Cameron Live! DVD + CD = CD Program: BACH: Toccata in F Sharp Major, Preludes and Fugues in B minor, E minor, A minor, D Major & G Major; Improvised candenza; CARPENTER: Serenade and Fugue on B.A.C.H.; DVD Program: SHOSTAKOVICH: Festive Overture; SCHUBERT: Erlkönig; CARPENTER: Three Intermezzi for Cinema Organ; Will o’ the Wisp; LISZT: Funerailles; Au bord d’une source; MOSKOWSKI: Etincelles; VIERNE: Naïades; WIDOR: Toccata from Symphony No. 5 in F Major; SOUSA: The Stars and Stripes Forever; BACH: Prelude and Fugue No. 5 in D Major; DEBUSSY: Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun; CARPENTER: Homage to Klaus Kinski; MOSKOWSKI: Etincelles (alternate); BACH: Prelude & Fugue No. 5 (alternate); CHOPIN: Revolutionary Etude – Cameron Carpenter at 1) Hardman Studio Wurlitzer Organ, 2)Aeolian-Skinner Organ of Church of St. Mary the Virgin, NYC, 3) Organ of St. Matthias Church, Berlin – CD TT: 69:17; DVD is 16:9 color with DD 5.1 surround on main selections; Special Features are DD 2.0 – Telarc TEL-31980-00 (2 discs):
Virgil Fox may have led the way in bringing the pipe organ and its literature out of the dusty cathedral balconies trying to reach a wider audience for it, but Cameron Carpenter is ratcheting the effort up to a much higher pitch. He’s much younger, better looking, has a more varied repertory, is also a composer, is partial to rearranging spectacular orchestral works for the pipe organ, reaches a larger audience with films and videos of his performances, and even designs and sells his own flashy clothes and special organ shoes decorated with spangles. We’ve covered two previous albums from him. The first was a DVD which included Virgil Fox performance – continuing the lineage, and the second a previous “dual disc,” but with the audio disc being a SACD (which we can’t expect from Telarc anymore since Concord became involved).
Regardless, the combination of a video and a separate audio disc is a good one, especially when they don’t duplicate one another. There are two versions of two of the short works in the Cameron Live! portion of the DVD, both included in the special feature video of four selections from a recital Carpenter gave in Berlin last year. The Debussy piece is quite amazing, as Carpenter is seen to stretch his fingers all over the keyboard at almost the speed of light – sometimes playing a passage on the third manual down with his four fingers while hitting notes on the fourth manual down with his thumb at the same time! His ability to capture the mood of the original orchestral work on the pipe organ is also quite a feat – also heard in his spectacular transcription of the Shostakovich Overture that opens the main DVD program. The second work from the Berlin recital is the quirky, mostly atonal Homage to Klaus Kinski. Carpenter probably felt the German audiences would take to the piece honoring the wild actor featured in many of Werner Herzog’s films better than American audiences. The stereo sound is not bad for these four selections, but the video has some artifacts – horizontal lines creeping up the screen. Some sort of interference, or perhaps a bad transfer of PAL format to NTSC?
While we’re on the Special Features, the concert in NYC is not really a concert at all, but just shots of preparations for the concert, which was a live concert taping. There are many closeups of audience members, focusing overmuch on their rapt attention and interest. There is a bonus video encore of the most startling transcription from Carpenter’s earlier DVD + SACD – Chopin’s Revolutionary Etude.
There are notes in the printed booklet for the CD and bonus features, but little on the main DVD concert, because each of the 11 selections is introduced by Cameron sitting in his studio with his small self-designed portable electronic pipe organ, tabby cat in lap, discussing what we are going to hear next. The DVD menu also allows you to play just the music selections without the introductions if you wish. To say the program is more varied than one would usually hear in a pipe organ recital is obvious. The two works by Carpenter are world premieres, and the others vary from very quiet and subtle pieces such as Vierne’s Naïades to barnstormers such as Widor’s famous Toccata and Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever. Although the Widor starts extremely softly, unlike its usual performance, it builds to astonishing orchestral levels. The organ used for the main DVD concert is really a theater organ originally built in 1929 for a sound stage at Paramount Pictures. It then went to a radio station in San Francisco, then back to Hollywood to be in someone’s home, and finally moved to a home in Great Falls, Virginia, where it has been completely rebuilt and restored, and where the video was shot. It has the usual special effects such as snare drum, bells, etc., but they are sparingly used by Carpenter.
Though not SACD nor Blu-ray, the 5.1 surround is very effective and super wide range for the main DVD concert. The visuals are more eye-catching than you would see in any video of pipe organ performances. The organ console is on a high riser with a totally white background, and there are many closeups of the multiple keyboards and Carpenter’s hands flashing over them. Sometimes the camera focuses on his feet, which move fleetingly over the bass pedals. Sometimes he switches various high voices, flutes or bells, to the pedals and plays a complex passage with his feet using them, before returning to their use as bass pedals.
Play the Shostakovich or Sousa in surround for someone who says they don’t like pipe organ. Carpenter has certainly brought the instrument out of the dusty liturgical setting in a grand way and deserves praise for his chutzpah, even if there are some occasional over-the-top aspects to it. For example, at the conclusion of the concert, the DVD has over 1:20 of applause…
– John Sunier
