Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas!
Ausra: And Ausra! V: Let’s start episode 504 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Vitold, and he writes: “Good day! This is Vitold from the organist school. Can you send or recommend literature to better understand organ harmony? Because I write those notes and I can't understand where and how those intervals are calculated. The hardest part I ever studied was the harmony I never understood. I played mostly from hearing and finally I would like to learn. Sincerely Vitold” So Vitold is a student from St. Gregory’s organist school, where I teach, this semester, Harmony. And there are something like 14 students in this course. Two are on the second level, and the rest of them are at the beginner level. So Vitold is at the beginner level, and during the first lesson or class, I gave them five hymns to work on, but I didn’t ask them to supply 4-part harmony, yet. Only to supply the bass line to the soprano melody. But, I asked them to think about the sweet-sounding intervals of sixths, and thirds, and octaves and fifths, but to avoid parallel octaves and fifths, and mostly use sixths and thirds in alternation. And, in order to avoid forbidden intervals, aim for contrary motion between the hands. When the soprano goes up, the other voice has to go down and vice versa. So this the general instruction. A: So basically, you are teaching it, not more like a harmony, what I understand is harmony, but more as about counterpoint. V: That’s right. We are starting from there, because before there was harmony, there was counterpoint. A: But, I think as an advanced musician, you need to understand that counterpoint in general is much more complex and difficult than harmony. V: If you take it into consideration the next species of counterpoint, not only note against note, but two, three, four, five mixed counterpoint, right? This is difficult, but from what I assigned, they only have to supply one note in the bass against one note in the soprano. A: But you know, what I understood from Vitold’s question, I think he is in much bigger trouble than he… V: ...realizes… A: ...realizes, yes, because he cannot calculate intervals. It means he doesn’t know what a certain interval is. And, it means that he really needs, probably, elementary music theory, to learn before taking any courses of harmony. V: That’s why I didn’t start with four voices. You know? And the next lesson when we meet, maybe I have to refresh what intervals are, what kind of intervals you can use… A: But then, you know, other guys in that course that know what intervals are will be bored! V: Yes! Yes, that’s true. A: I guess they need to do some sort of entry examination into this organ school. V: They didn’t. A: I know! I remember, I taught there last year for a half a year, and then I quit it, because I had like 18 students at very different levels, and I had to teach all of them harmony. V: So, to help Vitold and others who don’t know what an interval is, I took my camera yesterday and recorded a video about intervals, basically listing all those intervals from the unison up to a perfect octave from the note C, and I calculated their distance in terms of half steps and whole steps. A: Another thing that I was thinking while reading Vitold’s question was that he seems to have some musical training in the past, but hasn’t learned much out of it. So these are the hardest students, I believe, that have some formal training but haven’t learned anything, because, they seem to like to complain about things, resist things that you are offering them, and it’s just really bad. V: If he were a fresh beginner without any training, like a blank sheet of paper, you could write on a blank sheet of paper. But if you have a paper with something written in, you have to first erase incorrect things on that paper, and then rewrite everything from scratch. A: That’s right. So good luck for you, Vidas. I’m glad I’m not teaching harmony there this year. V: Yes, you can laugh at me, now. A: No, I’m not laughing. I feel really sorry for you. V: Or you can build a monument for me. After this semester. A: You haven’t built a monument for me after last year! V: Let’s build a monument for each other. A: Yes, ok. But anyway, harmony is not such a hard thing. If you can count to ten, you can learn harmony, too. V: Obviously, only the first twenty years are difficult. Afterwards it’s easy. A: But, you know, by having an understanding of harmony and about chords and how they are connected and all those things are a big help for a church organist. I cannot imagine being a good organist without having at least a basic knowledge of harmony. Especially if you are working in a Catholic church. V: In Lithuania. Because in more civilized countries, musically, they have hymnals and supplements, and harmonizations of melodies they have to play, and people sometimes can get away without harmonizing things. But in Lithuania, there are only a few hymnals with harmonizations, and the rest is up to an organist. A: So basically, if you are a church organist in Lithuania, you need to be an organist, a conductor, a composer, and cantor. V: Total organist, right? A: Yes, basically Total Organist. V: Like we teach! Excellent. So guys, please send us more of your questions; we love helping you grow, and remember: When you practice, A: Miracles happen.
