Contrabass Digest

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2000-12-14

 
From:  (Louis Rugani)
Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 18:21:22 -0600 (CST)
Subject: [CB] LeBlanc

They're still in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and LeBlanc president Vito Pascucci
likewise resides in Kenosha.

Regards....
Lou
~~~~~~~~~~~~ ˆ=[*]=ˆ ~~~~~~~~~~~~
The opposite of bravery is not cowardice, but conformity.
       - Robert Anthony

---------------------------------------------------------

Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2000 08:46:37 -0800
From: "Timothy J. Tikker"
Subject: [CB] Organ CD with 64' B reviewed

Hello List!

Just got this notice that a CD I wrote a piece for got a special award
from an audiophile magazine.  I've made my own CD of this organ, though
it's not released yet...

- Timothy Tikker

----

On newstands NOW!!On page 99 in the December/January 2001 issue.

Great Organs of America: Modern Landmarks, Volume 2: The 1998 Glatter-Glötz-Rosales Organ of Claremont United Church of Christ. Diane Meredith Belcher, organist. Joseph A. Vitacco III, producer; Michael Barone, recording engineer. JAV 115 CD (JAV Recordings, Inc., 43 Wellington Court, Brooklyn, New York 11230; www.greatorgancds.com)

One of the most interesting small labels for organists is JAV, the creation of Joseph A. Vitacco, whose mission is to document the surviving untouched organs of both Ernest M. Skinner and his successor and rival G. Donald Harrison. At this writing, there are ten CDs in this series, with more planned, and since I continue my lifelong infatuation with these instruments - and I'm happy to note that there is now a real preservationist ethic about them - I might well have chosen a recording of one of them for a Golden Ear Award. But as good as several of the recordings, performances, organists, and music are among the Skinner and Harrison series, this Diane Meredith Belcher recital on a recent mechanical-action instrument is the best.

It is in fact one glorious organ, neither enormous nor small, and the eclectic program is a nice balance of the fresh and the familiar. The
clever opening piece by Timothy Tikker uses nothing but the organ's 14 reed stops, showing them off singly and in combination, concluding with all of them together, an incandescent sound; the oft-played Franck "Piece Heroique" ends with a surprise (the 32' Contre Bombarde has one extra pipe at the bottom for a 15 Hz experience, something possible on only a handful of the world's organs). The organ plays Bach as well as it plays the romantics, the playing is as good as the instrument, the room is a happy compromise between clear and cavernous, and engineer Michael Barone (host of Public Radio's "Pipedreams" show, a man who has listened carefully to some thousands of organs over the years) evidently knew exactly where to place a microphone, close enough to localize individual pipes, distant enough to let the room sing. Bravo!

Review by Michael Alan Fox
 

Pipe Organ CDs are available in the USA by calling our
24 hour toll free number 888-572-2242 or going to
http://www.pipeorgancds.com on the internet and in
the UK from  Allegro Music 0121-643-7553 telephone,
http://www.allegro.co.uk , internet
 
 

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