Cello soloist in the OG Great Auditorium. Photograph by Paul Goldfinger. 2017. Click to enlarge.
* Quote from Radar O’Reilly in the TV series “M.A.S.H.”
MSTISLAV ROSTROPOVICH: BACH’S CELLO SUITE #1 in G major, prélude:
Archive for the ‘Ocean Grove Great Auditorium’ Category
“Ah, Bach!” *
Posted in Ocean Grove Great Auditorium, Ocean Grove lifestyles, Ocean Grove Musical Event, Photograph by Paul Goldfinger, Photography at The Jersey Shore, Photography: Ocean Grove Gallery, tagged music in Ocean Grove, The Great Auditorium on September 13, 2020| 2 Comments »
But Beautiful…
Posted in Blogfinger Jazz Corner, Ocean Grove Great Auditorium, Photographic Gallery: Ocean Grove, Photography by Paul Goldfinger, tagged But Beautiful on Blogfinger on July 24, 2020| 1 Comment »
June, 2007. This Ocean Grove image taken from inside the GA, was featured in Bell, Bell and DuFresne’s book on the Great Auditorium—–available in the Historical Society Museum. Photo by Paul Goldfinger ©
BOB DYLAN with “But Beautiful.” From his new album Triplicate.
“Love is funny, or it’s sad
Or it’s quiet, or it’s mad
It’s a good thing or it’s bad
But beautiful…
Beautiful to take a chance and if you fall you fall
And I’m thinking I wouldn’t mind at all…“
Choir Festival rehearsal in the Great Auditorium of Ocean Grove
Posted in Classical Music on Blogfinger, Ocean Grove Great Auditorium, Ocean Grove Musical Event, tagged 66th annual Ocean Grove Choir Festival, Choir Festival rehearsal in Ocean Grove on June 10, 2020| Leave a Comment »
Choir Festival rehearsal. July 12, 2010. Paul Goldfinger photo ©. Click to enlarge.
By Paul Goldfinger, MD, Editor @Blogfinger.net
This is what a Choir Festival rehearsal looks like–this photograph is from July 2010. The OGCMA Choir Festival is one of the most incredible musical events in America. Don’t miss it.
It will be a challenge to prepare safely, but everything ought to be fine by the new date of August 30, 2020 from 7 pm to 8:30 pm.
This will be the 66th Annual Festival.
Below is a sample of the sort of sound you will hear, although this version is by a choir from Germany.
There are no recent professional recordings of the Ocean Grove Choir with orchestra, but if you know of any, please let us know.
ST THOMAS CHOIR LEIPZIG. “Psalm 42 Op.42” Mendelssohn
Lost in the loft
Posted in Blogfinger Presents, Ocean Grove Great Auditorium, tagged Great Auditorium in Ocean Grover, Lost in Love by Air Supply on January 4, 2020| Leave a Comment »
The Great Auditorium. May 2016. Paul Goldfinger photo © Click to enlarge
AIR SUPPLY
Afternoon By The Auditorium” by Ocean Grove artist Jack Bredin.
Posted in Blogfinger Presents, Ocean Grove Great Auditorium, tagged Gordon Turk organist, Jack Bredin Ocean Grove artist, Jack Bredin painting, The Hope Jones organ in the Great Auditorium of Ocean Grove NJ on December 18, 2019| Leave a Comment »
Photograph by Rob Bredin. December, 2019. © Click to enlarge.
“Afternoon By The Auditorium” by Jack Bredin
This is the second painting by Jack Bredin of the Great Auditorium that was inspired by a Paul Goldfinger video with music by organist Gordon Turk.
One of the great treats of summer living in Ocean Grove is when one is walking or biking through Auditorium Square Park, or even sitting on the porch of a tent, while Gordon Turk practices on the Hope-Jones organ in the late afternoon before one of his early evening recitals.
For those of you who are very observant, you will see a familiar photographer in the foreground. Jack likes to include quirky locals in his paintings.
GORDON TURK: “Suite Gothique, Op. 25: ll. Menuet.” From Turk’s Organ Recital album. Recorded in the Great Auditorium of Ocean Grove, N.J.
Tell me on a Sunday…
Posted in Ocean Grove Great Auditorium, Ocean Grove lifestyles, Photographic Gallery: Ocean Grove, Photography at The Jersey Shore, Photography Nights in Ocean Grove, tagged Ocean Grove story on November 3, 2019| Leave a Comment »
A tale of two bicycles on a Sunday in Ocean Grove. Paul Goldfinger ©
DENISE VAN OUTEN:
Doo-Wops attract a large crowd.