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Vidas: Hi guys, this is Vidas!
Ausra: And Ausra! V: Let’s start episode 502 of Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast. This question was sent by Terry, and I asked him about his “8 Little Prelude and Fugues” practice. So, he writes: “Hi Vidas! Thanks for asking. The pedals are not second nature to me yet, unlike, say, doing scales on a piano. I made great progress with your pedal challenge courses but I need to get in some sort of regular pedal practice like doing my daily Hanson exercises, which I have not sorted out yet. I am also unsure of registration and tempo. Finally, remembering to practice articulate legato in both hands and pedals requires focus. Your fingering and pedaling suggestions, however, are a great time saver, although I do make some changes that seem to work better for me. In any event, practicing these works is a great joy with only a year under my belt. One other thing: it is hard for me to figure out a gradual progression of compositions to practice within your guidance of beginning, intermediate, and advanced groupings. I also stated with the “Orgelbuchlein” compositions, so I started with BWV 599 and will go from there. A small confession: I started with the Widor Toccata as my first piece, quite foolishly, although it was a thrill and I stayed with it through memorization. Maybe I will actually be ready for it with appropriate technique in a few years, but at age 71 I can’t wait too long. Playing these works of the masters is tantamount to coming in direct contact with the Divine, before I pass through earthly bonds and come, hopefully, face to face. All the best, Terry” A: What a nice letter! V: It is! Even though Terry is 71 years old, he still strives to improve, which is really nice. A: True! V: More people should challenge themselves at this age. A: That’s right. V: I think when he writes that he can’t wait too long because he is 71, and he started playing from Widor’s Toccata as his dream right away, I think people should understand that dreams can change! They can adapt. A: That’s right, and being 71, you could think that you are only 71, because you never know how much longer you will live! Maybe you still have quite many years ahead of you. Nobody knows, actually. V: Yes. So better, probably, not to postpone your dream, but to live it today. Right? A: Well, I didn’t mean that, but I meant that being 71, you might still have a lot of time ahead of you. That’s what I meant. V: And be able to master Widor’s Toccata later. A: True. Actually, and this episode about Widor’s Toccata reminded me about that new girl that we have in our studio this year, V: Right… A: In our Unda Maris studio, who is desperate to play “D Minor Toccata” by J. S. Bach, and this is the only one organ piece that she recognizes. But she has never had any formal musical training whatsoever, and basically what she does is she plays for a church here in Vilnius, but basically she plays everything by ear. So what she hears, she plays that, somehow. V: I told her to discover more organ compositions beyond “D Minor Toccata.” A: And I was convincing her that it would be beneficial to play “8 Little Preludes and Fugues,” but it doesn’t seem that my ideas and thoughts touch her. V: I was not so progressive with her. I just recommended “6 Short Trios” by Lemmens. And, she played the right hand part of the first trio together with 4 other ladies quite nicely, so I thought they could master the first trio within several weeks, I think. But she still wants to play “D Minor Toccata” now. Who knows? Maybe she can play in her own time, but now I hope she will study Lemmens, as well. A: I think when you pick up a piece that is much too difficult for you, you might ruin the piece forever. So, it’s better to go step by step. At least that’s my opinion. V: Right. So from those “8 Little Preludes and Fugues” that Terry is working on, the easiest one is probably not the first one! Not C Major. A: No. V: And obviously, the gradation should also take into account the fugues. The fugues are much more difficult than the preludes because of the polyphonic writing. A: Could you learn the preludes first and then do the fugues after that? V: That’s how my Bach’s Mastery course: “Bach Organ Mastery Level 1” course is constructed. First we learn “8 Little Preludes,” and then we learn 8” Little Fugues.” But we’re not starting with the “C Major Prelude,” we are starting, I think, from either F Major or G Minor, I don’t remember now, but those two are the easiest ones. A: Well, but I started with G Minor, and the pedal part wasn’t so easy for me at the beginning. V: That’s why always…. A: Although, the tempo was slow, so… V: Yeah, it has more voices than three, that’s why I recommend easier pieces like trios—short