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Texas Treat: The 2003 Dallas International Organ Competition

May 2, 2003
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Larry Palmer is a contributing editor to The Diapason.

Bradley Hunter Welch, currently organist of Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas, won first place in the third Dallas International Organ Competition on March 18. Welch, born in Tennessee, graduate of Baylor and Yale Universities, earned the $30,000 award by playing a spectacular brief solo program that afternoon at the Meyerson Symphony Center (Bach: Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C; Vierne: Scherzo from Symphonie VI; Messiaen: Transports de joie from L'Ascension), and concluding his week-long series of masterful music-making with sensitive, well-balanced performances of the two required concerted works--Francis Poulenc's Concerto in G minor for organ, strings, and tympani, and Samuel Barber's Toccata Festiva, both beautifully registered and delivered with requisite virtuosity, as well as deep musical insight.

Conducted by Lawrence Loh, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra provided expert collaboration with Welch and the other two finalists. Sarah Baldock, assistant director of music at Winchester Cathedral, England took second place; Jeremy Bruns, organist and master of choristers for the Parish of All Saints-Ashmont, Dorchester, New York, placed third.

For the third consecutive time, an American organist with close ties to Texas was named competition laureate, gaining not only the largest cash prize among organ competitions world-wide, but also three years of artist representation by Phillip Truckenbrod Concert Artists; appearances April 1-3, 2004 on subscription concerts of the Dallas Symphony as soloist in the premiere of a commissioned work by Stephen Paulus; and the opportunity to record a solo compact disc for the Gothic record label on the outstanding C. B. Fisk organ of the Meyerson.

The competition jury comprised Naji Hakim [Paris], Martin Haselböck [Vienna], Tsuguo Hirono [Tokyo], Mary Preston [Dallas], Lionel Rogg [Geneva], Todd Wilson [Cleveland], chaired by John Scott [London]. This international panel was sequestered behind screens or thick black drapes during all rounds of the competition, assuring as far as humanly possible a totally unprejudiced ranking of the players. While some skeptics might question the exclusive track record of American organists as winners in this event, the international makeup of each competition jury has assured that there could be no perceptible national bias in the judging. The simple truth is that, in each instance, a player with some tie to the Dallas area has out-played the rest of the lot! It affirms, as well, the proud development of a nurturing atmosphere for the art of the organ in this part of the American southwest.

Three years ago, when James Diaz, organist and director of music for St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in Dallas won the top prize, Welch placed third. Additionally he won the audience prize, showing that he was a powerhouse organist with considerable communicative skills. In the succeeding triennium he has honed his technical skills as well as his musical insights. That he once again won the audience prize (an additional $5000) was not unexpected since many members of his local congregation swelled the audience for the closing events and participated in the voting. But more importantly, he demonstrated throughout the demanding rounds of the competition that he was the subtlest and most consistent player among the twelve contestants.

Sarah Baldock, a musician of skill and wide musical experience, gave Welch a real "run for the money." Only on the final day at the Meyerson did she stumble, choosing bombastic registrations (easily achieved with this large symphonic organ), often overwhelming the orchestra in the Poulenc Concerto, and suffering, as well, an unfortunate error as she turned her own pages, resulting in a missed entrance and a necessary restart. In earlier solo playing Baldock's exquisite Franck Choral in B minor as well as her elegant musical gestures throughout made her a formidable competitor indeed.

Jeremy Bruns, returning from a previous competition, poised and polished, earned his spot in the finals with several superb performances: his Bach Trio Sonata in G was played from memory--dance-inflected and lovingly detailed. Messiaen's Transports dazzled with his virtuosity, especially in the daunting octave passage near the end. Bruns  played it with the utmost precision and even faster than possible!

Public performances of the Dallas Competition began March 10 and 11 in Caruth Auditorium, Southern Meth-odist University, where each of the twelve semi-finalists played the three-manual Fisk organ in a required program consisting of a Bach Trio Sonata (C minor, E minor, or G Major), the Tierce en taille from Guilain's Suite on the Second Tone, William Bolcom's What a Friend We Have in Jesus, and Reger's Introduction and Passacaglia in F minor from Monologues, Book II, opus 63. On Monday organists Teilhard Scott (UK), Hyun Jung Kim and Yeon-Hee Sim (South Korea), Sonia Kim (Canada), Frederick Teardo (US) and Bruns were the competitors. Tuesday's players included Riyoki Yamaguchi (Japan), Shi-Ae Park (South Korea), Jonathan Oldengarm (Canada), Simon Menges (Germany), Baldock and Welch.

Memorable moments from these first recitals included Menges' youthful abandon in the sassy Bolcom romp, Oldengarm's haunting Guilain and first-rate Reger, Baldock's Guilain and dancing Bach E minor Sonata (especially its closing Minuet), as well as Welch's expressive Guilain and well-paced Reger.

In addition to the three players subsequently chosen for the final round, Teardo, Oldengarm, and Park were named semi-finalists. All six played solo programs at either 4:30 or 6 p.m. March 14-16 in the Meyerson Center (Buxtehude: Ciacona in e or c; Bach: Preludes and Fugues in b, c, e, or C [547]; Dandrieu: Offertoire on O filii; Alain: Joies; Franck: Choral in b; Widor: first movement of Symphonie V or VI). Of interest was the variety exhibited in ordering these required pieces. Most successful for an involving listening experience was an order that juxtaposed forms or keys, as for instance, by grouping two dances (Buxtehude and Alain), two works in the same key (Bach B minor, Franck B minor), or two French works (the tedious and sequential Dandrieu and a Widor Symphonie movement)--as was the case with Frederick Teardo's program. Least interesting was a strictly chronological approach, except when in the hands of winner Bradley Welch, who, it seemed, could have programmed almost anything in any order, so apt were his musical instincts.

Prior competition experience proved invaluable, as the results demonstrated. It is anticipated that several of this year's younger players will return three years from now to try their endurance and skill again in this major contest. Fred Teardo, completing his undergraduate degree in organ at the Eastman School of Music, continues to develop his prowess as a competitor. Simon Menges, only twenty, is, like Shi-Ae Park, a relative newcomer to the organ; at this time both are proficient technicians with fine musical instincts. For such talented young players as these, three more years should allow a great maturing of interpretive insight as well as an opportunity for developing necessary finesse in registration and console management.

And what are the odds that the ubiquitous Texas connection will be broken three years hence? Or, do the odds suggest that all competitors who hope to gain the first prize should move to the Lone Star State? Whatever the answer, Dallas doubtless will continue to be an exciting and especially "rewarding" venue in the world of the concert organ.

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