Halloween Organ Recital

Join the Foothills Methodist Church in Gloversville on Sunday, October 30, at 3:00 p.m. in the church sanctuary for an exciting organ recital featuring a smorgasbord of classics, favorites and surprises. Malcolm Kogut will perform pieces such as the vivid and bristling with energy Dubois Toccata to the ubiquitous Toccata in D Minor by J. S. Bach.  Other music will include Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody," Boellmann's famous Suite Gothic Toccata, and the tear jerking "In the Garden." The organ recital is free and open to the public.  For a sample medley of the recital, point your browsers to Youtube, here: 

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One thing Malcolm Kogut loves about living in New England is the endless number of mountain trails there is to explore. Malcolm loves challenging himself and friends to explore a new trail together and he enjoys both the defiance of and going with gravity.  His favorite hikes over the years have been St. Regis near Saranac Lake, Mt. Baker in Washington state and Ice Caves Mountain in Ellenville, NY. Hiking is one of the best ways to get fit and explore nature at the same time.  Malcolm's commitment to hiking is especially important to keeping up his musical pursuits for, hiking gives him something to play about.  After all, nobody lies on their deathbed wishing they worked more.

Make Recitals Great Again

From my "Make Recitals Great Again" recital. It was 95 degrees outside and I don't know what the temperature was inside the church under those 500 watt flood lights but this was the stickiest, sweatiest and most difficult recitals I have ever played.  My fingers were so sweaty that they were sliding off the keys.

This has always been a difficult organ to record because the swell and solo divisions are located in a chamber on the other side of the chancel, the great is located right behind my head and the choir division is installed up in the balcony and consequently often sounds out of sync.  For this recital I placed the recorder in the middle of the church amongst the people and that seems to have equalized it.

Other Pieces from this Recital:

Fugue in G Major, Bach
Allegro From Concerto II, Bach
Princess Leia's Theme from Star Wars
Carillon De Westminster by Vierne
Fanfare by Malcolm Kogut
Prelude in C Major, Bach
Battle Hymn of the Republic
Toccata on "Duke Street"
Once In Love With Amy
Hedwig's Theme from Harry Potter
Trumpet Tune by Marsh
Eternal Father, Strong To Save
20th Century Fox Fanfare
A movement from Jupiter; Bringer of Jollity by Holst From The Planets
Dialog

Malcolm Kogut

Toccata in G Minor

Toccata means "to touch."  Typically it is a fast-moving, lightly fingered or otherwise virtuosic piece of music emphasizing the dexterity of the performer's fingers.   HOWEVER, notice that in this piece (and in all pieces) I am not playing from the fingers but from the elbow and forearm.  Watch my arm and you will see the proper muscles work.  If your hands or wrists hurt, quit playing from those tiny muscles in the hand and use the larger muscles in the forearm which are actually the muscles which move your fingers.  In this piece since it only requires simple forearm rotation, my supinator and pronator muscles do all the work and my fingers effortlessly go along for the ride.   Although, that three manual stretch at the end is incredibly stupid but, I'll learn my lesson when I sprain something.  Stretching is bad.

Sorry about the aspect ratio being askew.  I upgraded some software and all my videos are coming out funny.  I need to take the time to figure out the settings.   For more information on arm, hand and wrist injuries, go here:

http://www.slideshare.net/sa/8652ca32b9f25fa5adb94fe916c18599

Toccata from Widor's Fifth Symphony

I am going to catch flack for this rendition but let me 'splain.  When I was 16 and had been playing for only two years, I was asked to play this piece for a wedding.  I didn't have time to learn it as my reading skills were poor and it was over 16 pages long.  I reduced it to a lead sheet and faked it.  I call it my "Widor's 4.5."  I've been playing off the same lead sheet ever since and because I only do this piece for postludes and recessionals, I never took the time to look again at the real music.  Every time I play this piece, people get up and walk out.  Hey, where's everybody going?

Boellmann Toccata

The Toccata from Suite Gothique, Op. 25 composed by Léon Boëllmann in 1895 and played here by malcolm kogut.