trios like exercises of 8 measures long—like Lemmens, maybe. A: But when you are talking registration of these preludes and fugues, if you have no idea how else to register them, you can just play them using Organo Pleno, I think. V: And Organo Pleno is full Principal Chorus with mixtures. A: That’s right. And if you find it too much, you could just play with principal 8’, 4’, and 2’, and maybe some with just principal 8’ and 4’. V: Yeah, basically use principals, depending on the character. If it’s a solemn character and bright tempo, then maybe use mixtures. If it’s a slow movement and a meditative character, maybe one principal would be enough. A: That’s right. V: And register the pedals accordingly. You don’t need always to play with Posaune. Posaune fits well with mixtures with the hands, but if you only play it with one principal in the hands, maybe you only need 16’ and 8’ in the pedals. A: True. V: Excellent. Then Terry asks about “Orgelbüchlein” gradation. Obviously, 599 is the first one, Nun Kommt der Heiden Heiland,” but the easiest one is… A: Probably “Ich Ruf’ Zu Dir.” V: Probably, yeah, with a trio texture. And there are a few more like that, not with trio texture, with four voices, but which are less difficult to play than “Nun Komm”. They are at the beginning of the collection, too, but not right at the beginning. A: Plus I think that “Orgelbüchlein” was maybe written according to the liturgical year, but not according to the difficulty of pieces. V: No, no. That was intended as a collection of all the ways you could play the chorale for the liturgical year, and Bach didn’t even finish it. A: True. V: So postpone, Terry, the “Widor Toccata,” until you are ready for this, and have fun with the Bach pieces—easier Bach pieces first. And, if you are interested in the gradation of those “8 Little Preludes,” take a look at my “Bach Organ Mastery Level 1” course, and you will start from the easiest prelude, go through the more difficult ones, and then graduate from the easiest fugue through the most difficult fugue. And of course, this program is available without additional cost, like anything else we create, for Total Organist students. Thanks, guys, this was Vidas, A: And Ausra, V: Please send us more of your questions; we love helping you grow. And remember, when you practice, A: Miracles happen! Would you like to learn Lento in F Minor from L'Organiste by Cesar Franck? I hope you'll enjoy playing this piece yourself from my PDF score. Thanks to Juan Osorno for his meticulous transcription from the slow motion video. What will you get? PDF score with complete fingering written in which will save you many hours of work. Basic Level. 2 pages. Let me know how your practice goes. This score is free for Total Organist students. Check it out here The official website of the competition has announced the finalists:
http://ciurlionis.link/en/b/organ/rezultatai I'm going to post them here for you to see. Here are 6 organists who are OFFICIALLY admitted to the FINAL Round of the 8th International Piano and Organ Competition (in ALPHABETICAL order): No. 2 Tyler Jason Boehmer, United States No. 4 Somang Lee, South Korea No. 11 Josef Kratochvíl, Czech Republic No. 16 Filip Šmerda, Czech Republic No. 20 Jan Šprta, Czech Republic No. 22 Hyun Sun Park, South Korea Congratulations! I'm looking forward to listening to your performances on Friday. If you read my reviews of the 2nd Round, you would have noticed I have given each contestant a score from 1 to 10 in 3 categories - technique, registration and artistry. I have added up the points for each category and came up with my own list of the results. Are you curious? Here they are in DESCENDING order: No. 2 Tyler Jason Boehmer, United States - 81 points No. 7 Sunghyun Park, South Korea - 79 points No. 11 Josef Kratochvíl, Czech Republic - 76 points No. 4 Somang Lee, South Korea - 74 points No. 22 Hyun Sun Park, South Korea - 70 points No. 3 Ilaria Centorrino, Italy - 68 points So the above 6 people ACCORDING TO MY OWN SCORES would have advanced to the Final Round. And here are the remaining scores in descending order: No. 1 Yohan Chung, South Korea - 67 points No. 16 Filip Šmerda, Czech Republic - 67 points No. 20 Jan Šprta, Czech Republic - 66 points No. 14 Ae Shell Nam, South Korea - 62 points No. 13 Anastasiia Igoshina, Russian Federation - 61 points No. 17 Alexander Little, United Kingdom - 60 points [Disclaimer: This is my personal opinion which may or may not coincide with the reader's opinion. If you don't like it, write your own.] I just had a lunch with Tyler Boehmer, an American organist who played at the competition yesterday. Before that we had a very insightful conversation for our Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast which will go live on Sunday, so stay tuned!
