The Organ

Recently the Pollyphonics Choir have added a new member and he is not only a great bass singer, but he also plays the organ. This has prompted me to find repertoire for choir and organ, especially contemporary  repertoire. It also made me think about one of my most extraordinary musical experiences I have had in my life.

In my twenties I made a big round the world trip and visited a few European cities. Paris was on the list of course, but by this stage I had been traveling for a year and my money was pretty tight.  Luckily I discovered Paris Scope, the magazine that listed free music all over Paris! So every day with my dog eared Paris Scope, I would catch the metro and attend concerts in halls, conservatoires, churches, down little lane ways with addresses I barely understood and  I would hear what Paris had to offer.

One concert that has always stayed in my being is the organ recital I had the utmost privilege of hearing at Notre Dame Cathedral.

The recital started off like a "normal" recital, but as the music continued, it became more intense and harmonically dense. The sounds swirled in the Cathedral, and I sat, one tiny human being, among  the cascading sounds of the organ billowing around me. Then, not a sound, not a note that I could detect, but a feeling in my body, a rumbling, a vibration.

The organist had "pulled out all the stops" to produce the lowest note the organ could play. Not really audible, it can not be described by the ears, but felt by the body. Slowly, my body realised what was happening, this organist was using everything, the chords, the stops, the architecture, the winter cold air, the history, 20th Century harmony to produce a musical vibration  that went right through my body and one that I have not forgotten in 25 years.

A few months ago Notre Dame Cathedral was burnt. The organ is not totally destroyed but it will take an enormous restoration to get it back to its former self.  What a privilege I have had to experience the harmonic brilliance of one of the most profound organs in the world.

Although we mostly associate the organ with Church music, it has also been an instrument where new harmonies and new sounds have been discovered, and I very much look forward to trawling youtube to find some amazing contemporary organ and choral music.