Posted in Blogfinger Presents, Ocean Grove Concert, Ocean Grove Great Auditorium, tagged GReat Auditorium Doo Wop concert on September 1, 2019| Leave a Comment »
Many attendees got stuck in line waiting to purchase tickets. Blogfinger photo. 08/31/19 ©
By Paul Goldfinger
The CMA decided to add a Doo-Wop concert to their summer schedule to avoid seeming totally religious in their Saturday night GA programming.
The crowd seemed to enjoy the show, and the mood inside and outside seemed festive, but the sound was too loud and distorted for my taste. And floodlights kept circling and shining into my eyes.
The same backup band that played for all the groups in the show provided a certain sameness to the music.
One group had an 80 year old man singing love songs, and he called a woman to the stage to give him a kiss—-and she did. Gross!
If the CMA plans more Saturday summer secular shows for 2020, they might reconsider the doo wops and follow through with their promise to bring a new audio system into the Great Auditorium. They might learn something from the Count Basie Theater (Red Bank) and the Paramount Theater (Asbury)
But let’s have a round of applause for the CMA who may be going back to more diverse programming in the Grove.
And if you want to hear what a fine Doo Wop era song sounds like, here’s Dion with a classic:
Atlantic Wind Ensemble, with billowing flags, a delightful concert, and shades of Spain.
Posted in Ocean Grove events, Ocean Grove Great Auditorium, Photography: Nocturnal Ocean Grove, Photography: Ocean Grove Gallery on July 12, 2019| 1 Comment »
Ocean Grove Memorial Day Weekend. 5/27/17 Paul Goldfinger photo © Click to enlarge.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger.net. 2017 Re-post.
It was cool and breezy during the Atlantic Wind Ensemble concert on Saturday night, May 27, 2017–Memorial Day weekend in Ocean Grove, NJ.
The band entertained a large crowd with a fine selection of music including Haydn, South Pacific, Dixieland, James Bond and God Bless America among others.
Outside, tent city was largely uninhabited, but one dwelling was displaying an American flag, and in the waning soft light of the early evening, with the doors of the Great Auditorium open, you could see that flag floating in the breeze. Its colors seemed dreamy–not bright like the usual red, white and blue display. In between band selections, I walked across the GA and outside to get this photograph. No one was around except for some ushers, but the flag seemed just right for Memorial Day and all it stands for.
Memorial Day concert. Great Auditorium. 5/27/17. Paul Goldfinger photo. © Click to enlarge.
The first number on the program after the Star Spangled Banner was a Spanish piece called “Amparito Roca.” Here it is as performed by the University of Illinois Symphonic Band.
The announcer said it was famous as a vehicle for dancing the Paso Doble, a dramatic and romantic dance from Spain, which I saw performed many years ago by a professional dance team at the Hotel Nemerson in South Fallsburg, NY. But the Atlantic Wind performance for this piece sounded like march music. So, naturally, I went home and Googled it. And, sure enough, it is both: march and dance music for the Paso Doble.
So here are Susanna Reid and Kevin on You Tube doing that dance to the music of “Los Toreadors” (Bizet from Carmen)
Blogfinger presents Ocean Grove history: The Great Auditorium 1906.
Posted in Ocean Grove Great Auditorium, Ocean Grove history, Ocean Grove history by Rich Amole, tagged Ocean Grove history on June 29, 2019| Leave a Comment »
Submitted by Rich Amole., Blogfinger staff. Postcard is from August, 3, 1906. The Auditorium was built in 1894, so it was 12 years old when this postcard was sent. CLICK TO ENLARGE.
Rich Amole notes the horse and buggy in front. The white structure seems to be a fountain or a Victorian planter. The big cross is missing.
You can see the adjacent tents on the right, still present. It is not referred to here as the “Great Auditorium,” only the “Auditorium” (which is often still true today.)
Robin Lamont from the 40th Anniversary Celebration of the 1971 off-Broadway show Godspell. This folk rock song, “Day by Day,” by composer Stephen Schwartz was the 3rd song in the show:
Cross at the light…..
Posted in Blogfinger Presents, Ocean Grove Great Auditorium, Photograph by Paul Goldfinger, Photography: Jersey Shore Gallery, Photography: Ocean Grove Gallery, tagged Finian's Rainbpw on June 10, 2019| Leave a Comment »
Cross at the light. Ocean Grove, June, 2019. Paul Goldfinger photo. © Click to enlarge.
Broadway cast of Finian’s Rainbow.
