If there’s a rock star in the classical music world, Cameron Carpenter is it.
Cameron Carpenter (Organ) at Koerner Hall. Friday, April 1, 2016.
If you see Koerner Hall looking a little bit disheveled this morning, that’s because Cameron Carpenter’s debut digital touring organ gave the hall, and the patrons inside, a reverberant shake.
Stepping on stage with an athletic gait, a Mohawk, and wearing organ shoes bedazzled with Swarovski crystals, an impression was quickly made. If there’s a rock star in the classical music world, Cameron Carpenter is it. His style was polished and glitzy, and with only two arms and legs, somehow managed to produce sounds that would give any orchestra a run for their money.
The organ spans “from the bishop to the drag queen”, Carpenter described during lengthy preambles that shared an uncanny resemblance to those made by Glenn Gould for the CBC.
Carpenter ascribed the organ as a kind of heliocentric instrument, with a massive sound equal to the musical possibilities within it. Due to the immobility of church organs, touring organists don’t have the same personal relationships with their instruments the way violinists do. Thus, Carpenter had a special touring organ made for him that makes it all his own.
As for the music, it opened with an enchanting arrangement of Wagner’s Overture to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. Carpenter shaped Wagner’s bombast with tightly shifting dynamics that ranged from the daintily delicate to the raw and powerful. Other highlights included Astor Piazzolla’s Oblivion, which took us into the land of the southern tango with ardent fiery.
J.S. Bach made his requisite appearance with a clearly presented Art of Fugue Contrapunctus IX. The Prelude and Fugue in B minor featured a curious mix of pageant and panoply, and the Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor was particularly spritely, if not a touch too fast.
The two standouts were Schubert’s Der Erlkönig, which tells Goethe’s riveting tale of a father carrying his boy, tormented by the Elf-king. A wisp of fog, rustling leaves, and shimmering willows came alive under Carpenter’s hands and feet. The other was Louis Vierne’s Carillon de Westminster, which included Carillon bell samples interwoven with the familiar clock tone refrain. The right-hand ostinato hovered above the low foot pedal tones that were more felt than heard.
Last night proved to be one of the most stimulating concerts that could possibly transpire between an artist and the organ. Carpenter continues to redefine what it is to be an organist in the 21st century, and if this is it, sign me up.
#LUDWIGVAN
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