Artists's Profile: Professor Elemental

A few years ago, my sister, Ellen, shared a video with me that she had recently seen. It was called Cup of Brown Joy by a British hip hop artist called Professor Elemental. Ellen and I are both tea aficionados, so the topic was right up our alley. And Professor Elemental's clever lyrics and infectious tunes sealed the deal. His music incorporates classical, jazz, pop and just about every genre of music imaginable. I was hooked, so I took a deeper dive into the Professor Elemental catalog and have been a huge fan of his music and wit ever since. Professor Elemental is actually Paul Alborough, and I discovered he is a very gracious, intelligent and thoughtful artist and person. So much so, he agreed to talk to a classical music blogger far away in the flatlands of the United States.

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Tim:  I started writing this blog because classical music, at least in America, has such a small following…it isn’t nearly as popular here as in many countries in Europe.

Paul:  It’s more prevalent and prominent here in England because it’s a country that has a rich history. But at the same time, there is still very much a class division a lot of the time when it comes to classical music and it’s a hard thing to get over. Britain is run by a class system even though no one really talks about it and I think that often means that people are a bit shut off from it. But we do have a big classical station here called Classic FM which some people turn their noses up at but it does a very good job of popularizing classical music which is quite nice, even if you don’t know anything about it, it’s all there.

Tim:  I think I shared with you that Cup of Brown Joy was my first introduction to your work...the music, the lyrics and the humor all captured my interest immediately. First the humor…I grew up loving British comedy such as Monty Python and Fawtly Towers.

Paul:  I know what you mean by Monty Python influences as well. It was a very key thing growing up. My Dad was a huge comedy fan and British comedy was going through a good phase in my childhood. I’m 44 so it was Fawlty Towers and Monty Python and all that kind of stuff. It definitely was a huge influence, there’s no doubt about that.

Tim:  Where in England are you from?

Paul:  Ipswich, which is a sort of nothing kind of town. I had a very happy childhood growing up in the countryside, really, which was lovely. And my Dad was not only a huge music fan, though not classical, but he also did hospital radio when I was a kid…so he was doing local radio, land hospital radio, so I had access to loads of music that I would never have had otherwise...a bit like yourself, your Dad also being a huge influence growing up. So whether you rebel against them or are inspired by their choices, they are still huge influences on you.

Tim:  Was your Mom into music as well?

Paul:  Yes, not as much. She’s a very loving and nurturing kind of person, so she liked music growing up, but the bigger influence on that side of things came from my Dad.

Tim:  What sort of music did your Dad listen to or like?

Paul:  I remember he sat me down when I was only about 8 years old with Isaac Hayes’ Hot Buttered Soul album, and it’s got this version of By the Time I Get to Phoenix...it’s like 20 minutes long…just this epic soul song, and it’s a story as well, and he put some headphones on me an he said “right, you’re not moving until you’ve heard the entire album.” That was such a pivotal moment, getting into soul and funk music. And it’s nice as well because once you know your soul and funk, it was a perfect blend for getting into hip-hop in the early 1990’s. And also, being a middle class white boy, with the kind of rap music that was around, it sort of acted as a perfect extension to music I used to like, but also a really easy way to rebel, as it was for a lot of fans, particularly in the early days. You were rebelling and trying to make a statement just like kids were with punk and that kind of stuff. But it’s actually quite relatable to all of the things that came before. It’s a perfect cycle.

Tim:  Hot Buttered Soul?

Paul:  Yeah, Isaac Hayes’ Hot Buttered Soul album. The whole album is great. There’s only like four songs on it but it’s a perfect example of the mid-70’s funk. It’s just deep...it’s a deep album you know, when musicians get really deep. Yeah, a lot of funk growing up and obscure sort of old stacks of records which is lovely. But with the classical side of things...like a lot of blokes, the sort of autistic feel when it comes to liking the things you like...the things I’m into…I’m really into and know everything about. But the things I don’t…I know nothing. And it’s the same with classical music. I appreciate it when I hear bits and pieces or I have somebody recommend it, but I don’t know anything really about classical music which makes me feel a bit guilty that I am missing out on this huge cultural experience.

Tim:  You’re still young and exploring new material, so perhaps you will go into that door. It’s never too late to jump in. I feel the same way about rap and hip-hop. I remember Run DMC, Tone Loc…

Paul:  Those were the days!

Tim:  My son likes Tupac and NWA…so I’ve heard some their music too.

Paul:  It’s tricky with hip hop though. Whether you’re talking about old school stuff or the stuff that’s out now, loads of it is junk. Objectively, loads of it is rubbish. Some it has indefensibly awful lyrics or is just appallingly quickly made for a quick buck. In some ways it’s purposefully alienating. It can be quite hard to get into or to defend to the casual listener. But like a lot of things, once you start digging a bit deeper, underneath the rubbish at the top, sometimes there are these beautiful things. I’ve got friends who’ve rapped about things that no one’s ever rapped about…the place of women in religion for example. I’ve got another friend who works for a Spanish rapper and translates each other’s lyrics bar for bar and it’s some of the most beautiful and fierce poetry I’ve ever seen. It’s buried under the surface of the rubbish you get on the top.

Tim:  While doing some research about you, I heard a comment you made about some of Kanye West’s music being “rubbish.”

Paul:  It’s a tricky one, particularly in the case of Kanye West. It's money isn’t it? And it’s been that way with so many musicians. There’s a journalist who was saying that hip hop gets a lot of flak for being all about money…getting as much money as possible...the consumption of stuff. And he said hip hop gets a lot of flak for that, but actually it’s more of an American thing than a hip hop thing. That’s the story of America…sex, violence and money. It’s not necessarily the story of rap. It’s a tricky thing because on the one hand, rappers are often better when acts are coming up...it’s pure and they don’t have any understanding of what the rules are. But as soon as they start making some money, which in some ways is great for a lot of the traditional rap audience, if you are looking at a poor, working class black audience, the idea that people like Jay-Z or Kanye West have made it...they’ve got out of wherever they were…they’ve made it themselves and done it themselves…that’s all brilliant, but also, it’s ugly to listen to the second time. They’re flying around in their private jets or just had plastic surgery...I couldn’t give a fuck. It’s a really weird one...It’s really tricky and interesting to be a fan of hip hop and so many aspects of it.

Tim:  So you heard great funk music as a kid…did you study music?

