ROBERT BATES AT ST. PETER'S CATHOLIC CATHEDRAL, SEPTEMBER 23, 2001

   Robert Bates opened the AGO 2001-2002 season with a recital featuring
works from the 16th, 17th, 18th, and 20th centuries. The program began
with Bates using the organ alone to lead the singing of a hymn, "O God Our
Help in Ages Past", with very effective alternative accompaniments, including
one verse with "silent" accompaniment, aka a capella, which the audience
sang very effectively. Next was a bold piece "Ave maris stella", by Jean
Titelouze. There followed three pieces from Francisco Correa de Arauxo's
Facultad Organica: Tres glosas sobre el canto llano de Immaculada Concepcion,
Sexto tiento de medio registro de baxon de primero tono, and Tiento de medio
registro de tiple de segundo tono. These were unmistakeably Spanish in
style, and featured an imaginative use of the reed stops, with many florid
passages and lots of ornamentation. Several of these were further subdivided
into shorter sections and it was thus not easy to keep track of which piece
was being played, but the effect was not diminished. Bates next played
the well-known Bach Passacaglia and Fugue in c Minor (BWV 528). While there
was little registrational contrast in the rather full organ sound, the
necessary rhythmic drive for this piece was there in abundance, with a
relentless pursuit to the end. Bates' articulation was well-adjusted to the
acoustics, and his playing precise. The British musicologist Walter Emery
once wrote that most of the large Bach organ works can be played quite
successfully on one manual, that is, without registrational contrast, and
that approach was successful here. The only caveat I have is that the
St. Peter's organ has a large full-organ sound, and from the physiologic
standpoint some greater contrast would have been welcome. 

   The second part of the program began with Jehan Alain's Second Fantasy,
which did feature considerable contrast between sections and some florid
passages reminescent of the Correa works. Bates then played two of his
own works, The first was Last Judgment, for organ and synthesizer. This
was most impressive, with the synthesizer providing resources not available
on the organ, ranging from bell- to chime- to harp-like sounds.This was a
fascinating mixture of tonal and atonal music, with tonality defined here
as music using the twelve notes available on the keyboard (this definition
- broader than most - would include any of Schonberg's keyboard works). By
atonal I mean music with sounds of any frequency, including all the
possibilities between, for example,C and C#. In any case I found this
work to be extraordinarily effective, invoking well the emotions one
associates with the last judgment! The next Bates piece was Charon's Oar
(Charon was - according to ancient myth - the boatman who ferried the souls
of the dead across the River Styx to Hades). Scores - in an unconventional 
but easily followed format - were provided for the audience, and one could
hear the steady, slow, and inexorable rhythm of the oar with the ripples of
the water in between. The program ended with Guillou's Saga #6 (Ikarus), a
dramatic and full piece evoking the flight of the mythic Icarus who flew too
close to the sun, which melted the wax holding the feathers in his wings,
causing his resulting plunge to earth. These last three pieces had been
programmed before the recent terrorist airliner disaster (September 11,
2001), and Bates made some very helpful comments about their relationship
to it. 

   All in all this was a wonderful program. My favorites - I can't decide
between them - were Bates' own compositions. He is clearly an artist - 
both a player and a composer - of the first rank, and I would like very
much to hear him and his works again.

                                                      - Glenn A. Gentry