More Organ Musings
2000-02-01 by Tkacs, Ken
I happen to be present at the memorial service held for Olivier Messiaen at St. John the Divine in Manhattan shortly after his death a few years ago. His wife gave a little talk, and some of his best works were performed, especially a few of his wonderful pieces on the great organ. Man, that was a religious experience. Messiaen's music isn't done justice on recordings; it's very different when heard live in a cathedral. Very organic and all-encompassing. Any of you organ fans ever apply a keyboard CV to a voltage-controlled panner to try to imitate the spatial placement of organ pipes? Sort of an electronic _werkprinzip_?