Paul:  I didn’t have musical training and the music lessons at school were very uninspiring and to this day I’ve still got just the most limited ability and understanding of how a lot of music works. But I really love words. Words was the thing that got me into it. And also the kind of rap that came out when I was young was all sort of silly as well. In 1991, people were writing songs about their parents not understanding them…or underwater fish or whatever! There were all sorts of crazy rhymes that came out at the time. And I liked that because it meant you could write songs about anything at all. So I used to write and write and write. I wrote some of the most horrendous things a human being has ever committed to paper…endless things about the plight of the black woman or problems in South Africa that I wrote as a 13 year old white boy in Ipswich. But that’s all part of the journey. Yeah, I wrote a lot of bad rhymes to get a few good ones.

Tim:  You have to look for the gem in all of the crap that comes out.

Paul:  You really do…it’s the same with any writing.

Tim:  When did you begin to perform…to realize you could perform this? And how did you turn this writing into a performance vehicle?

Paul:  It was really delayed. My parents were never very encouraging. For all of my Dad’s wonderfulness, he never really put much faith in this art as a career. The idea of an artistic career to him was ridiculous. I should never pursue such a thing. I was sort of gently discouraged, not in a “you must never do this” way, but it’s just not even an option. And no one else I knew liked rap music either. Everybody else hated it, so I was kind of out on a limb. It was very much for me a kept secret. And even through my twenties, I’ve sort of done little tiny bits and pieces and it was only when I got to Brighton in my thirties that it sort of started to take off. I started trying to give it a try and found fans who were like minded…sort of weirdos who liked rap and didn’t fit the usual mold. And then, the Professor stuff came on… taking my love of hip hop and combing it with my nerdiness and comedy. I came to it late and I’ve been doing it professionally for the last ten years. It exploded in a quick, early mid-life crisis that is now stretching on into old age!

Tim: So you were a teacher before you became Professor Elemental full time? What did you teach?

Paul:  Young people with special needs. Teenagers with a variety of things like autism and Down’s syndrome…that sort of stuff. After being fired from numerous jobs and being fairly unemployable, I sort of found a job that I quite liked because it was very anarchic and rewarding and fun, but not quite as anarchic as putting on a funny hat and rapping every week.

Tim:  And you had a family to feed!

Paul:  I couldn’t have timed it worse in so many ways. It’s a miracle that my partner was so understanding as to go “OK go give it a try if you want too.” But at the same time, that pressure and being slightly older, and knowing that there genuinely wasn’t going to be another chance to do this kind of thing, I said give it a go and if it doesn’t work out, then it’s definitely not going to happen again! The pressure definitely helps...and still does…it still helps me be creative and not waste my time while doing the sort of boring admin that goes with it. I know what having a proper job is like and it’s horrible and I’m really bad at it (laughs).

Tim:  I don’t know much about the British educational system. What was you’re your formal schooling? Did you go to college?

Paul:  Yeah I did go to college. I scraped through and ended up going to a fairly poor college and it was just at the tail end…when tuition was free in England. So you could have the kind of college experience that you just can’t have now, and it was really good for creativity…I was on a kind of creative course. But it wasn’t costing me anything. I didn’t really have to work doing it so it was a wonderful to discover who you were supposed to be and not worry what your job was going to be afterward. Whereas now, everything from your first step of education to being at University is all tailored around... “What job are you going to do after this?? You’re working towards a job…what’s the job going to be???” I don’t think that’s very fair because it deterred a lot of people from a more creative lifestyle.

Tim:  Do you read a lot to find inspiration or creative ideas?

Paul:  Oh yeah, definitely. I’m constantly reading. I’ve always got something on the go. But I’ve also got really bad taste! (laughs) I read loads and loads but I read a lot of rubbish to get the gem. I’m a huge fan of horror and that kind of stuff. So I read a lot of horror, and I read a lot of comic books. But so I don’t turn into a moron, I force myself to read a high brow book to insure that I’m reading a bit of philosophy or a bit of politics.

Tim:  Or Shakespeare…

Paul:  It’s a bit tricky because I don’t think any book is a bad book necessarily. I think reading as an act is a really good thing, but I do think when you read for pleasure you can read a lot of rubbish. But you need to read to better yourself. You’ve got a bit of responsibility on yourself as a human being to become a better person if you can. And a way to do that is to read more…and read stuff that may be out of your comfort zone. I’ve read some boring books this year I tell you (laughs)…but it was worth it.

Tim:  When you read, do you read paper books or are you a digital reader?

Paul:  Definitely books. What about yourself?

 Tim:  I have done both, but now I am back to reading real books. I like the feel of having a book in my hands. So I’ve gone back to my older ways. I still listen to vinyl too.

Paul:  Increasingly, I think that’s a good way to be. Books and vinyl slow down consumption. We are in an age when you can get everything all the time and sometimes that’s brilliant. But once you get over the initial excitement that you can have everything all at once the important part becomes “how do I make sure this has a bit of rhythm and stays with me?” Like, if I bought a book even at some second hand bookstore, and I’ve physically got it, it’s a lot harder to skip it or throw it away. But if I have it on a Kindle, and it’s not brilliant from the first page, I’ll just move on to the next one. It can be quite useful with music and with any kind of culture to sort of slow yourself down and focus in on a particular thing. There was a really great quote from Neil Gaiman the other day…

“Finding things you like in popular culture used to be like finding a rose in a desert, and now it’s like finding a rose in a jungle.” Good isn’t it!?!

Tim:  Amazing! When I listen to your music or watch your videos, I love the variety of references and pictures you paint with your words.

In the song Closing Credits, you have some music of Felix Mendelssohn closing out the track. Were you aware of that and was that a conscious choice?

Paul:  That would be Tom Caruana, my producer. He makes all of the music and he is a classically trained musician. He plays all kinds of instruments. He’s a master of fusing classical records, a children’s record and a jazz song...and twenty minutes later he’s made this incredible beat! The artistry of that is the other side of the music that I make.

Tim:  There’s a lot of cool stuff going on in your work…so many styles and ideas grooved together in such a cool way.

Paul:  I think that’s one of the things that makes it quite classical to people who don’t like or listen to a lot of hip hop. And it’s a similar thing to what we were talking about earlier…sort of choosing vinyl over downloading stuff. Tom could have access to every song ever made and take samples from it, but he doesn’t. He goes to shops and digs out old records and finds pieces of classical. Ninety percent of it comes from old vinyl.

Tim:  I love the song Monster, and on that album, you collaborate with other artists. Do you enjoy the process of collaboration?

Paul:  I’m sort of aware that the Professor is a bit like a one-note joke (laughs). It’s not like I have any other characters up my sleeve, so for longevity, there has to be as much variation and the best way to do that is do a gig with some weird band. Sometimes it doesn’t come off, but sometimes it does.

Tim:  Do you enjoy performing live?

