GREATNESS HAPPENS WHEN HEARTS ARE TOUCHED WHEN SOULS BECOME ONE SUBMERGED IN ETERNITY

To order, click here

To read the Artist's Notes, click here

Reviews ...

Hector aboard the USS Growler reporting: Mission Accomplished

Artist's Notes:

I have had a lifelong fascination with submarines. In 2004, I was privileged to meet members of the USS Growler-SSG 577 crew during a concert performance. As I was acutely aware of their service to our country during the Cold War, I played the theme from “Crimson Tide,” enriched with black and white photographs of the original Growler. Later, the crew told me that "even the toughest of their men, had tears in their eyes while they were listening to the Navy Hymn" - Eternal Father Strong to Save - which was used in the movie Crimson Tide. That same evening, I was decorated with the insignias of Honorary Chief. I thank the Growler crew for risking their lives to protect our Great Land of Freedom and Opportunity.

• The CD opens with the haunting Hymn to Red October from the movie "Hunt for Red October," and is followed by the Crimson Tide's poignant main theme and moving Navy Hymn.

• British composer Cyril Scott wrote exotic Lotus Land, which was inspired after meeting Claude Debussy whom he greatly admired.

• Procol Harum’s ever popular Whiter Shade of Pale is widely known for its baroque-styled organ solo, composed by Matthew Fisher, and inspired by Bach’s ˜Air for G String” and the Prelude Choral of “Sleepers Awake.”

• Through the Beatles composition Get Back, Hector describes the profound emotion of the Vietnam soldiers and their desire to safely return to their homes and families.

• Tara’s Theme from "Gone With the Wind” invites you to go back in time for the 1939 opening night of this great movie classic… Imagine, Max Steiner’s music fills the theater…

• Composed by Rodgers and Hammerstein, this beautiful ballad I have dreamed from “The King and I,” was inspired by an arrangement of N.S. Mishkin, and transcribed and performed by the Boston Pops.

• The Phantom of the Opera’s "Overture” is set during the 1905 infamous auction of the contents of the Paris Opera House. The actual Overture begins with the auctioning of the music box. During the auctioning of the chandelier, the auctioneer switches it on, and an enormous flash erupts. At this dramatic instant, the sound of the full organ fills the theater. In this rendition, the opera house is restored into its earlier grandeur. The chandelier rises magically from the stage…

• In Scene One, chorus girl Christine Daae’s auditions for the role of Carlotta, singing “Think of me,” received with unexpected applause and bravos, even from the young Raoul.

• After the gala, Christine enters the dressing room, and, visibly bewildered by the Phantom’s voice, sings “Angel of Music,” in dialogue with Meg, Raoul, and the Phantom’s voice, seemingly coming from behind Christine’s dressing room mirror.

• In Scene Four, we see Christine and the Phantom in a boat across the waters of an underground lake, conversing the evocative “The Phantom of the Opera.”

• “Music of the Night” changes the mood entirely. The boat turns into a bed. The Phantom sits at a huge pipe organ and takes over the accompaniment. The potent combination of the music and the lyrics stir all emotions. I was inspired to play this touching composition, after hearing my friend Davis Gaines performance in his role as “The Phantom of the Opera.”

• The program ends with the powerful Maestoso from Symphony #3. Saint-Saens established his reputation as organist at the famous Madeleine Church in Paris. The majesty of the Notre Dame Cathedral inspired him to compose “Organ Symphony #3.” Hector performs this piece with the intent to simulate the atmosphere and reverberation of the great Notre Dame Cathedral.

Recorded in September 2004. ©Hector Olivera.
Instrument: Roland Atelier®.
Music recorded on a Roland Digital Studio Workstation® VS-2400.
Audio mastering: Joe Bellamy
Cover picture: USS Growler-SSG 577.
Hector Olivera photograph taken by Robert Leely aboard the USS Growler.
Text by Lieve J. Olivera - Graphics/Prepress: Ray Britt, Press Arts, San Diego, CA

Listener's comments:

The CD is the greatest that Hector has ever done.  We listened to it twice before going to bed and it just blew me away. He sounds like an 80 piece orchestra, plus a choir. That Phantom of the Opera is too much.

