As some of you might know, I’m back practising the organ with the intention of playing as part of a semi-dedicatory, or a full, recital (something I haven’t done in about 25 years). Two pieces, the Cantabile by César Franck and Carillon de Westminster Op.54 #6 by Louis Vierne I’ve played before, albeit not since the previous mentioned time: then two other pieces I’ve never played in public, the J. S. Bach Fugue in g BWV 578 (the “Little”) and the Choral #3 in a by Franck. I saved the Choral until late in life simply because of the life experience it requires to truly be able to play that piece with any integrity and sense of its profundity. I had planned originally to include the J. S. Bach Prelude & Fugue in a BWV 543, but then I thought for the sake of the audience, and because the piece lends itself to innumerable stop/colour changes, I’ve decided to dust off the Toccata & Fugue in d BWV 565. This last piece is something I haven’t played since I played it for “big” organ class at WCC in my freshman year. One of the great pleasures I’ve had is remembering how I made the purists squirm in the pews of the chapel when I used a celeste near the end.
I guess the point I’m circumlocutingly trying to make is that after more than 50 years not even touching the piece since I last played it, after only two weeks of practise it’s all there! After gradually reacquainting myself occasionally with the score, after a week or so I have it completely restored to my memory. It’s an interesting phenomenon when practising; it has been a matter of my hands/feet catching up to my mind. Since then I’ve been concentrating on fixing fingerings and adding new stop changes. Nevertheless, I find it fascinating how the brain is able reclaim things that have laid dormant for so long. As a result, I’ve just reclaimed from memory after more than a quarter century the first movement to Louis Vierne’s Deuxième Symphonie in e Op.20. Again, it’s still a matter of the hands/feet catching up with the mind.
God knows if I’ll ever be able to have these (and anything else I plan to resurrect or learn) good enough for public performance. I was never as technically proficient as others who started playing earlier than me and who have since managed to continue on a regular basis. But, who knows. I would like to be play in public again because most people still need someone to show them that organ doesn’t have to be the monochromatic, boring, old fogey church instrument with which most people associate it. We’ll see.
