Olivier Latry at First Presbyterian Church, October 21, 2008
Although the organist Olivier Latry is French (Notre Dame), the organ from a
French Canadian builder (Casavant), and most of the music by French
composers, the program nevertheless opened and closed with music by that
quintessential German composer, J.S. Bach. The first piece was Bach's
Prelude and Fugue in G (BWV541) which was played crisply with consistent
articulation well matched to the room. For the prelude Latry used an
unusual registration featuring an 8' trumpet sound throughout. After I
heard more of the organ I realized that - as a French-romantic oriented
instrument - for brilliance it depended on reeds rather than mixtures,
as a German instrument would (but vive la difference! - more
about this below). The fugue was played on flues with the same level
of excitement. Franck's Chorale in b followed, with brilliant sounds
over a wide dynamic range - sounding, I suspect, much as it would have
in a performance by Franck himself. Next was the Andante from Widor's
Symphonie Gothique, a melodious piece featuring a clear solo flute of
great character. The last piece before the intermission was Marcel
Dupré's Prelude and Fugue in g Minor. The prelude was registered
appropriately lightly and played fast, and the fugue was larger in
sound (again with reeds) and even livelier. There is an irreverent
jingle students sometimes sing to the fugue subject: "Marcel Dupre,
Marcel Dupre, the hell you say, the hell you say!" or, if you prefer,
"Marcel Dupre, Marcel Dupre, you're here to stay, you're here to stay."
In any case Latry gave it a spirited and memorable performance.
Olivier Messiaen's Transports de joie (from L'Ascension) was
next, and included some very big reeds in staccato passages, with
enough time between chords to assess the room acoustics (reverberation
used to be measured with gun shots - blanks, of course). My guess is
that there was about 1 second, which wasn't bad, considering that
the pews were filled with sound-absorbing material in the form of
fully-clothed human beings (this was a substantial audience)! More
about this also, below. Maurice Duruflé's Scherzo, Opus 2, was
next, played on softer stops - flutes, then strings. Theirry Escaich's
Evocation followed, with some interesting sounds, especially in the
pedal point. Ordinarily a pedal point is a low note played with the
feet and held for an extended period of time - not much to say about
it except "Well, there it is." Not so here. The pedal point pulsated
to varying degrees, sounding as if there were a low pitched celeste,
and at other times as if there were a pedal tremulant, and at still
other times as if there were rapid repetitions. It was an impressive piece.
Last on the program was Le grand piece de la resistance (if I remember
my limited French correctly), Latry's Improvisation on a submitted
theme. The Germans were not yet dispensed with; the theme was Martin
Luther's "Ein feste Burg" ("A Mighty Fortress"). Here Latry used
a dazzling series of imaginative treatments of the theme in rapid
succession, and even sneaked in a few bars of "Happy Birthday". It
reminded me of his improvisation at Northminster Baptist Church at
the AGO Regional Convention in 2001, when someone's cell phone
went off while he was playing, and its ring tones then showed
up in the improvisation a few bars later! There was an explosion
of applause, which earned the audience an encore of more Bach -
an arrangement by Marcel Dupre of the opening of Cantata 29,
"Wir danken dir Gott" which provided the closing Bach bookend to
this superb program.
The organ - with its French oriented sound - stands is in marked
contrast to some of the more Germanic organs in the Jackson area
(for example Fondren Presbyterian Church and St. Peter's Catholic
Cathedral, although to be historically correct, the Austrian Rieger
Orgelbau modeled the organ in St. Peter's after the French
baroque builder Henri Clicquot). Perhaps the most interesting
feature of the First Presbyterian instrument is the varied origins
of its pipework - there were at least nine different sources of pipes
listed in the organ brochure, six of them from individual instruments,
four of those by the early 20th century American builder Ernest M.
Skinner. To combine pipes from that many sources requires the utmost
in talent from an organbuilder, and Casavant rose to the occasion with
an almost unbelievably successful result. Had I not known about the
history of the pipework, I would have immediately concluded that this
was an instrument with pipes built all at the same time with one result
in mind. So far as the acoustics are concerned, organs generally prosper
more in rooms with several seconds of reverberation (such rooms, common
in Europe, are rare in the U.S.). Good organ builders, however, know
how to match the sounds of the pipes to rooms with low reverberation,
and here, again, Casavant used its skill to great effect at yet another
level! The First Presbyterian organ is a very welcome addition to the
Jackson musical scene and we are grateful to that congregation, and to
Director of Music William Wymond, for sharing it with the public and
for hosting Olivier Latry.
- Glenn A. Gentry