Carol Williams "Maid in China"
CD Review by Ralph Beaudry
Although political relations between
the
United States and China have been somewhat rocky in recent months, it's
encouraging to realize our cultural relations scem to be growing
stronger all the time. Despite there not being a tradition of organ
music in China, when Beijing's new ForEidden City Concert Hall was
planned, provision was
made for a magnificent three-manual Austin pipe organ (Opus 2779) with
53 speaking stops. Yes, the Concert Hall is actually inside the walls
of the Forbidden City, adjacent to Tinamen Square and the Zhongshan
Gardens! The organ's impressive casework (on a platform 12 feet above
center stage) is pictured on the alLum's cover and the specifications
are included in the liner notes. Additional photos and details about
the organ can be found in the cover story of The American Organist
for November 2000.
British organist Carol Williams (whose
classical and "pop" albums have been reviewed in these pages-most
recently her Just Rags CD in the September, 2000 issue,) who
now resides in the United States, was the artist selected to play the
organ's inaugural concerts in April 2000. The first concert presented
bath the organ and
Beijing Symphony Orchestra while the second was a soloorgan
performance.
Seven of this 71 minute CD's 17 tracks were made during the live
performances (we've indicated these with an asterisk after the
selection title) and
the balance were recorded soon thereafter. Carol's liner notes tell us
"... (B)ecause there is no organ tradition in China, it was difficult
to
select music that would be suitable for such a historic occasion and at
the same time be acceptable to audiences who had not previously savored
music played on the King of Instruments." Carol's fascinating choice of
compositions
runs the gamut from J. S. Bach to Jerry Herman with a surprising
variety
of musical styles. Some are the usual well loved "showcase
standards"-but
there are also a welcome number of fascinating pieces from some rarely
heard
20th Century composers.
After the resonant stroke of a Chinese
gong Carol's program opens with "the remorselessly buoyant" but
inevitable "Toccata" from Widor's Fifth Symphony. *Marco Enrico
Bossi (1861-1925) wrote his challenging "Etude Symphonique"* to
demonstrate an organist's pedal virtuasity and that it does! The next
two selections were written by Bach in the early 1700s. First is his
languorously melodic "Aria" from the Suite in D, which often,
but somewhat erroneously, is called the "Air on the G String"- because
one violinist decided he could play
the whole piece on the lowest (G) string of his instrument! The other
is
his delightful "Fuga Sopra" (a melodious or light fugue) from the
Magnificant BWV 733. A quite modern but completely fascinating
"Toccata" by Gavin
Stevens (b. 1962) is next and then Carol plays "El Flautista Alagre" by
Ramon Noble (b. 1925) which her notes quite accurately describe as ".
. . a markedly gently (flute) composition from South America... that
is singularly beautiful."
Although he's better known for his
majestic orchestral works, Jean Sibelius' "Intrada" (written in 1925)
is described as"... an ideal work (for) showing the grandeur of this
Austin organ." Indeed it does! Carol's next piece comes from a suite
for wind instruments and was originally titled "Prince of Denmark's
March." Today we know it better as Jeremiah Clarke's "Trumpet
Voluntary."* Although he was world
famous as a concert organist in the early 20th Century, Lynnwood Farnam
wrote only this one piece for the organ. It's his quite brief but
thrilling
"Toccata on O Filli et Filiae." Lefebure-Wely (1817-1869) not only was
a fine organist (serving for years at the Madeleine and then St.
Sulpice
churches in Paris) but an inventive composer who delighted in writing
in
unusually rhythmic, virtually theatrical, styles! His "Bolero de
Concert"
has a slow, seductive rhythm based on the Spanish dance said to have
been
invented by Sebastian Gerezo about 1780!
Boellman's familiar, fiery "Toccata"*
from his Suite Gothique precedes one of the most delightfully
surprising selections we've ever found on a classical organ disc. It's
David Hellewell's recently composed jazzy "Land of Fire"* with its
charmingly rhythmic, completely captivating melodies! In contrast is
the warm, rich Richard Purvis arrangement of "Greensleeves." Despite
the fact he wrote over
200 songs, suites, operettas and symphonic poems, John Philip Sousa is
best known for his 136 marches! Next is one of his best and it's one
of many he wrote by request! "The Washington Post March" was composed
for the awards ceremony following an essay contest sponsored by The
Washington
Post newspaper!
A footnote:
Although it may be stretching
serendipity to its limits, in this issue are reviews of a classical CD
made on the new Austin organ in Beijing, China and a new theatre organ
album with
the title Xanadu. AND, at the time those reviews were being
written, the National Geographic Magazine (June 2001) published
an article about Marco Polo's trip to China in the late 13th Century.
That article points out specifically that Polo visited with Genghis
Khan's
grandson "... in Shangdu (also known as Xanadu), the sumptuous summer
capital
of the Mongol ruler Kublai Khan, and... to the new city Kublai was
building-Daidu, today part of Beijing."
Another "American original" is next.
Scott Joplin wrote, as critic Jim Svejda says,"... the subtle,
infectious,
endlessly inventive music... (which), in essence, transformed the
musical
wallpaper of (the) turn of the century... into a high and distinctively
American art." Carol plays Joplin's "The Entertainer" and continues
with
an equally attractive version of Jerry Herman's ever-popular "Hello,
Dolly."*
From the live concert with the Beijing Symphony Orchestra, conducted by
Tan Lihua, is the glorious "Finale"* the maestoso-allegro movements of
Saint-Saen's" Third Organ Symphony.
Bejing's new concert hall is obviously
a
spacious, hard surfaced room in which the Austin organ comes off as
warm
and rich in tone and it has a remarkable clarity. Ms Williams' wide
range
of music in this program is completely satisfying and Alfred Buttler's
recording
(with assistance from Bill Greenwood and mastering by Jim Stemke) is
excellent. Classical organ buffs will certainly find it to be a
listening delight.
Review courtesy of the Journal of
the
American Theatre Organ Society
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