Imagine that you are walking in a dark and cold weather through a busy, crowded street, with so many people, cars, buses and its horns, only with the hope of some warmth and light of music. After walking a while, the apartment buildings and disorderly small shops ends and you start to follow a high wall which is different from the chaotic city background but still indistinctive to regular eyes. At some point, you realize the door on the wall which opens to a a short corridor and after, an unknown yard. When you pass the door, all the noise of the crowded street stops suddenly and the courtyard welcomes you with the statue of Pope Benedict XV (set up on December 11th, 1921) with a plaque hailing him as "the benefactor of all people, regardless of nationality or religion" and lastly, you see The Basilica Cathedral of The Holy Spirit of Istanbul (St. Esprit, 1846). You can sense that it hosts many* hidden treasures including the 1897 Rieger Organ.
This was my first encounter with St. Esprit in November 2018, and in December 10th, 2019, for the second Opus Amadeus Istanbul Organ Festival, I was there in the courtyard again (I also wrote the first concert in 26th November 2019, you can find previous concert's post here). First time in 2018, I was quite timid and just waiting for the concert to begin (even though it wasn't my first time being in an organ concert). This time, I was still very excited and a bit shy but also more aware where I was, what I was going to listen, what should I expect or not, thanks to this festival and more importantly to Tarkan Şendal, organ builder, organist, composer and the founder of Istanbul Pipe Organ Team. He and his friends have been fixing, tuning and doing maintenance of many pipe organs in Istanbul almost for 3 years and organizing organ concerts (Their Youtube Channel is highly recommended where you can find some of their quality work and delightful concert videos). He was very humble to accept my interview request about tonight's concert and the preparation of the organ in the rush of tuning and all the other preparations.
Here is the story behind this marvelous organ and how it started to speak as new after more than a hundred and twenty year:
1) How did Istanbul Pipe Organ Team was founded?
Sendal: Istanbul Pipe Organ Team was founded thanks to a God-gifted meeting of me (the founder Tarkan Sendal), and the team's visual director, Aras Ali. I had already been fixing and tuning organs but constantly was in need of an assistance. For tuning and repairs, different friends of mine were accompanying. After that meeting, Aras decided to dedicate his full skills to this new exciting era. Also thanks to him, his friend, Ayham Mallisho, visual artist joined to help us. So that, by the beginning of 2019, Istanbul Pipe Organ Team finally had a technician to repair and tune organs, a visual director to help maintenances and broadcast the work to the whole world, and a visual artist to help to edit records and photo-shootings.
2) Which organs Istanbul Pipe Organ Team takes care of?
Sendal: Istanbul Pipe Organ Team's main goal is to repair as much as we can do. Turkey has a wide variety of organ types and styles from world-known builders. So far we took care of 2 Hill and Sons, (British), 2 Riegers (Austria-Hungarian) in different places. We are offering annual maintenances as well.
3) How did you prepare this organ for the concert? What were the most challenging and rewarding tasks?
Sendal: To prepare the Rieger organ for the festival, we started with full expertise of pipes and making a list of them which need voicing. (Which there are nearly 1500 pipes in total). After that we did our best to remedy voicing problems which is very challenging since we need to adjust mouth geometry, lips positions or tongue curvatures of reeds. After that, regulating the mechanism was next. Before tuning we needed to make sure mechanism is neither too tight nor too loose. Next step was tuning which sometimes can be challenging since pitch of the organ can easily change due to temperature changes. Then each concert day, we tuned reeds before the performance so that the organ could produce utmost satisfying in-tune sounds.
4)What advantages and disadvantages do you think this organ has for the performers?
Sendal: To me, for an average size organ, having 3 reed stops and 2 mixture stops with other flues is a perfect advantage that allows the performer to play the musics which should be played either soft or loud. I can separate the disadvantages in two, for the performer and for us, the builders. For the performers; since it doesn't have adjustable combination system it might be sometimes hard for the performer to change registration. For us, since it is a cone-chest with barker lever connected to Great division, it is very hard to adjust the mechanism since it is sometimes impossible to reach every part of it.
5)Which registers are your favorites in this organ?
Sendal: As a performer also, I really love the sound of Bourdon 8' stop which is a stopped-doppelflöte. It blends perfectly with Salicional 8' as a solo color or with flauto 4' as a flute solo. Also Vox humana with tremulant has a very nice solo effect. Trombasso 16' of pedals are very useful for strong pedal passages. To make a long story short, I can tell you this organ was built with perfect register selections matching most satisfaction-required demands.
6)Do you have any comments on the choices of pieces or registrations of the performer tonight?
Sendal: Tonight's performer Emanuele Cardi, is a true Maestro. He was very wise and practical with his registration and he gave the spirit to all the pieces he performed. It could not be any better. We appreciate him that we experienced to hear the full capacity of this magnificent organ.
7)Thank you very much Mr Sendal, for these useful insights!
In organ music, a very important subject is called "registration". As I also asked Tarkan Sendal about his comments, a genuine virtuosity in organ music includes registration knowledge and a taste for a pleasing combination of stops. Thanks to him, I've encountered with a book called Organ Registration which was published in 1919, Boston. It's author Everett E. Truette defines it as "the art of selecting and combining the various stops of an organ." and also compares it to coloring in painting: "The stops of an organ are to an organist what the palette is to the painter". He also draws similarities between an organ and an orchestra by writing "Registration bears the same relation to organ music that orchestration bears to orchestral music.". In this sense, I admired Sigr. Cardi's preferences tonight.
Also, as the taste develops with familiarity with the organ, I can't imagine what kind of effects and variety of shades and contrasts of tone-colors would a resident organist produce. I hope one day we will have at least few regularly performing Istanbul resident organists..
