The organ world is indeed a disaster. There is a small group of priviledged
players who get access to interesting organs. It's like an incestious
jealous family and if you're not member of that clique, you're looked down
as if you're a turd on legs and given to understand that never in your
miserable life you'll be allowed to even touch the organ.

This attitude is detrimental for the enthousiasm of organ students and it
has over the years driven away many people from the organ, including me. At
the same time one is moaning and weeping about the deplorable state more
and more organs get into. Now the're wondering: how come nobody cares...
Organists are their own worst enemy.

There is a small ray of light: some very professional companies are now
recording high quality organs pipe-by-pipe(!) using top-quality recording
techniques. These samples can be bought and used with software like
"Hauptwerk" (https://www.hauptwerk.com/). This allows you to make a digital
organ which sounds completely different than the poor sound emitted by the
classical electronic church organs. It's also a rather interesting concept
qua price: you can make a cheap and ugly console on your kitchen table with
wires sticking out everywhere, or you can make/buy a custom build organ
case to your fancy. Once you're set up you're free to play dictator on your
organ :-)

End of rant,

Chris.

2017-02-09 23:19 GMT+01:00 J. Claudio Di Veroli <[log in to unmask]>:

> > Currently you can see Pierre Hantai performing.
>
> Thanks Chris. You have given me a good opportunity for a rant.
>
> There are many things of Hantai's playing I really like, a few I dislike,
> and there is no denying that he is a great harpsichordist.
>
> But this post is about something else.
>
> Famous players in some areas seem to "come in waves".
> Before WWII it looked as if the only harpsichordist worldwide was Wanda
> Landowska (there were many others, some students of her, others not, many
> as
> good or better but were seldom heard of). In the 1960's when Leonhardt
> ushered in some new approaches, for many years it looked as if he was the
> only good harpsichordist worldwide, in the 1970's it was Scott Ross, quite
> recently Mahan Esfahani, now it is Hantai everywhere, shortly to be
> forgotten and replaced by who knows ...
>
> Again, these have been, and are, great masters certainly, but there is a
> worrying tendency here. I find that more opportunities (to show and to
> earn)
> should be given to the many other players, in many countries all around the
> world, both young and old, that are IMNSHO similarly good, but are rarely
> allowed to convey their artistry to significant audiences.
>
> Yes, I know, this problem is by no means restricted to the harpsichord.
> When I was a young man studying in London, about half the top organ
> recitals
> were by Lionel Rogg and Daniel Chorzempa. I was impressed at how good they
> were, until I realised it was mostly them again and again, while there were
> many other similarly good players who were largely out of sight.
>
> Yes, I know again(!), this problem has nothing to do with music recitals,
> is
> a general problem of our society and culture and has even been described in
> at least one book I know of by a respected sociologist: a few performers
> (typically but not only virtuoso players, cinema actors, TV presenters)
> "get
> there", are "deemed best" by "the ones who decide", are coached and
> propelled to fame, ultimately adored by the great public (who is rarely
> given the opportunity to hear competitors), and go on monopolising their
> arena, sometimes for years on end.
>
> This is perhaps why the great international competitions are so important,
> as they put us in contact with new talents.
>
> Best
> CDV
>
> http://harps.braybaroque.ie/
>
>
> ---
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>
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Note:  opinions  expressed on HPSCHD-L are those of the  individual con-
tributors and not necessarily  those of the list owners  nor of the Uni-
versity of Iowa.  For a brief  summary of list  commands, send mail to
[log in to unmask]  saying  HELP .
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