The new organ at the Zurich Tonhalle: queen or stepmother?

Not only the British, but also the republican people of Zurich have a queen. However, she is not yet 96 years old and her throne is not in the House of Lords in Westminster. She’s only just under a year old, but she still resides in the magnificently renovated concert hall of the Zurich Tonhalle. We are talking about the concert organ built and installed in 2021 by Orgelbau Kuhn AG. After the “Queen of Instruments” was inaugurated with great pomp last September, it experienced somewhat neglected treatment over the course of the season. But now, over the Pentecost weekend, the Internationale Organtage Zürich have once again turned the spotlight on the new Tonhalle organ.

With five concerts, an organ presentation and a scientific symposium, the many possible uses of the organ were demonstrated and discussed. The official organizer was the Tonhalle Society, but the “Friends of the New Zurich Tonhalle Organ” played an important role, especially its President Hans-Peter Fricker. The association initiated the Organ Days, established contacts with the performers and, in cooperation with this year’s focus artist of the Tonhalle, Christian Schmitt, proposed the programs. In addition, the Circle of Friends makes a sizeable financial contribution to the event. The opening concert on Saturday showed that they dared to try new formats of organ presentation.

Overpowering Bruckner

Who has hitherto come up with the idea of ​​prefacing a Bruckner symphony with a solo organ work by Bach and by Olivier Messiaen? A symphonist who has also improvised on the organ is combined with two organ composers who have also written orchestral works. In practice, however, the concept only works to a limited extent. Christian Schmitt interprets Bach’s Fantasy and Fugue in G minor BWV 542 too soberly, and the soft registration chosen lacks the typical baroque organ sound.

More attractive are the two movements from Messiaen’s “Livre du Saint Sacrement”, in which Schmitt imaginatively exploits the sound possibilities of the organ. The main problem, however, lies in the lack of programmatic interlocking: After Herbert Blomstedt, the charismatic Methusalem among the conductors, gave a deeply moving interpretation of Anton Bruckner’s 5th Symphony with the Tonhalle Orchestra, the two organ pieces are long forgotten.

On Pentecost Sunday, another illustrious guest awaited at the organ festival: the baritone Thomas Hampson was given the task of promoting the song recital format with organ accompaniment. Of course, most composers wrote their songs for voice and piano, including Gustav Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder (which are best known today in the version with orchestra). The two immortal songs “I’ve lost the world” and “At midnight” put it to the test. Hampson, for all the vocal magic he pulls off just on the first song, makes it clear that opera is his domain. Schmitt accompanies with sophisticated, atmospheric registrations. And yet, anyone familiar with the piano versions will not be overwhelmed by this organ transcription.

The same applies to the “Four Serious Songs” by Johannes Brahms. The spiritual character of these songs gives the organ a certain right to exist. When three movements from Maurice Duruflé’s “Missa cum jubilo” are heard in an arrangement for baritone and organ, one almost feels transported to a Gothic cathedral in Paris. Last but not least, the organ festival wants to prove that the organ can also be a thoroughly secular instrument. This proof was extremely successful on the third day. After the organist Barbara Dennerlein wowed the audience with stunning jazz sounds in the afternoon, the Zurich Ballet provided an electrifying finale in the evening.

Ritual murder with piano

Igor Stravinsky’s “Sacre du printemps” is performed on the basis of Stravinsky’s own version for piano four hands. The organist Sebastian Küchler-Blessing and the pianist Frank Dupree prove conclusively that transcriptions do not necessarily have to be inferior to the originals. On the contrary: the combination of the organ, which aptly imitates the tonal colors of the original orchestral version, with the piano, which is responsible for the percussive character of the work, brings a surprising aesthetic benefit. The visualization of this atavistic story of the ritual murder of a young woman in pagan Russia is provided by seven dancers from the Zurich Ballet in a choreography by Lucas Rodrigues Valente. Breathtaking! One would like to experience something like this again on the stage of the Tonhalle.

At Pentecost 2023, the Zurich International Organ Days are scheduled to take place again. The new Tonhalle organ will also be upgraded in other ways in the coming season. Daniela Timokhine, for example, will give an organ recital, the Tonhalle Orchestra will play Strauss’ “Alpine Symphony” under Paavo Järvi, and the “Literature and Music” format places the organ in a chamber music context. And Christian Schmitt comes up with the Swiss premiere of the organ concerto “Hugging – Light and Shadow” by Toshio Hosokawa, who will hold the Creative Chair. In addition, the Tonhalle organ is also used more by external organizers. The Queen will have a respectably busy schedule in the 2022/23 season.