Cameron Carpenter

June 1, 2010, 7:30 pm

Enmax Hall, Winspear Centre

Cameron Carpenter

2009 The ESO Presents

  • William Eddins, conductor
    Cameron Carpenter, organ
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Details

Cameron Carpenter makes his Canadian orchestral debut in a performance you'll have to see to believe. This extraordinary artist is winning universal acclaim for his breathtaking solo performances on organ. Cameron has put no boundaries on his career, performing organ music from the Baroque classics to today's newest works, composing, and even designing organs. The program includes Cameron and the ESO in Poulenc's dazzling Organ Concerto.

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$65 Dress Circle (A)
$53 Terrace (B)
$39 Orchestra (C)
$20 Orchestra Front (F)
(click map for interactive version)

Tickets subject to applicable service charges.

Thank you to our media sponsor: ckua

 



Program Information

Program

Walton: Orb and Sceptre – Coronation March (7’)*
Cameron Carpenter, organ

Poulenc: Organ Concerto in G minor (23’)*
Cameron Carpenter, organ

Walton: Crown Imperial March (6’)*
Cameron Carpenter, organ

Intermission

Solo Organ Recital

Cameron Carpenter will draw repertoire from the following sources:

  • Jazz etudes for the piano of the Ukrainian classical-jazz genius Nikolai Kapustin
  • Organ premieres of great piano encores by Vladimir Horowitz, Arcadi Volodis, and Cyprien Katsaris
  • The Music of Johann Sebastian Bach, Cameron Carpenter, Frédéric Chopin, Marcel Dupré, Percy Grainger, Howard Hanson, Arthur Honegger, Franz Liszt and Maurice Ravel
  • Film scores by Gerald Finzi, George Gershwin, Joe Hisaishi and John Williams

All organ arrangements are by Cameron Carpenter.

Program Notes

Coronation Marches: Crown Imperial & Orb and Sceptre
William Walton
(b. Oldham, Lancashire, 1902 / d. Ischia, 1983)
 
First performance of Crown Imperial: May 12, 1937 in London
Last ESO performance: June 2003
First performance of Orb and Sceptre: June 2, 1953 in London
This is the ESO premiere of the piece
 
It says something of the enduring popularity and regard with which William Walton was held in his native land to note that it was he that composed coronation anthems for two of Great Britain’s monarchs. Crown Imperial was commissioned by the BBC for the crowning ceremony of George VI in 1937, while Orb and Sceptre accompanied the ceremony for Elizabeth II in 1953. Still a relatively young man (35 years old) to be given that honour for the first such occasion, Walton’s Crown Imperial is less ornate and daring than the 1953 work, which wears its more modern colours boldly.
 
Walton’s fondness for crisp brass lines creating just the right fanfare and ceremony are in full evidence in Crown Imperial, with a stirring and simple theme paced well with dynamic contrasts, and an Elgarian middle section of strong dignity. Orb and Sceptre’s harmonies are more chromatic, though here too, the middle section has a memorable main theme – and both feature the might and power of the organ to great effect within the orchestral framework.
 
 
Concerto for Organ, Timpani and Strings in G minor
Francis Poulenc
(b. Paris, 1899 / d. Paris, 1963)
 
First performance: June 10, 1941 in Paris
Last ESO performance: February 2005
 
It was critic Claude Rostand who famously dubbed Francis Poulenc “half monk and half delinquent.” The latter label refers to the witty and clever music Poulenc and his fellow members of “Les Six” composed early in his career. The former underscores the personal events later in Poulenc’s life that led him back to his strong Catholic faith, which inspired many of his later works.
 
While not necessarily one of his religious works, his Organ Concerto was intended for performance in church. Its simple scoring, with the organ accompanied only by strings and timpani, was intended to make the work easy to perform in churches large or small. The work is cast in a single movement, but broken up into seven distinct sections, and both sides of Poulenc’s nature to which Rostand referred are very much in evidence.
 
