Tonight (Thursday!) I attended the organ recital by Elmo Cosentini and what I was amazed at most was his footwear—boat shoes!
His program was:
Offertoire sur les grands jeux (Mass for the Parishes) – François Couperin
Trio Sonata No. 5 in C, BWV 529 – J. S. Bach
Fantaisie in F minor, K. 608 – W. A. Mozart
Fantaisie et fugue en Bb – Alexandre-Pierre-François Boëly
Promenades en Provence – Eugène Reuchsel
Here is a picture of what men in America play for organ shoes:
I could see wearing those shoes for the Couperin and even the Bach pieces on the program, but I really can’t believe he was able to maneuver the tricky pedal ornaments in the Mozart Fantasy, where he had to play with both heel and toe! And he did! What’s more he played from a score written in its entirety with four staves.
I had met Elmo the day before as he came to practice right after I was finished teaching, and we were trying to think of someone to turn pages who would be coming to the concert. I really didn’t want to offer my services since as you know, my eyes are so bad and it’s hard for me to see the music.
However, when I arrived, Elmo asked me to turn pages on only the last two movements of the Reuchsel, so I reluctantly agreed. Then he asked me to push the sequencer (a gadget we have which forwards to the next general piston) and because his music seemed to be clearly marked, I thought I could do it.
Well! Turns out that I needed to turn the pages on every single piece except one! And I ended up pushing the sequencer in at least four movements multiple times, sometimes once every measure in some sections! Only once did he say, “I think we’re one level behind” so I had to push the sequencer twice to catch up. I was way more nervous than he was, since I had not seen the music before and didn’t know what to expect.
But I’m glad to say that I survived, and he played brilliantly and cleanly—in spite of wearing boat shoes! He told me afterwards that he never wears special shoes to play the organ—well, more power to him if he can play that well! I guess he can wear whatever he wants!
Too bad he was scheduled to play on a Thursday night when most everyone else was at choir rehearsal. There were 14 people in the appreciative audience.
