— Organists and Organ Playing —

Au revoir, Honolulu! Bonjour, Paris!

July 1, 2010

For three weeks, I’m going to shift the focus of this blog from reminiscences to travel diary. Carl and I have been so fortunate to have been able to travel to places outside the island of Oahu and in many cases, our travels have directly impacted the course of the LCH music program.

For example, even though Carl had thought for years about doing Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, it was not until we visited Leipzig and walked into St. Thomas (Bach’s church) that Carl said, “Hmmm . . . the distance between the gallery and the front of the chancel isn’t THAT much bigger than LCH . . . I can see how Bach had the choirs separated but were still able to sing together.”

Harpsichords 1-2-3-4: Mark Russell, Grant Mack, Evelyn Zuckerman, Evelyn Lance, and Carl Crosier after the concert

And the idea for the four-harpsichord concert came about when we attended Trevor Pinnock’s farewell in London. Remember that insanity? On October 26-27, 2007, LCH’s Abendmusiken concerts (repeated) called Harpsichords 1-2-3-4, Violins 3-4 featured six concertos by Bach and Vivaldi. We started with the Bach’s Concerto in A major for one harpsichord, followed by Vivaldi’s Concerto in B minor for four violins, followed by the Concerto in C major for two harpsichords; Intermission, then it was the Concerto in D minor for three harpsichords, then the Concerto in D major for three violins, and the grand finale was the Concerto in A minor for four harpsichords. Like eating six German chocolate cakes in one sitting!

We are off tonight for three weeks in France! It will be Carl’s first-ever visit to Paris, and it will be my first since I spent a summer studying organ with French virtuoso, Marcel Dupré, right out of high school. Needless to say, my French is a little rusty, but somehow we’ll manage! At this point we are scheduled to visit 14 churches, attend  6 church services, 14 concerts, 4 museums, and 6 chateaux.

We’ll need a vacation from our vacation!

4 thoughts on “Au revoir, Honolulu! Bonjour, Paris!”

  1. Goodness! Which four harpsichords did you use?

    Have a wonderful trip. I still hope to see you in London someday.

    1. By far and away, the best harpsichord of the night (in Honolulu), was the one built by parishioner Mark Russell. He built it while he was in Paris. Not only is the craftsmanship extremely fine, but the brilliance of the sound and great action make this a joy to play. We also had LCH’s double harpsichord made by the Floyd Cammack; Evelyn Lance’s Goble single-manual Flemish; and the Kamehameha School’s double German-style harpsichord (Sorry, since I’m typing this in the San Francisco airport, I don’t remember the builder.)

  2. I have to touch up the tuning on just my one harpsichord almost every time I sit down to practice. I wonder whether harpsichords held their tuning better in the 18th century, or was Bach merely tolerant of multiple out-of-tune harpsichords playing simultaneously in the same room, or did he write that concerto as a joke on the rest of us? Or, were there just several tuning breaks during the Pinnock performances?

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