The Chenaults play intriguing organ duets in recital at St. Philip’s | EarRelevant

CONCERT REVIEW:

The Chenault Duo
March 11, 2023
Cathedral of St. Philip
Atlanta, Georgia – USA
Raymond & Elizabeth Chenault, organ.
Philip MOORE: Allegro for Organ Duet
Richard SHEPHARD: Ecologue
Rachel LAUREN: Fantasie à Deux
Charles CALLAHAN: The Emerald Isle (based on “Londonderry Air”)
Melinda Lee CLARK: Two to Tango (from An American Suite)
Nicholas WHITE: A Spiritual Romp for Two
David BRIGGS: Hommage À Pierre Couchereau (world premiere)
Raymond CHENAULT: Fantasie Mystique

Mark Gresham | 13 MAR 2023

On Saturday evening, organists Elizabeth and Raymond Chenault performed seven contemporary works for organ duet (two players at a single console), plus one solo organ work, at The Cathedral of St. Philip in Atlanta, performed on the Aeolian-Skinner organ in the cathedral’s nave. Two works were world premieres; the other six were from an extensive repertoire the Chenaults have commissioned, premiered, and championed over the years. The Friends of Cathedral Music and the Atlanta Chapter of the American Guild of Organists jointly presented the recital.

The program opened with Allegro for Organ Duet by Philip Moore. Completed in 1992 and premiered by the Chenault Duo the following February, the sonata-form movement featured meaty textures, harmonies, and dense counterpoint, bringing to mind the works of early 20th-century English composers. It ended in a triumphal manner.

The oldest work on the program, Richard Shepherd’s Ecologue (1991), offered a contrast with its reflective mood and murmuring textures.

Rachel Lauren’s lively Fantasie à Deux was initially meant to be a Fanfare-Toccata but became a Fantasy for organ duet in the course of being composed. Its various linked sections displayed the instrument’s capacity for contrasting sonic colors.

Charles Callahan’s The Emerald Isle provided another change to a more reflective atmosphere. Based on the familiar “Londonderry Air” (aka “Danny Boy”), The Emerald Isle opened softly and allowed the tune and texture to evolve at an unhurried pace.

Atlanta organist-composer Melinda Lee Clark wrote Two to Tango as the third movement for An American Suite, which the Chenaults premiered at the 2012 conference of the Georgia Music Teachers Association. Playing upon the idioms found across American classical and folk music, Clark picks up on its Latino heritage (with perhaps a nudge from Leonard Bernstein), even if this music sounds a bit closer to a habanera than a darker, more emphatic tango.

A Spiritual Romp for Two by Nicholas White was premiered by the Chenaults in 2019 at Peachtree Road United United Methodist Church during the final concert of that year’s Atlanta Summer Organ Festival. A work of relentless momentum, it features melodic elements drawn from three African-American spirituals, “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen,” “Steal Away,” and “Deep River,” incorporating idiomatic elements from jazz, blues, and gospel, even as White briefly quotes J.S. Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor toward the end. White achieves variety through changing textures more than registration so that the piece can be effective on smaller, less colorful instruments than the cathedral’s 5130-pipe Aolean-Skinner.

The final two works on the program were world premieres, both written this year.

Hommage À Pierre Couchereau by David Briggs invokes the spirit of the celebrated French organist who was Titulaire of Notre-Dame de Paris for nearly three decades, from 1955 to 1984, as well as deliberately invoking his sound world, in particular his legendary skills at improvisation. The principal theme is a musical cryptogram based on the organist’s first and last names combined. The composer took advantage of greater opportunities for multilayered textures, kaleidoscopic coloristic possibilities, and contrapuntal dialogue offered by an organ duet.

The final piece was the program’s only organ solo: Fantasie Mystique was composed by Ray Chenault and dedicated to his wife, Beth, celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. Inspired by Chenault’s fascination with French organ literature and St. Philip’s Aeoluan-Skinner organ and acoustic environment, Fantasie Mystique launched with a forte opening incorporating dissonant, rumbling trills, then settles into a softer principal section, based on on a three-note motif, that swells then dissolved into a mysterious haze over solo flutes and reeds. Later, the primary theme briefly returned with expanded harmonies, leading to a rousing coda.