Strong, Bach-like chords set up an opening of might and mystery, leading to an almost merry chase, as organ and strings alternate a playful theme. The longest single section is a beautiful, introspective Andante, in which the theme of the previous section is recast as an idyllic processional. The mood darkens considerably, but yields once again to a section of animated, almost nervous energy, quelled as the strings usher in the fifth section, dominated by a romantic string theme. Organ and timpani abruptly shift the mood, and the chase theme of the second section is now a duet for organ and strings, brought to a halt by toccata-like chords in the organ heralding the final section – one of introspection and reflection, capped off by a final declamatory pronouncement from the organ.
 
Program Notes © 2010 by D.T. Baker
 

Artist Bios

william eddins

William Eddins, conductor

William Eddins is in his fifth season as Music Director of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. A native of Buffalo, New York, he currently resides in Minneapolis with his lovely wife Jen, a clarinetist, and their two boys Raef (AKA Raefster; Munchers) and Riley (AKA Squeaky; The Imp; Dr. No).

Bill has been playing piano since he was five when his parents bought a Wurlitzer Grand piano at a garage sale. He started conducting during his sophomore year at the Eastman School of Music, and most of the '80s were spent trying to decide whether to pursue a career in conducting or piano. The quandary was answered for him when he realized that the life of a poor, starving pianist was for the birds. In 1989 Bill decided to study conducting with Dan Lewis at the University of Southern California, from whence he managed to land assistant conductor posts with the Chicago Symphony and the Minnesota Orchestra in 1992.

Bill has many non-musical hobbies including: cooking, eating, discussing food, and planning dinner parties. He is also quite fond of biking, tennis, reading, and pinball. Unfortunately, due to pianistic paranoia his days in the martial arts are long over.

Bill is committed to bringing classical music to the greater public. He has started a podcast – Classical Connections – which is dedicated to exploring the history of classical music and highlights live chamber music performances in which Bill has taken part (check it out for yourself at Bill Eddins' website). He has also produced a solo piano CD – Bad Boys, Volume I – which features Beethoven's "Hammerklavier" Sonata and Albright's Nightmare Fantasy Rag. His latest recording, on the Naxos label, features American music for cello and orchestra.

cameron carpenter

Cameron Carpenter, organ

From Franz Liszt to Vladimir Horowitz to Michael Jackson and David Bowie, the most enduring musicians emerge as revolutionaries in their field, but never stop evolving as their careers develop. Encompassing the organ in all its iterations - virtual, pipe, classical, and popular - Cameron Carpenter is following that pattern. With his 2010 Telarc album, Cameron Live!, Cameron Carpenter is a unique voice. The DVD was made on a large cinema organ using HD cameras and repertoire ranging from Bach to Schubert and Sousa. The CD is all major organ works of Bach - plus Carpenter, with a world premiere recording of Carpenter's Serenade and Fugue on B.A.C.H. (published by Edition Peters).
 
For playing Chopin's Études, Op.10 on the organ; for his design of organs, organ benches, Swarovski-encrusted performance wear and shoes; for his original works and improvisations; and for his expansion of the organ repertoire into music from film, animé, and popular culture, he is widely acclaimed. Amid the acclaim, though, it's worth noting that one of Mr. Carpenter's most vocal advocates comes from within the "old guard" of the organ community: Dr. John Weaver, formerly the head of the organ departments at both the Juilliard School and the Curtis Institute of Music. In his spoken introduction to Cameron Carpenter's first appearance at a national convention of the conservative American Guild of Organists, Dr. Weaver said: "This is truly one of the most amazing musical minds that I have ever encountered, a talent of Mozartean proportions, and a technique the likes of which I don't think has existed on this planet... because if it had, we would all know about it."
 
This is Mr. Carpenter’s debut with the ESO.

Multimedia

Cameron Carpenter peforms Chopin's Revolutionsetüde, op.10:

Comments  

 
0 # Chris Piggott 2010-05-26 14:12 I would love to have gone to this concert, but alas, it starts too early, there's not enough time for me to get there. Reply | Reply with quote | Quote
 

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