And now I'm sitting at the church of St Casimir's waiting for today's audition to being. There is some 20 minute delay because of the technical issues of the organ needed to be taken care of. Some mechanics of the manuals and tuning of the Trompete stop. But now it's all ready to go. The live stream should be available from competition's website: http://ciurlionis.link/en/b/organ The first contestant today is No. 14 Ae Shell Nam from South Korea. He starts his program with Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, BWV 542 by Johann Sebastian Bach. The registration of the Fantasia's loud episodes includes manual Trompete which sounds out of place here to me. The soft episodes are played only with principals 8' and 4'. Could have been a separate principal chorus on a positive instead. The tempo started to fluctuate too much in the middle. The fugue starts without 16' in the manual. Tempo is too fast to be able to hear fugal entries and counterpoint. The first pedal entrance of the fugue is with a mistake. Did organist use pedal preparation? Not sure if the hands and feet sound together in one phrase where they move in parallel 6th chords. The ending sounds rushed. My score based on the scale of 10: Technique: 6 Registration: 7 Artistry: 6 Next on the program is Fugue in C# minor, VL 86 by Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis which is required piece for Round 2. Good registration in the middle section where E major comes in. The stop changes towards the culmination sound a little too late. Not much attention to harmonic changes. Needs more articulation to let it breath between the phrases. My score: Technique: 8 Registration: 7 Artistry: 7 The final composition is "Transports de joie" by Olivier Messiaen from "L'Ascension". The organist doesn't seem to use the trick of playing a piece one octave down at least some episodes where the manual range allows it. This would make it sound more French when playing on the Neo-Baroque organ. Some chords feel rushed. Especially in culmination. My score: Technique: 7 Registration: 7 Artistry: 7 Now is the turn for No. 16 Filip Šmerda from Czech Republic. He starts with Prelude and Fugue in E minor, BWV 548 by J.S. Bach. I need more articulation in the hand part in many places. The manual part is too weak to balance the Posaune in the pedals in the prelude. Is there 16' in the hand parts? The fugue is also played on the same registration. A small slip in the hand part doesn't prevent the flow of music. I don't hear articulation in the 16th note runs. Sometimes there is no sense of pulse and strong and weak beats. My score: Technique: 6 Registration: 7 Artistry: 7 The next piece is the fugue by Ciurlionis. I miss more attention to harmonic changes and subject entries at the beginning. The breathing between phrases could be more prominent in these acoustics. Conservative climax in terms of registration. Works well. My score: Technique: 8 Registration: 10 Artistry: 8 We now again hear "Transports de joie" by Olivier Messiaen from "L'Ascension". I again see the dilemma of making this organ sound more French. Some chordal passages could be played with more attention. The same could be said about the final long run. Great sounding final cadence. My score: Technique: 7 Registration: 7 Artistry: 7 The next contestant is No. 17 Alexander Little from United Kingdom. He plays BWV 548 which we heard before. I have my own doubts about the registration here. The manual part sounds too harsh because of Trompete. More than a few small mistakes don't disturb musical flow. Need much more attention to articulation. The final trill in the prelude could be performed with more stylistic awareness. The same registration in the fugue. Here the organist doesn't control the 16th note runs with articulation. Can't emphasize this enough. Not a complete final trill. My score: Technique: 5 Registration: 7 Artistry: 6 Next sounds the fugue by Ciurlionis. Good registration at the beginning. The