“Left-hand, Right-hand, Feet:” Owen Hucke’s Graduate Organ Recital

By Nat Bono

Panes of colored light shone on the dark wood in Setnor Auditorium. Sumptuous chords sang from the pipe organ as Owen Hucke played his first graduate organ recital last Saturday afternoon. Hucke, 24, is a first-year Organ Performance graduate student in the College of Visual and Performing Arts. Originally from Bend, Oregon, Hucke adjusted to Syracuse right away, although adjusting to the cold took a bit longer. 

Preparations for the recital began in the fall, picking out and learning new pieces. 

“My professor and I sat down and decided which pieces should be in the program,” he said. “We kinda condensed it, brought in some new stuff and I spent the semester preparing.”

Moving from one piece to the next, the selections covered a variety of styles, showing off Hucke’s range of skills. Starting with “Organ Symphony No. 10 in D Major, Op. 73 “Romane,” I. Moderato,” by Charles-Marie Widor, the power of the organ rumbled through the auditorium, enveloping everyone in sound. Hucke’s playing was methodical during the second piece, “Prelude, Fugue, and Variation” by Cesar Frank, a dynamic piece with lots of movement. 

The pipe organ in Setnor, built by Holtkamp in 1950, has no outer case, exposing the thousands of pipes producing the sound. The swell box, about 20 feet off the ground, has special panels on the front that open and close, affecting the dynamic level of the instrument. Watching the swell box move at the push of a petal from Hucke was almost as entertaining as listening to the music itself.

“Prelude and Fugue in C minor, BWV 546” by J.S. Bach marked the halfway point of the performance with a traditional organ sound. The pieces by Widor and Bach were some of Hucke’s favorite of the performance.

“They are both completely different, but I like the atmosphere of both,” he said. “The [Widor] is big, dramatic, and romantic with really cool harmonies since it’s a French, romantic piece. And the Bach is baroque. It’s big and loud with great structure.”

Composed by fellow Syracuse student Dylan Kim, “A Moment of Calm” was exactly that. The pensive piece slowed the pace of the recital, letting the technique of the organist shine through. Jumping from the calming piece by Kim, Hucke closed with a lively performance of Dan Locklair’s “Rubrics: A Liturgical Suite for Organ.” The five movements showcased the range of the organ with a fast pace and glissandos achieving an almost “fair-like” effect. Hucke’s feet were moving almost as fast as his fingers were. 

With a bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance from Southern Oregon University, Hucke said the switch from piano to organ can be a bit tricky.

“My fingers work well, because I’ve played piano for a long time, but the technique [on the organ] is slightly different,” he said. “Of course then you have to throw in the feet. I separated everything, learned how to use my feet, and then put it all together.”

With one year down and one more to go at Syracuse, Hucke has already been an influence on the younger students around him. Freshman organ performance major Abbie Wood turned pages during the performance and said it was really inspiring to see Hucke play.