Paul:  I used to really fear it. I’d see a gig on the calendar and say “can’t wait to get that one out of the way”…so I could relax again. And now I think I probably prefer it to anything else. I’ve curated a diverse fan base. It’s all quite family friendly as well. I’ll get kids at a show who really think I live in a mansion with a monkey…sometimes they’ll be peoples’ parents who normally hate rap music and sometimes they’ll be kids who like hip hop. And it’s such an honor to meet such lovely people of different ages. It’s such a pleasing thing to do. And also, I love stand-up comedy and I’m increasingly trying to sneak more comedy in there as well and that’s quite a nice experiment…to see where the balance between music and comedy lies.

Tim:  That was one of my questions…whether to refer to you as a musician/rapper who’s very funny, or are you more of a comic who’s ventured into hip hop/rap?

Paul:  I honestly don’t care. I’m happy just to be mentioned (laughs). I don’t really mind all that…the more people who are attracted to me the better. Particularly when I do music festivals, a lot of comedians are frustrated musicians and a lot of musicians would love to be comedians. There’s definitely a sort of crossover.

Tim:  Have you done a stand up gig…without being the Professor?

Paul:  No, to my shame I haven’t. I just did a show called Tales of Rome which is about my love of horror and things and most of that was me doing stand-up just as myself, even though I slipped the odd Professor song in there. And increasingly, when I’m on stage…obviously all my songs are in character, but when I’m talking, I’m talking about things that I’ve gone through rather than wacky Professor Elemental things. So I’ve managed to kind of cheat it where I get to be me onstage, but also get to do the Professor songs without having to take off the armor of the Professor. If I was brave and had a bit more spare time, what I should do, exactly as you said, is go and do some open mic spots to see if it works without people being in on the “joke” of the Professor. I’m so busy with gigs, I can always use the excuse “I’m doing three gigs, why would I want to do another unpaid one” (laughs). But one of these days I will, or if the Professor ever dries up I’ll give it a go.

Tim:  I don’t think he’s going to dry up!

Paul: I reckon I’ll be able to keep him going. At the end of the day I’m pretending to be a mad old man, but as I get older, I’m becoming a mad old man! (laughs). I’ll just lean into it and the whole thing is great.

Tim:  I grew up a nerd basically. You talked in an interview about being a voice for the weird and nerdy, which makes me like you even more.

Paul:  That’s the key isn’t it…I’m lucky enough to have a position on stage to be able to talk to those people. My audience are nerds and we’ve all been through some hard time…whether you’ve had to fight to be heard or find someone else who likes the same stuff as you, I think there’s a commonality in being a nerd because it’s not a very easy journey. You have to be willing to be someone whose going to say “I like playing the violin. I’m going to keep playing it no matter how much you tease me or whatever else it is.”

Tim:  You mentioned you had children. How old are they and do they know who Professor Elemental is?

Paul:  It’s been interesting having kids because they are quite grounding and I’m sort of silly with them. They’re quite blunt with me even right from the off. I think they’re sort of secretly proud that I do the Professor Elemental stuff, but they’re also massively embarrassed by it as well. When they were little, they were quite proud...“wow that’s my dad up there.” But they’re 10 and 8 now and they are kind of proud but they also go “Dad, please don’t rap…please don’t rap in front of my friends I beg you.” Inevitably, I get on well with them because I get to see a lot of them because I haven’t got a real job so I can go home and hang out with them.

Tim:  That’s awesome. My sons are 23 and 20…they are men now!  And it goes quickly for sure. Maybe your kids will grow up and go on stage with you?

Paul:  Yeah you never know…or they might completely rebel against me and become accountants or something like that! I always think that with friends of mine who’ve got older children who’ve grown up, it must be quite satisfying to think “wow, I’ve managed to create two adults, and whatever your kids end up doing, they’re alive, presumably got jobs, doing all right…it must be a lovely feeling.

Tim:  I didn’t screw them up…it’s a great feeling.

Paul:  Exactly (laughs)

Tim:  But the worry never goes away...it just moves with them through each phase of life…my god they are driving now, and it’s terrifying. Or, now they are adults and looking for a job…what if they can’t find a job? What if something bad happens to them? It never goes away.

Paul:  The worry never ends…I remember my Dad saying that to me. I was going out with this really awful woman in my twenties, and I’d say “Dad, you don’t have to worry about me anymore.” And he’d say, “well I’ll worry about you son…the worry never goes.” There’s always something to worry about when it comes to your kids.

Tim:  So one of my favorite phrases from one of your videos is at the beginning of The Inn and the End of Time…you see the Inn in the telescope and amid all of your speculation about time travel and the time space continuum, you pause and say, “Well, I suppose it won’t hurt to have a bit of a breather”…and you go in for a pint.

Paul:  It’s about as English as you can get. It represents so much the Britishness of the Professor. Like the movie Shaun of the Dear… “My God, there’s a zombie apocalypse…what should we do? Well, let’s try and get to the pub!” A couple of drinks at a pub and we’ll take it from there, and that’s absolutely the way it is with all things English.

Tim:  Or tea perhaps…..

Paul:  Yes, or failing the pub, tea. That’s definitely true as well. Something innocuous to balance out something massive and terrifying. That’s why we’ve been drinking since breakfast and will continue to be drinking until its long since been sorted out.

Tim:  So what kind of beer do you like?

Paul:  Well, much to my Dad’s disgust, on my trips to America, I quite like the American style IPAs now. I used to turn my nose up at them. But the problem is you guys, when it comes to beer in your neck of the woods, and I’ve done three American gigs this year, it’s really strong! And I forget that. I’m thinking its 3.2% (ABV) like it is over here, but it’s 9%, so there’s been a few times in the States where I’ve been chatting away and suddenly I’m saying, slurred…“I’m sorry I think I need to go back to my hotel room.” (Laughs) I have two pints and I’m really drunk.

Tim:  Where have you gig’ d here in the US?

Paul:  I went to Arizona, LA, Seattle, and Boston…all over the place. It was such a lovely year this year. It takes a lot of work to get to America. You guys don’t make it easy for us to come over. But when I do, it’s always nice.

Tim:  So you like American comedy and culture then?

Paul:  Yes, obsessed really. In my office I’ve got shelves that are full of every single figure from the Muppet Show on it and loads of super hero toys and piles of comics on it. As much as the Professor is the epitome of Britishness, I’m constantly immersing myself in American culture. I find it still very exotic and exciting.

Tim:  Do you drink coffee?

Paul: …(pause) Right, this interview is over. (laughs)

No, I don’t drink coffee. I know, I’m into every single vice going, in a relatively unhealthy way. I just can’t add another one. So I never really try coffee in case I like it!

Tim:  Fair enough. But I assume you do like tea though?

Paul:  Oh yes, I do like tea…about ten cups a day! Absolutely.

