American Organ Concertos

Organ Concertos Paul Jacobs, organ. Nashville Symphony Orchestra/Giancarlo Guerrero Naxos 8.559936 Total Time:  61:04 Recording:   ****/**** Performance: ****/****

Paul Jacobs is an internationally-recognized organ virtuoso, being the first organist to ever have received a Grammy.  He has appeared on a variety of festivals and fans may have heard him on Pipedreams or Performance Today.  He has premiered a number of new works for the instrument as well and is presently on the faculty of Julliard.  For the current release, Jacobs has chosen a blend of American music both from our “early” Romantic roots to the present day.  The album has a little something for everyone interested in American music.

Most exciting is this new recording of Horatio Parker’s (1863-1919) Organ Concerto in eb, Op. 55 (1901-2).  Parker was known as an excellent organist and he premiered the work with the Boston Symphony in December 1902, who had commissioned the work.  Consider that in the distant background here are the Saint-Saens third symphony, but for many American composers, Parker included, it was the hallmarks of German Romanticism that they often infused in their works.  In this instance, the music of one of his teachers, Josef Rheinberger, was no doubt influential.  The three movement work features a rather brilliant start with an imposing opening organ chord.  A second meditative section is quite engaging, and brilliantly scored with interesting colors in the orchestra.  Jacobs’ registration choices here also enhance this well.  The interior scherzo has some wonderful playful ideas with fine solo moments.  The finale brings things to a grand close with an exciting fugal section and a triumphant finale.  The piece is filled with bits of joy and wit, but also a grand sense of drama that would seem to make it an ideal showpiece and audience pleaser.  Clocking in at around 20 minutes it certainly is worth more attention. 

Two recent pieces dedicated to Jacobs make up the center of the album.  Wayne Oquin’s (b. 1977) Resilience (2015) is a rather delightful piece of modern tonal writing with interesting colors in the orchestra matched in the call and response registrations from the organ.  A variety of motifs appear and are used as one unifying component with a harmonic structure that also recurs as a foundational connection between the different sections of the work.  Premiered with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Christopher Rouse’s (1949-2019) Organ Concerto (2014) was the last concerto he wrote.  The scoring tends to emphasize lower colors in the orchestral writing set against higher organ registers which creates some rather fascinating soundscapes.  His Neo-Romantic style infuses this work as well with interesting dissonances in contrast to more traditional harmonic structures.  The rhythmic play comes to the forefront in the exciting third movement.  The opening movement begins with a twisting motif that the organ expounds upon with the orchestra bursting in with its own excitement.  There is also a fine central “lento” for contrast.  It makes for an engaging and often enthralling listen.

Parker taught at Yale and it was there that he ended up with an interesting student by the name of Charles Ives (1874-1954).  Those familiar with Ives later work are encouraged to also explore the composer’s earlier works where one can pick up the inherited thread of Parker’s style that the younger organist and composer no doubt took to heart before beginning more experiments of his own.  To that end, his popular Variations on “America” (1891-92) serves as a reminder of a shared wit and enthusiasm for the grandest of instruments.  The great organist E. Power Biggs (1906-77) did much to further interest in music for the instrument.  Biggs actually wrote to Ives requesting a piece to perform on one of his weekly radio broadcasts.  It is his revised and edited score that Jacobs turns to here for the final work on the album, which serves as a sort of encore to wrap up this satisfying release.  He makes this very much his own interpretation taking a little more time in some spots for added emphasis.

These are all live recordings, though audience noise is nonexistent.  This lends an elevated sense of excitement to the performances here.  The Nashville Symphony has risen to an important regional orchestra under Giancarlo Guerrero and their many recordings in Naxos’ American Music series has certainly raised their profile for lovers of American symphonic music.  Here they are shown off in great form and captured well in the sound picture.  The organ also has great presence and the engineers have managed to create a great balance between it and the orchestra.  It is really an excellent sounding recording overall.  Jacobs’ performances are committed and engaging and there is a real sense of admiration for what he is playing that comes across here.  Recommended for fans of great music and those looking to explore something a little different!