Reviews: Revolutionary [Includes Bonus DVD]

from: Telarc






Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0089408071126
Label: Telarc
Manufacturer: Telarc
MPN: 80711
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Telarc
Release Date: September 23, 2008
Studio: Telarc


Rating: - A Young Organist of Refreshingly Vital "Star Power" Makes His Appearance on Recordings!
The organ is such a refuge of the mediocre, the staid, the conformists among classical music's instrumentalists, that it is always a joy when an organist, such as the zesty young Cameron Carpenter, comes along who has -- ah, well, let's say it! -- real "pizazz", yea, verily even much showmanship! It is about time that an organist take up the mantle of the very much missed E. Power Biggs, who, like young Carpenter, played with rhythmic incisecisiveness (something, alas, all too rare among other organists) and uninhibited will to "take risks" and to be adventurous. As Biggs also championed the harpsichord with "pédalier" (i.e. a foot-operated keyboard) on some of his recordings, even so does Cameron Carpenter champion the improved piano equipped with pedal keyboard ("'doppio' pedal piano") of the Italian firm, Borgato. For now, though, Cameron Carpenter makes his mixed CD-DVD début with an organ recording of dashing vigour and musical variety, but has promised to produce a disc playing one of Borgati's instruments. If you do not know Carpenter's work, search on YouTube for some audiovisual demonstrations of what this lad is capable.

Rather than go on further, I highly recommend to Amazon customers what Fanfare (a record-reviewing magazine of great prominence) has to say about Cameron Carpenter, who is pictured on the cover of vol. 32, no. 3 (Jan./Feb. 2009), with, inside, an interview of him and a review of this disc, on pages 42-44, 46 of that issue.

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Rating: - Fabulous Fun!!!
I'm not sure whether this is great music - well, yes I am: it isn't -or is it? Someone else will have to figure that out.

But I do know one thing: this kid is remarkably talented. I've just never seen anyone sit down (more or less) at an organ and do what he does.

Fantastically entertaining.

One more sacred cow gets blown to hell. And about time, too.

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Rating: - An outstanding must buy album
This is a great album! The music is vigerous and exciting. The DVD shows playing technique that is unconventional and artisitc at the same time. Enjoy!!

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Rating: - Great technique but!
Incredible technique with the organ. One would think that what he does is impossible, but yet he does it. Musical value is questionable but entertaining. Reminds me of Virgil Fox at his best, but technique overshadows the music to a great extent. Loved the DVD just to see it all happen. This guy can have a great future, but the musical values must be improved a great deal. Fun to listen to and watch, worth the price.

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Rating: - Nearly drove off the road
I hadn't heard this Carpenter CD, yet. Tonight Jim Svejda (KUSC FM, L.A.) played three selections, the Chopin, Ellington and Carmen. I was on the way home from Thanksgiving dinner, and I really had to concentrate on the traffic while this outrageous, inventive, screamingly virtuosic avalanche came at me in the car. The Chopin was not just showoff, it was a conception of marvelous invention. Rather than being dazzled by the obvious pedal work, I was taken most by the coloristic slicing and dicing going on in the manuals; just scintillating.
Carpenter has a genuine feel for the laid back, off the beat playing that the Ellington demands. This wasn't ersatz jazz knock-off; this guy was in the moment completely. The Carmen fantasy was a funhouse of playful, and near impossible registration shifts. Even if it was played on the latest preprogrammed wonder consol, it's lighting quick and seamless rendering was breathtaking at times. That's when I had to worry about my driving the most. I heard only those three cuts, and am in the process of buying the CD. I'm going to tear the heads off of three or four friends with this.
I heard Virgil Fox many times. His was also great showmanship, but a lot less musical content.

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