ECCLES ORGAN FESTIVAL, Craig Jorgensen at the Cathedral of the Madeleine, Sunday, Sept. 23. One performance only.
Some things just don't go out of style. Although the organ dates back to the time of ancient Rome, it is still as viable as a contemporary instrument today as it was back then. Just take local artist Craig Jorgensen's performance on Sunday night for an example.
As a part of the Eccles Organ Festival at the Cathedral of the Madeleine, Jorgensen represented Salt Lake City among the national and internationally famous organists who are playing in the festival this season. Interestingly enough, he is also the only one who has another full-time job in another profession — at a mortgage company. (It should also be mentioned that Charles Ives, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his music, made a living in the insurance business.)
Some of the most interesting things about Jorgensen's performance were his program selections. Eight of the nine pieces were written by composers who lived during the 20th century, and two of them are still alive. Jorgensen chose pieces with distinct character and sound possibilities — each with an ear for the acoustics of the building and each moving the organ toward the 21st century in a different way.
The program began with Tournemire's chorale improvisation on "Victimae paschali," followed by Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. Interestingly enough, of all the pieces on the program, these two sounded most similar — which was mostly due to the choice of traditional-sounding stop combinations. Occasionally, on both pieces, the stops sounded a little heavy for the music (and the hall), resulting in muddy-sounding lines — especially in the pedal.
The pieces contrasted nicely with Preston's "Alleluyas" and the "Incantation" and "Elegy" of Gawthrop's "Sketchbook I for Organ" later in the program, which emphasized the use of colors and textures rather than overt melodic counterpoint. Jorgensen worked well with the comparatively limited availability of stops on the organ, using the resonant decay in the cathedral to his advantage, along with changes in dynamics to expand the range of sounds and create more subtle changes in color.
Two of the most interesting pieces on the program included the "Passacaglia" from Gawthrop's "Sketchbook I for Organ," and Persichettie's "The Hollow Men." The Passacaglia featured a blues-style pedal (with which Jorgensen had a lot of fun), and some fun and outrageous layers on top of it, such as "Camptown Races" and "Pomp and Circumstance." "The Hollow Men" featured Alan Sedgley on the trumpet in a duet with Jorgensen — each complementing the other beautifully in an excellent performance.
E-MAIL: rcline@desnews.com