musical flow seems a little rushed, producing a mistake in one place at the beginning where the pedals come in. Pedals are too weak in E major episode. Wrong note before B minor. Needs more attention to harmonic changes. The ending is rushed too. My score: Technique: 8 Registration: 8 Artistry: 6 The final piece is "Transports de joie" by O. Messiaen. At times chordal passages sounds chaotic. Good enthusiastic spirit though. The organ lacks French colors. Better articulation is perhaps needed for scalar passages to be heard properly. The final pedal two-note motive is too slow for my taste. My score: Technique: 6 Registration: 7 Artistry: 7 After a short break the next contestant arrives. This is No. 20 Jan Šprta from Czech Republic. His program starts with Prelude and Fugue in Eb major, BWV 552. The organist seems to wield the acoustics well at the beginning. Good principal chorus with mixtures and 1 3/5'. I want more attention to the key changes. A couple note slips don't disturb the flow of music. The fugato episode needs more articulation and attention to details. The final cadence seems rushed. The 1st fugue starts with reduced registration but a bit faster tempo. The 3rd fugue sounds too fast in relationship with the previous fugue. Better articulation is needed. The final trill needs more stylistic awareness. My score: Technique: 7 Registration: 10 Artistry: 7 Next sounds the fugue by Ciurlionis. Rushed tempo and no attention to melodic and harmonic changes at the beginning. More rush in the middle. Good balance between hands and pedals. Before B minor episode two noticeable mistakes. The chaos in culmination. Registration doesn't work here because of the reed. My score: Technique: 7 Registration: 6 Artistry: 5 The final piece is "Transports de joie" by Olivier Messiaen which we heard before. Exciting spirit in performance. Registration changes toward culmination come too late because of the assistant. Needs more French flavor in registration. The final cadence could have been listened with more attention. My score: Technique: 8 Registration: 8 Artistry: 8 And the final contestant in the 2nd Round is No. 22 Hyun Sun Park from South Korea. The organist starts her program with the fugue by Ciurlionis. Calm tempo and no rush provide a feeling of contemplation. A little bit better phrasing is needed. I want more pedals in E major episode. In culmination a little mistake is heard and I think more forward movement could have been better. Also need to listen to harmonic changes more. My score: Technique: 7 Registration: 8 Artistry: 7 Now sounds "Eaux natales" from Poèmes pour orgue: "Eaux natales" by Thierry Escaich. We've heard this piece yesterday played by Tyler Broehmer. I like his opening registration more. But later the performance gets in the mood pretty well. Nice registration colors at the end. My score: Technique: 10 Registration: 8 Artistry: 10 The final piece for today is Toccata and Fugue in E major, BWV 566. Strange choice of reed for the pedals. I think it's Dulcian from the Positive. Certainly not Posaune. The first fugue is registered with 8', 4', 2' principals in the manual and 8' and 4' principals in the pedals. It is played with only a few small hiccups towards the end. The second fugue is registered with Trompete in the manuals and Posaune in the pedals. I hear a small mistake here. A better articulation and attention to harmonic changes is needed. My score: Technique: 6 Registration: 8 Artistry: 6 There you have it! Round 2 is over and I'll be waiting for organizers to announce the results. I will also calculate my own scores in a separate post. Stay tuned! Organ specification: http://www.vargonai.lt/vargonai_vilnius_kazimiero.htm [Disclaimer: This is my personal opinion which may or may not coincide with the reader's opinion. If you don't like it, write your own.] Thank you everyone for participating! You all made us very happy with your entries. Here are the winners we all have selected together.
