Today was both a treat and a privilege. Joan Ishibashi and I were given a special tour of the Norton organ at Severance Hall, led by curator Todd Wilson. The tour was all made possible by Joan’s two violinist friends in the Cleveland Orchestra, Sae Shiragami and Takako Masame, who joined us on the tour. They were among seven of us who had dinner together at the Flying Fig restaurant last night, and the four of us had lunch at the Cleveland Museum of Art which Joan and I visited in the morning.

E.M. Skinner, Opus 816
Severance Hall, Cleveland, Ohio
1931

The Norton Memorial Organ in Severance Hall is considered to be one of the finest concert hall organs ever built. Designed specifically for symphonic use and specifically for Severance Hall, the Norton Memorial Organ was created by the renowned organ builder Ernest M. Skinner in Boston in 1930, and it was installed just before the hall’s opening on February 1931. It was dedicated on March 6, 1931, in a special recital performed by Palmer Christian, the prominent American organist from Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The problem with the organ was that it was installed in the ceiling, and the sound had no way to project into the room. Consequently the organ sounded muffled and was never loud enough. In the early days they tried enhancing the sound with microphones, but later abandoned that and brought in an electronic instrument (!) — what an outrage!

Due to the efforts of conductor Christoph Dohnanyi, the organ was finally lowered onto the floor and an extension was built at the back of the stage to accommodate the 6000+ organ pipes. That happened in 2001.

Todd Wilson met the four of us ladies and quickly showed us the pipework, large and small, the largest of which is 32′ in length. Sae and Takako, being violinists, knew nothing about how the organ works and were amazed to see all the organ pipes.

We went onstage as Todd demonstrated the organ for us . He played Bach’s “Toccata in D minor” (yes, the famous one), and I believe a movement from a Vierne Symphony. He then invited me to play, but since I had brought no organ music and no organ shoes, I was reluctant, but finally relented and played about the first page of Mendelssohn’s “Sonata in F minor,” the slow movement. I finally stopped when I couldn’t remember anymore—but I told Todd I don’t normally play from memory, and I had NEVER played that Mendelssohn movement from memory, EVER! How I got through the first page was a miracle, indeed!

Sae and Takako then took us on a tour of the rest of Severance Hall.

As I wrote earlier, we spent the morning at the Cleveland Art Museum, and we only had time to see the Byzantine/early Christian section, Tiffany stained glass and the Impressionists. I really could have spent all day here, but our time was limited due to our scheduled tour with Todd Wilson. I have heard him play in concert perhaps three or four times and it has always been outstanding.

P.S. Did you know that Karl Bachman was a classmate of Todd’s at the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati? I had brought Todd greetings from Karl and Todd said that was when dinosaurs roamed the earth!

Here are some of the pieces I enjoyed at the Cleveland Art Museum:

Tomorrow is Concert Day! I’ll be playing on the Beckerath organ at Trinity Lutheran Church at 12:15 and on the Berghaus organ at Trinity United Church of Christ in Akron at 4:15 pm.