Choir, which I am a member of, has just performed this
beautiful Howells music at St. John’s in Bangor on March 30. The Advent Choir also performed a Bruckner
motet, “Os justi meditabitur sapientian,” WAB 30 (translated as The mouth of
the righteous). This evensong was one of
the highlights of the convention. The
worship service was followed by a concert by John Scott, organist at St. Thomas
Church, New York City, featuring works of Berkeley, Stanford, Bridge, Muhly,
Whitlock, Fricker, and Mathias masterfully played on the Advent’s
Aeolian-Skinner, Opus 940 (1936/1964).
Thursday morning I attended the premier of James Woodman’s “Eight
Little Harmonies and Counterpoints,” which were commissioned for this
convention and were inspired by J. S. Bach’s “Eight Little Preludes and
Fugues.” These pieces were played by eight
high school students on the Casavant Frères organ, Opus 1498 (1933) at Our Lady
of Victories Church. The students did a
wonderful job premiering this new music.
I also attended part of “A Hook Morning at Cathedral of the Holy Cross,”
which was a panel of George Bozeman, Fritz Noack, Leo Abbott, Robert Newton,
Barbara Owen, and Scot Huntington.
Some of the organ students who played the Woodman "Eight Little Harmonies
and Counterpoints." Photo from the Boston AGO website
Thursday afternoon, I attended a choral concert by Blue
Heron, which is directed by Scott Metcalfe.
This vocal group specializes in a cappella music from the fifteenth
through the seventeenth centuries. Their
singing filled the space with the wonderful acoustic of St. Cecilia Parish.
Thursday evening I attended a Praetorius Lutheran Organ Vespers
service for Pentecost at First Lutheran Church of Boston. This is the first time I have attended a
Lutheran Vespers. Bálint Karosi, their
minister of music and their choir, Canto Armonico, provided the music. The choral works were in Latin and German,
while the congregational hymns were in English.
This was followed by a concert of organ Concerti of Handel, Carl Philipp
Emanuel Bach, and J. S. Bach performed by Joan Lippincott and the Boston Early
Music Festival Chamber Ensemble, Robert Mealy, director. The First Lutheran Church is home to Richard
Fowkes & Co, Opus 10 (2000).
Friday morning, we rode in a bus to Wellesley where we heard
two concerts. Kimberly Marshall played
the first concert in Wellesley College’s Houghton Memorial Chapel on C.B.
Fisk’s Opus 72 (1982). This organ was
informed by early Dutch instruments and was the first major American organ that
is tuned in meantone with sub-semitones for some of the keys. The wind for the organ for this concert was
provided through manual pumping.
Marshall performed works of Scheidemann, Schlick, Morungensis,
Buxtehude, Gardane, Frescobaldi, J.S. Bach, and Sweelinck.
Wellesley College Fisk organ. Photo from the Wellesley website
Wellesley College Fisk keyboard showing the sub-semitones on the keys. Photo from the AGO website
Wellesley College Fisk pedalboard showing the sub-semitones on the pedals. Photo from the AGO website
Renée Anne Louprette performed the second concert in Wellesley’s
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church. She
masterfully performed works of Widor, Duruflé, Decker, de Grigny, Migot,
Balbastre, and Franck on the Juget-Sinclair, Opus 24 (2006) organ.
St. Andrews Wellesley, Juget-Sinclair organ. Photo from the church website
During the convention I kept in touch with several people
from Maine. I shared a hotel room with Sarah
Johnson, a Mainer who was a student of my teacher, Dr. Kevin Birch. Sarah is currently an organ performance major
at Vassar College. David and Nicholas
Wallace are Maine organ builders who built a portable organ of one manual and
pedals. They displayed this organ in the
convention exhibit hall.
Sarah Johnson playing the Wallace portable organ. Photo from the Wallace facebook page
Overall this was an exhilarating convention. I heard historic and new music performed by
top organists and met old and new friends.
