max reger’s “Passacaglia”

A collaboration between The Knights,
BalletCollective, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art

program notes

A Grounding Bass 

Not long before The Knights embarked on a long European tour in February 2019, I had fallen down a rabbit hole of music for pipe organs, mainly performed by Olivier Latry, virtuoso soloist and one of the titulaires des grands orgues of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Pairs.  Many of the videos were filmed in the loft of the great organ there, capturing improvisations during the prelude and postlude of church services, as has been the tradition of French organists for generations.  One of the most impressive of these improvisation films is the postlude music for a service in 2011 honoring the fire brigades, in which Mr. Latry takes the ubiquitous two note wail of European emergency vehicle sirens and spins them into a seven-minute fantasia which accompanies the procession of celebrants, fire fighters, and congregants exiting the church. The poignancy of this tribute resonated deeply as I watched news videos of Notre Dame burning only a few months later. (Miraculously, thanks to the bravery of the same fire brigades, the great organ did survive along with many sacred artifacts of the Cathedral.) 

It was after a number of these improvisation videos that the YouTube algorithm presented me with this video, which features Mr. Latry performing this work, Introduction and Passacaglia in D Minor by Max Reger, on the great organ of the Church of Saint-Sulpice.  This video was different from any other I’d seen because the organ console had not been modernized since the mid-1800s, and thus requires a team of assistants (called “registrants”) to operate this organ’s 102 stops while the soloist negotiates five manuals and pedals without interruption.  The teamwork, trust, and slightly controlled chaos that we see and hear around the console is fascinating, and heightens the inherent drama of the music, which is a bit like a German “Bolero” - a long, slow crescendo into an apotheosis of epic scale. 

After numerous repeat views, it occurred to me that this piece could work with a very large string orchestra paired with a choir of low woodwinds to add some heft and a reedy, organ-like sound.  Organ music has been the subject of orchestrations by many composers over the years, notably Arnold Schoenberg, and perhaps most famously, Leopold Stokowski’s treatment of the Bach Toccata and Fugue in Disney’s Fantasia.  The more I listened, the more the idea coalesced in my mind, but it would be put on the back burner at that time.

In March of 2020, The Knights were looking for projects to support their musicians, and I was given the opportunity to arrange this music for our entire string ensemble and low woodwind compliment. With an ensemble of 30 musicians to record in isolation, I assembled the music and created a special play-along track, which had both a metronomic click and a computer-generated virtual orchestra “playing” my arrangement. This would give everyone a sense of musical context and connection while recording their individual part.  I left out the Introduction part as the tempo shifts would make remote recording impractical.

I took these 30 recordings and assembled them in a digital audio workstation program (Logic Pro X) taking care to preserve as much of the spontaneous expression and individuality that everyone brought to their recordings - collective musical instincts were, for the most part, quite in sync, with solos, accompaniment, and turns of phrase lining up perfectly, all the more remarkable since one player could not know what the other was doing. 

The editing, mixing, and mastering was an intense, weeks-long project, but I never wanted it to end, as this had been the closest I’d felt to my dear Knights friends and colleagues since the start of the pandemic. How lucky was I to put on my headphones, hit the spacebar on my computer keyboard and hear a private concert every day?

After editing was finished and it was “in the can” (industry term), I thought that a video would be a nice addition, but not one of everyone playing their instruments in their living rooms. After sharing the recording with Knights collaborator Troy Schumacher of BalletCollective, we had a concept.  Thanks to Bridget Mundy, Knights Executive Director, we were able to connect with the folks at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and we had a venue. Troy’s vision and the incredible performances (on wood floors!) left me speechless. The music and the museum were beautified in the most unique and deeply affecting ways.  

Thank you for reading, and please enjoy the video!

Michael P. Atkinson

PS - That I was given the trust, space, and resources to turn a musical obsession into a multi-disciplinary work during the pandemic is a testament to the spirit of generosity that is the essence of The Knights.  My heartfelt thanks go out to Colin, Eric, Bridget, Troy, all of the musicians and dancers, and my colleagues on the Board of Trustees.