Cameron Carpenter at the the Berlin Philharmonie Organ

[DesDownunder]

This is very informative and entertaining.

Watch the rather cute and very talented, Cameron Carpenter show his skills playing the Berlin Philharmonie Organ

YouTube has several videos with Cameron at various organs around the world.

[DesDownunder]

And here is Cameron discussing his frustrations as he plays the organ at the Sydney Opera House

I have to say that his approach reminds me of a young Virgil Fox.

[dude]

I've been a fan for years. He's quite openly, no flamboyantly gay, kind of the Liberace of the organ world.

If you want to learn more... here's his WikiPedia page: http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameron_Carpenter

[DesDownunder]

Flamboyantly gay may be an understatement.

I'm definitely a fan.

[DesDownunder]

Rick, you're dislike of extrovert performance in manner, dress, hair and speed is the very thing I love about Cameron and Virgil Fox.

However, I'm not going to attack you for your position; I have long since learned that people have different appreciations of performance.

What I would do, is ask that we don't condemn such flamboyance when it is the artist's means to expression of their vision.

I make no bones about my own preference for an artist who, for example, looks like he is direct from the stone age, covered in hair, wearing perhaps only a loin cloth, walks out onto a stage, sits down at the piano, and accompanied by a full symphonic orchestra, then performs, say, Rachmaninov's second piano concerto with all the style, nuance, and aesthetics of romance and human tenderness that the piece demands.

I have been fortunate enough to see ballet dancers who are technically brilliant gymnasts, but lack the flair and style that turns those acrobatics into movement that conveys the human experience of life and love contained in the music. Emotional distance just doesn't provide me with that kind of satisfaction. I love that the artist dares exhibit his/her involvement with the message, whether it be a performance of Shakespeare or Mozart.

I thrill to see artists daring to be moved by the involvement of their talent with the work they perform.

Of course, it sometimes transpires that their performance is best viewed with the lights off, but then again the most virtuosic of lovers is often not fully appreciated until they are performing without a spotlight, and that may well be a personal preference.

A related, but often overlooked relationship with music is the one with recorded music where there is no accompanying visual image.

I often wonder if modern videos of musicians performing, lessens the depth of the musical experience for the audience.

To explain what I mean by that statement, consider the famous recording producer, John Culshaw, who said that no opera performance on even the best equipped theatrical stage, could ever compete with the images that we, as listeners, conjure in our own minds, when listening to a recording of a performance in a darkened room.

We can revel in watching the artist's enthusiasm for the work, but watching them perform may well be a different experience to letting them convey the listener to where the composer wanted to take them.

There is so much to say in this context that I will finish by saying that the flamboyance of an artist is often the means to an extraordinary performance. Sometimes we should want to see that flamboyance, whilst at other times we just want to hear the music that they make.

I'd encourage everyone to enjoy seeing how the music is made, but to also appreciate the sound of the music.

[DesDownunder]

Post duplicated itself. I have no idea why.

[Cole Parker]

I agree, Des. Hearing a performance without visuals means you're more involved with the music itself. Watching it being performed, you're getting a different experience altogether, and the music itself is no longer the single element or even necessarily the most important one.

Both ways of enjoying music have their moments. But the are different.

C