Tim:  Any particular favorite?

Paul:  Like with most things, I’m a bit sort of quantity over quality really, but Yorkshire tea is the best tea as far as I’m concerned. And of course, Professor Elemental tea which is available from my website.

Tim:  I will hit that up for sure. Professor, I can’t thank you enough for taking the time to talk with me and helping me share your work and career as part pf my blog.

Paul:  My pleasure. Thank you as well!

https://www.professorelemental.com/

Reflections: The Kansas City Symphony 11.23.19

I still say there is nothing more amazing than listening to a symphony orchestra play live. Rock bands, rap artists, country bands, big bands, etc etc can all give great concerts, sure. But the depth, variety, heat, heart, and energy of an orchestra rises above all. Saturday night, the Kansas City Symphony reinforced this for me.
Starting in the middle, the second piece tonight was the world premiere of American composer, Jonathan Leshnoff's Piano Concerto. A friend of mine had remarked earlier in the week that he wished he still lived in KC so he could attend this concert for this piece alone. I was not familiar with Leshnoff's music, so this was completely new to me. The pianist was Joyce Yang. The concerto is comprised of four movements and is as much an orchestra concerto as a piano concerto...I'm not sure if that makes any sense, but from the introduction of the first phrase, a very rhythmic pattern that moves back and forth between the piano and orchestra, I felt like we were on a great ride of....and I give my mom credit for this descriptor....energy. Yes, this work is one of musical, rhythmic and dynamic energy. I enjoyed the orchestration as much as the piano. The second movement was exceptionally beautiful, despite the hacking and coughing contributed by some resident tuberculin patrons...please just stay home! I liked this work...but I think it will take repeated performances and time for it to emerge as a classic concerto. Well done though Mr. Leshnoff. And what a brilliant performance too by Ms. Yang!
I will admit, well into the first movement of Leshnoff's piano concerto, I was still hung up on what I had heard before the premiere of his work...the Adagio of Mahler's 10th Symphony. I'm not sure it was a good idea to program Leshnoff's piece second, because after the KCS was finished with Mahler, all of the oxygen had been sucked out of Helzberg Hall. Mahler was a pretty good composer himself, and after the pressure of writing 9 symphonies was off his back, I believe he could have written 9 more, and what he could have said in those works would have been amazing. But his health did not allow him the time to achieve this, except for the first movement of his 10th symphony.
Maestro Stern conducted the Mahler like he wanted to tell us a secret that would blow our minds. He shaped each phrase like a sculptor, lasered each entrance to precision and gave the musicians just enough room to turn the pages of their music...but no more. I could sense that he was on a mission...
Mahler is not for everyone. and his music was lost for decades after his death until Leonard Bernstein and a few others resurrected it in the 1960's. Maestro Stern knows the magic of Mahler's music too. And tonight, Stern detonated the Mahler bomb at 8 pm, and neither Leshnoff nor Strauss stood a chance. I must say too that the viola and second violin sections stole the show in both the Mahler and Strauss...they were true gangsters.
The bass section numbered eight on both the Mahler and Strauss. This was a sensational move. I am certainly not qualified to assemble an orchestra, but I feel like the ONLY area for improvement of the KCS has been with the bass section...not the quality of playing, but the number of basses. Eight is great. Helzberg Hall can handle a very beefy low end, so I hope we continue to staff up here.
Speaking of gangsters, Alberto Suarez killed it tonight on the french horn. This dude is legit.
Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss is a work that EVERYONE knows the first 2:30 minutes of, but almost nothing of the remaining twenty nine minutes. If you like killer trumpets, this piece is for you, and Julian Kaplan and his crew were flawless tonight. As were the seven french horns, three trombones, and eight basses...oh, and the strings! Wow, well done strings, you were awesome tonight too. Guest concertmaster Wyatt Underhill knows his way around the fingerboard for sure. He played the solo passages in the Strauss, some reaching notes at the fringe of audible sound, with swag and a great tone. Maybe we could convince him to move to KC?!? What else am I forgetting here...oh that's right, how about the superb woodwinds of the KCS. We are truly blessed with virtuoso's at every position. My goodness they are good.
This was a great concert that reinforces just what a great house band Kansas City has playing most weekends...the Kansas City Symphony.

Brubeck Sampled, QBs vs Baseball's Addition by Subtraction, the Rule of Law Fails Women and Air

One of the problems with sharing cool music from TV commercials is that I don't watch too much TV, so I probably don't see many of the great commercials that use classical music or classic jazz music. But occasionally I do get lucky enough to see a great commercial to write about. Here's one for you from a company called Esri. The music is a very modern sample of the Dave Brubeck classic tune Blue Rondo a la Turk from his groundbreaking album Take Five from 1959. I don't know anything about Esri....but its a cool commercial.

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Just a thought now about professional football. In my opinion, the game has become way too quarterback centric. The hopes and fortunes of teams rest squarely on the QB position. The rules of the game have evolved over the years to protect the QB, but they still seem to get hurt at a high rate. A very good team can become a mediocre team with the loss of this key position. Here in Kansas City, our amazing young QB, Patrick Mahomes, was injured a few weeks ago, and our prospects for continued success dropped significantly while he was out. We would be happy if our back-up could win even one game. Every team faces this same possibility. Baseball is my favorite sport, and things are much different. In baseball, a team can lose their best player, and actually get better. Take a look at the Washington Nationals, who just won the World Series. Last year, they said good-bye to arguably the best player in the game, Bryce Harper. Harper signed a huge contract in free agency and went to the Phillies. With Harper, the Nationals never made the World Series. In fact, they had a series of very disappointing post-season failures. But after letting Harper walk, they won the World Series. Another good example would be the St. Louis Cardinals. A year after Albert Pujols left for the Los Angeles Angels, the Cardinals made it to the 2013 World Series...they got better without him. Football is described as the ultimate team sport...but in fact, it isn't. One guy...the QB...has far too much influence on a team's success. So the back-up QB position is all the more crucial for a team. You hope you never have to see him play, but chances are he will, so he'd better be a good one.

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Another random thought...not classical music related at all. The rule of law does not protect women from sexual assault. Many of the recently publicized cases such as Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court hearings, showed this. The rule of law is the bedrock of our democracy. Evidence, and due process are essential. But in most cases, men are cagey enough to operate in ways that leave no trace...there will not be any evidence. It will be a  "he said vs. she said" case. And dudes like Kavanaugh will go free. I'm not saying he was guilty. I'm just saying that our laws and practices make it almost impossible for women who have been assaulted to win these types of cases. The rule of law is the best thing we have, but it is far from perfect.

