Paul Lee at First Baptist Church, Oct 22, 2010
Because of Paul Lee's remarkable performance at St. James' Episcopal
Church in the 2001 AGO Regional Convention, our expectations were
high for this program, and, in a few words, we were not disappointed!
Two overarching factors were at play: first, the organ, now the 19th
largest in the world and exquisitely finished by organ builder Michael
Quimby, and the second, Lee's prodigious technique and musicianship.
The program opened with Mendelssohn's Sonata #6 in A major, begun in
a grand and stately manner, with a fluently played pedal cadenza in
the middle, and, in the second and final movement, a gentle conclusion.
Next was the familiar Albinoni Adagio in g minor, reconstructed from
fragments of the original, by Remo Giazotto in 1958. As was the case
throughout the program, Lee used imaginative and highly effective
registrations (of which there were literally thousands of possibilities,
owing to the size of the instrument). Bach's Fantasy & Fugue in g minor
(nicknamed "The Great" with good reason!) followed, and Lee's
imagination was in overdrive. The fantasy, a slow piece, begins with
big passages which are interspersed with much softer ones. For one
of the softer ones, he used the tremulant, an unconventional and
unexpected approach, but a highly successful one. In the following
passage where the sound level is increasing, there is a slow descending
scale in the pedal which he played staccato, also unexpected but
very effective. And in the fugue there is a melodic line with unique
phrasing that recurs many times in each hand and in the pedal and which
requires careful attention to maintain the phrasing consistently - this
detail also was observed meticulously.
Lee then demonstrated the organ and some of its sounds, and improvised
at length, ending with an astonishing rendition of "Blessed Assurance".
Two works from Messiaen's L'Ascension followed, with a variety of
sounds and dynamic levels. My suspicion is that Messiaen would have
been delighted. Toward the end there were some very fast passages
where Lee's hands (viewed on a large video screen) were a blur.
Duruflé's Sicilienne was next, a quieter piece with considerable
internal motion especially at the beginning. Lee then gave an inspired
rendering of Liszt's Fantasy and Fugue on the theme BACH, an episodic
piece with many virtuosic passages and a very big and extended sound
at the end. The recital closed with one of my personal favorites,
the Allegro (1st Movement) of Widor's Sixth Symphony. It requires
a big sound - no problem for this organ - and a high level of
independence of the hands and feet from one another - no problem for Lee!
In that piece there is a section where the feet/left hand/right hand are
playing in 4/3/2 rhythm. It is a beautiful and quite difficult
passage, but Lee played it as if it were simple. It would - in my
view - have been better if it had been softer, because its complexity
would have been more obvious, and Lee's skill would have been even more
apparent.
While there are guidelines for the performance of organ works from
different periods, some consider them rules and others think of
them as suggestions. In the final analysis, however, the organist
who actually plays is responsible for how the playing is done -
registration, tempo, and phrasing - and needs to have "trustworthy"
ears to make the final judgments, and it is here that Paul Lee showed
his considerable ability. Making those final judgments is, of course,
more complicated the larger the instrument, but that was easy
for Lee. The dynamic range also deserves a comment; it went from ppp
to fff at different places, as one might expect in an instrument
this size. I brought a small decibel (dB) meter to the recital, and
it measured from 55 to 60 dB for complete quiet, to 65 dB for the
softest passages, to 99 dB (fortunately briefly) at the conclusion
of the Widor. All in all this was an exciting and extraordinary
evening, for which we thank Paul Lee and the First Baptist Church.
- Glenn A. Gentry