Making LIVE PERFORMANCES

Music City Mixture is my new recording. Live Performances is my previous recording. One does not set out to “make” a recording of previous live performances. One just notices that one has some tracks from several performances that sound good, and hey, why don’t we compile all that on a CD and order some graphics and keep it inexpensive and maybe hand it out for free. And that’s what one did. That little recording has gotten a good bit of mileage. It makes a great gift and an easy promotional handout.

You’ll find program notes for the individual tracks on the Program Notes tab of this site. Here are some more tidbits:

Most of these tracks were taken from my faculty recitals at Appalachian State University. When I learn a new piece, I try to trot it out on that stage before taking it on the road. The home stage is a comfortable laboratory. It represents the end of preparation and the beginning of rewarding repetition out on the road. I try to play "at home" each semester.

The Mulet Carillon is a favorite opener of mine. Adding the Zimbelstern was my idea, but there are far too many of those in this country that sound like a blind handbell choir missing a ringer.

The Brahms Chorales represent one of the most basic underlying philosophies behind my program notes: tell the listener what they need to listen for; tell them what they need to know to “get” the piece. If anyone knows the name Johannes Brahms, then they have all the information they need to understand these pieces when they are told that these were probably the very last notes Brahms wrote. If the performer keeps that in mind, these pieces never go stale.

The G major Concerto is a favorite of mine. It is entirely too cute for its own good.

I remember hearing Paul Meier play the snot out of the Mendelssohn f minor Sonata during my grad days at Rice. The piece finally made sense, and knowing Paul’s teacher so well, I then knew how to make the piece make sense myself. I finally got around to learning it about ten years later.

Franck appears to be my favorite composer for a while. I’m learning the complete works, recital by recital, about two pieces per year. The Prelude, Fugue, and Variation is a perennial favorite, and its opportunities for musical expression are limitless.

Finlandia is just perfect; not the way I play it, but the way Sibelius wrote it. Transcriptions pose the balancing act between making the organ sound like the original instrumentation and letting the piece translate however it likes to the organ. Myself, I hear the orchestra and play accordingly. I do the same thing when accompanying; I feel that the original needs to be kept in mind while performing. After all, Sibelius knew what an organ was – he could have written Finlandia for the organ if he liked. I play the fanfares differently now, forsaking the transcription and playing the original rhythm now.

The c minor trio Sonata is one of the nastier ones for difficulty, especially the third movement. I love this piece, and I love how Bach can make one of the quintessential “dark” minor keys sound like a birthday party.

The sixth Howells Psalm Prelude is one long fanfare. Even the quiet parts have a breathless anticipation about them. It has been a while since I played it or heard it, and it came up on my playlist in the car just the other day. I hardly recognized it, but I really like the writing – Howells keeps using the same harmonies in all his works, but they always have something new to say. It’s a very unique style that will hopefully be preserved.

Dan Gawthrop’s Floral Preludes have made a splash. And Lord knows I have done my part to keep them going! I thrill to the sound of an audience laughing during an organ recital.

The Jongen Toccata was to have been used on an all-French recording made at Rice. But it didn’t happen. However, this track is footage from those recording sessions. Quite a piece. And quite an organ for it.