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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (March 19, 2015)
Bach to the future The CCC Performing Arts Center wishes Johann Sebastian Bach happy birthday Saturday, March 21 with a special organ concert performed by Paul Tegels S Saturday, March 21 is the birthday of one of the world’s most revered composers, Johann Se- bastian Bach (1685-1750). It also happens to be World Organ Day. So, Partners for the PAC have organized a celebratory concert of Bach-centric music for organ on the Clatsop Community College Performing Arts Center’s historic Es- tey Opus 1429 organ, by organist Paul Tegels. Tickets are $25 at the door and at Brown Paper 7LFNHWV7KH¿UVWWKULOOLQJJRRVHEXPSLQGXFLQJ notes may be heard at 2 p.m. sharp. Lasting fame eluded Bach until decades after his death, but his Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (the scary organ music in “The Phantom of the Opera”) is embedded in popular culture, recog- nizable to most and a testament to the music gi- ant’s enduring genius. Tegels will perform Bach works along with compositions of composers ZKRERWKLQÀXHQFHGWKHELUWKGD\ER\RUZHUH WKHPVHOYHVLQÀXHQFHGE\KLP$OOSOD\HGDUROH in Bach’s star rising to such lofty heights. A native of the Netherlands where there’s a rich tradition of organ music going back hun- dreds of years, Tegels came to the U.S. on a Fulbright Scholarship. An associate professor RIPXVLFDQGXQLYHUVLW\RUJDQLVWDW3DFL¿F/X theran University in Tacoma, Washington, he’s doing the organ concert at the PAC, located at 16th Street and Franklin Avenue in Astoria, for the second time in two years. “I think (the PAC) is a great venue and will support it in any way I can. I’m especially happy to see effort and ener- gy going into bringing this organ back to life,” says the musician. 1RWXQOLNH%DFK7HJHOVSOD\HGKLV¿UVWRU gan at church. “I was singing in the children’s choir, and the organist got sick. I played the piano (and was) the only one around with keyboard ex- perience. In the beginning I wasn’t in love with the organ as much as thrilled about sitting behind it.” He got his own church key and for years — from middle school all through high school — he’d stop in and prac- tice for an hour or two before going home. “I was motivated,” he recalls. “I never questioned this; I’m lucky that way. I didn’t have to resent practicing.” Tegels began his life in music playing the ac- cordion as a boy in the little berg of Venzelder- heide in the southeast, close to the German bor- der (population around 500). He was one of six ‘I’m especially happy to see eff ort and energy going into bringing this organ back to life.’ musical children at home who formed a family band that played at local parties. Tegels, himself, learned piano, harpsichord and trombone. Expect the musician to offer insights into Bach and program offerings, though the mas- ter’s compositions will dominate. Tegels mar- vels, “People associate him with the organ and organ music, but he composed for pretty much every instrument and genre except opera (de- spite being a great admirer of Vivaldi’s arias). In his later life, (Bach) was conducting a small orchestra in Leipzig that played for special oc- casions — he had to write a cantata for every Sunday for years.” 7KHSURJUDPLVQ¶W¿QDODVRISUHVVWLPHEXW other featured composers will include Dietrich Buxtehude, Felix Mendelssohn and Bert Matter of the Stedelijk Conservatory in The Nether- ODQGVDPDMRULQÀXHQFHIRU7HJHOVZKRZDV a student there. Buxtehude was an important German composer of the mid-Baroque period. In 1705, Bach, who was 20, walked from Arn- stadt to Lübeck — more than 250 miles — to meet Buxtehude (the pre-eminent organist in town), hear him play, and, as a young Bach explained, ”to comprehend one thing and an- other about his art.” Mendelssohn wrote several works for or- gan. “One of them was based on a Lutheran hymn,” reveals Tegels. “I’ll be playing that SLHFHWRKRQRUKLPDVDNH\¿JXUHLQUHYLY ing interest in Bach’s music almost 60 years after his death. His resurrecting of Bach’s ‘St. Matthew Passion’ helped ensure Bach’s pop- ularity for centuries to come.” “(Matter’s piece) incorporated Bach ideas into chorale preludes within a contemporary jacket,“ as his former student characterizes the work. “One, prelude (or verse) is based on a Lutheran hymn (very Bach like) and starts with holding down two keys simultaneously so you get this continuous, ethereal sound and then keep on playing against that. Bach wouldn’t have dreamed of doing that, but the piece is a nice change of pace and still in the thinking of Bach.” Tegels will share the stage part of the time with young violinist virtuoso Joseph Galle. “(Galle’s) a real prodigy, and I’m very ex- cited he’s joining me,” Tegels says. “He’ll do Bach’s Fugue in G Minor, a solo work, which the composer wrote for both violin and organ solo. It’s nice to put them side by side; they become completely difference pieces. You’ll recognize it as the same piece, but it sounds so different.” This concert is at the PAC for the PAC. That means it’s on offer to help raise money for the continued operation of the facility as a venue for affordable public arts and educa- tional offerings. For more information visit the Partners for the PAC website at www.sup- portthepac.org Bach to the Future 2 p.m. Saturday, March 21 CCC Performing Arts Center 588 16th St., at Franklin Avenue, Astoria www.supportthepac.org • $25 Submitted photo Paul Tegels, a native of the Netherlands, is an associate profes- sor of music and serves as university organist at Pacifi c Luther- an University. Submitted photo Paul Tegels will play the CCC Performing Art Center’s historic Estey organ in concert Saturday, March 21. the arts VISUAL ARTS • LITERATURE • THEATER • MUSIC & MORE Story by KATE GIESE March 19, 2015 | coastweekend.com | 9