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I heard this on Sirius XM Radio tonight, on the Spa Channel 68. Spa plays mostly ambient music, which I listen to a lot of. I had not heard of this group, nor the song Mike Mills. I instantly liked it. It has a very "Bach" type of sound. Enjoy.

Sounds from 1982

One of my greatest, shining moments playing music occurred in the Spring of 1982. I was seventeen years old. We moved to Omaha in the Summer of 1980, and I joined the Omaha Area Youth Orchestra. David Hagy was the Music Director, as well as my violin instructor. Maestro Hagy had a natural ability to communicate with young people...he had the right balance of motivator, disciplinarian and friend. He shaped a diverse group of young musicians into a well oiled machine who played with confidence and attitude. In June of 1982, we embarked on a tour of the East Coast, playing concerts in Des Moines, IA, Indianapolis, IN, Morgantown WV, and Washington, DC. We also attended concerts at Kennedy Center in DC, Lincoln Center in NY, and the Mann Center in Philadelphia. We saw Pinchas Zukerman, Robert Craft, and Eugene Ormandy. (holy shit...I get goosebumps just typing this all these years later!) We returned to Omaha for our final concert on June 18, 1982. As it so happens, my parents had a small cassette recorder, and they recorded the performance of Scheherazade. The tape was in a box for 37 years, until last week when my mom found it and took it to a local shop and had it digitized. The link is below. I couldn't help help getting emotional when I heard it. A lifetime ago....a bunch of teenagers made some great music. Enjoy.

6-18-82   Concert at UNO [not the Orpheum]  (Friday)

Fanfare for Brass & Percussion                    Donald Erb

Academic Festival Overture                          Brahms

Adagio for Strings                                        Barber

Suite for Chamber Orchestra (from both suites)   Stravinsky

Scheherazade                                             Rimsky-Korsakov

Star Wars Medley (encore)                           Williams

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tsbfi7qj5gn94rv/AACAyZsnTTphCWrCCEbHsz8da?dl=0

Running with Beethoven and the Kansas City Ballet inspires me.

Just a few short thoughts for you this evening. One of the Beethoven Piano Sonatas that I like the most, and that often comes into my head while I am running is the Sonata no. 21, also known as the Waldstein. From the opening bar, or the "get go" as old timers might say, this Sonata is off and running.

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Two intersecting thoughts this week. One....my ability to move...to walk...to control my body on my own. My mom has a friend who just moved into a nursing home. She can't move on her own. Diabetes and time have taken her mobility away. She lives a life requiring assistance to do anything. She is placed on the toilet with great difficulty and often left there for long periods before someone comes to help place her back in her bed. Her legs don't work. Her room has bed bugs. Cheryl and I went to see the Kansas City Ballet this weekend. The feature production was Carmina Burana by Carl Orff, but the two preceding dances were Tulips and Lobster, and Petal. Petal was my favorite, The music is by Philip Glass and Thomas Montgomery Newman.
Watching the incredible dancers of the KC Ballet, I was reminded of the stark contrast between the unbelievable power, strength and grace of these dancers and the sad state of my mom's friend. God help me if I ever find myself in her position. I give thanks every day for my health...my ability to RUN, to feed myself and move about planet Earth without anyone's help.
The music of the dance called Petal is great. Here is a clip form the Atlanta Ballet's production of Petal. (No offense Atlanta, but KC was better!)

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Saying Good-bye to Cynthia

None of us could wrap our heads around the message that Cynthia Gerdes had lung cancer. Last year, this amazingly strong, outgoing and loving soul received this diagnosis. It didn't compute or make any sense to me, or any one else. Cynthia was a picture of health and fitness. An avid tennis player, runner, and triathlete, Cynthia was regarded by me and all of us in our local runner's group as a larger-than-life person. She had a strong voice... powerful laugh...and passion for life that set her apart from others.
I remember the first time I met her. She and I were on a school bus. Her son Kyle and my son Ethan are the same age, and about ten years ago, their class went on a field trip. We went as parent volunteers. We chatted on the bus and realized we both had a passion for running and riding bikes. We became friends.
Another memory that stands out is New Year's Day 2013. Eric, Cortney, Cynthia and I shook off a late night welcoming in the New Year with a run in the snow. (Cynthia is wearing the green vest.)

In addition to her athletic prowess, Cynthia was also very creative and intellectually curious. Every run was accompanied by some sort of wonderful conversation on any one of a hundred topics. She loved to learn and to share her knowledge and loving heart with others. Her work as a counselor in the Raytown School District demonstrated her caring nature and passion for helping others.

And if all of this was not enough to completely blow me away, Cynthia also loved music. Once, when my Mom and I were unable to attend one of our KC Symphony concerts, Cynthia and her forever man, Jan, were the first to respond to our call for free tickets. She and Jan also attended other musical events at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts and she always loved to tell me about them. (Both of the concert hall pictures here are taken from Cynthia's Facebook page.)

In early June, I spent about an hour with Cynthia at her parent's house. She was in hospice care at this point and no longer receiving any treatment for her cancer, She told me she was at peace, and hoped to be able to hold on at least another week so she could go to Wisconsin for her older son Aaron's wedding. She made it.

Shortly after she was diagnosed, I shared a prayer with Cynthia that I say every day...Every...Day....I hope it brought her some peace and strength during her final days.

"The Light of God surrounds me. The Love of God enfolds me. The Power of God protects me. The Presence of God watches over me. Wherever I am, God is."

I miss you good friend. We all miss you. Thank you for the love and spirit you shared with us while you were here. Though you left us way too soon, your spirit and love remains here in everyone you touched.

Henry Orient, Welcome to the Boomtown, Personal Space

Many years ago I saw a movie that I loved called The World of Henry Orient. I think I was 12 or 13 years old. The story follows two young teenagers who themselves are coming of age and have fallen under the spell of an eccentric, womanizing classical pianist named Henry Orient, played brilliantly by Peter Sellers. The real star of this movie, released in 1964, is the music. The soundtrack by Elmer Bernstein (no relation to Leonard) is wonderful. Elmer had a long and distinguished career as a composer, writing music for such films as The Great Escape, To Kill a Mockingbird, Ghost Busters, and The Magnificent Seven. I revisited this movie recently and feared it would feel dated, but it held up wonderfully well, in part due to the music. The film, directed by George Roy Hill, has many layers. The teenage angst of two young girls plays out against a backdrop of a changing time in America. Men and women cheating on each other, the old and new generations struggling to coexist, and the cultural landscape of the nation coming apart at the seams. The film captures a precarious balance of comedy and sadness...hope and despair. It's fun and bittersweet, and I confess that I had a crush on both Tippy Walker and Merrie Spaeth.

