I have to admit, I grew up singing in the choir with a Hammond organ.
When I was on the road as a musician, having to be onstage at nine,
I'd hang out where a Hammond organist was doing a solo gig, or had a drummer.
Needless to say, the keyboardists in bands I was in didn't haul around cathedral organs.
And that includes listening to piano everywhere I go, from students to jazz and classical recording artists.
Ever since I found Magle.dk and listened to Frederik Magle, I've been listening to his organ playing.
That means I've listened to him more than all the other cathedral organists together.
It's true what it says on the home page, he takes you on musical journey, expressing himself, telling a story.
Bach, and all the other traditional organists, can captivate your mind, and there are dynamics and sound variations,
but it, for a lack of more symphonic words, sounds old-fashioned to me, like Steve and Edie singing a duet.
There's just something too comfortable about it, despite the wide-ranging technique.
I hear some Jon Lord from Deep Purple, Keith Emerson from Emerson, Lake and Palmer, what progressive rock borrowed,
yeah... I guess what I'm saying is the older music doesn't have the same drive, sounding more decorative.
Now, if I was an organist playing these pieces it would be a real accomplishment, and note-worthy, even notable,
if not notatissimo, but part of sounding old fashioned is not being able to imagine playing along with it,
seeing these compositions as being a stand-alone piece, like a musical post-card that shows different melodic variations.
I even bought "Switch-On Bach" and the synthesized "The Four Seasons", thinking I'd get into the music that way,
but I never really did.
Now, this is going to sound like a very uninformed question, but did Beethoven play the organ?
I can't think of any music of his on organ, and Beethoven is someone who paints a moving picture in my mind.
The first section of Sonata in C#minor is one of the first things I learned to play with my Stratocaster and Marshall with effects.
I actually think the sound of a nicely distorted guitar, with reverb, echo and phase shifting, sounds better than a piano.
And it gets louder. The vibrations are in the strings under your fingers and in the air around you.
I know I'm typing more about what this thread isn't, more about my general appreciation of cathedral organs,
but that's more important to me than just digging up a YouTube video to show someone else.
I'm sure you know what it's like to listen to some music and then get up and walk away from it,
leaving it behind. It's an old cliche, getting back to Bach, but I never have.
I'm thinking of Radar in M.A.S.H., who was told to put his hand to his chin and lean back in thought,
and then say "aaah... Bach", to impress a new nurse. That would be me, faking it, and I don't do that.
okay... okay... here's some organ music I get into.
I've been listening to this for a while, so it was on top of my suggested videos.
I like how he starts with a soft sound, letting the organ breath, before the notes pile up.
It's not all over the place, not trying to be everything all at once, like Bach,
and I'm hearing instrumentation and want to play along... hearing a song,
as elevated as it gets. And yes, this is an improvisation, where I'm at, hearing off notes. That makes me smile.
It's nice to be reminded that the musicians I'm playing with are all so human.