| | Oops! I broke one of my blogging rules and let more than a week go by between posts. 
Lastnight, in a valiant effort to learn more about the King of the Instruments, Lizzie, Charity, and I went to an organ concert. Since the performer was a native North Carolinian and one of the finest organists in the world it seemed like a good way to see the instrument at its best. And it was. We discovered that every other organist we've heard just bangs, and lets the volume of the instrument overwhelm the audience. Mr. Carlo Curley understands musical color. The transcription of the "Liebestod" from Tristan and Isolde was enthralling. I'd have never believed that the textures and colors of a Wagnerian orchestra could come across on an organ.
And besides being a superb organist, he looks like Santa Claus with a gray beard and he talks ninety-miles-a-minute exactly the way you would expect a down-home North Carolinian who had lived in England for twenty years to talk - in a mix of British vernacular and Carolina colloquialisms. As we walked in the church door, he called us to the front table and said "Hey guys - or gals, take this sheet, and when the programs finally get here I'll pass them around." And later, "As the British would say in their wonderful understated way, it's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick!"
He's played for the royalty of Monaco, England, and Denmark, and he's made private recordings for the Sultan of Oman. I also wondered, given some of his word choices, if he's a Christian. Quite a polychrome personality.
Anybody who lives anywhere near Raleigh needs to visit Chocolate Smiles in Cary and try a Kahlua truffle. Sheer velvety chocolatey bliss . . . . 
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| | Posted 7/13/2007 9:06 PM - 4 views - 3 comments
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