Virgil Fox Symphonia to Cantata #29-Allen Touring

[grover9559]

Great piece and a pretty good rendition. Virgil Fox was a major inspiration for me and many other young musicians who learned to love Bach when it wasn't cool.

[hdbikerfl1]

A wonderful performance from a Master artist...



[88washme]

i hate this video,am used to hereing Dian Bish playen it,he didnt do the big finish,am so disapointed in hem

[bbbbmer]

He was referring to the ouster of Nixon and Ford and the onset of the Carter administration -- he was NOT referring to Reagan, whom he HATED...

[ShandyHall]

@bbbbmer Virgil had the Allen organ from 1977 until his death in 1980. Jimmy Carter was in office from 1977 until 1981. This recording was done probably in 1978 or '79, but I am not sure.

[ShangoJamal]

@bbbbmer He was also dead before Reagan even won his first election to the U.S. Presidency.

[Marksnotebook]

@bbbbmer How do you know he hated Reagan? I never heard that. Carter was a lousy piece of dirt. Created a horrible economy with 20 percent interest rates. Think about that today and how tough it would be to survive paying usury of that magnitude.

[AllTheStopsJB]

I love Allen Organs- absolutely love them. The one I play is stunning!

[anonymusum]

Too much show - too fast and too many mistakes

[patsaxon]

So sad that he passed away, what a wonderful talent!

[tiarca]

16 fautes flagrantes sans compter les autres et le bon gout massacré, en france on n'aurai même pas applaudit...

[schmetterlink]

@tiarca Toi, je t'applaudis.

[tactilex]

When the Youtube framerate and the lag between video and audio are factored out, an amazing performance. LOTS of wrong notes. At least I think so (See first sentence). But what glorious wrong notes!

Why don't we all try this phrase on for size: "I prefer..." or "for my taste it is a little too..." rather than "Too Fast", etc.

[TheCurtthehurt]

Virgil Fox, especially when he played the Fiery Toccata, is the best i've ever heard. even though he made few, VERY few mistakes, noone on this planet can even compare to the amount talent. he mastered how to use his heart in this art. no violin or cello or piano can compare to what he can do on the organ. i covet his special talent

[bige002000]

Virgil was by far the greatest musical talent of our time. Some say he played things too fast. Well, it says a lot for anyone who can play some of them at all. I met Virgil when I was a kid and trying my best to be a concert organist. We got to know each other pretty well. And even tho he never officially taught me, he always said "when you play anything, play it from the heart". GO VIRGIL

[1401JSC]

Strange sounds, but a magnificent demonstration of ORGAN PLAYING.

[dadinck]

Whoooooo!! I likes them fast!!!

[pipeorganistken]

I had the distinct pleasure in my own organ days of meeting Virgil Fox twice. One time was in a College Concert near San Diego, and the final time was shortly before his death from Cancer. Few know that the man suffered horribly in his final year of life. He continued to work right up to the point that he was too physically ill and weak to do so. I have nothing but respect for Virgil and the fact that he brought classical organ to young people who would never have been exposed otherwise.

[orgatrain]

Sadly so many people are so Quick to criticize....but you dont know that Virgil was in the least year of his life when he did this tour.....ingnorance with get you nowhere in life.....lets see how you play when your eaten up with cancer..

[organpipe8]

How true - I knew Virgil, he was remarkable and a good Christian †

For those who want to be so critical, they should listen to his performances in his younger years, a truly gifted Artist.

[DavidSnyderLumierist]

@organpipe8 Yes my friend,,he was indeed,,to the very best of his being!

[RobtheKappelmeister]

Yeah, he's great an' all, but he does make a few mistakes. I can tell even though I've only played it on violin-not organ. The Prelude from Partita No. 6 for violin.

[pordzio]

Bach used sometimes the same theme in his works. The partita is in E and the Cantata No 29 is in D. With perfectly the same theme.

[JupiterIV]

Yeah. All Bach really did was put in a slight variation at about 1:16 - 1:20 the first time through, and the second at about 2:30 - 2:34.

[ShandyHall]

I heard Black Beauty several times at Wolf Trap, the Royal V once at the University of Virginia, and this Allen, also at Wolf Trap. When this Allen reproduced chiff my jaw just dropped. It was astounding. My favorite of the three was this Allen.

[bombarde1701]

Every organist has a different style of playing. That's why there are so many recordings of different organs with different organists...but anyhow my only beef is this Allen Organ...I prefer the Rodgers Royal V much better. This is still a great video though!

[willowthebored]

People complain a lot about the tempo on organ pieces, really, just because they can. A fair amount of the time they're right-if you have a humongous space like a cathedral or a huge theater to fill, the resonance is an issue, and you have to play slower or else people's minds have a hard time hearing the individual tones; they just muddy and bleed together. In America we don't usually have that problem, though, because our buildings are acoustical vacuums, and this piece, for some reason...

[advisorC101]

Everyone has their own version of perfect and if anyone has the right to complain its the man who is sitting on the organ bench!

