Just a small note really. This is the piece I usually think of as the Halloween piece. Actually what got me thinking about it was the use of the Organ in Pirates of the Caribbean II, which I didn’t particularly like as a movie, but I did love the Gothic theme making an emergence for the character of Davy Jones. It brings back the original Phantom of the Opera, playing away at the steaming organ with some sinister yet macabre love tune floating away from it. Naturally I wanted to see how the soundtrack had played it out, and I have only caught glimpses of it at my previous employer, Borders. iTunes is of course very unhelpful since it only focuses on the music box part of the theme, rather than giving me any inclination as to the full nature of the organ itself.
Alas. And that’s when I remembered my favorite piece for Halloween. The introduction to which I was given by an acquaintance of mine from La Canada Presbyterian Church, and organist by the name of Kemp. Strictly speaking this Toccata is not for Halloween, but does of course seem to fit nicely with the role that the organ has taken in American consciousness.
I love the organ, and currently I play at the Lake Hills Church in Lake Forest, Ca; where Martin Gershwitz is our organist. Every Sunday he improvises the postlude. It is really awesome to behold. I love him dearly, but was just talking to my best friend earlier and realized that I missed Kemp in that he played pieces, and I always felt like I got a bit of a musical education whenever I heard him play.
It seems a rather odd mixture, but when the handbells are combined with the Organ, the effect is quite amazing. There is something about the raging overtones that creates an odd effect. Most instruments are limited in their series. More pure in a way, such as the brass choir’s ability to tune instinctively abandoning the constraints of tempered tuning all together. Yet, when you get the bells and their extreme series of over tones together with massively vibrating columns of air, it is quite exhilarating.
The odd part is that I despise playing with organ when I am on trombone. The tendency of the instrument to tune as it plays is annoying. I don’t have perfect pitch, but I do have a very definite sense of relative pitch. When I listen to the radio, I can hear the dramatic shift in keys between songs. Often when a song begins very softly, without much tonal centering, I receive a shock when the key is made evident through a resolution. Which is somewhat beside the point.
At some point in all of this I meant to recommend listening to this piece. I am somewhat horrible about liking only particular movements of pieces, absent their whole work. But my eclectic tastes satisfy my soul, and I shall not take much abuse for it. I looked over the iTunes availabilities, and wasn’t extremely impressed with the selection from a sound point of view. I don’t like halls that swallow the bass or the treble. And particular instruments don’t have a pleasing tone. I am still debating which recording to buy, but all the same, this french development of the toccata idea is worth a listen.
