 T. Escaich, Improvisations [live] (Accord, 2008) |
The Rubenstein Family Organ Recital Series, hosted by the National Symphony Orchestra in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, has come to the end of its second season with admirable success. Once again on Wednesday night, for a recital by French organist Thierry Escaich, a crowd far larger than is generally associated with this specialized instrument showed up, stayed, and was enthusiastic.Thierry Escaich, organ
As performer, Escaich was daring and brash in choice of tempo and unpredictable rubato... [Continue reading]
Rubenstein Family Organ Recital Series
Kennedy Center Concert Hall
There was not room in the review to mention that Escaich's encore was another improvisation. Some listeners may be wondering why the acoustical canopy was not raised out of the way, so as not to block the view or sound of the full organ. The NSO Press Office gave us the following response: "Although the canopy installation and its mechanisms were up-to-the minute when they were installed, that was in 1997, so the canopy is not terribly easy to adjust. It’s even more complicated when you factor in the other things going on in the hall for a given week. In this case, the hall has NSO concerts and rehearsals all week, and we have a microphone set-up in place for recording the NSO concerts, which means that a great deal of tech time would have been involved with the multiple canopy adjustments and the microphone strike and re-hang, during which the stage would not be accessible for anything else. We are looking at ways canopy adjustments might be implemented in the future."
PREVIOUSLY:
Charles T. Downey, Et ecce terrae motus factus est (Ionarts, April 15, 2007)
Michael Lodico, Thierry Escaich at the National Shrine (Ionarts, April 17, 2007)
NSO ORGAN SERIES:
Iveta Apkalna (May 21, 2014)
Paul Jacobs (February 7, 2014)
Cameron Carpenter (October 18, 2013)
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