[pluto69]

Hey if the guy can play it fast and correctly who cares?? Too be able to play a difficult piece fast and accurately is a tribute to that organists talent.. Can you imagine a baseball coach telling his star pitcher to "slow" his fastball down to 90 mph from 100mph?? I used to play organs pieces fast and if someone said I played too fast.... TOO DAMN BAD!!! Its always the ones that cant do it that are the complainers.. Go figure!!

[victron6]

Thank you sooooo much for posting this!

[Gene63]

This is amazing for a man who was in the latter stages of battling cancer. So he hit a few wrong notes...the man was a genius.

[rmas528a]

Every version I have heard of this on the piano is faster than this.

Why are the organ fuddy-duddies complaining so much.

[Fozzymaple]

because we "fuddy-duddies" are wont to make such comments. What you must understand is that Virgil Fox was one of the preeminent concert organists of his time, along with his isealogical opposite E.P. Biggs. Fox had a reputation for playing too fast (and I can tell you that he did on occasion play too fast).

So, why are the organists complaining, because they are perfectionists.

[orgatrain]

"He's playing too fast" what a bunch of crying, little babies.........are you perfect?

[gbaune]

Orgelspiel im Sinne Bachs ist der bescheidene Dienst eines kleinen Menschen am großen Bach. Show jeder Art, hier zelebriet von Fox, war Johann Sebastian Bach bestimmt fremd.

[gedeck4foot]

Where Was This Recorded At.??????

[anthonycelentano]

Yes, he is playing it much too fast, and he is playing lots of wrong notes too.

[56Packman]

He is playing it too fast FOR YOU, and just by-the-by that makes it more enjoyable to the general public, something the baroque-boys never worry about.

Yes, Virgil makes a few mistakes and is human, but his playing was so musical that i forgive him. I would rather listen to this than any prissy "perfect" or worse "correct" perfomance.

How many 1600 seat venues do you sell out, Anthony?

[ShandyHall]

I preferred the Allen to the Rodgers Black Beauty and the Rodgers Royal V.

I heard Black Beauty a few times and the Royal V only once at the University of Virginia.

When I heard the Allen reproduce chiff at a concert at Wolf Trap my jaw just fell open. I never heard chiff from either of the Rodgers instruments.

I also heard Virgil play the harpsichord at his 50th anniversary concert at the Kennedy Center. He was very good at that as well.

[56Packman]

Eeeeeh--Allen never made a thing I cared to listen to until very reciently. Yes, they got the chiff down, but I go back to what i said before, when you started to put it all together into (what are supposed to be) ensembles it didn't work, didn't come together, and sounded very sterile. I am pleased with what they make now. The Rodgers BB always made a nice ensemble sound for back then. Today we wouldn't be happy with that sound at all.

[accousticdecay]

I have always preferred the Allen sound to others, especially Rodgers. The Allen I play has a great sound mix; the larger Rodgers I played some time ago sounded muddy and not like real pipes. I like the MIDI Expander and Virtual Acoustics, too.

[JupiterIV]

@ShandyHall @ShandyHall Did you happen to notice that Virgil treats the Overture more like the Prelude to the Suite for violin in E Major, BWV. 1006? He's even playing it in E, for goodness sakes!!

[angelustibor]

szarok a farmra!!!

[56Packman]

Boy, the Allen traveling organ sure records better than it sounded in person. It was just a typical product from that firm then, some ok individual sounds that all fell apart and became sterile when you tried to bring it all together. The Rodgers Black Beauty was far more musical in person.

GO VIRGIL!

show the sissies how to play MUSIC people enjoy!

[claire13ear]

this is bach not vivaldi and virgil fox in my books he's still the greatest,he has what a lot of other organist dont have "Charisma"

thank you for posting

[vinniecaruso]

ive heard other performances by virgil fox and he played this piece very very slow actually. ive never heard him perform it this fast. hes got an amazing natural talent. miss bish performs it much better than him though i have to say.

[RonRizzy]

You will also note that Virgil is playing this piece in the CORRECT key as well. Everyone thinks this piece was written by BACH, and it was not. It was originally composed by Vivaldi, and then TRANSCRIBED by Bach. Everyone also plays this in the key of D Major. Bach's TRANSCRIPTION of this work was in D Major...however Vivaldi actually wrote this in the key of *E* Major for chamber orchestra. I think it takes on a whole new character in E, and I quite like it better in E. GO VIRGIL!!!

[chamade16]

No, Bach composed it, originally in E for unaccomp solo violin (Partita in E); then recycled it for Sinfonia to Cantata 29 in D, the solo vln part being assigned to obligato organ, plus tpt, timps & strings. Rachmaninov made an arrangement for piano and put it back up to E. This arrangement resembles Rachmaninov's version. Fox also played the Dupré transcription, in D. At least Virgil keeps in time, unlike the unfortunate Bish performance out there on YouTube, which gets slower and slower.

[caddyorganist]

This is even faster than Diane Bish, whose tempo I personally like. I always thought that Virgil usually played it slower, slower than Miss Bish even.

[codeman2008]

People are always saying Virgil plays to fast, and I've always denounced that notion. But in this case I agree. Lovely anyway! What it must be like to play like that!

Happy Birthday Virgil by the way!