Have you ever heard an organ in action before?
I know I haven’t. So that made me even more excited to attend Calgary Civic Symphony’s first concert of the season, titled: “The Mighty Carthy Organ.” The pipes you see at the back of Jack Singer Concert Hall are not just for decoration, but rather part of the 6040-pipe Carthy Organ. It would come to life under the hands of three talented organ soloists alongside the Calgary Civic Symphony under the direction of Rolf Bertsch.
The program consisted of three pieces with the first being: Mars, The Bringer of War from The Planets Suite by Gustav Holst with Francine Nguyen-Savaria on organ. My inner music nerd rejoiced when I found out that this was going to be played, as I’ve probably listened to it over 100 times (no joke.) The Planets is a seven-movement suite that portrays the musical character of the planets in our solar system, ranging from The Bringer of Peace (Venus) to The Bringer of Jollity (Jupiter). With Mars, being attributed to The Bringer of War (dun dun dun.) Its sound is ominous, chaotic and powerful. It’s reminiscent to the epic battle soundtracks to many space films such as Star Wars. This was my first time hearing it played live and they exceeded my expectations.
The next musical treat was Symphonie Concertante for Organ and Orchestra by Joseph Jongen with Neil Cockburn on organ. I hadn’t heard of the piece or the composer, so I didn’t know what to expect, but I was genuinely surprised. Symphonie Concertante is divided into four movements and I loved the last movement in particular. It’s entitled “Toccata (Moto Perpetuo),” let me explain what that means. Toccata, meaning “to touch,” refers to a piece of music with fast-moving and lightly fingered passages, which is played by the organ in this case. Moto Perpetuo translates to “perpetual motion” which refers to a piece of music characterized with a continuous stream of steady notes. Neil, a distinguished musician, truly demonstrated his dexterity on the organ in this challenging, but spectacular piece.
The final performance was Symphony No.3 (“Organ”) by Camille Saint-Saëns with Weicheng Zhao on organ. Saint-Saëns described this symphony as: “I gave everything to it I was able to give. What I have here accomplished, I will never achieve again.” I was familiar with his other works as well, The Carnival of Animals and Danse Macabre, so it was a delight to hear how the same composer borrows and transforms past ideas. I certainly heard a level of sophistication as musical themes emerged, intertwined and evolved towards an exciting climax. By the end, the entire hall was awash with the sound of the organ and orchestra before applause erupted from the audience.
What to take away from all of this
No amount of fanciful descriptions or recordings can compare to the experience of hearing a concert live. You really have to see for yourself the magic of the conductor leading all the musicians and blending it into a masterpiece. That’s why I encourage you, especially if you’ve never been to one, that you venture out of your comfort zone. Classical music may be attributed to “what my grandparents would listen to,” but in fact, there’s a large community of young and old during contemporary times that enjoy it too.
As mentioned before, “The Mighty Carthy Organ” is actually the first performance of the Calgary Civic Symphony’s season. They’ve titled the season as “Organic, Operatic and Exotic.” Organic, haha, very punny. The rest of the adjectives refer to their upcoming concerts: Bach for the Holidays, Popera!, Calgary’s Got Classical Talent and The Cello. As a fun fact, the Calgary Civic Symphony is a community orchestra, meaning all of its members are volunteers. This really shows their dedication and love for music.
For more information, please visit their official website: http://www.calgarycivicsymphony.ca/