Once again, the Chenaults have presented an engaging, skillfully-executed concert that brought together a body of excellent recent repertoire and premiered a pair of new works in the same program, with the additional joy of performance on St. Philip’s distinguished Aeolian-Skinner organ. We can only look forward to what will come next from their remarkable wellspring of new organ duets. ■

Specifications of the Aeolian-Skinner, Op. 1399 are listed below.

Organists Elizabeth and Raymond Chenault at the console of the Aeolian-Skinner, Op. 1399. (courtesy of The Chenault Duo)

Cathedral Nave Organ, Cathedral of St. Philip, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Aeolian-Skinner, Op. 1399
(1962, tonal revisions & additions 1992)
Schoenstein & Co. console (2011)
Total pipes in the organ = 5130

Specifications:

Great (Exposed) Manual II – 3”

16 Violon – 61 pipes
8 Prinzipal – 61 pipes
8 Spitzflöte – 61 pipes
8 Holz Gedackt – 61 pipes
4 Oktav – 61 pipes
4 Rohrflöte – 61 pipes
2 Super Octave – 61 pipes
2 Blockflöte – 61 pipes
V Cornet Positiv
IV-VI Fourniture – 294 pipes
IV Scharf – 244 pipes
8 Major Trumpet (solo)

Great 4’
Great Unison Off
Positiv on Great
Celestial on Great

Solo (Enclosed) Manual IV – 6”

8 Violon Cello – 73 pipes
8 Cello Célèste – 61 pipes
4 Flute Harmonique – 61 pipes
8 Major Trumpet (14”) – 61 pipes
8 Tuba – 61 pipes
8 English Horn – 61 pipes
8 French Horn (3 octaves) – 37 pipes
8 Bombarde – 73 pipes

Solo 16’
Solo 4’
Solo Unison Off
Positiv on Solo
Celestial on Solo
Tremulant

Swell (Enclosed) Manual III – 4”

16 Cor-de-Nuit – 61 pipes
8 Geigen Prinzipal – 61 pipes
8 Rohrflöte – 61 pipes
8 Viole de Gambe – 61 pipes
8 Viole Celeste – 61 pipes
8 Flauto Dolce – 61 pipes
8 Flauto Celeste – 61 pipes
4 Prestant – 61 pipes
4 Gemshorn – 61 pipes
4 Flute Harmonique – 61 pipes
2 Octavin – 61 pipes
IV Plein Jeu – 244 pipes
III Acuta 183 pipes
16 Hautbois – 61 pipes
8 Trompette – 61 pipes
8 Hautbois – 12 pipes
4 Clarion – 61 pipes

Swell 16’
Swell 4’
Swell Unison Off
Celestial on Swell
Positiv on Swell
Tremulant

Positiv (Exposed) Floating – 3”

8 Pommer Gedackt – 61 pipes
4 Koppel Flöte – 61 pipes
2/2/03 Nasat – 61 pipes
2 Octav – 61 pipes
1/3/05 Terz – 61 pipes
1/1/03 Larigot – 61 pipes
1 Sifflöte – 61 pipes
III Cymbel – 183 pipes

Cymbelstern
Tremulant

Choir (Enclosed) Manual I – 4”

16 Gemshorn – 61 pipes
8 English Diapason – 61 pipes
8 Klein-Erzähler – 61 pipes
8 Erzähler Celeste (TC) – 49 pipes
4 Octave – 61 pipes
2 Fifteenth – 61 pipes
IV Mixture – 244 pipes
16 Dulzian – 61 pipes
8 Tuba (solo)
8 Petite Trompette – 61 pipes
8 Cromorne – 61 pipes
4 Chalumeau – 61 pipes

