In October, 1968, Columbia Records released Switched-On Bach, a collection of pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach performed by Walter (now Wendy) Carlos on a Moog synthesizer. Although at the time of its release the album was met with a negative response from some Bach and classical music purists, the record still managed to gain tremendous popularity from younger listeners of contemporary musical artists. In fact, Carlos’ recording went on to hit the Top Ten on the Billboard Albums chart, top the Classical Albums chart for nearly four years, and eventually become only the second classical album in history to be certified Platinum, winning three Grammy Awards along the way.
Fast forward nearly a half century to 2016.
Cameron Carpenter is currently touring the world, playing his unique interprations of the music of Bach and other cherished classical composers. Not unlike Carlos, he has been criticized by contemporary purists. Certain classical music aficionados, for instance, do not appreciate his unorthodox interpretations of the standard organ repertoire. Others consider his outfits too “flamboyant” for that of a classical musician. Still others disapprove of his use of the International Touring Organ, a digital device he helped design so that he, as a traveling musician, can perform anywhere in the world on a single instrument in the same manner that many other instrumentalists do.
Despite such criticisms, however, Carpenter has also received tremendous praise. The Los Angeles Times, for example, called him “the most accomplished” and “most musical” organist “ever witnessed” and The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said his “mind-blowing technique” and “charisma” make him “the most exciting talent to emerge in decades.” The New Yorker simply called him a “superstar.” With his ground-breaking International Touring Organ, Carpenter recently released his first album for Sony Masterworks, If You Could Read My Mind. He also recently became the first organist in history to be nominated for a Grammy Award for a solo album.
On Wednesday, March 16, 2016, Carpenter’s world tour made a stop in New Jersey for a live concert at Toms River’s Jay and Linda Grunin Center of the Arts located on the campus of Ocean County College.
Here, Carpenter showed the audience just what all the fuss is about.
Playing a unique collection of works by such classical giants as Bach and Wagner, along with a selection of original pieces improvised on the spot, Carpenter created musical magic for a small but devoted audience of classical music fans.
Carpenter’s dexterous hands played the five keyboards of his International Touring Organ, often with a single hand playing two keyboards simultaneously! Along with his hands, Cameron’s two feet, decked out in sparkly shoes, miraculously danced atop the console’s foot pedals, proving that Carpenter is indeed a musical force to be reckoned with.
A multitude of sounds electronically poured forth from the keyboards on the organ’s main console through to several racks of digital electronic equipment, each rack containing a supercomputer/amplifier combo. Then, those electronic impulses continued on through to Carpenter’s massive audio system consisting of ten large cases filled with specialized speakers along with eight even bigger specialty subwoofers.
This system enabled Carpenter to perform at levels from those comparable to a child’s whisper all the way to room-shaking ferocity, with every gradation in between.
Along with expertly varying the dynamics according to the expressive requirements of the music, Carpenter also carefully selected the various sounds, or “voices,” he wanted to share using the control levers, or “stops,” on his console. All of the voices use digitized sounds adapted from various instruments — including digital samples of actual organs which, historically, have been key to Cameron’s artistic development.
And the music?
In a word: “Wondrous.”
In fact, it was easy to come away from the experience of seeing and hearing Cameron Carpenter with the feeling that he truly is, as his press release cheers, “smashing the stereotypes of organists and organ music” while generating “a new sense of acclaim, exposure, and controversy unprecedented for an organist.”
For if there is, indeed, a greater organist on the planet — one who not only tours the globe with a new breed of instrument, but who has also transcribed and arranged hundreds of challenging pieces, composed exceptional original works, and who also can improvise masterfully on the spot — that person would certainly be a musician for the ages.
But until she or he is brought to our attention, we will applaud the work of Cameron Carpenter — literally the current generation’s embodiment of one totally living and breathing “Switched-On Bach.”
For more on Cameron Carpenter — including information on his album, If You Could Read My Mind, and his live concert schedule — go to cameroncarpenter.com. For more information on upcoming classical music performances at The Jay and Linda Grunin Center of the Arts in Toms River, NJ — including the all-female musical quartet Salut Salon on April 16, 2016, and bel-canto soprano Dominika Zamara on April 20, 2016 — please go to grunincenter.org.
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