After a coffee break I'm back at the church of St Casimir where Round 2 of Ciurlionis organ competition continues. Now in the evening there are more listeners in the church which might affect the acoustics somewhat.
The first to play is No. 5 Sunghyun Park from South Korea. He starts with Poèmes pour orgue: "Eaux natales" - Le Masque by Thierry Escaich. It's a rather dramatic work starting with an intense chordal and rhythmical drive and ending mysteriously on a single flute. The organist plays it so convincingly that although it's the first time for me that I hear this piece, I like it instantly. The Neo-Baroque organ of this church for a brief moment transferred me to some dark French Gothic cathedral. My score on the 10 scale basis: Technique: 10 Registration: 10 Artistry: 10 The next piece on the program is the Fugue in C# minor, VL 86 by M.K. Ciurlionis. Everybody is playing it in the 2nd Round. The Romantic spirit was clearly evident in his performance without unnecessary virtuosity. I thought I heard a small mistake which didn't disturb the flow of music. My score: Technique: 9 Registration: 10 Artistry: 10 The organist's program concludes with Toccata and Fugue in E major, BWV 566 by Johann Sebastian Bach. In this piece we finally hear some variety of registration. The fugue starts with 8' and 4' principals in the manual and 16', 8' and 4' in the pedals. Now the mistakes are too apparent to be ignored. Perhaps the tempo is a bit too fast for tonight. Sadly, mistakes continue to appear throughout the piece. But this organist has good nerves to continue to fight until the end. I expect such mistakes to appear more often in other organists' playing now because the stakes are much higher now in the 2nd Round. My score: Technique: 4 Registration: 8 Artistry: 8 The next contestant to play is No. 11. Josef Kratochvíl from Czech Republic. He starts with J.S. Bach's Prelude and Fugue in E minor, BWV 548. I hear a small mistake in the manual part which didn't bother me too much in the prelude. Good listening to the echo before the fugue starts. The sixteenth note runs have a few mistakes. The subject needs shorter upbeats. No Posaune in the fugue. Rush of the tempo towards the end a couple of times. The final trill could have been much longer and complete. My score: Technique: 6 Registration: 9 Artistry: 7 The next piece is the fugue by Ciurlionis. A nice calm playing in the beginning. Still the pedals could be stronger where E major episode starts. More 16' sound perhaps. More attention to harmonic changes is needed. A slight slip in the manuals towards the end. The organist continues to fight to the end. My score: Technique: 9 Registration: 9 Artistry: 7 The last piece of his program tonight is "Light and Darkness" by Sofia Gubaidulina. I have to confess, I have never heard this composition before. It would sound well for my organ experiments with the students of the Art Academy for the project "Living Organ" later this year. It has lots of unusual sounds, trills in upper range, runs throughout the compass, thick clusters. Ocean of sound. I wonder if he will turn off the organ motor like they do sometimes in avantgarde music? I admit, I'm not a fan of this style. Lots of effects but not much content. But it's not the organist's fault, of course. And I'm sure other listeners might appreciate it much more than me. I'm just thinking out loud and pondering everything from the perspective of improvisation. If this was an improvisation, how would I feel about it? How much skill an organist should have to improvise something like this? By the way, registration effects that the organist chose here are great. Maybe a little too much mechanical noise from the performer's part. Hitting the pedals too strongly. My score: Technique: 9 Registration: 10 Artistry: 10 The last contestant tonight is No. 13 Anastasiia Igoshina from Russian Federation. She starts with Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C major, BWV 564. I didn't enjoy the slow beginning. I don't think changing registration on the pedal echos work on this organ. Maybe on a historical organ with very expressive reeds and tuning. By the way, these passagios almost stopped forward motion. Luckily, the forward motion continues later on. At the beginning of Adagio, I hear a slight rhythmic unevenness. The solo voice seems to be playing with 8', 4' and 2 2/3' flutes. I expected much more improvisational elements in the solo line, not just ornamentation. The