There is something irreducibly strange about contemporary music for the pipe organ. Perhaps more than any other instrument, the organ is indelibly associated with deep cultural traditions: its sound evokes ceremony, worship, and divine cosmic order—all very well suited to the grandeur of a Bach fugue or Mozart mass, but not so much to the spirit of most contemporary music.  But on the other hand, on a technical level the organ can be seen as the ideal instrument for 20th century music: long before electronics, it allowed allowed the creation of synthetic timbres, and its sheer sonic force lends itself readily to clusters and “wall of sound” effects so dear to many modernist composers.

On Sunday, March 6, New York-based composer John Zorn came to Christ Church in Old City Philadelphia to play the church’s pipe organ in the final event of the Blindspot festival, a ten-day series of contemporary dance performances and organ concerts co-presented by Bowerbird and Ladybird. Zorn was originally scheduled for a single appearance on the festival’s opening night, but he came back at the end for an encore performance.

Zorn’s playing was effortless, joyful. As expected, his performance was rich in juxtaposition: the music passed from angular atonal counterpoint to bright chordal blasts of sound; gently flowing melodies over modal ostinati gave way to huge, glorious clusters that shook the windows of the church. What was so remarkable about the performance was how self-evidently all these elements seemed to fit together. In Zorn’s hands, the contrast of this heterogeneous material was anything but forced or bombastic; he convinced the listener that these sounds belong together by nature.

The leadership of Christ Church has declared its commitment to establishing an ongoing connection with contemporary music, and their hosting of the Blindspot festival certainly shows they mean business. Here’s hoping the collaboration continues and grows stronger in the future.

March 07, 2011, 7:05pm