Schoenstein & Co., Benicia, California; Church of the Good Shepherd, Corpus Christi, Texas
The Accompanist-Orchestrator: Getting the Best out of Stanford and Korngold
When listening to one of the old Hollywood soundtracks, our ears instantly recognize hallmarks of the era. There are the singing melodies, the rich orchestrations, and the ingenious musical devices. (To say nothing of the fantastic playing.) We remember the great film songwriters and composers, and our modern minds often forget the many talented orchestrators responsible for two of the three hallmarks listed above.
Consider now the talented choir accompanist. Seated at the organ bench, this person fulfills all the duties of the Hollywood orchestrator, with the added responsibility of playing the performance! The pianist accompanies sensitively, the conductor makes an orchestra do the same; only the organist is responsible for sensitive playing and orchestration. Charles Villiers Stanford writes the core material, and the choir leads in the foreground, while the uniqueness of each organ forces the accompanist into their role as accompanist-orchestrator, responsible for realizing the full musical potential of Mr. Stanford’s work.
Our organ for Church of the Good Shepherd in Corpus Christi, Texas, was designed to give the accompanist-orchestrator the musical resources to fulfill this role with as much skill as the best Hollywood orchestrators. It presents an opportunity to examine aspects of the relationship between composer, accompanist-orchestrator, and orchestra (organ).
The composer
Hollywood composers bear a striking resemblance to church music composers. They both write music for practical use, sometimes for only one performance; their music is part of a larger art-piece (the movie or church service); they work with many stakeholders, including those who may have no interest in their craft (producers or clergy)…