Catalogue Connection: 25150

Carson Cooman’s playing talents are displayed as the organist on Divine Art disc DDA 25150. He plays the main organ of Laurenskerk, Rotterdam in a performance of Organ Symphony No. 5 by Andreas Willscher written in 2006. The work lasts 73 minutes. The composer comes from Hamburg and the work is based on the Franciscan theme of Preaching about holy poverty. Quite an interesting recording.

The 12 movements of Andreas Willscher’s Fifth Organ Symphony (composed in 2006 and making its first appearance here on disc) are essentially ruminations, as the work’s subtitle has it, of ‘[St.] Francis’s Preaching about Holy Poverty’.

Characteristically, its influences range from Gregorian themes, the contrasting of telling silences with sound, not so much accented as underlined, derived from the German-based international Wandelweiser group and serialism. The employment of more traditional forms such as toccatas and fugues help blend such eclecticism into a coherent and occasionally forceful, largely reverential whole.

On the IV/85 Marcussen organ (1973) of Rotterdam’s Laurenskerk, Carson Cooman is a nimble, nuanced and eloquent advocate.

Having reviewed Cooman as a composer of numerous well-written organ pieces, now I am interested to hear him as a performer. Andreas Willscher is a German composer who has won numerous awards and had commissions ranging from symphonic works and oratorios to cabaret, jazz, and rock scores. He has written several organ works that blend traditional elements with con¬temporary and jazz influences. In 1971 he was appointed organist of St Francis Church in Hamburg where, in 1975, a large fresco and 11 windows on the life of St Francis were commis¬sioned. What resulted was this 12-movement symphony, subtitled “of Francis’s preaching about holy poverty” inspired by the windows. It is not program music per se, but it is meant to be a large-scale meditation on this theme. He employs a motive (FDA-Francis d’Assisi) and several Gregorian chant melodies in alternating toccata, fughetta, and meditative movements.

Silence is used as an element of equal impor¬tance to sound, particularly in VII, which, at 13 minutes, is the longest. Long chords alternate with even longer silences—so long you will think the movement is over!

Cooman’s success as a composer for the organ is due in large part to his innate understanding of the instrument as a performer. He plays a large and wonderful 1973 Marcussen organ found in the Laurenskerk in Rotterdam. Notes on the composer, music, and specifica¬tion of the organ.

Organist Carson Cooman brings another hi-tech pipe organ recording to the market with his new release: Andreas Willscher, Organ Symphony No.5 (Divine Art 25150). This CD is another performance using the Hauptwerk system whereby digital samples of entire pipe organs and their acoustics are played back from stored memory in live performance at a location other than the original site. In other words, not in the church where the organ resides.

The authenticity of the sound produced through this method is indistinguishable from a recording made in the church, in this case, the Laurenskerk, Rotterdam, Netherlands. The instrument recorded is a Danish build of 1973 by Marcussen & Son.

Cooman has chosen to record the 12-movement Organ Symphony No.5 by German organist and composer Andreas Willscher. It’s a substantial work of 73 minutes and rich with colourful registrations and dynamic effect. Its mildly programmatic subject is “Of Francis’ Preaching about Holy Poverty.” The four movements marked Allegro are each brilliant and thrilling, with bold pedal lines that need durable speakers to deliver them without distortion. The quietest movements are equally impressive for the reverberant space around their sounds. The symphony’s longest movement is half silence, set between long held chords. A meditative injunction comes with this movement and listeners should be prepared.

These Hauptwerk projects are important for the access they offer to instruments whose onsite recording costs would otherwise leave them unheard. Cooman has made an excellent choice of combining instrument and repertoire.