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Title: All the Stops: The Glorious Pipe Organ and Its American Masters by Craig R. Whitney ISBN: 1586481738 Publisher: PublicAffairs Pub. Date: 01 April, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.6
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent modern history
Comment: I was pleased to discover Craig Whitney's "All the Stops" when a friend recently received a copy of the book. I was even more satisfied when I bought my own copy and finished reading it.
Whitney has done a remarkable service to the world of pipe organs. For those of us who play the organ "All the Stops" contains a rich history of the instrument over the past one hundred years and it is told by an author who is an unabashed organ fan and player himself. Reading this book is like witnessing a tug of war on several levels. There is a battle of organ builders about whether or not to use tracker or electropneumatic action. Wars rage with regard to pipe vs. electric organs. How good are European organs when compared to organs in America? How much input should an organist have with regard to a particular organ being built? As Whitney underscores, the organ world is a rather elite one with egos and tempers as big as the instruments on which organists play. And all of this takes place under the shadow of two men....E.M. Skinner, one of the most successful organ builders of all time and the larger shadow of Johann Sebastian Bach.
The most enticing chapters of "All the Stops" contain the mini-biographies of and the rivalry between the two best-known organists of the twentieth century...E. Power Biggs and Virgil Fox. The playing styles and personalities of the two couldn't have been more different and Whitney does a nice job in setting the two up in conflict. Biggs and Fox represented two different likes and dislikes of organs as well with Biggs preferring the European sound and tracker action and Fox opting for a larger, more romantic style. One of the key points that Whintey makes is that earlier in this century organists promoted the bigger, romantic organs only to have that phase pass as a generation ago the smaller, brighter tracker organs became more favorable. That tide has turned yet again.
It is hard to believe that not too long ago thousands of people turned out for organ concerts....numbers that today would not be seen. But if Craig Whitney is correct, that tide is also turning. The pipe organ has no instrumental rival and its modern story is well-told in this book.
Rating: 3
Summary: Less than compelling
Comment: I really wanted to like this book. I'm an organ enthusiast, having attended hundreds of organ concerts, including ones by Virgil Fox at the fabulous Hammond Castle described in this book. (I won't go so far as to call myself an organ player, although I have trained a bit and can punch out a few notes.) I have a good collection of organ music and listen to it a lot. I've read organ books like Schweitzer's J. S. Bach.
And Craig Whitney, the author, is clearly a talented researcher. I can only imagine the thousands of hours he put into going over every conceivable concert program, book, and letter relating to his topic. I can just see him poring over his voluminous notecards laboriously putting together each paragraph of this documentary of the history of the organ in America.
Only problem: it's BORING. Is it the story itself which is boring, or his telling of it? Probably a little of both. I'm giving the book three stars to try to show how much I value the scholarship that went into the tome while at the same time I can't recommend the flaccid narrative and tone.
There are certainly dramas in the history of the organ in America that could have been played out much more, well, dramatically here. Something beyond, Player A was a good organist, got famous, had some personal issues, then died. Organbuilder B had some good ideas, built some good organs, then died. Some people thought organs should be like X, but then there were other ones that thought they should be like Y.
This is still a useful book for those wanting to flesh out their knowledge of US organ history, but far from a must-read.
Rating: 5
Summary: Authoritative without being pedantic
Comment: As Whitney quotes one expert, organists are an odd lot for musicians: They often work out of sight, and almost never show much interest in other classical music. So I doubt this book will become a mainstream best-seller, but it has much to recommend it.
Whitney manages to combine a history of the pipe organ in America, especially its flourishing from about 1925 to 1975 with the personalities of the builders (Skinner, Harrison and Fisk) and two performers who defined the age. Patrician, starchy E. Power Biggs (b. 1906) who came to represent the "back to basics" German school of playing, and the flamboyant Virgil Fox (b. 1912) who promoted the romantic orchestral sound of the organ.
There's just enough background to understand the different schools of organ building (North German, English, French and American Eclectic) without getting bogged down in stoplists. Whitney is a keen observer of the instruments and the politics, so this book ends up being a combination of artistic testament, business history and social commentary. Quite an achievement and nicely readable too!
This would make a fine gift for any young organ player, and should be read by every church musician. It belongs in every school library too.
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Title: Virgil Fox (The Dish) by Marshall Yaeger, Richard Torrence, Richard Morris, Torrence, Yaeger ISBN: 0971297002 Publisher: Circles International Pub. Date: 03 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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Title: At the Organ With Virgil Fox ISBN: 0769241921 Publisher: Warner Brothers Publications Pub. Date: March, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: God's Secretaries : The Making of the King James Bible by Adam Nicolson ISBN: 0060185163 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: 29 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The True Life of Johann Sebastian Bach by Klaus Eidam, Hoyt Rogers ISBN: 0465018610 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: 03 July, 2001 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title:Virgil Fox Performs Bach, Franck, Dupre, Widor and other ASIN: B000001VNE Publisher: Delta Pub. Date: 10 July, 1990 List Price(USD): $5.49 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $5.49 |
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