No banging on trash cans here, boys and girls. If you dont have time to read my impromptu comments below, do be sure to just go ahead and click on the video link at the bottom for an astounding performance. Dutch born Gert van Hoef from The Netherlands is about to turn 20, but has risen to an astounding level of performance, and especially since he only began classical pipe organ at the relatively late age of 13. One factor not to be overlooked, however, is that his grandfather is an organist and has likely been both been an example, and also that his playing had a subliminal effect on young Gert, perhaps even while in his mothers womb which science even confirms is a factor in pre-birth development of the child. Considering his articulate and expressive playing coupled with his dramatic bench presence, This young man is a SERIOUS musician, During this performance of J.S. Bachs Toccata & Fugue in D-minor (a war horse among organists if there ever was one), listen for what organists call the extra stop on the organ, the marvelous acoustics of this church giving brilliance to interconnecting phrasing of the piece and dramatic reverberation at the end of phrases. Observe as he plays the piece that this is a vintage Tracker Action instrument meaning that there is actual physical linkage within the console coupling various ranks of pipes with the respective keyboard to which they are stop-assigned, and then accordingly too that the same force exerted by the organist on the keys ends up via that routing to eventually actually open the valves releasing air into each of the respective pipes. Tracker Action is actually the only way they had to build the great instruments of Europe before the newer indirect (and less precise) pneumatic actions and subsequent electric solenoid actions with literally miles of interconnecting wire came along. Of course now the new digital consoles sending signals to countless sub-computers in the various ranks of pipes, often via a single coaxial cable have made all of that mostly a lost art. Organists say theres nothing like playing a vintage Tracker Action organ because its as close as one can get to a physical, almost an emotional bond of the organist with the sounding pipes further dramatizing the acoustics of the church itself. You will see too the the huge draw-stops (not just for show, they operate quite a mechanism within the console) and the precision interaction of the two registration assistants and when precision is needed that Gert will give them a head-gesture at the precise instant that a stop is to be activated or deactivated. A little humorous note too that Gert is very unassuming and a natural, especially noting that he does NOT have Organmaster or even Capezio thin-soled shoes, usually on the first list of things for the beginning organ students to acquire, but instead hes wearing what looks to be a thin-soled type of string-tied tennis shoes!! With his dramatic approach on the bench and his articulate playing (such long fingers helps too!), if this young man stays with it he will be one of the outstanding organists of our times, and in the spirit of the GREAT Virgil Fox. Heres the link; youtube/watch?v=PEHGxpRoZQM
Posted on: Sun, 09 Mar 2014 04:38:26 +0000
Trending Topics
© 2015