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Alcee Chriss, Wesleyan University organist
Alcee Chriss
Trinity Organ Series
Trinity College
Hartford
March 25, 2025
Somewhere Over the Rainbow is one of my favorite songs, so I was surprised to hear Alcee Chriss describe it as a complicated piece.
“This is going to be something of an amorphous take, but we’ll see how it goes,” Chriss, one of the state’s most renowned organists, said during the annual Clarence Watters Memorial Recital at Trinity College. Again, I didn’t get it: if there’s a piano version, then it must not be that hard to play an organ version, right?
Chriss stuck with the delicate side of the organ by playing an arrangement of the classic originated by jazz pianist Oscar Peterson. Chriss himself is known for the influences of jazz and gospel in his organ performances.
His performance of the song made me realize that the piano and the organ are completely different instruments.
I mean yes, I knew they weren’t the same. But in my mind, an organ was just a specific kind of piano. As it turns out, they’re in different classes all together. Pianos are considered percussion instruments, because of the hammers striking the chords being the primary way to produce sound.
Organs, on the other hand, send air through its pipes to produce sound, technically making it a woodwind instrument. Suddenly it made sense as to why I was hearing other instruments earlier in the concert, because the pipe organ is very similar to them. It also made sense why a piece written for piano would be difficult on organ.
Still, difficult is not impossible, and Chriss was just as good with his amorphous take as he was with a rendition of Entrèe de Polymnie from Les Borèades by Jean-Phillipe Rameau. There was a little more swing, a little more syncopation in his performance, a style I’d never really heard on the organ before. It was suited well to the instrument though, and I found myself rocking side to side. The piece showcased his ability to make the organ into its own miniature orchestra. The song has a warm, woody feeling, which is a surprising contrast to much of the organ music I’ve heard. Chriss brought an entire enchanted forest’s worth of sounds to life. I could hear flutes, clarinets and oboes as clearly as if those instruments were on the stage.
Chriss moved to Connecticut six years ago, taking on the role of university organist, artist-in-residence and professor at Wesleyan University. He’s won more awards and recognitions than I can list here. As the concert began, it became clear how he earned those accolades.
The finale of the performance was Fantasy and Fugue on B‑A-C‑H, op. 46 by Max Reger. The song was more than 20 minutes long, and incorporated all of the various techniques Chriss had used throughout the night. I was mostly impressed by Chriss’ stamina at that point; he’d already been playing for close to an hour, and he powered through the various movements of Fantasy and Fugue with ease, making the downward runs sound like waterfalls of music. When he crashed down on the keys for the end of the song, it sounded like thunder ricocheting off the walls of Trinity’s Chapel.
I enjoy the opportunity to experience new and varied organists through the Trinity College Organ Series, and to learn about the growing depth of Connecticut’s music scene. I’m looking forward to the next concert, and to Alcee Chriss’ future work.
NEXT
Trinity College hosts Tim Pyper as part of its Thursday Lunchtime Recital series on April 3.