Journal 2013.2014Die jährliche Hauszeitschrift der Konzertdirektion

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the tonal palette of the organ, giving the organist ever greater control over that palette,
and the vast mechanism required to operate it. That there is now a means not only for
preserving the work of those masters, but to use and combine them in live performance
irrespective of their origins and location, should only be a cause for rejoicing. It is a music
lover’s movable feast, as well as a presenter’s; the act of moving a massive organ to a
venue for a site-specific performance in the course of a tour will always be marketable
news, whereas a pipe organ, after its installation, is no more news than the building it is
in. Furthermore, the chance to witness the re-emergence of an instrument at the backbone
of Western music into a 21st-century, internationally tourable, and commercially
viable medium is too exciting, and too potentially powerful to ignore. It may, initially, take
some courage – some risk – to participate in and support such a re-emergence. But to
take that risk is to understand, and act upon, the fact that the future of classical music is
dictated by how we present it today.
Few things commit a person to developing a craft like making an investment in tools,
and part of playing the organ well is grasping what it means to commit a lifetime to an
instrument with so many geographical and physical limitations. It’s a sacrifice that, with
enough work invested, can pay off in astounding expressive possibilities and in indescribable,
almost erotic moments controlling a machine that literally allows you to touch
time and create emotions that can’t be defined. When the mix between instrument, artist,
preparation, and audience is right, the experience is worth any price. The touring organ
will exist to make sure not just that the instrument isn’t the weak link, but that the preparation
isn’t in question, either: whenever I perform, it will be on the same instrument
on which I practice, as in the case of almost every musician. It will mean taking my audience
to a new level; it will mean that the pursuit of a new and larger audience is possible
without limit; and it will mean that I can deliver performances that are prepared in privacy
over years – not overnight, on an unfamiliar instrument, hastily learned under work lights
at 3 a.m.
If the pipe organ’s immobility can be seen as a metaphor, then the touring organ’s mobility
is the best metaphor for its musical adaptability: it literally crosses borders. It can go,
and allow me to play, anywhere.
What worlds await?
Cameron Carpenter