A Night at the Symphony
Gary Hyde
April 30, 2009
The Phoenix Symphony was presenting their Symphony Classics No. 14 with conductor Michael Christie. The featured work would be Organ Concerto in G minor, by Francis Poulenc. Also on the program was Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor, Jennifer Higdon’s Machine, and Saint-Saens Organ Symphony with Paul Jacobs as the guest organist. Besides being the chairman the Julliard School organ department Paul has many other musical accomplishments to his name. In 2002 at age 23, Paul celebrated the 250th anniversary of the death of J.S. Bach by playing a collection of the composer’s complete organ music in an 18 hour non-stop marathon.
This is one performance which I am really excited to attend. It is unfortunate that I have put myself into a position where I will have to attend it alone. After taking each of my grandchildren to either an opera or a symphony, they have all put their collective foot down and proclaimed that they will never attend another opera or symphony with me again. I guess you can take the boy out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the boy. Of course they are not here at the time anyway so it makes no difference. Now my son Mike, he would go with me. He plays the piano and the organ and I think that he would really appreciate this kind of presentation. But then of course he’s not here either. Now Sharon, my wife; you would think that I would ask her, but I know that after the first ten minutes she would run screaming from the hall with her hands covering her ears.
So here I am; center section, second row, and all alone. These are good times!
The night began with a brief discussion period between symphony conductor Michael Christie and organist Paul Jacobs. They discussed the pieces to be played, Paul’s musical background and a bit about the organ he would be playing. It was an electronic organ, three keyboards with many organ stops and a full array of foot pedals. Gigantic speakers were located in the back of the orchestra stage to give the organ all the authority it needed.
Following the discussion, the orchestra members started to filter on to the stage and began tuning up their instruments and brushing up on any difficult pieces they would be playing. The tuning session; this is about the time when my wife Sharon would run screaming from the hall shouting “Enough! Enough! How can you stand all that noise”?
As the orchestra was filling up, I noticed one violinist who was confined to a wheel chair. She had the assistance of a service dog and as she entered onto the stage, the dog walked along side, winding his way through chairs and music stands until they finally reached the proper position in the orchestra; there she started to set up her music and stand. As she moved from the music stand, to the violin case, then back to the music stand, Dog would move around trying to keep out of her way. First, she laid her violin case down on top of Dog, then as she tried to set up her stand, in a clumsy attempt to get out of her way, Dog bumped into the stand, tipping it over, resulting in a loud crash with sheets of music scattered all over the floor. Other musicians helped her pick up the stand and arrange her music again. Just as it seemed that she had it all under control the set up period was over and the orchestra members left the stage so Dog had to get up and follow.
After a short period the entire orchestra entered again onto the stage, with Dog in tow. After picking up their instruments for one final tune they were ready to begin. Once Dog found his place, he just lay down, looked around, and went to sleep.
The first selection, Fugue and Cantata, was powerful and energetic. It was played by the orchestra with wind and stringed instruments, but not the organ. This is one of my favorite organ pieces, but I guess I can manage.
Next was Francis Poulnec’s Organ Concerto in G minor. It was a wild piece of music that brought out the passion of each musician. As the music would crescendo, each head would raise and fall with the music while the violinist’s bows would disappear into a blur as they were played across the strings. At one time the crescendo was so great that as the conductor was reaching forward to get the most from his orchestra he almost pitched forward off the podium. At the conclusion, the audience was on their feet. “Bravo, bravo!’ It was insane.
In appreciation of the endless applause Paul played an organ encore that was just fantastic. At times his hands would appear to just flutter over the keys, with a touch as light as a feather. Then he would pick up the pace, hands flying from keyboard to keyboard, pushing and pulling at the stops, and his feet dancing around the pedals just as fast as his hands were going on the keys. At one time he stopped playing with his hands, held them down at his side and played entirely with his feet with movements that would make any tap dancer envious.
As moving as it all was, Dog was not impressed. Occasionally he would rise up his head from a sound sleep, look at his master as if to say “Is it over yet?”; then, getting no response he would yawn, lay his head down and go back to sleep.
During the intermission there was a brief question and answer period where the audience could ask the organist, Paul Jacobs, any questions. One man noted that he seemed to hear the organ let out a screech during the last piece played. Being fast on his feet, Paul exclaimed…..”Yes, that is one of the great things about the organ. You can play the keys and push the knobs into many combinations and make any kind of sound you want. Guttural, blaring, scratchy, or even any other type of musical instrument you wish.
After the final piece had been performed, the applause had died down and the last curtain call had been made, the orchestra gathered their instruments and started to move off stage. The wheel chair bound lady was the last to leave, so Dog just had to lay there and suffer all the indignities of having everyone step over him, bump into him and have the long ladies gowns brush over his head and body.
I mean, honestly now, how can anybody not enjoy entertainment like that?
