When the experts screw up.

[jhnbrbr]

Have you ever been to an organ recital by a professional when something has gone horribly wrong? I can remember two such experiences, but I won't name names as I wouldn't want to destroy anyone's reputation! The first was a very emminent British organist giving a recital at Birmingham Cathedral. Reaching the end of Franck's "Cantabile", the volume was fading away nicely towards the end when his toe pressed the wrong piston and we enjoyed a mighty blast of reeds on the final chord. The second was another extremely talented performer playing "Toccatina for the Flutes". Now that isn't a work where you expect to hear dramatic changes of registration, but that is exactly what happened. It turned out his fingers were bumping into the pistons while he played, so it became toccatina for the flutes, then the diapasons, then the mixtures, then the reeds, then the flutes again ...
However, in a strange sort of way, I think these incidents can actually be quite inspiring to we accident-prone amateurs, because it proves the top level players are only human after all ...

[Mat]

I haven't been to such an organ recital, but I remember Krummhorn posted some time ago a short music file of how things can go really wrong.

Very clear example of bitonality in Haendel's music

[dll927]

Nothing like ending the "Cantabile" with a blast of reeds. That's a rather quiet piece (and notoriously not easy to play), but that sure would wake up the dead!! You've got to be careful with toe pistons, and better be sure you get the right one.

[jhnbrbr]

Hilarious Mat! And a few kind people still applauded.

Yes Dll, pistons are like other forms of modern technology - they bring their own dangers. For example, have you ever forgotten to put a phone down, and accidentally recorded derogatory remarks about someone on their answerphone? Not funny!

[drwilx]

I remember, a long time ago, attending a Virgil Fox concert where he suddenly stopped playing and remarked to the audience that we had paid to hear the piece played correctly and that was what we were going to get. He started over from the beginning!

What an incredible human being.

Regards,

Dennis

[Krummhorn]

At a recent organ concert here, the organist forgot to close the wide open crescendo shoe. She set up the stops for the next piece ... a very very quiet piece using the softest stop on this 41 rk organ. I could see the bright green crescendo pedal indicator light brightly glowing its heart out from where I sat ... the organist didn't ... so I was prepared for what was about to happen - which did, much to the dismay of the organist.

I did this too ... way back when ... it was my 2nd organ concert ... the only way to quickly achieve tutti was to use the crescendo pedal. There were 3 brightly glowing amber indicator lamps, and I missed them, and after hitting GC, I stood up on the pedalboard to exit the console.

After that embarrassing moment, and to this day, I have never ever walked across the pedalboard either entering or exiting the console.

[Contratrombone64]

wonderful anecdotes here, I especially like the Virgil Fox one. A true artist. As to suddenly introducing a wrong note, more often than not I do that on the pedals if I'm resting my foot above the next pedal note I'm about to play.

[smilingvox]

I heard that Gerre Hancock's recent recital at St. John the Divine (NYC) didn't fare too well. The reason, I'm told, is that Gerre had fallen down and messed up his back just days before the recital.

That would stand to reason, as he is one of the greatest artists.

[Contratrombone64]

smilingvox - I just LOVE that organ at St. John the Devine, in the Big Apple. I really need to see it badly, one day!

[mathetes1963]

An older gentleman I used to work with was actually a member @ the Riverside Church during Virgil Fox's tenure there. He related to me the incident of having a casual conversation with Fox as he was playing the recessional for a wedding that was taking place. In mid-conversation, Fox suddenly looked dismayed and said, "I'm supposed to be playing something else...", and without skipping a beat, he modulated keys, and lead right into the other piece! Would have killed to have seen/heard that...

[Bagnew]

BWV 565: Following a flawless toccata was a brilliant fugue - well, except the last bar! He landed on the low C, instead of D. I think it would be safe to say that there were winces all around.

[Krummhorn]

It was the dedication concert of a new Allen digital (1972) ... the organist (not me) had played the entire program from memory ... towards the end of the BWV 565, he lost his place, went into some wild modulation sequence that somewhat resembled the final 5 bars, and finally ended the piece with a C Major chord.

Needless to say, there wasn't an encore call

[FinnViking]

BWV 565: Following a flawless toccata was a brilliant fugue - well, except the last bar! He landed on the low C, instead of D. I think it would be safe to say that there were winces all around.

I once heard that happen in the D-Major-Fugue BWV 532; there is that dangerous octave jump at the end, and the poor player played C instead of D.

[Dorsetmike]

It was the dedication concert of a new Allen digital (1972) ... the organist (not me) had played the entire program from memory ... towards the end of the BWV 565, he lost his place, went into some wild modulation sequence that somewhat resembled the final 5 bars, and finally ended the piece with a C Major chord.

Needless to say, there wasn't an encore call

Maybe he was in a hurry, method in his madness?

[Krummhorn]

Maybe he was in a hurry, method in his madness?

Could be ... nature calling, perhaps .