The ‘oldness’ of the organ is often part of its appeal: rather than musical innovation, organs signify the longevity of the Western musical tradition, liturgical music and the high Baroque. These ideas, and the ritualised nature of performance that they imply, are appealed to in the CDs ‘Stop playing’ (by Wolfgang Mitterer) and ‘Tuning Out’ (by Veryan Weston, Jon Rose and Hannah Marshall), which could be seen as offering simultaneously new and old approaches to the organ. Contemporary music is demonstrating and generating renewed interest in the organ, perhaps in part because it often separates this instrument from its traditional liturgical or orchestral roles.
The two projects have several similarities: both have been recorded in multiple locations, both make use of tracker-action instruments,Footnote 1 and both ‘extend’ the sound of the organ, either with other instruments (strings, in the case of ‘Tuning Out’) or through electronics and editing (as for Mitterer). ‘Tuning Out’ is the result of a tour of free-improvisation performances by the trio, sponsored and co-produced by the new music organisation Sound and Music. The recordings on this double CD capture five performances given around the UK: the venues were dictated by the location of tracker-action instruments, resulting in a journey comparable, perhaps, to a pilgrimage to find certain instruments rather than to meet certain audiences. ‘Stop playing’, too, is a collection of recordings from different locations (Lienz, Vienna and Köflach).
Mitterer offers three main types of material in his performances: the stop playing pieces use sound created by the organ's mechanical action; the grand jeu seriesFootnote 2 makes use of tuning issues within the organs; and two pieces titled timpani and time doesn't play a roll make use of swells and crescendos (the titles are most likely a play on Rollschweller, the crescendo-pedal). His performances highlight the use of the stops as part of the sound-making apparatus of the instrument, but they also highlight the sounds that the organ can offer through different combinations of stops. The opening of the CD brings out the organ's flute-like qualities, evocative of steampunk re-imaginings of Victorian machinery. The effortless integration of the detuned organ sound emphasises the way in which the performances work with the instrument as a body rather than as an interface.
Mitterer's music is sometimes frantic and sometimes ethereal. Some electronic processing and post-production has been integrated as a feature of the sound in space on the recordings: the addition of reverb and stereo-spatialisation of the sound creates new, ‘electronic’ spaces in which the organ sound is situated. This stands out to someone familiar with the organ techniques Mitterer uses, but it also highlights the ‘mechanical’ nature of the sounds created. His improvisation sometimes references traditional organ music and is sometimes exploratory, highlighting instrumental quirks but also recalling experimental organ writing of the kind found in Ligeti's Volumina (1962) or Ferneyhough's Sieben Sterne (1970); these moments should probably be considered more as direct references, just as the references to polyphony feel like quotations. This is a genuinely personal and eclectic mix of sounds and practices offering a glimpse into a performer's intimate relationship with his instrument, but also many clear points of reference for those unfamiliar with organ music.
The liner notes to this CD describe the organ as a machine – bringing the idea of mechanical action to the fore – and compare Mitterer's mastery of the instrument to his work in the studio. Mitterer includes details of the techniques used to produce the music, perhaps demystifying the music for a listener unfamiliar with contemporary organ music but also detailing the registrations used. This seems like a sneaky sideways glance at organ tradition since, of course, this music can't be recreated by anyone else; these notes might therefore also be thought to function as text scores for the music.
The first disc of ‘Tuning Out’, entitled ‘Ground Floor’, opens in Liverpool and with the idea of tuning: beating is heard first between the strings (violin and cello) rather than within the organ whose tuning issues form the basis of the music in these recordings. This sets the scene for a series of performances from York and Newcastle (in three parts) that are highly blended and bring out the timbral similarities, rather than differences, between the string instruments and the organ. All three musicians are formidable performers, and the music is virtuosic and florid, controlled and detailed, and moves between moments of ‘vertical time’ – during which the listener is drawn into almost imperceptible movements – and moments of energetic exertion. There are many places where the close interaction of the performers with their instruments can be heard: the extended sounds of string instruments may be quite familiar to listeners of experimental music, whilst the extended sounds of the tracker organs perhaps less so. The Liverpool recording throws a spotlight on the potentials of this particular organ, through microtones, timbres as combinations of stops and timbres created through half-stopping, whilst the York recording opens with a lively passage drawing on a range of organ timbres that show the other sonic possibilities of this instrument.
The second disc, ‘Mezzanine’, also opens with a balanced trio texture, this time between the strings and the high tones of organ, using flute and wood stops to draw attention to similarities in the ensemble tone. In fact, some of the most interesting moments are the sonic similarities between the strings and organ that are not the result of microtonal tunings. The emergence from repeated string chords of the organ's full compass, in the middle of Sheffield Part III, is a surprising change of pace, and the second half of this piece paints the organ in less of a supporting role. The London performance brings out a number of complex lines and, in particular, the higher tones of the organ; this much longer piece passes through a number of stages and states of texture and energy. There is a definite aesthetic unity across all parts of the music and performance, with impressive ensemble communication, and the two discs encompass a musically satisfying and stimulating set of pieces.
The consistently quiet volume of the organ throughout the second disc is regrettable: this is undoubtedly to do with the nature of the instruments but also with the recording of the string instruments which captures, close up, most of their sounds in a way that was likely not possible for the organs without interfering with their casings. However, the result is that the organs remain in the distance much of the time, an imbalance that doesn't reflect the musical contribution of each instrument.
The very short liner notes for ‘Tuning Out’ are accompanied by a longer text that can be accessed on cellist Hannah Marshall's website, reflecting on the performances and the instruments.Footnote 3 Those notes that do come with the CDs focus on issues of tuning. A longer text by Richard Whitelaw of Sound and Music, also in the liner notes, contextualises the tour in his own terms and certainly communicates his excitement about the music.
Both of these projects make for rewarding listening, and some of their differences can perhaps be accounted for by comparing the approach of a self-identified pianist (Weston), who is reverential, with a self-identified organist (Mitterer), who is more willing to interfere with the instrument. Despite this, it feels as if Weston's playing attempts to bring the past into the present, whilst Mitterer seeks to update the instrument for the twenty-first century with a technique that is reliant on a feature of earlier instrumental construction. Certainly, in neither case do the possibilities of the organ feel exhausted, and more of the same would be welcome listening.
