St. Paul Cathedral Pipe Organ to make its comeback

St. Paul Cathedral (Pittsburgh) organThe mighty-sounding and magnificent-looking St. Paul Cathedral Beckerath pipe organ is "fully operational," to quote "Star Wars," and will be re-inaugurated at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday (Jan. 6) in a recital by James David Christie of Oberlin Conservatory and the Boston Symphony. The program includes works by Buttstett, Bohm, Langlais and Guilmant. The celebration continues at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday (Jan. 7) in a concert with the St. Paul Cathedral Choir and organists Ken Danchik, Russ Weismann, and Fellows. It features Vierne's "Messe Solenelle" and works by Bach, Karg-Elert, Mathews, Mathias and more.

Congratulations to the Cathedral and the Diocese on putting the money and effort into returning this historic instrument -- installed in 1962 more than 5,000 pipes. --  to its former glory. 

Posted Jan 05 2009, 12:16 PM by Andrew Druckenbrod
Filed under: ,

Comments

LizAlexander wrote re: St. Paul Cathedral Pipe Organ to make its comeback
on Sun, Jan 11 2009 9:05 PM

Christie's concert (Jan. 6) was a quirky mix of the older/obscure and the contemporary--not a major Bach piece among them.  To his immense credit, Christie chose pieces which highlighted individual organ stops and ensemble sounds.  He showed off the organ more than his own prodigious technical skills.  

Christie fit the "collegial and self-effacing" spiritual theme for the week at the Cathedral, which was hosting 70 or so Cathedral Musicians from across the country and Canada for the 26th annual Conference of Roman Catholic Cathedral Musicians.  They were gracious, excited about what they heard and saw here in the 'Burgh, and eager to learn and address common concerns in collegial fashion.

The second concert (Jan. 7) delighted a large audience.  The Vierne "Messe Solennelle" was performed by Cathedral choir, small organ, and bass in front, great organ in the back, and a discrete closed circuit feed between them to keep it all coordinated.  (First chords: big reeds, en chemade trumpet, and a whole lot of neck hair raised.) The Bach "Toccata, Adagio, and Fugue" in C also gave the choir time to move upstairs (and regain theiir collective breath after the climb.)   The Karg-Elert "Fuge, Kanzone, und Epilog" featured violin and heavenly women's four-part choir.  Couldn't have an end-Christmas season concert without a Daquin "Noel."  The choir sang a languid and dissonant "O Magnum Mysterium" by Mathews, Schalk's "Where Shepherds Lately Knelt," and a brassy "Sir Christemas" by Mathias.

See separate posts about the many Cathedral musicians in attendance with Pittsburgh blood and/or breeding in their pasts!

Neat week, all around . . . .