Grave section sounded really nice. The fugue starts bravely but in one pedal passage the organist makes mistake which disturbs the flow of music. Almost a small disaster before E minor section. Can the organist retain control until the end? I guess, not at this tempo. Attention to details is fading away with every difficult passage. Probably the organist forgot to breathe. The ending was too obvious. Too much ritenuto and too long held last chord. My score: Technique: 4 Registration: 8 Artistry: 5 The fugue by Ciurlionis sounds next. Slight slip of harmony but good pedal balance in E major section. A couple of obvious mistakes before B minor section. The mordent sounded out of place here. No regard for harmonic changes. My score: Technique: 7 Registration: 10 Artistry: 7 The last piece tonight is "Transports de joie" from "L'Ascension" by Olivier Messiaen. The organ sounds quite out of tune. The opening 3 chord motive appears to be very cautious. While listening to this piece, I couldn't suspend my disbelieve that I wasn't listening to a French organ. Sadly, the organist didn't use the trick to play with high pitched mixtures one octave lower. I think the range of the manual part allows this (at least in most cases). A couple of mistakes occur in the manual runs. In the last chord the organ screams and not roars. My score: Technique: 7 Registration: 6 Artistry: 7 That's it folks! I'm going to go home to get some sleep and return to this church tomorrow! See ya! Organ specification: http://www.vargonai.lt/vargonai_vilnius_kazimiero.htm Live streaming should be available from competition's website: http://ciurlionis.link/en/b/organ [Disclaimer: This is my personal opinion which may or may not coincide with the reader's opinion. If you don't like it, write your own.] Eirimas Velicka shared this video on FB about this instrument from Laos. Sounds very jazzy, isn't it? I'm sitting in the middle of the church of St Casimir in Vilnius right now where the 2nd Round of the 8th International M.K. Ciurlionis Piano and Organ Competition just begun. The jury is sitting in the front underneath the dome. I wanted to also sit under the dome from the right hand side but the jury wanted to be left alone with their business.Yesterday was a day of rest and preparation for participants who were passed Round 1.
So the first to play today is No. 1 Yohan Chung from South Korea. He starts his program with Prelude and Fugue in E minor, BWV 548 by J.S. Bach. In the prelude his playing is stable and almost without any mistakes. I think he needs to articulate more in these reverberate acoustics. The fugue starts before the echo of the last chord prelude has subsided. I don't expect too much variety of registration in this piece among the participants because everybody would probably play Organo Pleno. Perhaps the choice of reeds in the pedals and couplers would be the major difference. The fugue sounds rather virtuoso but again more articulation is needed for clarity. Here the organist exchanges Posaune to Trompete in the pedals. The trill in the final cadence is without the Nachschlag. My score on the 10 scale basis: Technique: 7 Registration: 8 Artistry: 7 Next we hear the Fugue in C# Minor, VL86 by Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis which is the required piece for every contestant of Round 2. After the quiet beginning I think the pedals are too soft in the episode of E Major. The organist doesn't seem to pay attention to harmonic changes. A few audible mistakes towards the end make it less than perfect experience. My score: Technique: 9 Registration: 7 Artistry: 7 The final piece on his program is Part 1 of "Laudes" by Petr Eben. Quick 64th notes are too fast and inaudible most of the time. Sound like embellishments and not like melodic elements. Because of this and huge acoustics I often hear a bit of musical chaos. Maybe this organist isn't used to large reverberate spaces? However, to people who haven't played this piece before it's a solid performance. My score: Technique: 6 Registration: 9 Artistry: 7 The next contestant is No. 2 Tyler Jason Boehmer from the United States. His BWV 548 unfortunately starts with a mistake in the pedal part. A nice solid tempo carries him further without any problems. At least in the prelude he has a better feeling for articulation and harmonic changes than the previous organist. The fugue proves this as well. Also he doesn't use Posaune in the fugue and instead uses Trompete. My