Word: organ
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...with the traditions of the blue-blood-dominated Conservative Party. The son of a master carpenter, Heath is a rarity among Tory Prime Ministers: a man who is not a product of one of Britain's select public schools. Heath did, however, attend Oxford's Balliol College, on an organ scholarship. Some acquaintances claim that they can still detect a trace of cockney in his acquired upper-class accent. "His vowels betray him," says a fellow Tory, who recalls that some party members would mimic Heath's peculiar accent behind his back...
Heath might have chosen a musical career if he had not gone off to war (he rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the army). Although his organ playing has been more publicized, those who have heard him consider his piano playing more accomplished. He contributed toward the organ at Balliol College, and still likes to return to play it. Says one acquaintance: "I've seen Ted's eyes glaze when he's talking with even the most attractive woman. The only time he really lights up is when he's conversing with someone bright about music...
...tattered state of tonality at the start of the 20th century, Arnold Schoenberg sought a new direction through the tight formations of serialism. Later on, other composers began an exploration of the resources of raw sound. Gerd Zacher is still doing just that. In normal practice, each organ pipe receives a steady and unchangeable supply of wind from the bellows and each produces only one single tone. What Zacher worked out was a way to vary the flow of air and thereby produce a family of tones from a single pipe, in much the same way that different sounds...
Zacher's new technique is not confined to the keyboard. His most dramatic trick is to turn the organ blower off while playing. How this sounds can be heard in Kagel's Improvisation Ajoutée, a chilling evocation of chaos included in a Zacher LP just released in the U.S. on the new Heliodor/Wergo label. At the climax of the work, as the supply of air begins to deplete, a cascade of falling pitches and fading sounds engulfs the listener in a musical-mystical doomsday. "It sounds," says Kagel, "as if the organ were exhaling her soul...
Zacher's offbeat passion for the organ comes naturally. All the way back to the great-uncle who lost a church job at the turn of the century for playing the then revolutionary Max Reger, Zacher's family tree has been heavy with organists. His reputation as both an avant-garde and a classical player was established during twelve years as chief organist at red brick Wellingsbütte Church near Hamburg. He moved to his new and prestigious Essen post only two months ago. In recent years he has performed at nearly every one of Europe...