This is a substantial recital by one of America’s younger stars
in the organ firmament. Recorded in the August heat of 2006, the
photos from the recording session inside the booklet show Ken
and the team are clearly warm enough, and mention is made of the
problems of recording in such conditions in terms of tuning –
even with the air-conditioning in the church. Little of this is
apparent on the recording however, and the Quimby Pipe Organ,
an ‘heroic’ instrument named for Michael Quimby and the Quimby
firm whose work brought together elements from several different
instrument to create this no holds barred blockbuster.
The instrument and
the playing are not all trouser-flapping bass, and one of the
more interesting characteristics is the sheer range of colours
available, from joyous percussion through numerous special effects
to the sheer power of the Great. The literal spread of
sound is another feature for which SACD comes into its own.
The pictures show an organ which covers almost the entire rear
wall of what looks like a fairly vast space, and so there is
plenty of antiphonal to and fro as well as the additional acoustic
information of the church itself.
Ken Cowan’s playing
is subtle and sensitive. He creates plenty of magisterial contrast
in Wagner’s ‘Meistersinger’ overture and draws plenty of lyrical
expression from Karg-Elert’s late romanticism. The Saint-Saëns
Danse macabre is Kevin Cowan’s own arrangement, and aside
from plenty of orchestral effects he uses Vladimir Horowitz
and Franz Liszt’s piano versions as source material. The tempo
might have pushed a little harder, the waltz sounding more genteel
than menacing through much of the piece, but I can imagine how
this might have been a technical and practical choice. The special
effects added to Anton Rubinstein’s gently nostalgic Kamenoi
Ostrow are sheer Hollywood on occasion, but the finger work
in both Moszkowski’s Concert Etude and Poulenc’s Presto
is breathtaking. Guy Bovet is a Swiss organist, musicologist
and composer, and his Trois Préludes Hambourgeois were
originally improvisations, subsequently transcribed from tapes.
The Salamanca mixes a popular Spanish folk theme with
quirky accompaniments and contrapuntal developments. Dupré’s
Allegro deciso from the Évocation Poème Symphonique
provides a fittingly spectacular conclusion to the programme.
We in Europe are somewhat
spoilt by the qualities inherent in the best instruments over
here, and it is unfair to criticise American instruments in these
terms. The traditions on either side of the Atlantic are separate
enough to make the true American organ an entirely different beast
to the French or German instruments of the last century, but it
is fair to point out some of these differences so that listeners
have an idea what to expect. Melody lines tend to have a ‘fat’
quality which is emphasised somewhat by the surprisingly dry acoustic
of the First Baptist Jackson. There is a grand array of music-box
and bell effects, most of which are in tune with the rest of the
organ, but these do have an icing-sugar quality which may not
appeal to some staunch traditionalists. The upper registers evidenced
in Moszkowski’s brilliant Étincelles do have a sparkling
quality, but in general the edges are quite rounded in the sound
of this instrument – which is fine for all-round playing, but
restricts the ultimate sock-blowing-off which such a huge instrument
would seem to promise. Even the movement from the final Évocation
Poème Symphonique seems to fail to ‘take off’ in quite the
way one might expect from a Cavaillé-Coll type instrument, for
which it was of course written. As an all-American recital this
is a magnificent performance and a grand recording of a remarkable
instrument. Those interested in exploring the American view of
symphonic organ repertoire could do worse than investigating this
series from JAV. My only problem with this release is the lock,
stock and barrel transplantation of a great swathe of European
music for this most American of instruments. Looking through the
rest of the JAV catalogue and I begin to wonder if there is any
home-grown American organ music in existence at all. Now that
would be an interesting programme.
Dominy Clements
Ken Cowan
(organ) 