Choir 16’
Choir 4’
Choir Unison Off
Positiv on Choir
Celestial on Choir
Tremulant

Celestial (Enclosed) Floating – 4”

8 Viole Sourdine – 61 pipes
8 Schwebung (TC) – 49 pipes
8 Spillflöte (TC) – 49 pipes
8 Flute Conique – 61 pipes
8 Flute Celeste (TC) – 49 pipes
4 Spillflöte – 12 pipes
4 Erzähler – 61 pipes
8 Menschenstimme – 61 pipes
8 Orlo – 61 pipes

Celestial 4’
Tremulant

Pedal – 4” except where noted

32 Contra Bourdon (5”) – 12 pipes
16 Contra Bass – 32 pipes
16 Violon (Great)
16 Bourdon – 32 pipes
16 Gemshorn (Choir)
16 Cor-de-Nuit (Swell)
16 Contre Flute (Celestial)
8 Octave – 32 pipes
8 Bourdon – 12 pipes
8 Gemshorn – 32 pipes
8 Cor-de-Nuit (Swell)
8 Viole Sourdine (Celestial)
4 Choral Bass – 32 pipes
4 Nachthorn – 32 pipes
4 Gemshorn – 12 pipes
2 Waldflöte – 32 pipes
IV Mixture – 128 pipes
32 Contra Posaune (3”) – 32 pipes
16 Major Trumpet (solo)
16 Posaune (3”) – 12 pipes
16 Dulzian Choir
16 Hautbois (Swell)
8 Trumpet (3”) – 12 pipes
8 Petite Trompette (Choir)
8 Hautbois (Swell)
8 Cromorne (Choir)
4 Clarion (3”) – 12 pipes
4 Petite Trompette (Choir)
4 Hautbois (Swell)

Couplers

Great to Pedal 8’
Swell to Pedal 8’
Choir to Pedal 8’
Solo to Pedal 8’
Positiv to Pedal 8’
Celestial to Pedal 8’
Great to Pedal 4’
Swell to Pedal 4’
Choir to Pedal 4’
Solo to Pedal 4’
Swell to Great 16’
Swell to Great 8’
Swell to Great 4’
Choir to Great 16’
Choir to Great 8’
Choir to Great 4’
Solo to Great 16’
Solo to Great 8’
Solo to Great 4’
Swell to Choir 16’
Swell to Choir 8’
Swell to Choir 4’
Solo to Swell 8’
Solo to Swell 4’
Solo to Choir 16’
Solo to Choir 8’
Solo to Choir 4’
Pedal Tutti: Choir 8’
Great/Choir Transfer

Mechanicals

256 Memory Levels
Sequencer – Next and Previous thumb and toe pistons
Record/Playback
Thumb Pistons

General 1-20 and cancel
Pedal 1-6 and cancel
Great 1-9 and cancel
Swell 1-9 and cancel
Choir & Positiv 1-9 and cancel
Solo & Celestial 1-9 and cancel

Reversible Thumb Pistons

Solo to Pedal
Swell to Pedal
Great to Pedal
Choir to Pedal
Positiv to Pedal
Swell to Great
Choir to Great
Swell to Choir
Full Organ

Toe Pistons

General 1-12, 19 & 20 (duplicated)
Contra Posaune 32’ (reversible)
Contra Bourdon 32’ (reversible)
Pedal 1-6 (duplicated)
Great to Pedal (reversible)
Swell to Pedal (reversible)
Choir to Pedal (reversible)
Full Organ (reversible)

EXTERNAL LINKS:

The Chenaults- Organ Duo: chenaultduo.com
AGO Atlanta: agoatlanta.org
Cathedral of St. Philip, Atlanta: cathedralatl.org

About the author:

Mark Gresham is publisher and principal writer of EarRelevant. He began writing as a music journalist over 30 years ago, but has been a composer of music much longer than that. He was the winner of an ASCAP/Deems Taylor Award for music journalism in 2003.

Read more by Mark Gresham.