|
|
      
|
Excitement and anticipation best describes the inauguration recital given by Tom Trenney, concert organist, Friday, 12 June, 2009, First Presbyterian Church, Birmingham, Michigan, on the exciting 4 manual, 64 rank, Nichols & Simpson organ. Furthermore, the large audience was enthusiastic to see and hear the new instrument as well as share it with the Birmingham community-at-large. The recital opened with Rising Sun, a rather tonal, short composition by 20th century American composer, Brian Sawyers. Trenney demonstrated the “lungs” of this fine pipe organ. The brilliant Tuba and full reed choruses were featured throughout this fresh sounding work. The Choral No. 1 in E major of 19th century Belgian composer, Cesar Franck, demonstrated the rich, bold Open Diapason of the Great Organ. Trenney played the composition with warmth and sensitivity to the musical line. One also heard the warm strings as well as the fine Vox Humana found in the Swell division. The organist built a smooth crescendo ending with the blazing full organ. The Scherzo, Op. 2 of the late twemtieth- century French composer, Maurice Durufle, demonstrated the subtle, warm and exquisitely voiced flutes and string ranks of the organ. Trenney understands the art of a musical phrase. The first half of the recital ended with the massive Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor of J.S. Bach. This world-known masterpiece is the perfect vehicle in demonstrating the various color stops of an organ. The Passacaglia is a centuries old dance art form and Bach has taken it and created a cathedral of tonal colors. Trenney used numerous combinations of soft piquant flutes, mutations, diapasons and mixtures throughout its variations in building up to a massive ending with the full organ. The second portion of the program opened with Charles Ives’ humorous and campy Variations on America. Throughout its variations, the audience had several opportunities in hearing the fine orchestral stops including English Horn, Clarinet, Oboe and Trumpet as well as minor and major choruses of the Nichols and Simpson organ. The organist played it with panache. Craig Philips’ Three Preludes on Hymn Tunes was commissioned in celebration of the 2009 Nichols & Simpson instrument and included Prelude on “Slane” (in memory of Rev. Charles A. Sommers); Meditation on “Wer nur den lieben Gott” (in memory of Gerald Crawford) and Toccata on “Deo Gras” (in honor of Swidlonna Kirchhofer). These interesting tunes certainly demonstrated the tonal capabilities of the instrument. Trenney used tonal colors of this instrument as an artist would use a painting pallet in mixing and combining colors. The final composition was Trenney’s Improvisation 48009 which was based on a Fantasia on “FPC” (Now Thank We All our God); Andante grazioso on “Rev. Mary Austin”); Swing-Low Scherzo on “Hal Bay” and Finale based on “Nichols and Simpson.” Once again, Trenney’s clever harmonization added much to the interpretation. The audience related well to the themes utilized. The organist returned for two encores including the “Gigue Fugue” BWV 577 of J. S. Bach played on the flutes of the organ and the organist’s moving arrangement of the American ballad, Shenandoah, and this encore featured the lush strings and warm solo flute of the instrument. Needless to say, Trenney’s humorous and educational remarks throughout the recital added to the audience’s enjoyment of this recitalist who played on a superb example of organ building here in the United States. First Presbyterian Church certainly followed the old adage “Good things happen to those who wait.” Here it was done properly and the church needs to be congratulated. The architectural firm of Constantine George Pappas of Troy, MI together with acousticians Scott R. Riedel & Associates, Ltd. of Milwaukee, WI, were hired to redesign the Sanctuary and to correct the acoustics before the new instrument was installed. The handsome facade and casework in the front of the chancel were designed by Frank Friemel of Canyon, TX. So many times, churches will not spend the needed monies to correct the acoustics and the new instrument is not any better than the old. Not here at First Presbyterian Church. Now, the room is warm and is certainly a contributing factor to the success of this instrument in Birmingham. Sound the trumpets and tubas! The church was extremely wise in its choice of Joseph Nichols and Wayne Simpson in building their instrument. This highly innovative, progressive company since 1983 builds eclectic instruments of extremely high tonal quality in all aspects ranging from pipes, components, and digital technologies to achieve a superb example of American ingenuity in the building of artistic instruments capable of playing all literature as well as accompanying all choral literature and congregational singing. The finely voiced orchestral reeds found in the Solo division include French Horn, English Horn and an excellent and thrilling example of an English Tuba under two swell box stages of expression with its own swell shoe on the console itself. The choir reeds include Clarinet at sub and unison pitches. The feminine choruses (flutes) of all tonal colors are available; the masculine choruses (diapasons, mixtures and reeds) are rich, bold, colorful and never scream. The digital 32’s of the organ are totally realistic and this is due to the excellent tonal directors of Nichols and Simpson. There was simply no room for real pipes. No one can tell the difference. The building of the components including the pipe chests, combination action, and computer memory systems within this instrument are really superb examples of total craftsmanship. This instrument will last into the next millennium. Dennis
E. Ferrara |
Send mail to cjn@nicholsandsimpson.com with questions or comments about this web site.
|