|
Yale University has twin treasures embodied in the world renowned Newberry Memorial Organ and the resonant acoustics of the organ's home, Woolsey Hall. This documentary consists of two CDs and a 72-page book with a photo essay and numerous articles on the Newberry Organ. Disc One is a lecture with musical demonstrations of different organ stops and divisions of the Newberry Organ; the second disc is an organ concert recorded live. All performances are by Professor Thomas Murray, Professor of Music and University Organist at Yale.
The organ at Woolsey Hall, given by the Newberry family of Detroit, was originally built and later rebuilt by three of the finest organbuilders in the United States: the Hutchings-Votey Organ Company, the Steere Organ Company, and the Skinner Organ Company of Boston. These two rebuilds were unusually successful in creating an extremely beautiful and satisfying instrument. Nicholas Thompson-Allen and Joseph Dzeda are the Curators of Organs at Yale, and have kept the organ in immaculate repair, and today it is tonally and mechanically as it was left by the Skinner Organ Company some seventy years ago.
This pipe organ is among the largest organs in the world today with 12,617 pipes. The gigantic size of this instrument is not what makes it great, however; it is the almost infinite tonal palette of refined color that makes this organ very rare.
The music on these discs is widely varied to demonstrate the almost limitless tonal colors Professor Murray can achieve with this instrument. The massive earth-shaking thunder of the Newberry Organ is unleashed in the Reger Introduction & Passacaglia in d minor. The wide dynamic range of this instrument is heard in the Reger Benedictus by means of Professor Murray's masterful manipulation of the organ through a terrific crescendo to the full organ and back down to a hushed whisper. Paul Hindemith’s Sonata is treated in a symphonic manner with warmth and varied colors not found in the typical performance of the piece. The Procession of Nobles is a grand march with heralded trumpeting on the numerous high-pressure reeds on the organ. Professor Murray exudes musicianship with each note and the Newberry Organ responds, giving him a rich color palette of sound found in very few other places in the world.
Review from The Absolute Sound
Issue 133
Newberry Memorial Organ, Woolsey Hall, Yale University (Great Organbuilders of America: A Retrospective, Volume 14) Thomas Murray, organist/narrator; Joseph A. Vitacco IIII, producer and recording engineer. JAV Recordings CD 124 (2-CD set)
You might say this review is seriously overdue (even though I uncharacteristically got it in hours before rather than after the deadline). Let me explain. In Issue 63 – that was back in 1990 – I suggested that an audiophile label should record Tom Murray at Woolsey Hall. By 1996, there were three damned good such recordings (by Gothic and Priory), and I almost completed an enthusiastic review, but something or other intervened, and I still have text that ends in mid-sentence. So it’s another century, and I can finally review Tom Murray at Yale; and simultaneously I can stop wishing for a really good contemporary recording to demonstrate, stop by stop, what organs really sound like, and why they sound as they do. It’s here.
Can an Answered Prayer be worth less than a Golden Ear?
This is a nearly flawless demonstration of the resources of a glorious instrument, and I would be guilty of the worst kind of reviewer’s arrogance if I were to criticize it for not including everything I might like to hear.
Here’s what you get: an impeccably recorded overview of the sounds of the 197-rank Woolsey Hall organ at Yale – a unique instrument that includes pipework from the original Hutchings organ of 1902, a major enlargement by Steere in 1915, and a vast expansion by Skinner in 1929. Its 12,617 pipes give it a respectable place among the world’s largest organs. That the organ is now preserved essentially as it was 70 years ago is a near miracle, since from the 60s through the 80s organs of that vintage in major universities were almost universally either altered to suit changing fashions, or simply scrapped. In listening to this recording, I more than once gave silent thanks to some stubborn people at Yale who were determined that the Woolsey Hall organ should not share the common fate.
Tom Murray’s narration is informative, never either patronizing or arcane. It is recorded at a blessedly low level so that you can hear the full dynamic range of an enormous organ without fiddling with playback levels – no grabbing desperately for the remote as though a TV commercial were coming. In fact, you can imagine yourself sitting on the bench beside him as he goes from manual to manual, from one pipe family to the next, improvising a few measures to show each stop’s characteristics. Many of the sounds are strikingly lush, because Woolsey is one of the high points of symphonic organ design, and there are dozens of ranks of pipes that simply purr. But it also has principals and mixtures that can play Bach effectively, and an array of reed stops from the mild and colorful through multiple ascending choruses of trumpets that can render French music convincingly. All of this is supported by a pedal division of major proportions that includes four 32’ pedal ranks, one of them a gloriously raucous Bombarde. The demonstration CD is both informative and enjoyable. Even seismic.
The second CD documents a recital by Murray, with some editing from recording sessions to eliminate obtrusive noises. The program is fresh, and the treatment is frankly romantic, a style of playing very different from the way most organists – hell, most musicians – play today. In a recent biography, the great French organist Jean Langlais rather scornfully described his friend Olivier Messiaen as being too fussy about the sounds of the stops of any organ he played, where Langlais would simply draw whatever stop was called for and get on with it. On the evidence, Murray would be in Messiaen’s camp: he is obviously meticulous about the sounds he employs. Listen, for example to Max Reger’s Benedictus: I count at least 50 different registrations within the piece’s five-minute duration, yet in no way does it sound fussy or over-elaborate. I would describe it as having an exceptional degree of "finish" – which is very much a characteristic of Murray’s style. An even better example might be the Hindemith Sonata No. 1, a piece invariably treated as a rather austere essay in neo-classicism. Even when played on a large organ it is generally played as though on an instrument with limited resources. This is not Murray’s way: he uses all the available color of an immense organ with admirable results. It sounds so different from the usual treatment that I took out the score to see whether he was taking any odd liberties with it, and discovered to my amazement that Murray was observing Hindemith’s numerous dynamic indications (he does not specify the stops to be used) more carefully than most traditional performances.
I could go on and on. The record abounds in subtleties that are a joy to discover. It comes with a 72-page booklet with more than 30 photographs of the instrument, and informative essays about the organ and its music. I don’t believe any single purchase would be a better introduction to the pipe organ or provide a better demonstration of the music it can create in the hands of a master. It is the high point in JAV’s continuing survey of landmark American organs, and I commend it to your attention.
Copyright © The Absolute Sound, Issue 133, 2002. Reprinted with permission.
|
