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RECITAL REVIEW
David Higgs, A Rare Organ Tamer
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By John Karl Hirten
The organ is one of those musical instruments that inhabit the nether-world of public misunderstanding. At its best, it can provide endless fascination through its many varieties of timbre and vast dynamic range. At its worst, it can be a mechanical behemoth lacking any musical heart or breath. Sometimes this lies with the peculiarity of the individual instrument (no two pipe organs are alike), and sometimes it lies with the performer. But there are precious few people in the world who can tame that beast and make music with it.
David Higgs is one such person. On Sunday, September 27, in the main sanctuary of Temple Emanu-El he presented an enjoyable program that put the four-manual instrument through its paces. After a tentative start with J.S. Bach's Sinfonia to Cantata #29, Higgs settled in with Cesar Franck's Chorale No. 2 in B minor. This is a bread and butter piece for most organists (and there were many in attendance, since this event was co-sponsored by the American Guild of Organists), but the performer's challenge is to find a balance between the inherent classicism of Franck's music and its undeniable romanticism. Higgs provided a dignified, restrained performance that nevertheless had elements of buried fire.
The recital was dedicated to the memory of Ludwig Altman, a San Francisco legend who was organist at Temple Emanu-El for close to fifty years. Higgs performed three pieces by C.P.E. Bach from an edition that Altman himself had worked on. Originally written for a mechanical "clock" (similar to latter day carousel organs---Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven also wrote music for this
medium), these pieces were transcribed by Altman for organ solo. The music is light and airy, featuring the solid contrapuntal foundation of "Papa" J.S. Bach, but revealing a confident vision of the newer classical style. Higgs' performance was clean and full of character. Especially delicious was his use of the organ's more translucent sound-combinations (a term known to organists as "registration").
The first half of the program closed with American composer Leo Sowerby's "Comes Autumn Time." Written in 1917, it is tailor-made for the temple organ, built in 1926 by E.M. Skinner. Styles of organ building have been in such a continuous state of flux (not to mention the proliferation of national and temporal styles, i.e. German Baroque versus French Romantic) that many pieces of organ music are considered unsuitable for certain types of organs (another fun dilemma for organists!). Higgs used so many tone combinations for this piece, even an imitative harp stop, that he truly made the instrument sound like an orchestra.
As if to illustrate the point that not every organ is appropriate to every piece, the performance that followed, three of Calvin Hampton's "Five Dances for Organ," written in 1982 especially for David Higgs, was a disappointment. Though the playing could not be faulted, the organ's 1920s voicing, fat and warm, did not possess the requisite "bite" that more modern instruments have. Hearing this piece performed on this organ is like stuffing oneself to death with marshmallows---not the image Hampton foresaw.
These pieces are really by turns poignant ("At the Ballet"), full of anger ("The Primitives"), and downright frightening ("Everyone Dance"). This last title is particularly ironic, not so much an exhortation, but a description of the "last" dance that all of us are bound to make, a "Totentanz" or "Death's dance." The composer died in 1984 of AIDS.
After the Hampton pieces, however, all was put right again as soprano Roslyn Barak, the Cantor of Temple Emanu-El, joined Higgs in two selections from the Jewish liturgy, "Sh'ma Koleynu" of Max Helfman and "Etz Chayim" by Altman. The veils of organ sound enveloping Barak's effortless singing gave a clear indication of what this organ does best, and indeed what it was intended to do--provide a stunning background to a fine singer.
In the closing piece, Franz Liszt's "Prelude and Fugue on B-A-C-H," Higgs was able to transcend what is merely a technical tour de force and turn it into a mesmerizing musical experience. His registration, timing and flawless sense of rubato transformed the organ into a truly organic being. Finally, in what seemed a good-natured nose-thumbing to organists of lesser talent, Higgs and Barak joined together in a flawless crossover rendition of Gershwin's "Someone to Watch Over Me." Higgs is, in fact, a whole musician, combining technical facility and musical insight as all good musicians do, but by doing it on the most massive and unforgiving of instruments, he earns all the more respect.
(John Karl Hirten is Director of Music at St. Stephen's Church, Belvedere, a
frequent recitalist in the Bay Area and a composer.)
©1998 John Karl Hirten, all rights reserved
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