Happy Hallowe’en!!!
Last night, I went to see the 1925 silent movie “Phantom of the Opera” with Dennis James playing the original orchestral score transcribed for concert organ. It was fantastic. It was also completely sold out - the Winspear had to open the nosebleeds!
James is getting up in age and warned us that he was no longer able to play the music as well as he’d like. This coming from an organist who taught at the Mozarteum and Tanglewood and was concertizing as a teenager! However, his stage presence was palpable and his love of that genre is obvious even to those who went to the concert thinking that they were going to hear some Andrew Lloyd Webber (shudder).
I learned that the Bach Toccata in d- was actually played by the movie organists for this film as late as 1929 - he has an original movie poster testifying to that fact. He also informed us as the beginning of the movie that, traditionally, the organists played from the orchestral scores, as he was going to do at the concert.
I would see it again and recommend it very highly to my fellow Gizars. A wonderful way to spend an evening.