ORGANIST PRESENTS TOUR DE FORCE

Carole Terry demonstrates mastery of the instrument at Fresno State.

By Walter Saul

Fresno, California, Sunday, April 11, 2010 – Seattle-based organist Carole Terry continued the 38th season of the Lorenz Memorial Keyboard Concert Series this afternoon on the Elizabeth Lyles Pipe Organ in the Concert Hall at California State University, Fresno, with a program of Baroque and Romantic works. While she joked that she brought the rain here with her from Seattle, she also brought us a stunning virtuosity: independence of hands and feet united in superb counterpoint exploiting the tonal riches of the 1996 Martin Ott tracker organ to their fullest extent.

This program also served well as a tribute to Clovis organist Constance Ellenberger, who passed away last Thursday. The closing sonata by Felix Mendelssohn especially evoked memories of Ellenberger’s own love for Mendelssohn, which she performed frequently, particularly during the Mendelssohn bicentennial in 2009.

Terry balanced her technical prowess with thorough scholarship as she prefaced each work with succinct and helpful comments that escorted the audience through each work. The opening Praeludium in E Major by Dietrich Buxtehude combined Renaissance and Baroque styles and genres, from dances to fughettas. Terry accentuated the myriad moods through her precision and well-crafted articulation as she showcased the many sonic resources of the organ with effective registration changes. This was the perfect work to open the program, a synopsis of the entire program by its operatic variety of textures and affections.

Unter der Linden grüne, a theme and variations by Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, afforded Terry additional opportunities to present more individual stops of the organ’s manuals, particularly the crumhorn and recorder stops.

She continued with two chorale preludes by Johann Sebastian Bach, Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend’ and Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr. The first of these chorales demanded complete independence of hands and feet at a quick tempo, which Terry demonstrated impeccably. She then concluded the first half of the recital with a brilliant rendition of Bach’s renowned Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor, a fitting bookend to the opening Buxtehude, which was enthusiastically received by the audience.

I had feared that a tracker organ with only 20 stops and 24 ranks would not work well for the Romantic literature featured after intermission, but Terry proved me wrong. Although this was her first visit to Fresno, she seemed to know this organ and its capacities intimately. She not only unveiled different facets of this instrument’s personality, but unveiled for many the riches of Brahms’ and Mendelssohn’s organ music, particularly the debt each owed to Bach.

With the Brahms Prelude and Fugue in G Minor Terry found yet another way to be brilliant and triumphant through new registrations not heard in the first half of the program. She coupled this with a technical tour-de-force that interlaced jagged pedal leaps and thrilling runs on the manuals. While much of this work comes off like a Bach prelude and fugue, the interweaving of triplet rhythms and daring chromatic harmonies give this away as Brahms.

Two of Brahms’ eleven chorale preludes followed: Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele and Herzlich tut mich erfreuen. The former featured velvety and warm tones of a celeste stop, or was it simply just the right amount of tremolo? In the latter, the textures alternated wildly between gentle interludes and somewhat heavy-handed chorale statements of the hymn. It would have been more effective with less contrast, perhaps a lighter registration for the chorale phrases here.

The Sonata in B-flat Major by Mendelssohn was a particularly appropriate finish to this concert. As befits his first name Felix, this was a work filled with much joy and light, as well as a good measure of fire. The opening Allegro con brio recalled both Buxtehude and Bach as it alternated toccata sections with chorale sections resembling French overtures. The Andante religioso was a quiet hymn, with subtle registration changes highlighting its beauties. The third movement, an Allegretto, came off effectively like a Song Without Words with the right hand singing an elegant melody accompanied by the freely-flowing left hand and sparse comments by the pedals. But Terry saved the best for last in the onslaught of the finale, as its victorious opening chorale yielded to a fughetta with its frenetic zigzagging subject darting from hands to feet and back again in a welter of counterpoint well worthy of Mendelssohn’s rediscovered composer Bach. Terry made it all look easy as she charged right into the returning chorale chords, bringing a glorious ending to her program.

The audience’s animated applause won a touching encore – or “amen,” as Terry put it – in the Brahms chorale prelude Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming. All in all, a fine Fresno debut, worthy of a return visit soon.

Walter Saul is the director of the Fresno Pacific University Summer Music Camp. Information here.