# Cameron Carpenter - Organist Extraordinaire!!



## Guest

This is shocking in it's virtuosity. Cameron is organist-in-residence for the Berliner Philharmoniker. (Does that mean he has his own bed in the basement?) Take a look at this Telarc promotion of him playing, yes, Chopin:






And here he is talking about living and working in Berlin as a serious musician. He's fabulously eloquent and intelligent!


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## PetrB

LOL. Organists do this, flight of the Bumble-bee on the pedals, here we have Chopins Etude Op. 10 No. 12 with the running sixteens taken care of by fleet feet wearing white patent leather. Love the rhinestone sparkle top.

Doe anyone think that the 'shocking virtuosity' here is matched by shockingly bad taste (tastelessness is more like it) in both the 'virtuoso display of pedal playing and the concert dress?

The musical transcription / presentation and the clothing make me want to run as far away from possible from any other performance in which Mr. Carpenter is at all involved.


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## Guest

PetrB said:


> LOL. Organists do this, flight of the Bumble-bee on the pedals, here we have Chopins Etude Op. 10 No. 12 with the running sixteens taken care of by fleet feet wearing white patent leather. Love the rhinestone sparkle top.
> 
> Doe anyone think that the 'shocking virtuosity' here is matched by shockingly bad taste (tastelessness is more like it) in both the 'virtuoso display of pedal playing and the concert dress?
> 
> The musical transcription / presentation and the clothing make me want to run as far away from possible from any other performance in which Mr. Carpenter is at all involved.


Precious. Judgmental. I don't care what he is wearing - the man is a phenomenal talent and other organists have said the same thing. Who cares about the rest? No wonder people are turned off kunstmusik by this kind of attitude. The Berliner Philharmoniker think he's OK for them - and that's the world's premier orchestra. Good enough for me. Go Cameron, and what a brain!!


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## ptr

Quite the *Lang Lang* of the organ, it is easy to revel in virtuosity of this kind and it has it's place, but it regularly leaves me untouched...
This said, I believe that one has to hear Mr Carpenter in a wider organ repertoire before judging him to harshly!

/ptr


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## Guest

"It is easy to revel in virtuosity of this kind"? What can the Berliners have been thinking? The world's premier orchestra!


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## PetrB

CountenanceAnglaise said:


> "It is easy to revel in virtuosity of this kind"? What can the Berliners have been thinking? The world's premier orchestra!


I think the link is tasteless: Orchestras hire musicians who are virtually 100% reliable sight-readers and note-accurate performers. They do not necessarily hire 'the greatest musicians' on the basis of depth of musicality.


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## Guest

PetrB said:


> I think the link is tasteless: Orchestras hire musicians who are virtually 100% reliable sight-readers and note-accurate performers. They do not necessarily hire 'the greatest musicians' on the basis of depth of musicality.


You talk a truck-load of rubbish here! "Now, sit down and play zis piece please. If you make no mistakes you have ze chob!":lol:

I want to quote Dire Straits, "Oh, the boy can play"!


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## ptr

CountenanceAnglaise said:


> What can the Berliners have been thinking? The world's premier orchestra!


I don't know, You have to ask them! Not even I can deny that the Berliners is an orchestra full of wonderful musicians but they still act like Karajan where alive and calling the shots! And they may be the premier orchestra in the world, but like the hydra headed Ostrich they have stuck their head so deep in the Germanic Romantic Tradition that they have forgotten to evolve!
I had great hopes for the BPO when they elected Rattle to the helm, but they are still a rudderless supertanker longing back to day's when they thought themselves invincible!

Concerning Carpenter, He will have to prove himself to my ears in more advanced repertoire than on the Telarc CD which is my only encounter with him so far.

/ptr


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## Guest

ptr said:


> I don't know, You have to ask them! Not even I can deny that the Berliners is an orchestra full of wonderful musicians but they still act like Karajan where alive and calling the shots! And they may be the premier orchestra in the world, but like the hydra headed Ostrich they have stuck their head so deep in the Germanic Romantic Tradition that they have forgotten to evolve!
> I had great hopes for the BPO when they elected Rattle to the helm, but they are still a rudderless supertanker longing back to day's when they thought themselves invincible!/ptr


I've heard them play very contemporary music which this self-governing orchestra has played superbly. Who would you expect to be "calling the shots" in an orchestra run by its own members? Some desk-bound beaurocrat? The BPO literally glows in the dark and I've been to concerts with virtually all the major world orchestras within the last 2 years. They are second to none!!

You don't like their repertoire, obviously, and that is your prerogative. We were discussing Cameron Carpenter...


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## Ukko

"Cameron Carpenter". Is Cameron the name his parents saddled him with?


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## PetrB

CountenanceAnglaise said:


> You talk a truck-load of rubbish here! "Now, sit down and play zis piece please. If you make no mistakes you have ze chob!":lol:
> 
> I want to quote Dire Straits, "Oh, the boy can play"!


The requisites in audition having been met mean 'the boy can play.' Thought that was a blazing flash of the obvious


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## Guest

Hilltroll72 said:


> "Cameron Carpenter". Is Cameron the name his parents saddled him with?


Another allusion to western movies!! 'Saddled'. Huh!! Giddy-up!


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## Guest

PetrB said:


> The requisites in audition having been met mean 'the boy can play.' Thought that was a blazing flash of the obvious


"...Aber, I can't play Messiaen but I can sight-read 'Bringing in the Sheaves".

"Ok, you got ze chob".


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## ptr

CountenanceAnglaise said:


> We were discussing Cameron Carpenter...


I quite know, but you brought on the divinity of the Berliners in a manner that I foolishly had to counter! We live in different worlds, where you seem to believe that this "self-governing" apparatus has nothing to do with politics, and where I say its only politics; I say that they have appointed Mr Carpenter, not only because he is or might be a brilliant organist, but because it looks good on one of their main market's outside Berlin! (The other one being Japan). BTW, I checked the Berliners homepage, but I can't find any info there that he is a part of the orchestra (I might not be looking at the right place).

I will make it a point to hear Mr Carpenter live, unfortunately he does not seem to have anything scheduled with the Schuke Organ at the Philharmonie during the coming 6 months or any where else within my usual reach (his homepage does not want to load in my Firefox at the moment, so I cant check his touring schedule if there is one).

/ptr


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## Guest

ptr said:


> I quite know, but you brought on the divinity of the Berliners in a manner that I foolishly had to counter! We live in different worlds, where you seem to believe that this "self-governing" apparatus has nothing to do with politics, and where I say its only politics; I say that they have appointed Mr Carpenter, not only because he is or might be a brilliant organist, but because it looks good on one of their main market's outside Berlin! (The other one being Japan)/ptr


If you check on the website for Berliner Philharmoniker Digital Konzerthaus you'll see all about Cameron Carpenter. But let's not be too precious and suggest that any artistic organization - any - isn't riven by political shenanigans. The bigger, more important and more prestigious would be absolutely at the worst end of that spectrum. And they will program works, yes, driven by political considerations - in the same way they will often make their artistic appointments. Life's like that.


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## Guest

I'm sorry for the preceding post - it was downright rude and gratuitous!! We'll have to disagree about Cameron Carpenter. At least he's no relation to THE Carpenters!!


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