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Several years ago, I shared the story about my son Jack's blood clots, and my midnight drive from Kansas City to St. Louis to be with him in the hospital after he was taken to the emergency room. I don't remember many details about that drive, but the one thing I do clearly remember is listening to the song Welcome to the Boomtown by the songwriting duo David and David (David Baerwald and David Ricketts.) This song was released in 1986. I love this song. Lyrically and musically, I attached to it instantly when I first heard it. And on this cold, dark night driving across Missouri, it came back to me for some odd reason. I don't understand why...it has nothing to do with what I was facing at that moment. I think it may have reminded me how I felt when I was 21 and facing an uncertain future. Now, in 2016, my son was also facing a future that at that moment was very much uncertain.

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Spacial self-awareness is not an attribute many people seem to have mastered. How many times have you been in a public space...a restaurant, coffee shop, store, etc,etc..and someone is coming into the space that you currently occupy without seeming to have any awareness that you are already there? I see it very often at coffee shops. The coffee prep station is ground zero for this annoyance. Someone gets their coffee out of the urn, then stays there and spends what seems like an eternity pouring in milk, flavoring, then stirring, then adding more of something else....and all I want is to get to the urn to pour some coffee into my cup. Then they turn around and seem shocked that you are standing there. These people have no radar. They only sense themselves. There is plenty of room for them to move down a bit and let others get coffee instead of making them wait behind them. Or, while I am venting, how about people who come though a door that you are holding open for them, yet do not acknowledge your kind gesture, or offer any thanks? Like it was my job to do it. This just happened to me this week. I held the door open for a woman and her two children as they were coming into a restaurant. They all walked through the door and none of them said a word to me....like I was invisible. I said "You're welcome" in a very strong voice after they had passed by. I felt like a jerk for doing that, but it just came out. Where is our sense of thanks? Where is courtesy?

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Organs. Noise. I failed an old friend.

Let's start with Organs. I've shared with you how much I love organ music in many of my previous posts. Charles Barnett, at the First United Methodist Church in Austin, Texas, played a mean organ and it blew me away as a child. He is responsible for my primal love of organ music. Always Widor....some of you know what I mean by that. Hearing Widor's Toccata on a huge pipe organ turned up to 11 (Spinal Tap reference) had a profound effect on me.

Similarly, when I ventured out of the classical music listening realm in 1978, thanks to the Beatles, I eventually landed on Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin. All three of these bands used organs in some of their songs. First to hit me was Us and Them from Pink Floyd's landmark album Dark Side of the Moon. Richard Wright was the keyboard player for Pink Floyd and he wrote the music for the song Us and Them. This is such a great song and I never seem to tire of it. You may know I am a runner. I don't listen to music anymore when I run, but I used too. I will never forget an early Fall evening in 1995...going out for a run with this song on my Sony Walkman...that's a cassette tape player. Remember those? I was running along 119th Street in Overland Park, KS, at dusk, working through many feelings when this song came on. The quiet organ intro caused me to stop in my tracks.

Though not a pipe organ...I think this is a Hammond....it still has a tone and timbre that connected with me just as the big pipe organ in church. I was thirty years old. Cheryl and I were beginning to try to have a baby. I had so much on my mind at that moment when this song started and when I heard this beautiful organ, I just had to STOP and listen. Funny how I still remember that moment. David Gilmore's guitar joins in along with bass and drums. This album is recorded so well...perfectly. Tight and sensuous.

A few years earlier, Led Zeppelin recorded their first album called..Led Zeppelin. It was 1968. Lurking behind the sonic vocals of Robert Plant, the power chords of Jimmy Page, and the manic drumming of John Bonham was John Paul Jones on bass, keyboards and many other instruments. Jones had formal music education as a child, singing in the choir and playing the organ at church, He used his organ talent to wonderful effect on the song Your Time is Going to Come.

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On the other side of music, for me at least, is nothing...Quiet. Quietness. I do listen to a a lot of music every day, but I also like to have quiet in my life as well. But it's not always such an easy thing to find these days. I feel like we are inundated with noise. TV is noisy. Movies are loud. And the outdoors in my neighborhood is a freaking zoo. Stepping outside for some peace and quiet is impossible. Leaf blowers, mowers, cars, airplanes, locusts, kids riding crotch rocket motor bikes, cars, dogs barking, sirens in the distance, kids yelling as they jump on trampolines, air conditioners, power washers, power tools....to name a few...make it impossible to have true quiet. It really sucks how noisy my world is. And also, when you go to a ballgame, you are constantly being asked to "make nose" or "get loud.". Bullshit! Stop it already. I will cheer, clap, and yell when I want to. You don't need to tell me to get loud every 2 minutes. And of course, every stadium/arena has 50 gazillion watts of sound system power blasting music between every play. I wear earplugs every time I go to  ballgame. And church for that matter. Yes, I have become a grumpy 54 year-old man.

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I failed a good friend last week. My acoustic guitar, a 1962 Gibson J-50, has been a trusty companion of mine for 24 years now. She was born three years before me. I was playing her on a recent Saturday evening outside on the patio while I was keeping an eye on our son's cat, Puma. Puma is an indoor cat who likes to go outside, but she can only go out if one of us is outside with her. So I take my guitar out to play while she enjoys her outside time. On this particular occasion, as a storm approached, I set my guitar down so I could go pick Puma up and bring her inside. But I forgot to go back and get my guitar. I closed the doors, turned off the lights and went to bed. The next morning, as I backed the car out of the garage on my way to church, I saw my guitar resting against the side of the house. My heart sank. It had been outside all night and we had a full night of torrential rain and thunderstorms. I approached her slowly, trying to pretend she was OK. But she was completely soaked and weighed a hundred pounds. I took her inside and dried her off with a towel and set her in the living room to dry. A week later, she was warped, buckled and cracked. But the strings didn't break, and to my profound surprise, a week after that, she was still playable. Playable in the sense that she still made a sound like a guitar. I have accepted the fact that it will never be the same. There is too much damage to repair. And I need to buy a new guitar. I am not heartbroken. It is a piece of wood. I am a blessed man. I have my health, as does my wife and my children. Life will go on. But I am sad that I didn't take better care of this piece of wood.

A time capsule from 1968, Georg Solti, Apollo 8.

I was in the mood for Bruckner last week, so I pulled this album out of my dad's collection. It's a double album set...the Bruckner 8th Symphony. I opened the album and it was like opening a time capsule. My dad had saved the receipt from Discount Records on 201 North LaSalle Street in Chicago, Illinois. It's dated 12/26/68. We moved to Chicago from Kansas City shortly after I was born in 1965. My dad loved Chicago. I think next to Paris it was his favorite city in the world. Nearest to his heart was the Chicago Symphony. Also saved in this record album was a full page from the December 17, 1968 edition of the Chicago Daily News. Specifically, the article about the selection of Georg Solti as the new Music Director of the Chicago Symphony.

