E. Power Biggs

Perhaps it is E. Power Biggs' program choices that have helped him rise to the heights of popular acclaim that he has achieved as an organist. Then again, his may be the same charm that the Mormon Tabernacle Choir oozes when its masses of sound blanket an audience. But judging from his concert at the Busch-Reisinger Museum this week, Mr. Biggs' fame could not possibly be due to the precision of execution that normally accompanies a virtuoso performance. It is unfortunate that an otherwise sensitive performance was upset by unevenness in rhythm in many passages throughout the evening.

After the intermission, thoough, the pace increased. A set of seven chorale preludes by Ernst Pepping--a relatively un-of the second half of the proknown contemporary musician--could have been the highlight of the second half of the program, with its delightful melodies and excellent idiomatic use of the organ. But the chorales were overshadowed immediately by the next number, Charles Ives' Variations on "America" (1891). If Mr. Biggs ever decides to make a recording with audience reaction, this should be his first selection. Not only does Ives impishly turn the tune into a music box ditty, an overembellished chorale, and, of all things, a Russian folk dance, but Biggs plays each variation with all the irreverence and humor that is intended. The composer himself said that playing the pedals in the last variation gave him "almost as much fun as playing baseball." If the audience's reaction is any clue, listening must be almost as much fun as playing the pedals.