A Pair of Performances

It seems like Wednesday night performances are the new thing to do. Maybe I'll find another one next week.

In any case, last evening I attended a concert in Stanford's Memorial Church. The head organist, if you will, at Stanford has undertaken a project to perform all of the organ works of Bach on the Fisk organ in the church in commemoration of the completion of this organ. For reference, Charles Fisk also built the organ in the Meyerson Symphony Hall.

I'll be honest, I've never been to an organ concert before, and never really gave it much thought. But sitting in the ornate Memorial Church and listening to the rolling counterpoint of Fugues was simply delightful. If ever you see a program of someone performing Bach organworks, go. Likely you won't regret it. The organ in a church like that has a way of completely enveloping you, a sound that has almost visceral qualities. And if it is the 4 (or more) intertwined voices of a fugue, all the better.

Robert Huw Morgan performed both the Prelude and Fugue BWV 550 and BWV 541, both in G minor, the Trio Sonata No. V in C major, and a host of apparently Easter-related settings of hymns. While I don't recognize the melodies, they certainly were a joy to hear.

In contrast, the performance I heard a week before was not as wonderful. Christian McBride set out to do a tribute concert to Herbie Hancock, a concert that has the potential to be quite exciting. Herbie has been through many phases in his career, and I was glad to hear that Mr. McBride wanted to focus on the 1970's era jazz/funk part of his career, because honestly, I find that period much more exciting and hip than some of his later work. I just wish that Mr. McBride hadn't told the audience that 45 minutes after the show was supposed to start.

That's right, all of the musicians arrived at the venue more than 45 minutes after the scheduled start of the performance. If I had not been able to get a student discount ticket, I would have been much more upset. Even after the hokey student-led introduction to the performance, the music itself wasn't all that hip. One of the features of Herbie Hancock's music of that era, like Chameleon, is that it is driving funk, pushing forward with incisive percussion and precision. There was none of that in the performance. I felt as though the tempo always was dragging, the bass should have been a little more ahead of the beat, and the percussion funkier. Sure, the musicians admitted to having not played together before, but the sound they achieved reminded me of some of the "jam" sessions I used to have with my old bands in some poorly lit garage or the back room of the music department. They had trouble reaching new ground in some of the pieces as demonstrated by the fact that they also had trouble ending many of the pieces. That's never a good sign.

All and all, I did not find the concert to be a great tribute to Herbie. Their performance showed a lack of rehearsal, time, and care for the project they were undertaking.