In November of 1998 when the Los Angeles Philharmonic was still performing in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, I attended one of their concerts that featured Kent Nagano conducting a program of American music. One reason I was excited to attend this concert was to see and hear Gershwin’s Concerto in F performed live. The soloist was Wayne Marshall. I did not know at the time that not only is Marshall a prolific pianist, but that he is also a maestro of the organ.
Marshall returns to Los Angeles this weekend to perform a solo recital on the massive concert organ at Walt Disney Concert Hall on Sunday evening. The program finds him performing works Marcel Dupré, Olivier Messiaen and he’ll open and close the performance with improvisations he will do on the fly.
It was the topic of improvisation that lead my conversation with Marshall when we spoke via Skype two weeks ago. Here are edited excerpts from that conversation.
I don’t think most people associate improvisation with classical organ music as much as they do for the organ within jazz or rock music. What do these improvisations allow you to do that not only inspires you but challenges an audience to think differently about the possibilities with this instrument?
Improvisation is very essential to organ playing, particularly the French and German tradition. Liturgically French organists have to improvise. Germany also and in the United Kingdom to a certain extent. It’s not as out there as it is in France. Coming from a liturgical background, as I do, this stems from that.
In concert, because I have such wide experience playing jazz and listening to a lot of different music. I don’t try to improvise like other people. Pierre Cochereau was probably the world’s finest organ improviser. What he did was very unique and you’ll find that organists try to copy that. What I try to bring to it is something more personal. I hope my improvisations are more tonal than atonal. I’m improvising themes Beethoven used and I’ll start and we’ll just see. There’s no preparation for improvisation. What you hear will not be pre-planned. The actual form will be created right there.
Composer Nico Muhly told me nearly two years ago that one of the things that inspired him to write an organ concerto is that there isn’t much new music being written for the organ today. What’s your view of the contemporary repertoire?
There’s a lot of music. I’m not sure a lot of it is any good. That’s the problem. I have my favorite composers. Let’s talk about the last century. Messiaen was the last of the truly great writers because he had a voice that was so unique. I always say there’s a lot of music. This is not true just with organ music, but there is a lot of music you hear first, last and never again. That music I don’t want to go down that path. It’s a big question what you asked. What I’m trying to say is because I improvise I tend to avoid learning a lot of new works.
Johann Sebastian Bach, who wrote considerable works for the organ, said, “There is nothing to playing the organ. You only have to hit the right notes at the right time and the instrument plays itself.” I assume you would disagree with him.
A bit. [He lets out quite a laugh.] I’m a pianist. I couldn’t play the organ the way I do if I wasn’t a pianist. My keyboard education started with the piano.
Speaking of Bach, when I look you up on Spotify, Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor and your performance of it, has vast more plays that anything else. Does that reflect the popularity of that piece or a limited appreciation of either the repertoire itself or what can be played on the organ?
It could be a question of both. The piece is very popular and very idiomatic of Bach. There are certain key pieces they associate with the organ, but there is a lot of repertoire out there. My job is to entertain an audience, bring them together and I always assume there are 10-15 people who have never been to an organ recital before.
American music, particularly Gershwin and Bernstein, inspire you. What did these two composers do that you think sets them apart from other composers?
What’s so special about George’s music? I imagine the score [to Rhapsody in Blue] wasn’t even written down properly and he played it and wrote it afterwards [at the work’s premiere.] It’s important to think about that. The Dupre symphony [Symphony-Passione Op.23 which Marshall plays at this recital] he improved the symphony on the four things he was given. He went back to sketch the ideas that he played in the concert without using pen and paper. It’s important to think about these things, to think about Rhapsody in Blue and Symphony-Passione, and make it a spontaneous thing without thinking about the written note as confining you. To capture that moment of spontaneity is very important.
You’re playing Charles Marie Widor’s Organ Symphony No. 6 in G minor. Widow said, “Organ playing is the manifestation of a will filled with the vision of eternity.” What is organ playing a manifestation of for you?
Playing the organ is a bit like having an orchestra at one’s fingertips. One can be really gripped by the sound of an organ; the majesty, the power. It’s a very philosophical question. I love to play the organ. I’m very fortunate that I’ve had a lot of encouragement over the years.
The organ is a big orchestral instrument played by two hands and two feet. You have to make this particular instrument sound great. When people say, “We never knew it could that.” Well, it’s all here. You have to be adventurous. You have to use the instrument. It’s there. Use it.
Photo of Wayne Marshall by Charles Best Photography/Courtesy of the Los Angeles Philharmonic