Kotzschmar Goings and Comings #1437
…we enjoy archive recordings of the renowned Kotzschmar Memorial Organ at Merrill Auditorium in Portland, Maine, in anticipation of the instrument's Grand Reawakening on September 27 following a major 2-year refurbishment.
Hour 1
EDWIN H. LEMARE: Toccata di Concerto, Op. 59 –Fred Hohman (Pro Organo 7117)
J. S. BACH: Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 645 –Ray Cornils (AFKA 120)
JOHN KNOWLES PAINE: Concert Variations on the Austrian Hymn, Op. 3, no. 1 –Ray Cornils (AFKA 110)
LEMARE: Summer Sketches (Dawn; The Bee; The Cuckoo; Twilight; Evening)–Thomas Murray (AFKA 515)
JACQUES OFFENBACH: Orpheus in the Underworld --Thomas Heywood (AFKA 119)
Filler – LEMARE: Summer Sketches (see above)
Hour 2
LUIGI BOCCHERINI: Minuet in A –Fred Hohman (Pro Organo 7117)
JEAN-PHILIPPE RAMEAU: Gavotte, fr Le Temple de la Gloire –Fred Hohman (Pro Organo 7117)
JOHANN STRAUSS II: Tritsch-Tratsch Polka, Op. 214 –Thomas Heywood (Pro Organo 7236)
FRANZ JOSEF HAYDN: Andante, fr Symphony No. 94 (Surprise) –Thomas Heywood (AFKA 120)
LOUIS JAMES ALFRED LEFÉBURE WELY: March in C –Ray Cornils (Pro Organo 7050)
BENEDETTO MARCELLO: Flute Sonata in F, Op. 2, no. 1 –Marienne Weaver, flute; John Weaver (AFKA 108)
ARTHUR SULLIVAN: Iolanthe Overture –Peter Richard Conte (AFKA 108)
GEORGE WHITEFIELD CHADWICK: Canzonetta –Douglas Major (AFKA 108)
LEMARE: Concert Polonaise, Op. 80 –Fred Hohman (AFKA 108)
Filler – LEMARE: Toccata di Concerto (see above)
Donated to the city by native son and publishing magnate Cyrus H. K. Curtis and inaugurated in 1912, the splendid Kotzschmar Memorial Pipe Organ in Portland’s City Hall auditorium honors the ‘music man’ of late 19th century Portland, Hermann Kotzschmar, and has served as his memorial for a century.
Immediately following a series of centenary concerts in 2012, the instrument was disassembled for a thorough refurbishment by Foley-Baker Pipe Organ Services of Tolland, CT. The triumphant return and grand re-inauguration of the Kotzschmar Organ (a 1912 Austin now with 102 ranks and 6,862 pipes) takes place on Saturday, September 27, 2014, with performances by Portland’s Municipal Organist Ray Cornils, Macy’s Wanamaker Grand Court Organist Peter Richard Conte, and the Kotzschmar Festival Brass, with many other events to follow.
In several brief YouTube clips, Municipal Organist Ray Cornils plays the Boellmann Toccata and takes us inside the Universal Wind Chest, recitalist John Weaver talks about the Kotzschmar Organ, which he played in summer concerts for fifty consecutive years, and Thomas Heywood plays Strauss’s Tritsch-Tratsch Polka.
