Kimmel Center Blog

Wayne Marshall, March 14th, 2007

Wayne Marshall made his Kimmel Center debut last night, the second organist this season to do so. The beginning of Mr. Marshall's program featured works by Liszt and Dupré, the second half was selections from several different operas, plus some improvisation. It still surprises me that someone can improvise on an instrument with the size and power of a concert hall organ.

Did you see the concert last night? Please comment to let us know what you think.

Don't forget to visit the Organ Series in our online brochure to see what next season's series looks like.

Marshall's skills as an organist were evident..however, his command of the instrument left much to be desired. It appeared that he felt "louder was better", and he certainly was loud if not pretty. The recent technique of showing the organist via video and projection screens is a treat for the audience. Instead of "just listening" as we have to do at many church recitals we can now watch the player. One thing that was very obvious was that because of the loudness, many times his right hand was playing n otes which couldn't be discerned or appreciated. An interesting contrast was the Postlude the following night where two Curtis students played Bach selections. The organ sounded totally different. As a Kimmel employee I'm party to audience reaction, which seemed to echo my observations as stated above. But anyway, thanks to Kimmel for continuing to bring these organ programs to the public.

Mr. Marshall's skills as an organist and as an artist were much more than evident. I was happy to hear him pull all the stops at times and show us the full capabilities of this great instrument. He made wonderful use of this great instrument's resources, creating sounds and textures I haven't heard from this organ before. He played with passion. The improv was simply brilliant! I say, please come back and play again, Mr. Marshall.

Marshall is a good player. I think he is better as an improviser. It would have been great to hear him do an entire concert of improvisations on themese submittted by the audience. If loudness was an issue...next year, when Hector Olivera is here to play...well...lets just say he's probably going to be more appealing to young people, newcomers, and people that like to see showmanship. The same with Dame Gillian Wier. I have seen her do concerts where she did one full organ piece, and closed with another right behind it. Both will also probably play programs with music that is more attractive to the public at large.

The Liszt Ad Nos is 30 minutes and about 50 pages long, which can be a bit "academic" and gargantuan for some crowds. To me, a better choice would have been the Liszt Fantasie and Fugue on BACH

As for the comment above, regarding Church organs: I think the fact that KC has both the tracker Keydesk and the remote Console is a good opportunity to make newcomers more interested in the organ. The player can be seen just fine from either.

For those interested, a great article was published in the American Organist Magazine within the last 6 months. The asked several concert organists which pieces they found to be most sucessful, most useful, and most useful for their concertizing. There were about 100 pieces on the list, with most pieces being no longer than 10 minutes, filled with color and very tuneful. The list was made up of many pieces that every well trained organist has in his or her repertoire: the Widor Toccata, Vierne Carrillon of Westminster, Alain's Litanies, etc.

Im anxious to see what next year will bring. (hopefully another pay to play to rouse public interest) The postlude and prelude concerts have added some nice texture to the events they were part of. Keep that up too.

This concert left much to be desired.

Organ enthusiasts:

There will indeed be another "Organ Pay to Play"! It will be part of our annual Summer Solstice celebration on June 23rd (the closest weekend date to the actual solstice on June 21st)

Look for details to be announced soon.