A new organ is a momentous and costly venture in the life of a church, calling for time-intensive study and choice of styles, fundraising, and introductory booklets with elegant photographs. The Church of the Ascension made significant indoor and outdoor renovations before the instrument’s arrival and assembling; the organist world buzzed.
Ascension is Fifth Avenue’s oldest church, dedicated in 1841. Its organist, Dennis Keene, insisted that the instrument’s stature, pipes, and sound fit with Richard Upjohn’s architecture, John Lafarge’s huge altar mural, and windows of stained glass by Lafarge and Louis Comfort Tiffany. Churchgoers pay attention to surroundings because usually the console and player can barely be seen from the pews.
The Manton Memorial Organ is named for Sir Edwin and Lady Manton, philanthropic British parishioners and next-door neighbors. After scouring the United States and Europe for a builder, Keene chose the firm of Pascal Quoirin, near Dijon, France. The organ is the first French-built one in the United States, and a series of inaugural recitals and choral concerts took place in May and June.
The second recital—and first New York appearance by Francis Chapelet—was on the tracker. It was a program of baroque works from France, Spain (where Chapelet was a professor), and Germany. Germany won in a walk—how could it not, represented by Bach and Buxtehude? Chapelet had a young assistant in tow (Bach always had a boy to help with registration— so did they all, really).
The Livre d’Orgue, by Bach’s contemporary Pierre Dumage, was instructive rather than inspired, but it displayed the instrument, starting with a commandingly full plein jeu. Each movement was preceded by a verse of the Magnificat in Gregorian chant, sung by the men of Cerddorion, a volunteer chorus. The imposing Fugue revealed the lower manual trumpet stop; the trio, the upper manual small high stop.
Other movements demonstrated ornaments, ostinatos with hands and feet, bass trumpet stop range, and breathy treble effects on manuals without pedals. It ended with predictable grandeur. Musically, Tiento par Alamire by Juan Cabanilles didn’t hold me at all, but it did show off brilliant reed overtones and horizontal trumpet.
The bar doesn’t get any higher than Bach’s late Prelude and Wedge Fugue, as well as the concert’s concluding Prelude and St Anne Triple Fugue. I was transported to another world that had nothing to do with music criticism, except to suggest, “Why don’t those other composers just go home?”
Registration in Buxtehude’s Come Holy Spirit exposed an assertive nasal melody over a low muted accompaniment. Though the tremblant was audible, the fugue had immense clarity. Played again as an encore after the mighty Bach, it somehow sounded more French; Chapelet was having a master’s good time.
So, thanks to devoted and varied contributors for a gift that not only ushers in a new era for this church but a new dimension as well.
Photo: Manton Memorial Organ
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