Iconoclastic organist Cameron Carpenter gives ASO audience wild ride

In recent years, Carpenter has fashioned himself as the reigning bad boy, not just in the organ world, but in the entire classical music realm.

I can safely say classical music hasn’t seen such a bundle of outrageous talent, eccentric attire, and pure showmanship since Paganini, who died in 1840, unless you count Liberace (which I do not). Carpenter makes appearances wearing form-fitting t-shirts and skin tight outfits studded with Swarovski crystals, usually showing off his ribbed abs. An atheist who describes his sexual preference as “queer,” he can be a tad provocative, especially when commenting on the current state of organ performance.

Carpenter wants to change the focus of the steadily shrinking organ world from the organs, the vast majority of which are inside churches heard mostly by their congregations and the occasional wedding guests, to the organist. As with other repertoire, say the violin, he tells us the soloist should be the star, not the instrument. And who better to make this case than Carpenter himself? Why not become a touring virtuoso, following in the steps of Virgil Fox (someone Carpenter denigrates), who toured around a few decades ago with an electronic organ?

Taking advantage of new technology based on sampling, Carpenter designed the “World Touring Organ,” a digital organ that can be loaded onto a semi-trailer and assembled in three days, and set out last year to conquer the world. And so, “right here in River City,” we sat down to see what would unfold as he joined guest conductor Jun Märkl and the ASO for an all-French concert.

By Carpenter standards this was a pretty low-key affair. He actually wore a black suit and shirt, so that the focus was on his trademark punk Mohawk haircut and Cuban-heel crystal-covered silver shoes (videos of his feet at work are big on YouTube).

The program was similarly relatively tame. The main event was the Poulenc’s Organ Concerto. A neglected work, it mixes up Bach-like chords, jazzy tunes, and some stuff that seems a bit sentimental today. From the outset, it was clear this would not be a fair collaboration. As is his way, Carpenter pumped up the volume on the big chords, made ample use of the Swell pedal, and drew attention with his unorthodox registrations (combinations of stops). Still, his technique is rock-solid.

It was all good fun and no great damage was done, but the audience response seemed tepid. This did not prevent Carpenter from returning for a pre-intermission encore, a cheeky, over the top version of Widor’s Toccata. This time he got a proper ovation.

The organist sees relatively little action in Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No. 3 (the “Organ Symphony”), but there are some big loud chords which Carpenter managed to push to the limit. Märkl held back on the Romantic “sturm und drang” and led a refined, restrained reading, perhaps wanting to enhance the contrast with the bold organ performance. It all worked rather well.

About the instrument… it does sound remarkably like a great pipe organ. Missing most was the way a pipe organ’s sound resonates and echoes in a big cathedral or church.

The concert opened with Messiaen’s “L’Ascension,” a delicate orchestral work by a composer best known for his prodigious organ catalog. Indeed, the work often sounds like an organ piece and the composer wrote an organ version. Märkl’s approach was spacious, with pregnant pauses. The strings played so darkly in the big chords that they seemed flat, but perhaps that was was Märkl’s intention.