SYMPHONY SEASON OPENING CONCERT FEATURES 'THE KING OF INSTRUMENTS'

THE POWER OF PIPES: Lanetta Paul poses by the United Methodist Church pipe organ in La Grande. (Staff photo/CHRIS BAXTER).

Camille Saint-Sans' "Symphony No. 3" is rarely performed because few concert halls have pipe organs.

"It's a unique opportunity," says Lanetta Paul, who will be featured on pipe organ in Grande Ronde Symphony Orchestra concerts Friday and Saturday. "In this case, we're bringing the orchestra to the organ."

The La Grande concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the United Methodist Church, 1612 Fourth St.

The Baker City concert will begin at 3 p.m. Saturday at St. Frances Catholic Church, 2235 First St.

Besides Saint-Sans' "Symphony No. 3," Respighi's "Fountains of Rome" will also feature Paul on pipe organ.

Transitioning between the La Grande and Baker City pipe organs, each of which has two keyboards, will be difficult, Paul admits.

"It's always a challenge," she says, recalling a Time magazine article that called pipe organ playing one of the most challenging things a person can do. "Everything's different."

The La Grande pedal board, for example, is curved, whereas the Baker City pedal board is straight. The stops are in front of the organist at La Grande. In Baker City they're to both sides. And the numbers one chooses for the pistons to make the combinations of sounds are different.

What's more, in La Grande the pipe organ is in the front of the church. In Baker City, it's in the back of the balcony.

"The orchestra will be clear in front of the church," Paul says.

The orchestra conductor, Leandro Espinosa, will have to communicate with Paul through a TV monitor so she can get her cues.

"Also, sound doesn't travel that fast so it will be a challenge to stay together," Paul says.

The choice of music for the program, Espinosa says, was made precisely with the intention of using the organ with the

symphony and the very special environment that it provides.

"It is as if when choosing a church or a building, one is choosing a resonator," Espinosa says. "In a sense, the empty space surrounded by walls inside the church or the building is the acoustic box of a great instrument."

This is especially true with those great organs," he says.

"It is the one instance in which music can almost be touched."

Paul has a lifelong knowledge of the special acoustics of the Methodist Church. She has been attending and listening to pipe organ music there all her life. Her mother, Genevieve Carter, was an organist.

"I heard organ music literally before I was born," Paul says, "and a lot of times as a little girl sitting on her lap."

Paul took piano lessons from ages 7 to 18 and then organ lessons from Methodist Church organist Lila Bishop for two years while attending Eastern Oregon State College. Paul then transferred to the University of Oregon and also did her graduate work in Germany, specializing all the while in organ performance.

She says it takes a long time to feel comfortable on the pipe organ, "so your feet are acting almost like another set of hands."

But the wait is worth it.

"To me, the beauty of the organ is you can go from extremely soft to extremely loud," Paul says. "I try never to play everything loud. I save it for the climactic moments."

The La Grande organ, she says, has 1,048 pipes, some made of metal, some wood. Most of the pipes are hidden behind the facade. The pipes range from the size of a small pencil to a square wooden one that is 16 feet long.

"I actually play two out of the four movements of the featured piece, Saint-Sans' ‘Symphony No. 3,'" Paul says, "one very soft, one very loud. It's going to show the full range of the instrument. At the end," Paul says, "I'll be using all the pipes."