Revolutionary [Includes Bonus DVD]

Frederic Chopin (Composer), Cameron Carpenter (Composer), Duke Ellington (Composer), Jeanne Demessieux (Composer), Franz Liszt (Composer), Marcel Dupre (Composer), Johann Sebastian Bach (Composer), Vladimir Horowitz (Composer), Cameron Carpenter (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Cameron Carpenter
• Composer: Frederic Chopin, Cameron Carpenter, Duke Ellington, Jeanne Demessieux, Franz Liszt, et al.
• Audio CD (September 23, 2008)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Telarc
• ASIN: B001DDBCWI
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #59,421 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #18 in Music > Classical > Historical Periods > Modern, 20th, & 21st Century > Instruments > Keyboard > Piano
  • #75 in Music > Jazz > Orchestral Jazz
  • #91 in Music > Classical > Instruments > Keyboard > Organ

Editorial Reviews

Revolutionary showcases an artist who is not only breaking ground, but who runs a musical gamut that any musician would be extremely hard-pressed to match. There are only four organ works included. Three are major pinnacles of the organ repertoire (the blistering, nearly unplayable Etude in Octaves by the French modernist Jeanne Demessieux; Prelude and Fugue in B major by Marcel Dupré; and Bach's deeply moving chorale-prelude Now Come, Savior of the Gentiles, while the fourth is the world premiere recording of Cameron's suggestive Love Song No. 1 (2008). The album's major departures, though, are found in Duke Ellington's Solitude (wittily combined with Bach's Sheep May Safely Graze); Liszt's Mephisto Waltz, and Vladimir Horowitz' Carmen Variations. Here are two of Chopin's Études in versions so convincing that they might have been organ music; and Cameron's Evolutionary Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, an outrageous survey of the various instrumental arrangements that made Bach's work famous. All this is recorded not on a pipe organ, but on the equally revolutionary Marshall & Ogletree Virtual Pipe Organ at Trinity Church Wall Street in New York City - an organ that, rising out of the destruction of Trinity's pipe organ on September 11, 2001, continues to challenge the status quo of the pipe organ and the artistic possibilities of organ playing in general.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Revolutionary Indeed!, October 1, 2008

By 

Larry Nevel - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Revolutionary [Includes Bonus DVD] (Audio CD)

The reviews are mixed as I expected. There is so much to consider with the CD/DVD. The purists will hate it. The novice will be blown away.
I have been learning as much as I can about Cameron from the web. As a former/retired teacher I see Cameron as a true genius- not for his technical ability, but the way he is put together mentally. He is so far beyond what the average person can grasp or comprehend, that he is completely misunderstood.
Can he play tradition organ music in a tradition fashion- musically? Of course he can. So can many fine talented organists. Will those performances reach the common public? Perhaps not. Will his performances reach the common public? Probably. And in this day when youth demands over-stimulation to catch their attention, this will do it. Contrary to what the purists say, he IS very musical. The performances are just so different in their renderings, that the purists don't see/hear it- or can't accept it. Probably the latter.
Cameron is another Virgil Fox or Jean Gilliou. Both were/are misunderstood, both were/are controversial, both were/are very musical and talented. Different does NOT mean BAD!!! Different is JUST different.
If you can grasp what Cameron is trying to say on his recent Pipedreams {www.pipedreams.org} program #0837, he tells what he is trying to do. He has the purpose to reach a new generation and let them know that the organ is still the greatest instrument of all time and not just something found in a church for Sunday worship services.
I hope to see more of Cameron Carpenter, not just hear more. Visually, he is captivating in his technical ability. I hope he will do more improvisations done on the spot and not written previously for performance. He is so good at them.
Keep an open mind. Know that you are watching/hearing a genius. We have so few among us today.
Good Luck, Cameron!

16 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outrageously Delicious, September 30, 2008

By 

William H. Thompson "Musician from Philly" (Philadelphia, PA, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Revolutionary [Includes Bonus DVD] (Audio CD)

One thing certain about Cameron Carpenter; he is outrageous. And, that's a good thing. Not since Virgil Fox has someone come along to shake-up the world of "classical" music performance as Cameron has. Mr. Carpenter re-invents the organ, or he would rather me say, organ performance, or maybe performance in general.
As a piano and voice student at Westminster during the '70's I was outnumbered by a lot of very talented organists. I heard more organ concerts and more arm-chair lectures on how to play the damn thing than I care to recollect. But, make no mistake, these organists were a wild lot and Cameron Carpenter is no exception.
Most of the material on the CD is, well, new. Yes, one could go on and on about tampering with Bach, techincal display and ego and the rest of that rubbish. Who cares? It's new - and new is something lacking in music these days. I dare anyone who trashes this effort to do what he does-and do it with a style that is undeniably rebellious, unique and inventive. Kudos to you, Mr. Carpenter. Break all the boundries, smash the status quo to bits and overwhelm us with your technical and imaginative genius. I'd like to hear and see more.

15 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not as written.....but as felt., November 16, 2008

By 

Philip C. Pfeuffer "Philip" (Maryland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Revolutionary [Includes Bonus DVD] (Audio CD)

I too have a degree in Organ Performance. All instruments have been improved over the decades and centuries. Playing Mozart on the piano today does not sound like Mozart during his own time. I love the fact that Mr. Carpenter is taking advantage of modern technology and his own musical sensibility. Say what you will....a talent like this is rare....and only comes along every 100 years or so. I hope he does become a star....then the organ will become a star as well. He does not play with Bach's emotion...he plays with his own. Bravo.