Gert van Hoef Summer Concert

[voet]

For Gert van Hoef fans, he recently posted a couple of videos from a summer concert that he played at the Koeopelkerk in Hoorn. One of his selections was an arrangement he made on "Londonderry Air." Not only is it a charming piece of music, it works very well on the Maarschalkerweerd organ, which I have not heard before. Enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-k0TxzodSg

[jbird604]

Bill,

When I saw the title of your thread, I though "O goody! Gert's coming to the US and giving a concert next summer! Gotta start making my plans to travel to wherever it is!" So, I'm sad now....

But thanks for the link. This is one of Gert's performances that I actually have not seen before, and I make a habit of keeping up with him somewhat. He does amazing things with these old tracker organs! Never heard anybody else who could recreate orchestral effects and make an organ designed to play button-down classical music get up and dance on contemporary tunes!

Maybe he'll make it to our shores one of these days. Until then...

[voet]

John,

Maybe if enough people asked him to come to our shores he would consider it.

I used to travel to Europe every summer. I have friends in the Netherlands and summer concerts are very popular their because so many tourists want to hear their instruments. Also, Dutch people seem to have a love affair with the organ. And why wouldn't they with so many wonderful instruments. The Christiaan Mueller in Haarlem is one of my favorites in all the world. Some of the things Americans regard as essential are not very common on their instrument--pistons, swell boxes, crescendo pedals, but they work incredibly without these aids.

The instrument in the Koepelkerk is really a romantic style instrument which works well for Gert's piece. While it has what appears to be the components of a Baroque instrument, the voicing is very different. This is like many E. M. Skinners that have many components from the past, but the stops are voiced very differently. I played a 3 manual Skinner for a number of years and it really handled Bach nicely even if it was not an "authentic" sound.

Anyway, you could visit his website and ask him if he plans to tour the US. On the other hand, maybe you should make a trip to the Netherlands with your wife for your next big vacation. I have found Dutch people to be very hospitable. I have played the Hinz organ in Kampen several times, and many churches have summer recital series. Iif you contacted them, you might be able to play a program yourself.

[Chrisglass]

He's in Alaska in October ... but maybe not quite the "our shores" John was thinking about.

https://www.gertvanhoef.nl/concerten/agenda.html

[jbird604]

That's interesting. Wonder why Alaska?

[Chrisglass]

Yes, so did I. We'll maybe learn when the videos appear. They often give you a bit of the background to invitation when he does trips outside the Netherlands.

[voet]

My guess is that he was booked to play the concert by the university.