Keith Chapman: Handel Concerto in F on Wanamaker Organ

[ccoraxfan]

Either he has the entire piece on a single sheet of paper, or he's doing this from memory. Very nice!

[Diaphon]

It was all from memory... there was very little public-performance recital repertoire Keith Chapman didn't have memorized... He made it look easy, but paid his dues practicing. His technical facility was incredible.

[ccoraxfan]

Notice how he improvises at the end. This is in the spirit of Handel, who often would improvise in his organ concertos, and whose music includes sections which read "ad libitum". Improvisation is something you would not expect from a person who can only play what is written on the page.

When a musician knows his music by heart, then and only then is he able to perform to the best of his ability, for he is not distracted by the need to read the notes and flip the pages.

[megatop412]

thank you for posting this. It is certainly bizarre to see the people(shoppers) on the upper levels; I work in a business on the 4th floor and Macy's is only on the first 2 floors. Most people cannot get this view anymore.

[a55b47]

Thanks for posting all these Wanamaker videos. When I was a teenager (many, many years ago) I kept hearing about this organ. But it was almost never recorded. I snapped up the Virgil Fox recording in the 1960's, but other than that, there was NOTHING. Now that the instrument has been renovated & Peter Conte is recording on it, we're rectifying a long-standing deficiency. You're also doing a great job of documenting this musical icon.

[JRCOOTS]

My favorite indeed.

[smsoe]

Thanks for correcting this error! I'm not an organist, but had some friends listen to the clip before I posted it and they obviously goofed on the identification. I'll make a correction.

[julorg]

This is absolutely not Bach Fugue (!!!) but Händel concerto in F for organ and strings, transcribed for organ solo.