On Wednesday, December 24, 1968, the world watched the broadcast of Apollo 8 circling the moon. The crew read from the Book of Genesis. I don't remember watching the broadcast, and neither does my mom. But she feels like we probably did.
The next day was Christmas Day, One of the gifts I received was a snow shovel, which on two separate occasion, I sliced my head on...both times requiring stitches to close. But that's another story..or two.

I assume my Dad got some money for Christmas because the next day we were on the way into the city (we lived in the South suburb of Park Forest) to buy records! I wish I could remember this particular trip but I don't. But he took me often, and I believe my grandfather, Jim, went with us too. He and my grandmother, Mary Quinn,  were in Chicago visiting us for Christmas in 1968.
Regardless, I still have the records he purchased on 12/26/68. The other one was the Bruckner 4th Symphony, Istvan Kertesz conducting the London Symphony Orchestra. And my, look at the prices...both records for $11.31.

Georg Soli did become the new Music Director and started his new post in early in 1969. He held this position until 1991. What a fabulous run.

KC VITAs, Dear Lord-John Coltrane, possessed...with sanity. Healing.

I went to see KC VITAs this afternoon at St. Peter's Catholic Church here in Kansas City. This was the second of their Summer Series 2019. Jackson Thomas is the Artistic Director of this very gifted choral ensemble whose mission is performing contemporary choral works by composers from all over the world...40 to date. I had the pleasure of interviewing Jackson a few years ago and have been a fan of his and this organization ever since. That Kansas City is home to such a cutting-edge and ground breaking ensemble is no surprise given his dedication to his art, as well as the talent and dedication of the singers who give their time and hearts to this endeavor. Today's program consisted of thirteen works which presented a wide range of polyphonic ideas and styles. I am not a choral music expert, but to my ears, these were innovative, dynamic and interesting works. They were:

The Prow by Matthew Lyon Hazzard of North Carolina (Regional Premiere)
Chasing Eclipses (from the Back of the Black) by L. V. Wood of Kansas (World Premiere)
When the Rain Comes by Bonnie McLarty of Kansas
Joy, Shipmate, Joy (from Voyaging) by Christian Guebert of California (Regional Premiere)
Translucence by Donna McKevitt of Great Britain (United States Premiere)
Sitivit anima mea by David Nunn of England (United States Premiere)
Wessobrunner gebert by Chris Williams of England ((World Premiere)
Hide and Seek (or a Life in Tow Minutes) by Francis Kayali of Illinois (World Premiere)
Telling the Bees by Philip W. Riegle of Illinois (World Premiere)
Lux Aeterna by Carlos Cordero of Venezuela (World Premiere)
Starlight by Austin Theriot of Nebraska
A Present from a Small Distant World by Alex Eddington of Canada (World Premiere)
I carry your heart with me by Jonathan Reid of Texas (World Premiere)

The performance was first rate. The accompanying pianist, Charles Dickinson, positioned right next to the group, gave the music its instrumental base with perfect balance and volume.

The sequencing was clearly thought out because the concert flowed effortlessly from one work to the next. Such pacing is important to both the performer and listener.

This concert...all of KC VITAs' concerts...are FREE to the public. Please consider making a donation so these concerts can continue to be free to all. Here is the KC VITAs website: https://www.kcvitas.org/

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July 17, 2019 marked the fifty-second anniversary of the passing of John Coltrane. Hands down, he is my favorite saxophone player of all time. Let me go even further than that....he is one of my favorite musicians of all time. He left us far too soon. But his musical legacy is huge. One composition that has always stood out for me is Dear Lord, which he recorded on May 26, 1965. I like what Michael Cuscuna wrote in his liner notes for the album The Gentle Side of John Coltrane:

"Wise One, Welcome, and Dear Lord come from 1964 and 1965, a period when the passion of John Coltrane's spirituality were most graphically and effectively expressed in his music. His love and respect for his fellow human beings, his inner peace and growing understanding and his constant searching came through his writing and playing and permeated every nerve and fiber of those who were willing to really listen. That was the sound of a man possessed...with sanity."

My country seems to be full of insanity. Mass shootings. I look to music to find comfort and hope,

Classics in Commercials: GEICO and Grieg

Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) wrote perhaps his most famous work, In the Hall of the Mountain King, in 1875. It was part of his Peer Gynt Suite. Today, 144 years later, this famous melody line is used in commercials and films worldwide. I heard it the other day in a GEICO Insurance commercial. The commercial depicts two fans of rival baseball franchises (KC Royals and St. Louis Cardinals) vying for a parking space. Take a look:

I don't see any historical correlations nor connections between Grieg and baseball. When it was premiered in 1876, baseball was indeed a professional sport in the Untied States. But Grieg never came to the United States, so he never attended a baseball game. Whether or not he even was aware of the game I can't say. But none-the-less, his music graces this commercial.

America

Today is the 4th of July. My neighborhood is coming alive with fireworks this afternoon following a rain shower. By dusk, it will be a war zone. I am listening to music with headphones on, trying to ignore the explosions.
This is our National Birthday...Happy Birthday America. You are my country and I love you. I am also am very ashamed of you...the genocide of our native peoples, slavery, Jim Crow, segregation, lynching, violence against gays and lesbians, industrial poisoning of our environment, corporate greed, inequality for, exploitation of, and marginalization of women, antisemitic immigration quotas in the 1930's that prevented so many Jews from escaping the Holocaust  .....deep breath....and on and on.
How does this place work? I don't know...but it does. As fucked up as so much of our past is...and our present, I still would not want to live anywhere else. I pray that we all can take a deep breath and figure out how to make the future better for our children. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA.

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My current listening project: listening to Beethoven's Piano Sonatas, 1-32 in order. I just finished no. 20. So far , no. 8 stands out as my favorite. No. 14, the Moonlight Sonata, holds up very well. In fact, I realize that I have taken it for granted all these years. It is one of the best known pieces of music in history, one that I have turned away from. But I rediscovered it's greatness this week.