Emanuele Cardi, as his short biography in the program and on this website states; he "has been the Titular Organist of St. Maria della Speranza in Battipaglia (Salerno) since 1996, at the Ghilardi organ, one of the most famous in the international contemporary organ world, and the Carli Organ (since 2004). He is also the Director of the Homonymous Chapel Choir. ... He received the Diploma in Organ and Composition with highest honors at the Conservatory F. Morlacchi in Perugia as a student of Wijnand van de Pol. Soon thereafter he attained the Postgraduate Diploma level with highest honors, including the additional concentrated studies of choral music, choral conducting, piano and harpsichord. He is professor at the Conservatory “A. Corelli” in Messina, Mr. Cardi records regularly for “La Bottega Discantica” and the British company “Priory Records.”"
After the long introduction of St Esprit Cathedral, Istanbul Pipe Organ Team and a short information about organ registration, I can begin to share my impressions of the performance. I should start by noting that the program was selected brilliantly: Beginning and ending with grand maestro J.S.Bach, crediting his pupils Krebs and Kittel and musician cousin Walther, adding Gigout as a French and the romantic representative of the organ repertoire and crowning with Liszt's "B-A-C-H" prelude and fugue is amazing to me. (Check my playlist for listening all of them).
Opening piece of the night was Sinfonia from Cantata “Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir”, (1731) BWV 29 (arrangement: A. Guilmant) by J. S. Bach (1685 – 1750). He composed this melody in Köthen in 1720, as a piece for solo violin and is based on BWV 1006 and BWV 120a.
With the energetic beginning of the performance, the lights went darker and revealed the painting behind the altar much clearly. It was painted in 1867 and represents the descent of the Holy Spirit which is the event that gave its name to the Basilica Cathedral ("St Esprit").
Second piece was Trio in A minor, WV 450 by J. L. Krebs (1713 – 1780). He was a favorite pupil of J.S. Bach (who regarded him particularly highly, punning on their two surnames declaring Krebs ‘was the only crayfish in his stream’) and a supremely talented inheritor of the composer–organist tradition of the Northern European Baroque.
I sensed full range of emotions, thus liked this lyrical piece very much as the Baroque Doctrine of the Affections indicates "this music is capable of arousing a variety of specific emotions within the listener". I was expecting a softer tone yet its gentleness was quite satisfying too.
It is followed by Fantasia con organo pleno, C major by J. C. Kittel (1732 – 1809) whom is another pupil of Bach. Mr Cardi has a recording of this piece as well as Trio in A minor of Krebs' in his 2018 "The Bach Circle" album. It is well interpreted in the concert as it was in the recording.
The church was cold and I think Mr Cardi has warmed up and started to perform fully with the “Introduction et Thème fugué”, which is the first piece of Six Pieces d'Orgue by Eugene Gigout (1844 – 1925). Very dramatic and impressive piece which the name "fugué" offers that it is also a hommage to J.S. Bach. Gigout composed these where he was the organist of the Saint-Augustin church in Paris in 1881. Later in 1911, he became professor of Conservatory of Paris.
Fifth piece of the night was Concerto del Sigr. Meck, B minor, LV 133 (organ arrangement) by Johann Gottfried Walther (1684 – 1748) who was a German music theorist, organist, composer, and one of the first musical lexicographers. Not only was his life almost exactly fall into same years to that of J.S. Bach, Walther was the famous composer's cousin. His organ arrangements of concerti were highly respected by his contemporaries.
Concerto del Sigr Meck is one of those with 3 movements; Allegro, Adagio and Allegro. Especially the slow, Adagio movement is emotional with smooth and mellow sound, creates similar emotions in me like the Trio in A minor of Krebs.
The most exciting part of the concert was Prelude and Fugue on B-A-C-H S260 by F. Liszt (1811 - 1886) for me, because this is one of the pieces I've listened to in Thomaskirche few years ago when I visited Leipzig.
Liszt composed this in 1855 and made a second version in 1870 while I'm not sure which version Mr Cardi performed the in the concert. With a shorter prelude and longer fugue, it lasted around 12 minutes in total.
In naming of notation (nomenclatura), B=Sib, A=La, C=Do, H=Si. So, the letters of "BACH" makes the melody below. Liszt is not the first person who came up with this idea (even Bach himself used this theme!) however, his genius use of chromaticism and dissonance made him one of the best. He is also the inventor of programmed music** which may explain his expressive skills that has shown in this piece.
Closing piece was the splendid last piece of Six Pieces de L'orgue "Grand Choeur Dialogue" by E. Gigout again. It was chosen wisely and performed wonderfully for final, although I was expecting a louder performance. For the encore, maestro played a very nice Bach Chorale (possibly BWV 700 Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her) and completed the ceremony of hommage to grand maestro J.S.Bach :
In his Istanbul concert, Maestro Emanuele Cardi fascinated with his masterful skills. As I was leaving the Cathedral that night, the feelings of excitement, joy and wonder still persisting in me and I was already impatiently looking forward to next year's concerts.
*In fact, there is an underground monumental cemetery under the Cathedral, called “Cyrpt”. There, Giuseppe Donizetti Paşa (brother of famous compositor Gaetano Donizetti) who founded the first imperial band in the Ottoman Empire and the others are buried. For more information you may visit St Esprit website.
**According to Britannica Program music, instrumental music that carries some extramusical meaning, some “program” of literary idea, legend, scenic description, or personal drama. It is contrasted with so-called absolute, or abstract, music, in which artistic interest is supposedly confined to abstract constructions in sound.