The last I heard from Daniel J. Werning, former organist/choirmaster of St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church, was that after the death of his wife, Terry, he met a woman in Thailand and moved there to retire.

Here is a picture of them on his Facebook page:

According to his Facebook page, Dan has master’s degrees in music and theology from Concordia College and grew up in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. He spent a number of years here in Hawaii where he held positions at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church and St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church. He was an active member of the Hawaii Chapter American Guild of Organists and formed the “Hawaii Sacred Choir,” consisting of children trebles plus adults. I even performed as organist at their inaugural concert at St. Theresa’s Co-Cathedral.

The group went on a choir tour to England where they were in residence at Ely Cathedral, but disbanded shortly thereafter when they experienced financial difficulties, despite a last-minute $10,000 gift from Hollywood stars, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith. Terry Werning died on September 9, 2018 and in researching her obituary, I was surprised to find out that she was born in Burbank, California—my hometown!

Dan’s official resignation from St. Christopher’s was as of January 1st of this year, the reason of which was his move to Thailand. That is why at the beginning of this year, I subbed for a couple of months at St. Christopher’s on the Walker tracker organ.

Not long ago, Dan wrote a number of friends announcing that as a retirement project, he was going to perform and record every single piece of organ music in his personal library, over 7,000 pieces, a remarkable feat by any stretch of the imagination. He created a YouTube channel to do just that, using the 4-manual Hauptwerk instrument in his home and asked me to do a review of his over 40 uploads to date, thinking it would take me only about an hour.

Here is the description of Dan’s project: “All My Music!” is my 10-year project to record all 7,000 +/- pieces of organ music that I own. I hope to record and upload approximately 700 pieces a year. This piece was recorded at home on my 4-manual Hereford Cathedral (England) Father Willis Hauptwerk virtual organ. Since I am now retired, happily living in Bangkok, Thailand, this is my “Magnum Opus,” my gift to organists, musicians and the world… enjoy! –Daniel (Dan) Werning MCM, MAR

My first reaction to the project was “He’s crazy!” but then I did listen to a few selections he suggested in his email. The first one was “Lord, Let At Last Thine Angels Come” by Richard T. Gore.

There were two things that distracted me right off the bat. The first is the complaint I have against people using their phones to record video. Turn the phone in the LANDSCAPE orientation, not the PORTRAIT. After all, all of our TVs are in the landscape mode (horizontal), not portrait (vertical). I know that Dan wanted to show the pedals which may be more difficult to record along with the manuals in landscape mode. Perhaps this is a problem with proper camera placement, or may necessitate the use of two cameras, one on the manuals and the other on the pedalboard.

And then, speaking of feet on the pedals, I of course was drawn to his bare feet. As many people know, I’m of the mind that bare feet on the pedals are a “no-no!” because in addition to leaving skin oils on the wood, it is nigh impossible to play legato properly without shoes, to slide easily from note to note to make the sound seamless, without gaps. Furthermore, my teacher in college told me that you are at risk for injury if you don’t wear shoes. I know that there are some barefoot organists around, but in my opinion, people will not take you seriously if you don’t wear shoes to play the organ. ‘Nuff said!

Aside from those two distractions, Dan asked me to review the Hauptwerk setup. For those who don’t know what Hauptwerk is, it is software for both Mac and PC computers to create a “virtual pipe organ.” The software’s creators “sampled” many historic organs around the world to allow users to “virtually” play these instruments in your home environment, using a MIDI interface. I have absolutely no problem with the concept—my problem is when these instruments are used in a church or actual building setting. As a practice instrument used at home, Hauptwerk is fine, used with headphones to create an acoustical environment for your individual two ears.

[I did use a Hauptwerk setup at Iolani School, but that was in a gymnasium which was used as a chapel service only four times a year. Read my post: “The Virtual Organ and the Virtual Organist.” I don’t believe it is used anymore.

The problem comes when you have to project this sound, which is where speakers come in. I first listened to this recording on my phone, and the sound had to come out of its itty-bitty speakers, not at all like the acoustics of a real cathedral building. Even if you installed a zillion speakers in a room, it wouldn’t be the same as the natural sound you would experience if you were in a cavernous building like Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, for example.

I remember once when the Honolulu Symphony installed about ten speakers across the top of the proscenium to project the sound from an electronic organ for a concert they had. (Neal Blaisdell Concert Hall does not have an organ.) I don’t even remember what work was performed but I thought the resulting sound was “flat”-sounding, without depth, like a recording rather than a real live instrument… mostly because all the “organ” sound was coming out of directional speakers.

It makes me think back fondly to my experience last October when I was in Cleveland, Ohio, and heard Todd Wilson play the magnificent instrument in Severance Hall, how incredible and alive that organ was. We organists tend to think of pipe organs as living, breathing wind instruments (which is what they are!) compared to the “flat” and artificial sound of electronics. After all, in a pipe organ, the sound comes from all over from where the pipes are placed, rather than coming out of one-directional speaker. You may be interested in reading my post, “The Norton Organ at Severance Hall” for my impressions of that instrument.

Rant over, on to the next topic.

All the talk of Hauptwerk aside, I was quite impressed with Dan’s playing, and through these videos he showed himself to be an excellent organist with a wide variety of repertoire. I especially enjoy his performance of hymn tunes, like this one of KINGS’ LYNN by George Thalben-Ball.

And this arrangement of TON-Y-BOTEL (“Thy Strong Word Did Cleave the Darkness”) by Charles W. Ore, who was Dan’s organ professor at Concordia University, Seward, Nebraska.

More power to you, Dan. You go right ahead and keep playing and recording! I look forward to hearing more of your YouTube performances.

[Just a reminder that the views I express on this blog are strictly my own and do not in any way reflect the views of any of the following organizations of which I have been involved: Lutheran Church of Honolulu, American Guild of Organists, Early Music Hawaii, Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, Iolani School, etc.]