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I have the same feeling about baseball as I do about America. It's my favorite sport...I love it so much. But I am also very conflicted by it's dismal history of exclusion, bigotry and labor unrest. But I love it none-the-less. And I am also a fierce critic of the game as it stands today. I feel like the game is out of balance. Offense is the goal now...home runs in particular. I don't get excited by home runs. I get excited by pitchers who know how to throw strikes...keep the ball down in the zone, and change speeds. Alas....I am a dinosaur. Last weekend, the Red Sox and the Yankees played two games in London. Baseball is trying to develop a global presence. The first game was Saturday. Cheryl and I watched a good part of it before we left to go kayaking. Three hours later when we came back, the game was still on. And it continued for another hour. When it was finally over, the Yankees had won 17-13, and it took 4:42 minutes. This was the third longest 9-inning game in MLB history...those poor British bastards. A four hour game is crap. I found a box score for a game in 1897 between the Chicago Colts (soon to become the Cubs) and the Louisville Colonels (soon to fold) where the Colts won 36-7. The Colts scored in every inning, a feat that has only occurred twenty times in history. This game only took 2:15 to play. Imagine how long it would take today...
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Back to the first part of this post...America...our country is so beautiful. I am so blessed to be an American. Classical music is alive here too. We have so many incredible musicians making music in the USA. There is no shortage of talented, and gifted performers here. I am thankful. 

Brothers, Fathers, the Dream Academy and Daniel.

Father's Day was yesterday. I took time to slow everything down and think about what that means to me. It means everything. My grandmother used to tell me...constantly...that I could never understand how much she loved me. I was a gift to her. She lost a child after my dad was born, His name was Daniel. He only lived a few weeks after he was born...he had a heart condition that could easily be corrected today, but not so in 1944. When her only son had a child, me, I filled the void left by her loss of Daniel, and my parents gave me his name as my middle name. Timothy Daniel Hazlett. My dad told me he remembered the day they came and put Daniel in a small box after he died and took him away. So heartbreaking. His loss never left her. When my children were born, I totally knew what she meant about love...and now I tell my children the same thing she told me..."you can never know how much I love you." We end every phone conversation with "Love You.". And every in-person conversation ends the same way..."Love You." I pray every day for their safety, health and well being. I pray that they find their way to God...that their faith is strong in Him. Father's Day is not about golfing and barbecue for me...it is about praying to God and giving thanks for my children. It is a gut-wrenching realization of how the love of your children will bring you to your knees and make you weep for joy.

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I remember when Ferris Bueller's Day Off was released in 1986. It may be John Hughes' best movie, and it still holds a special place in my heart. Hughes was the master of modern-day teen angst, and he had a keen ear for great music. One example is this instrumental arrangement of the Smith's song Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want by the band The Dream Academy.

I love how this arrangement uses a church organ, acoustic guitars hitting a major seventh chord hard, a synthesizer with chime sound, and last but not least...a beautiful English horn. (David Gilmour, the awesome guitarist from Pink Floyd, produced the Dream Academy's debut album.)
I was born in the '60's, came of age in the '70's and reached manhood in the '80's. This music means a lot to me.
Another song I will share from the Dream Academy, and used in another great John Hughes film called Planes, Trains, and Automobiles is called Power to Believe. It's used at the end of the film when Steve Martin and John Candy finally reach the end of their epic journey and go their own way. Steve Martin finally figures out that John Candy is all alone. It is a very moving moment.

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I enjoy a dram of scotch or bourbon most evenings, usually with a few ice cubes. I look at my arms and hands extending from my body to the keyboard. I don't understand fully what is happening, but my fingers start hitting the keys and out come these words. I am thankful that I can write. I am thankful for the music that inspires me. They go together perfectly.
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I will end this post with a piece of music that truly touches my heart. Fratres by Arvo Part (1977).
I watched Saving Private Ryan the other day...it was June 6th, 2019 to be precise...the anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 1944. The Greatest Generation...these Bands of Brothers saved the free world. Fratres means Brothers, When I listen to this, I think about those young men..those boys...those Brothers...charging the beaches of Normandy on that cold morning. Withering machine gun fire. Blood. Death. Sacrifice. I played in a jazz big band for many years after college. I was in my 20's...the rest of the guys were in their in their 60's. A couple of them served in WW2 and took part in the D-Day landings. We played so many gigs, and we had a lot of time to talk on breaks. But they didn't say much about what the did or saw in the War. Our drummer Earl was almost deaf, and he had the shakes. Our piano player told me once that Earl suffered from shell shock. He told me that Earl had seen German soldiers lined up after capture and run over by Allied tanks. Earl was a shell of his former self. But I will always appreciate and honor what he went through so I could play great big band music in a free country.

Roaring of the Full Organ: Louis Vierne in Kansas City

Louis Vierne (1870-1937) was a French organist and composer. I love organ music, and I have long enjoyed Vierne's music. My favorite work by Vierne is his 24 Pieces en style libre, op. 31. No. 15 in this composition is the Arabesque. A stunning, haunting, soft, moving, slightly disturbing, melancholy, and profoundly original work. You know me...I get something in my ear and I listen to it over and over and over. This is just such a piece.

The 24 Fantasy Pieces were composed in 1913-14. Thirteen years later, Vierne came to America for a concert tour, and he performed in Kansas City at the Westport Presbyterian Church on April 1, 1927. I found the review of his performance in the Kansas City Times.

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Louis Vierne , French Organist, Heard at Westport Presbyterian Church.

     Louis Vierne, who played last night the new Reuter organ in the Westport Avenue Presbyterian church, would have commanded the honest respect of his audience even had he been less generously endowed musically.

     For M. Vierne is almost without sight, an affliction that in any musician is sufficient to blast a career, and one that is especially hard for an organist , since no two organs are alike, and all are controlled from scattered stop pulls, inconspicuously placed pistons, and irregularly located foot pedale-to say nothing of the pedal keyboard and such ordinary matters. So that the loss of sight means usually the loss of a career.

     But not with M. Vierne. He solves a good part of his difficulty by carrying with him a young secretary, who not only assists him in the usual secretarial ways, but also pulls his stops and sets up his combinations for him. The remainder he does by pure ability, and so well he need ask quarter from no one. The element of spontaneity was lacking; its inclusion would have been too much to ask. The interpretations had a fixed character, and gave an impression of "predestination" thoroughly in keeping with certain religious faiths.

     But for the remainder, the audience had reason to be thankful. The organist has, for one thing, a delicate sense of color values, and he is not of the type that startles an audience periodically with sudden roaring of the full organ. His climaxes were subtly prepared, and more subtly led away from than usual. His dexterity was sufficient, and his fingers (and feet) were extraordinarily accurate considering the fact that sight did not direct them. 

     A good deal of the music was M. Vierne's. For the most part it is a strange mixture of French sureness of touch and neatness with German sentiment, especially the closing set of six "Fantasie Pieces," each of which was very surely wrought, and definite in character.

     The visiting organist came under the auspices of the Kansas City chapter of the National Association of Organists, of which chapter Hans Fell is president. M. Vierne is titular organist of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.

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