Plumbing the Depths of Pipe Organ Repertoire

In Paris’ Notre Dame, in the mighty St. Stephan’s Cathedral in Vienna . . . all over Europe audiences of thousands have watched Samuel John Swartz play. Although he’s also performed in large cathedrals and halls in the United States, Swartz just doesn’t get the kind of acclaim at home that he does abroad. It’s something that pipe organists in America have always had to deal with.

“It’s a mysterious instrument,” said Swartz, who is to perform tonight at Cal State Northridge. “Even some composers have a low opinion of the pipe organ--of course, the most blatant was Igor Stravinsky. Someone pressed him to compose an organ piece, so he wrote a huge half note on a piece of paper and said, ‘There it is.’ ”

Many may believe that organists simply lean into the instrument and press a bunch of keys simultaneously--”The concept of the Phantom of the Opera,” Swartz said. In reality, organists sit very calmly. “You’ll hurt your back if you do it” the other way, Swartz said. “It’s not a skill based on athletic ability.”

This is part of what he teaches students at CSUN and the University of Redlands. “I try to show them the dynamic aspects of the organ repertoire--to get general music students interested in the instrument,” Swartz says. “A lot are amazed at how difficult it is to play. You have to have superb keyboard technique. To that you add the foot motion--there’s a lot of coordination involved.”

It was the sheer size and awesome power of the pipe organ that impressed Swartz when he first set eyes on one in his hometown church in Portland, Ore. “It had more keyboards and pedals than I’d ever seen,” he said.

During high school he took the job as church organist. “It was more of a prelude, offertory, postlude situation,” Swartz said, “nothing fancy.”

It wasn’t until Swartz was in college at Stanford that he really discovered the musical possibilities of the instrument. “It was a whole different world,” he said, “nothing like the concept of background music it has in the Protestant music I’d heard.

“I was going to major in classical languages and physics,” Swartz said. But the Stanford organ recitals changed his mind. “I decided to double major in math and music.” Then he got a masters in music and a doctorate and he studied in Germany and Vienna. Eventually he found himself among the top pipe organists in the world.

Tonight’s concert will include pieces by Bruhn, a German baroque composer; d’Aquin, a French classicist; Lauren Tach, a 20th-Century Italian composer, and more well-known works from Mozart and Saint Saens.

Swartz will play on a 25-year-old Abbott and Sieker organ that CSUN owns. “It’s all on wheels and is more for recitals,” Swartz said. But by next year, the university hopes to have installed a new Walker organ, which is being custom-made in London. “As far as I know,” Swartz said, “it will be the only Walker in this part of California.” It’s a mechanical-action instrument, which means that the organ will have a more immediate, intimate feel. (Electric action organs run on series of switches.)

“I really think we’ll be able to pump some blood into this program,” Swartz said.

Samuel John Swartz plays tonight at 8 in the CSUN Recital Hall, 18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge. Tickets are $5 for general admission, $2 for students and senior citizens. For information, call (818) 885-3180.