This evening I went to Disney Hall to see Cameron Carpenter play an organ recital. I've posted Youtube clips of Carpenter a few times. You may have seen them on my FB, and i may have even mentioned him in a blog once or twice. I've been a fan of his for about a year now, ever since I heard him as a guest on Jim Svejda's show on KUSC. If you've seen my numerous posts of organ music over the years, you know I am also a big fan of the instrument, and to put it simply, when I heard Cameron Carpenter's playing on Svejda's radio show I thought he was phenomenal. Then last winter, his concert was announced as part of the 2019 season at Disney Hall. I bought a ticket right away.
It's really cool to discover a new artist and world-class musician at my age, when I thought I'd kinda seen it all. Rock may not be dead, but it's in the doldrums as far as new bands are concerned. I guess the last "new" rock band I discovered was Alcest, and that was eight years ago. When I say "discovered" I mean of course my own personal discovery and in some cases I have come late to the party, as with Opeth or Porcupine Tree. I've seen Hilary Hahn twenty two times since 2006 (and she will one day surpass Rush (32 times) as my "most seen" artist), but I was a little late to the bandwagon there also, as she had been making records since 1996.
I wouldn't say I've given up on finding new musical artists, but I don't expect much from rock anymore, and with classical music I also tend to listen to the favorites I have leaned toward over the years, most of whom were prominent in the mid-20th century from the 1930s to the 1950s. I have no use for most of the modern piano virtuosi as you know, though I'll not tirade on them now, lol.
All of this is to say that, for me at this point in my life, it is so rare - and so unexpected - to discover a musician the caliber of Cameron Carpenter, that I feel very privileged to have done so. Again, with Carpenter I found out about him many years after he'd become known to music aficianados. He made his Disney Hall debut in 2011. Sometimes, I catch an artist just as they are ascending into the big leagues, after they have gotten a few years of press. That's what happened with Hilary and now with Carpenter also.
And as I say, it is so rare for this to happen nowdays, that I am grateful tonight and pretty much blown away, because - again to put it simply - Carpenter played an almost all Bach program, and it might as well have been Johann Sebastian himself sitting there at the Disney Hall organ console, so great was Mr. Carpenter's musicality. As soon as he starts playing, you know you are watching a master musician but he goes beyond that, into uncanny heights of inspiration, so high and so inspired that you can imagine JSB hovering just above him in the concert hall, both conducting him and listening appreciatively.
Carpenter is known for his use of a custom made digital organ that uses no pipes. It is called the ITO, the International Touring Organ, and you can look it up or Youtube it. It is an incredible instrument, though some organ purists would disagree. Hearing it on Youtube, I think it sounds amazing, but we did not hear it tonight because Disney Hall has a world renowned pipe organ and Cameron went with that.
I still want to hear the ITO, but I am glad he went with the in-house organ because it's range of sounds and colors and volumes was mind blowing. There is a reason the pipe organ is called The King Of Instruments, and in the hands of a once in a lifetime musician like Cameron Carpenter, you are hearing this organ, through it's huge system of pipes, played in it's full capacity.
But even more than all of that, the reason this guy is so great is due to his personal spirit and energy.
Think about when you first saw Eddie Van Halen, or when folks a decade older than us saw Jimi Hendrix. Sure, they shredded......but their dexterity wasn't the real reason their audiences were so moved.
The real reason was that they had an electricity in their playing.
Very, very few musicians have that level of electricity, and also have soul on top of it, and have not only musicianship but musicality - the ability to make music come to life in all it's glory, where you can see with your very own eyes that inspired music is pouring out of them.
That's how great this guy was tonight.
Cameron Carpenter, don't miss him if he comes your way. I will be attending his shows from now on, making up for lost time, as he is now already 38 years of age.
He is a new discovery for me, but for those in the know he has been a superstar for several years. Therefore I pass my discovery on to you, with the highest possible musical recommendation. /////
We had good singing in church this morning, and I am off work until Wednesday so tomorrow I will try to go on a hike or at least hike through the mall in search of new shirts for Spring.
See you in the morn with huge love. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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