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By Olga Fyodorova
About a year ago the phone went abuzz at Garri’s Moscow apartment.
“Hello?…”
“Mr. Grodberg?”
“Yes...”
“I’m a music commentator with Radio Russia. Do you remember me? You gave
me a big interview a few months ago…”
“Oh, yes, I do remember…”
“I want to make a series of programs about You based on that interview.
Do you have any objections?”
“Who am I to say no? We musicians and artists are a vain lot, you know,
we love being talked about, praised, play to full houses and have
admiring fans coming backstage after the show. It’s a pretty normal thing
too because positive emotions are something that makes us tick… Go ahead,
it’s a great idea, it surely is…”
“Let’s decide what music we are going to put in then…”
“There’s been lots of music written for the organ, but I would prefer Johann
Sebastian Bach. No one really comes close to this man, he’s a whole world
that is all his own!”
“Great! And what about the name of the program? The name’s very important.
Well… Maybe, “The Taming of the Organ”? … Or, “Bach under Grodberg’s Fingers”?..”
“Bach under someone’s fingers? That’s ridiculous… What about “Half a Century
of Serving Bach”? Really, It’s been 50 years since I started playing the
music written by this German genius… When I was young I thought I would
play all his organ pieces and fully understand this man… The more I played,
though, the more clearly I understood the deep profundity of this
great Master. It is like the horizon that keeps rolling back as you try
to approach it…”
Garri Grodberg spent his child years in Lithuania where organs have traditionally
been part and parcel of the local culture. Floating inside the powerful
stream of sounds, ruling supreme over the King of All Instruments was a
dream come true for the musically endowed teenager!
Garri Grodberg came to appreciate Johann Sebastian Bach’s music more than
he did others’ early on. Other composers wrote beautiful melodies, constructed
powerful chords and came up with unorthodox sound combinations, but Bach
was a mystery, his music, so down to earth and, at the same time, so elevating
and thought-inspiring…
Ever serious about his music, Garri headed to Moscow. Easily sailing through
the entrance exams, he enrolled at simultaneously two conservatory departments
learning piano playing under Alexander Goldenveizer and attending organ
classes conducted by Alexander Gedike – each a towering authority in his
own department and a strong personality too.
A good student and a workaholic, Garri played his first solo concert in
Moscow at the still early age of 25…
The world-famous pianist Svyatoslav Richter and his wife, the singer Nina
Dorliak who had dropped in to give the young player a listen were immediately
impressed by Garri’s impassionate playing, unorthodox interpretations and,
above all, by his profound understanding of everything he played.
Entranced by Garri’s artistic charm and vision, Richter advised the management
of the Moscow Philharmonic Society to sign him on. That’s how Garri Grodberg
joined the nation’s biggest concert organization.
Garri didn’t take long asserting himself as one of the city’s best organ
players. It was he who actually made going to organ concerts so fashionable
and each time his name appeared on the bill, the organizers knew the house
would be sold out…
Garri was now playing with the biggest orchestras and choirs, the very
best conductors and performers…
His phenomenally large repertoire spans almost the entire history of music,
from medieval to modern, but Johann Sebastian still rules supreme in his
mind as probably the best composer of organ music who ever lived…
Grodberg knows every single note in every single piece ever written by
Bach and can talk hours on end about him as if the great German were a
good old friend…
“Bach spent all his life playing the organ, in cathedrals or at the court
of a local elector,” Garri says, “and I have been serving him and
his music all my life…”
One of the best promoters and interpreters of Bach around, Garri Grodberg
is an honorary member of the Bach Society in Germany and invariably sits
on the jury of the Bach International competition in Leipzig. A few years
ago he organized Russia’s own festival of Bach’s music in Tver.
He also takes credit for bringing organs to many Russian cities and local
organ makers always seek the expert advice of the man who, over the years,
has unveiled so many new instruments…
When asked to name his best-loved organs, Garri cheers up and starts
enumerating…
“And still, the best organ you can ever find is the one they have at the
Tchaikovsky concert hall in Moscow,” he says. “It was made by Rieger-Kloss,
a Czech company. Each time I play it I forget about everything else
and feel so happy…”
LPs with Garri Grodberg’s recordings are coming out in record numbers in
Russia, Europe and the United States. And each concert he plays is a celebration
for his many followers. Slowly, he walks out on the stage, smart and handsome,
flanked by his wife and trusty friend Natalya. She turns on the motor and
the organ comes alive and starts breathing. A moment later Garri’s fingers
touch the keys and the magic begins. Just like fifty years ago, he is playing
Bach...
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