Jeff Charis-Carlson

jcharisc@press-citizen.com

WHAT: World-renowned organist Kevin Bowyer will inaugurate the University of Iowa's new organ with a performance of "Second Symphony for Organ" by Kaikhosru Sorabji, a piece that clocks in at more than eight hours long.

WHEN: Noon Feb. 10. The performance is expected to end between 8:30 and 9 p.m.

WHERE: Concert hall of the Voxman Music Building, 93 E. Burlington St., Iowa City

COST: Free

A life-changing event.

That's how English organist Kevin Bowyer describes the experience of playing composer Kaikhosru Sorabji's "Second Symphony for Organ" -- a piece that takes about 8½ hours when performed in its entirety.

It's not just the physical toll that the performance will take on Bowyer as he plays the piece Feb. 10 to inaugurate the new organ for the University of Iowa's Clapp Voxman School of Music.

It's also the two weeks of 12-hour days he is spending pre-setting all the instrument's volume levels and voicings for the marathon-length production.

And then it's the months of daily practice that the world-renowned University of Glasgow organ professor has devoted to perfecting each of the work's three movements.

"The level of rehearsal required to get this piece within any kind of sight of a presentable performance is so huge that, on one level, it almost makes you hate it," Bowyer told reporters during a break from practice Tuesday. "It's like being in prison. ... You're strapped to the organ."

The Iowa City performance will mark the few times -- and possibly last time -- the 85-year-old composition has been performed at all.

When Sorabji completed his second organ symphony in 1932, the manuscript was considered unplayable in its entirety.

"It's not unplayable," Bowyer said. "It's just very hard."

It took another six decades until Bowyer decided to work with Sorabji's original manuscript -- which he said was riddled with composition errors -- and offer two performances in Europe. Bowyer even managed to meet with Sorabji a handful of times in the year before the composer's death in 1988.

The performances, which were not recorded, soon became the stuff of legend among the world organist community.

When Bowyer came to UI for a more traditional, hour-long organ recital in 2012, UI organ professor Greg Hand worked up the nerve to ask how much of the legend was true.

"I finally said, 'Kevin, is this a stunt? What is the deal with this Sorabji?" Hand said. "He took offense at that, and he just said, 'It changed my life, and the people who came, it changed their lives forever."

When pushed for clarification on exactly what changes were wrought by the music, Bowyer said he and the audience could never "experience time in the same way."

It was then that Hand decided to work to bring that perception-altering experience to Iowa by inviting Bowyer to inaugurate the school's new organ, which was commissioned to replace the organ damaged by the Flood of 2008.

Hand especially was interested in the symmetry between the 8½ years UI went without an organ and the 8½ hours that Bowyer will be performing Feb. 10.

For an artist of Bowyer's caliber, Hand said the going price for an hour-long concert about is $4,000.

Bowyer's fee is more than that, he said, but also far less than eight times that hourly rate. The event is being funded through donor money designated for special organ performances.

The public is welcome to attend all or part of the free performance Feb. 10, with the hall's seating area being left open for people who wish to sample only part of the performance. (Sorabji includes several breaks during the symphony to allow the organist to freshen up.)

​The balcony section will be reserved for the two dozen people who are expected to arrive at noon Feb. 10 and make it all the way through the performance.

"If you want something that might be called a tune, then I supposed you'll want something in the middle," Bowyer said. "If you want the volcanism and power of the early (Sorabji), you'll want to hear the first movement and the fugue."

Reaching the climax of the final fugue, Bowyer said, is like standing on the peak of Mount Everest.

Hand said he is encouraging people arrive about 8 p.m. so that all of the hall's 700 seats will be filled to cheer Bowyer on as he crosses the finish line sometimes before 9 p.m.

When asked what the most satisfying part of the performance will be for him, Bowyer joked, "The beer afterward."

Reach Jeff Charis-Carlson at jcharisc@press-citizen.com or 319-887-5435. Follow him on Twitter at @JeffCharis.

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