Review by Allen Ashton: (Alan Ashton, Organ 1st Magazine)

Hector's done it again!  Who & what I hear you ask?   Hector Olivera that's who and as expected his latest CD I HAVE DREAMED [ MPI CD113] is another production that is impossible to find any fault with....not that doing so is my role as reviewer for Organ 1st magazine.   Whereas I've come across a lot of organ enthusiasts, and organists for that matter, who have an affiliation and love of steam trains, I'd be hard pressed to find one who has a passion for submarines!   Even harder to name any other organist who has the distinction of being decorated with the insignia of Honorary Chief of the USS Growler-SSG 577.   A concert performance attended by the crew of the submarine resulted in their personal gesture of appreciation....and they threw in a tour of the vessel for free!  Commencing with the eerie sound of the sonar and the low rumble of the engines, Hector sets the opening scene of the Sean Connery intermittently suspenseful 1990 film THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER.  Remaining with the maritime theme,  Hector then musically glides through the gripping and entertaining 1995 Hollywood film the CRIMSON TIDE, which one critic described as The Caine Mutiny on Steroids!  Into the Hans Zimmer music score he weaves the Navy Hymn ETERNAL FATHER STRONG TO SAVE. Many years back I had the pleasure of knowing and working with a remarkable Japanese organist by the name of Maria Kumagai and on one of the only four recordings she made before she took a decision to opt out of the organ world for ever, I  was thus introduced to a piece of music called LOTUS LAND.  The British composer was Cyril Scott who had a wide reputation in England and on the Continent during the early 20th Century, and he wrote this, and many similar descriptive pieces during a period of his life when he studied mysticism and Orientalism.  In his accompanying sleeve notes Hector indicates that Scott found the inspiration for the piece after meeting Claude Debussy. Whichever of the two suggestions, both are equally valid, and can be appreciated as Hector extracts some of the delicate colours of orchestration from the Roland Atelier.  The pastoral, almost mediaeval sounding opening to the Beatles composition GET BACK,  belies that which follows!  Suddenly the trumpets sound, drums begin a steady throbbing beat which in turn build up to take over this pop classic, which Lennon is reputed to have said was a re-write of their earlier Lady Madonna.  It  revives memories of the 1969 album Let it Be, and the time when the police raided the Apple Records rooftop, thus bringing to rapid end the al fresco outdoor rehearsal!   It wouldn't be a Hector recording if it didn't contain a little something by Bach, but in this case its not one of his many Fugues, but merely a hint of the great man himself.    Released back in 1967 by the group Procol Harum,  a WHITER SHADE OF PALE was the work of Matthew Fisher, who drew inspiration for this popular tune from Air on a G String and the Choral Prelude of Sleepers Awake.  As a cinema projectionist back in the 60's I was forced for many weeks to endure the Widescreen re-issue of Gone with the Wind, and although Max Steiner won awards for the Soundtrack, TARA'S THEME  never holds my interest as much as it does for many other people.   Even so, this and I HAVE DREAMED from another Hollywood blockbuster The King & I, are representative of those halcyon days when costume dramas and musicals were big money spinners.  Writing of which I was dragged, protesting vociferously to see the latest film version of PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.  In all honesty I was awestruck with the scenic effects, and clearly it had the same effect on Hector.  As the auctioneers assistants remove the tarpaulin from what remains of the huge bent and twisted chandelier, the auditorium fills with the full and majestic sound of a Cathedral organ, and magically the Opera House is restored to its former sumptuous granduer.  In a selection lasting almost 23 minutes, Hector captures for all time some of the main themes.  Listen out as  he even re-creates the "voice" of Christine as she makes her Opera House debut.   I feel that with the release of the film version we will once again have numerous organ recordings of the music.  Any we do hear will have to go a long way to beat this one, when artist and instrument fuse as one to bring us this translation.   In fact it's the Cathedral of Notre Dame that is the setting for the finale to this CD.   Not only do were hear a representation of the famous organ, but there is the added excitement of an orchestra, and a  magnificent brass and percussion ensemble combining to play Saint Saens MAESTOSO from SYMPHONY No 3...  all courtesy of the incredible Roland Atelier organ and the virtuosity of Hector Olivera.  It is a World wide unbeatable combination, and ever likely to remain so.