As the Seattle Symphony performs at Benaroya Hall, they are overwhelmed by the King Of Instruments: the pipe organ!
Though some say the king of instruments is the symphony. Hard to argue with that, not because it is right, but because that is such a weird thought. Anyone who uses that argument must operate by rules of reasoning hopelessly opaque to anyone else.
I once had an overnight Wednesday-Sunday job. Sundays at 6am, in those days, a radio station had a program called “The Organ Loft.” I looked outside as I sat on the steps and listened to pipe organ music on my transistor radio. Maybe the pipe organ isn’t meant to be listened to on a transistor radio, I thought, because it sounded silly. Too much treble.
Dr. Phibes (Vincent Price) played the pipe organ.
There was a day in Fremont that predates even those long-ago Sundays. A neighbor across the street, window open, was listening to piano music. A guitars-and-drums man, I was struck with admiration. That person must be a real sophisticate, I thought. I would like to be able to do that.
St. James Cathedral has two pipe organs. I was there once on a weekday. After Mass, the organist came out and started to play. Lucky me, I had time to listen, and it was a thrill. I became one of the people who stays after Sunday Mass, listens to the organist play out his whole piece, and applauds.
I began taking note of the composers of the pieces played at Mass– my first contact with the ethereal Olivier Messiaen.
St. Mark’s Cathedral has an excellent pipe organ high up in back. You can’t get up there, same as the Benaroya pipe organ. The organist has to ascend that mountain alone and send the music down to the uplifted masses.
One night a courageous organist played Messiaen’s “Meditations On The Mystery Of The Holy Trinity,” one of the lesser-known works from a year that saw more than its share of historic music: 1969.
I went to high school just down the road from St. Mark’s, so I thought I’d take my wife down to show her around. Farther than I thought, we were on foot, and a downpour erupted as we were too far away from the church to get back without getting soaked. That’s what I get for thinking I could just go back to my high school and it would be fun. No big deal.
It was horrible. I sat in that church freezing and soaked, miserable, and listened to that crazy piece, thinking it would have to be one of Aimee’s least-favorite nights of all time. But, a classic night for me.
Someday, I hope I get another chance to hear that performed live, because it’s a startling piece of music, and one of the great cultural treasures of the Catholic church. Imagine trying to portray the reality of the Trinity in 70 minutes of pipe organ music. As it unfolds, one truly has the feeling of being on the threshold of the Ineffable. There are great outbursts of power chords and passages through deep tunnels of unexplored darkness.
Procure some Messiaen, or Buxtehude, or Bach, and go for a walk in the rain, at night, or a Summer twilight, in a forest, a field, and listen to pipe organ music through your headphones.
One of the Seattle Symphony’s yearly subscription series is a pipe organ recital series, always among the least-attended concerts of a season. Someday, an organist will play with a drummer– a jazz drummer, say– and that’ll be a great success. Give the organ something visceral and immediate to play off.
During public tours of Benaroya Hall, a demo of the pipe organ is included. People recognize that the pipe organ deserves more prominent and thoughtful presentation.
The Organ Rock Singalong Series will be a huge success. The symphony, with organ, plays “Whiter Shade Of Pale,” “Smoke On The Water,” You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” “A Day In The Life.”
Why isn’t this being done?
Why? Why? Why?