Listen to an hour of piano or organ music from the
pianonoise archives. All from the fingers of Michael
Hammer, webmaestro, concert pianist and organist.
The Current program: live from St. Paul Cathedral
Pittsburgh on July 14, 2019. Thanks to the recording
prowess of David Hoffman, and with his kind permission,
the music from the concert at St. Paul played live!
Thanks to Don Fellows, Ken Danchik, and the folks at the
cathedral for giving my the opportunity to play their
excellent Beckerath, widely regarded as one of the
finest instruments in the country.
Dietrich Buxtehude was of sufficient fame that a young
Bach walked 250 miles to hear him. It is my contention
that this charming, spring-like prelude and fugue set
formed the model for Bach’s own D major fugue with its
virtuoso pedal part. The older composer also gives the
feet quite a workout, although among the twitter of the
Baroque birds that may be less obvious.
One of the innovations of the time of Michael Praetorius
was the use of multiple choruses in different parts of
the church. The organ itself had emerged only a century
or so earlier as an instrument capable not simply of
sounding all the stops at once, but of being capable of
multiple distinct sonic possibilities. I hope to use “O
Praise the Lord, my Soul” to show several of the
coloristic features of the excellent Beckerath organ.
Several pieces for liturgical use are on today’s
program. Girolamo Frescobaldi’s toccata is part of a
collection of pieces to be used in the mass, this one
for the period after the Eucharist. It is in four
sections of about 45 seconds each so that the organist
can draw his efforts to a close when the priest is ready
to continue.
The two Spanish pieces on the program show vivid
contrast. Jose Lidon’s short Sonata architecturally
resembles a sonata by Domenico Scarlatti, the
transplanted Italian of a generation earlier. Each of
its halves is repeated. The fiery composition features
the trumpets “en chaminade,” those pipes directly over
the organist’s head which come out of the wall sideways
and are quite loud! In my rendering, Juan Cabanille’s
effort begins in calm mystery. Stops are gradually added
over the course of the repetitive chord progression
until by the end we are at last hearing the entire organ
sounding at full volume, bringing the first half of
today’s recital to a close.
Les Rameaux (“The Palms”) and Scherzo are early works of
their respective composers. The first is based on the
chant “O Son of David” which can be heard tolling out in
the pedals in whole notes in much the way Michael
Praetorius or his German Protestant contemporaries would
have composed a piece based on a chant, though with very
20th century harmonies. Although Langlais did
not officially repudiate the piece he later seems to
have regretted parceling out the chant in this
non-rhythmic fashion. While Langlais was extremely
prolific, writing around 300 pieces for organ, his
Parisian colleague Maurice Durufle was not. His Scherzo
(1926) was written three years earlier than “Les Rameaux”
and remained one of fewer than a dozen pieces that he
wrote for organ.
Vidas Pinkevicius is an organist, teacher, and blogger
who lives in Vilnius, Lithuania. His Veni Creator
Spritus, based on the ancient church chant for
Pentecost, was written in 2010.
The last two pieces on the program are both based on a
chant for Easter, “O Sons and Daughters, let us sing.”
Jean-Francois Dandrieu’s composition comes from the
Classical French tradition of organists creating sets of
virtuouso variations on chants and noels. Writing nearly
two centuries later, Alexandre Guilmant delivers a piece
in ternary form, in which the central section is a set
of variations; it is flanked by the thunderous delivery
of a motive from the tune’s third phrase transplanted to
major and fashioned into a joyous dance.
Want to ask a question about the music, have an idea for future
programs, want to make a comment or just say hello? comments
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