score: Technique: 9 Registration: 9 Artistry: 9 Next on the program is "Eaux natales" from Poèmes pour orgue: "Eaux natales" by Thierry Escaich. This is a mysterious sounding piece combining elements of modal writing and exploration of organ colors. Stop changes sometimes come too late. My score: Technique: 10 Registration: 8 Artistry: 10 The Ciurlionis fugue is left for the end. He chooses a nice-sounding flute for the E Major episode but some stop is added not on time. The same happens in the pedals later. Good sense of listening to harmonic changes. Sometimes forgets to breath. My score: Technique: 9 Registration: 8 Artistry: 9 The next contestant is No. 3 Ilaria Centorrino from Italy. She starts her program with BWV 548. I find her Organo Pleno sounding too sharp. Too much legato. Upbeats of the subject in the fugue are too long. I like Posaune in the fugue. A small slip in the pedals doesn't disturb the flow of music. My score: Technique: 8 Registration: 8 Artistry: 8 Now the organist plays "Alleluias sereins d’une âme qui désire le ciel" from "L'Ascension" by Olivier Messiaen. In the first theme the quintuplets could be performed more precisely. Almost hit the wrong soft note but quickly recovered (could be that she mixed up with the manual change). Forgot to breath before one of the episodes. Pedals rush with 4' flute. The right hand sounds too loud at the end. Need to use the Swell pedal. My score: Technique: 7 Registration: 8 Artistry: 8 The organist finishes the program with the fugue by Ciurlionis. Slight mistakes where the pedals come in. Pedals too soft where the hands go to the louder manual. Wrong accidentals towards the culmination. I would have preferred darker stop colors. Not a good attention to harmonic changes. My score: Technique: 7 Registration: 7 Artistry: 7 The last contestant today before the break is Somang Lee from South Korea. She starts with "Alleluias sereins d’une âme qui désire le ciel" by Olivier Messiaen. I find the 8' reed too strong in the 2nd theme and in the next episode the left hand theme too soft. More expressiveness is needed and focus on harmonic as well as melodic details. Needs to breath before the last episode. Good registration at the end. My score: Technique: 9 Registration: 9 Artistry: 7 Next sounds the fugue by Ciurlionis. Pedals too weak after manual change. In the middle of fugue somebody from the church turned on the lights and turned them off again. I hope this wasn't a distraction for the organist. Although some harmonic mistakes appeared around that time. The light was turned on the 2nd time! Are they illuminating the room based on what's happening in the piece? My score: Technique: 8 Registration: 9 Artistry: 9 The organist finishes her program with BWV 548. In the rhythmical groups of dotted eighth notes with sixteenth notes I wanted more articulation. Good emphasis on the form and key changes. In the middle again too much legato appears. No Posaune but instead Trompete in the fugue. Middle sixteenth note runs - too legato. Otherwise, nice flow of the music. My score: Technique: 7 Registration: 8 Artistry: 8 Now I'm going to go grab a coffee and find something to eat to warm me up and will come back in about an hour to listen to Group 2. Stay tuned! Organ specification: http://www.vargonai.lt/vargonai_vilnius_kazimiero.htm Live streaming should be available from competition's website: http://ciurlionis.link/en/b/organ [Disclaimer: This is my personal opinion which may or may not coincide with the reader's opinion. If you don't like it, write your own.] Have you ever wanted to start to practice on the organ but found yourself sidetracked after a few days? Apparently your inner motivation wasn't enough.
I know how you feel. I also was stuck many times. What helped me was to find some external motivation as well. In order for you to advance your organ playing skills and help you motivate to practice, my wife Ausra - @laputis and I invite you to join in a contest to submit your organ music and win some Steem. Are you an experienced organist? You can participate easily. Are you a beginner? No problem. This contest is open to every organ music loving Steemian. Here are the rules |
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Drs. Vidas Pinkevicius and Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene Organists of Vilnius University , creators of Secrets of Organ Playing. Our Hauptwerk Setup:
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