Those devoted to what is often called “the King of Instruments” will rejoice at the Santa Barbara Symphony’s next program (7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 19, and 3 p.m. Sunday, March 20, both in the Granada Theater), which is built around the organ and the guest soloist, world-renowned organist, Cameron Carpenter.
The program for these concerts will consist of Johann Sebastian Bach‘s “Prelude and Fugue in Eb-Major, for solo organ, BMW552, ‘St Anne’” (1739); François Poulenc‘s “Concerto in g-minor for Organ, Strings, & Timpani, FP 93” (1938); and Camille Saint-Saëns‘s “Symphony No. 3 in c-minor, Opus 78, ‘Organ’” (1886).
The Santa Barbara Symphony says: “Sonic Boom is presented in collaboration with Through Vincent’s Eyes: Van Gogh and His Sources at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, and begins a new artistic synergy between the two organizations.
“In addition, the Saint-Saens’ third Symphony, with Carpenter’s organ, is a masterpiece that was written and performed in Paris during the time Vincent Van Gogh lived in the City of Light.” [“Vincent may have even heard the symphony performed, on the slim chance that he could afford a ticket.”]
The Bach needs no boost from me. It has been hailed as a masterpiece ever since it was written, and it comes from a book of like masterpieces, the “Clavier-Übung III.”
The great majority of organ concertos were written in the eighteenth century, when almost all the baroque and classical composers in Europe wrote at least one work for organ and orchestra, whether they called it a “concerto” or not.
The number drops off sharply — to a mere handful — in the nineteenth century, then explodes again, for some reason, in the twentieth. Of those I have heard, the most important (because I have recordings of them) are those of the German, Paul Hindemith; the American, Howard Hanson; and the Frenchman, François Poulenc.
You will prefer one of them over the others according to how you feel about the composer. The only one we are likely to hear in a contemporary concert is the one we are going to hear, that by Poulenc.
For most music lovers, the Poulenc will prove the most accessible as well, however many passages get us scratching our heads. I have three different recordings of the work, all made before Cameron Carpenter was born and while the composer was still alive. It is a labyrinthine work, but a great one.
The French musicologist Claude Rostand has indelibly characterized François Poulenc as “half monk and half naughty boy.” This turns out to be an uncannily precise characterization of the organ concerto.
When he wrote it, he had already been writing church music, including settings of liturgy and other sacred texts, as well as religious-themed secular works, like his quasi-opera “The Dialogues of the Carmelites” for several years.
And, while he was sincere in his Roman Catholicism, he remained the cheeky iconoclast of the 1920s; thus, to the end of his life, he was a high-functioning bi-polar in the practice of his art.
The Saint-Saëns symphony is one of the few works I don’t hesitate to call sublime. To be sure, parts of it make me uneasy, mainly when he seems to be proposing a Christian Wagnerism, but in the end, all doubts are swept away, and I sit back exalted.
About the soloist: “With his exceptional musicality, sheer endless technical ability and pioneering spirit, the extraordinary organist Cameron Carpenter is already leaving his mark on recent music history. Ever since the completion of his own instrument, the International Touring Organ (ITO) in 2014, Cameron defies initial skepticism towards this digital instrument and established the ITO on the world’s most prestigious stages.
“By now, he almost exclusively performs on the ITO, be it in recital or concerto appearances. This tailor-made instrument, based on Carpenter’s own plans, allows him to perform at almost any location worldwide. Thus far, he has taken it on tour to Australia, New Zealand, Russia and Asia in addition to numerous appearances around Europe and the U.S.”
Tickets to Sonic Boom are $31-$156″ and can be purchased in person at the Granada box office, 1214 State St., by phone at 805-899-2222, or online at https://ticketing.granadasb.org/15640.
For the latest Covid restrictions, visit https://www.granadasb.org/covid-vaccine-mandate/.
— Gerald Carpenter covers the arts as a Noozhawk contributing writer. He can be reached at gerald.carpenter@gmail.com. The opinions expressed are his own.