This must have been one hell of a live event, a concert planned to celebrate the Macy’s department store’s 150th anniversary as well as feature two works conceived for the world’s largest operating pipe organ, the fabled Wanamaker Organ (now Macy’s) in Philadelphia. As of writing, I believe the organ has been almost completely restored, with more than 90 percent of its 28,000-plus pipes in working order. This concert took place on September 27, 2008, and as you might well imagine it was a festive occasion. The performances are all quite good, with the excellent Philadelphia Orchestra and Peter Richard Conte, official Grand Court Organist (there have been only four since the early years of the 20th century), an aptly brilliant soloist–what we can hear of him. Therein lies the rub.
If you are expecting to get blown away by the equivalent of standing next to a Boeing 747 revving up for take-off, you will be disappointed. For that, try the Telarc performance of the Jongen from San Francisco’s inaugural organ concerts. The Wanamaker organ is spread out over a huge space, several stories tall, and even with an audience the sound (as captured here) is quite diffuse. Only the Jean Guillou/Mata performance of Jongen’s Symphonie concertante makes the organ’s initial entrance sound like real music–in most other performances, including this one, you get a dull roar in which distinct pitches are difficult to distinguish. The delicate textures of the scherzo also tend to get lost in the fog, and the finale, for all the joyous noise it makes, becomes something of a blur. Heard live, as a “surround sound” experience, it must have been thrilling; at home it’s less so.
Interestingly, there have been some excellent recordings of the Wanamaker organ on the Gothic label made by the Dorian engineers (this release uses a different crew), whose Dallas recording of the Jongen on their own label is the one to own. The couplings, though, are fun: Dupré’s Cortège and Litany is a lovely little piece that makes an apt concert-opener, and of course the Elgar, played with appropriate machismo by the Philadelphians, makes a terrific encore. However, except at the very end, you can barely tell that the organ is participating at all, and for some reason the part for jingles (bet you didn’t know they were even there, did you?) is unduly loud. That’s the risk you run in recording live in an unpredictable acoustic space. Still, as a souvenir of a memorable occasion, it’s nice that this is available. You’ll know if you want it or not.
