Big Throbbing Organ and Alternative Lifestyles

This week I am spending my evenings rehearsing with the regional orchestra in which I play second flute. The theme of this Saturday's concert is Dreams of Power and Decadence, or as I have renamed it, Dreams of Better Tuning in the String Section.

Up until the first rehearsal, I admit that I was not looking forward to playing this concert because it features an organ soloist (those of you with maturity levels rivaling a twelve-year-old's may please insert a big throbbing organ joke here) and I can't remember the last time I enjoyed the oft blathering sounds of the pipe organ. The concert opens with the seldomly performed Toccata Festiva by Barber, which contains unusual sounds that will, I'm guessing, confuse the little old ladies that salt and pepper the plush red seats of the hall. Think of an ethereal Take Me Out to The Ballgame in a spiral nebula, or the custom sounds of Martian cell-phone ringtones downloaded from a planetarium. And a triple canon with organ, French horn, and timpani. The concert also includes the Saint-Saens Symphony #3, which includes some incredibly powerful and glorious moments courtesy of that big throbbing organ which you were sniggering about before. If you know the difference between listening to a recording of music in your car versus hearing it live in a concert hall, now imagine sitting in the middle of the orchestra feeling every vibration down in your gut, through the soles of your feet. I feel an overwhelming urge to get up and cheer during moments of this music.

The organist, a colleague of my husband's at the university, was telling us about an odd occurrence which he takes part in regularly: midnight organ recitals. As it turns out, these after-hours concerts are extremely popular with the Goth crowd. He is planning his next concert for Halloween night. I thought that to be an interesting pairing of two fringe elements, the pasty faced and slightly archaic classical organists of the world entertaining the also pale and black-lipstick-wearing Gothic audience with the obligatory Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.

When I really try and picture it, though, I always see The Count from Sesame Street in the audience. "ONE spiky leather dog collar, TWO spiky leather dog collars... ah ah ah!" Perhaps I'll have to attend one of the recitals just to see if any muppets show up.