Organist Cameron Carpenter

TRAVELING VIRTUOSO AND HIS ORGAN IN SPLASHY WEILL CONCERT

Few concerts in Weill Hall are really “over the top.” Inspiring, dramatic and even deliciously splashy won’t really qualify for that sobriquet. But Cameron Carpenter’s Feb. 12 organ recital was sensational in every way.

Traveling with his four-manual electronic organ and a special setup crew, Mr. Carpenter played everything from Bach to theater music to a house of 500 that grew increasingly vocal as the concert progressed. About 30 speakers behind the minimalist console delivered the sound.

High points for most of the organists in the audience were Bach’s Chaconne and a Prelude and Fugue, and Vierne’s Naïdes, Op. 55. Registrations for the Bach were innovative and not exactly classical, but for Vierne they were classical. All were played brilliantly, and two encores were offered.

An example of the artist’s virtuosity was his pedal technique, with both feet-kicking non-stop like a soccer player. Mr. Carpenter likes to play accompaniment with fingers of his right hand, and melody with his thumb on a lower manual. The registrations constantly change.

Mr. Carpenter spoke at length to the audience, praising Bach’s genius and that of George Gershwin, and about the need to bring the organ out of fixed architecture in large buildings. He has played in exotic settings, including on a seashore.

Even with some fancy colored stage lights and a rising mist, there was no lack of art in the entire concert of athletic and inspiring music making.