Joe Vitacco '90 cringes over horror movies. It's not the gore or the overwrought villains -- it's
the ghoulish organ music he despises. "It's a stereotype that Hollywood has created about the
organ," he says.
Creepy chords are not what you'll hear on the pipe-organ CDs released by his label, JAV
Recordings. The label is part of a continuing effort by Vitacco to "better the image and
reputation of the pipe organ." He wants people to appreciate the beauty of that soaring
instrument, whose rich, complex notes are produced acoustically.
The difference between an electronic organ, with which most people are familiar, and a
pipe organ, Vitacco explains, is like a print versus the actual art. "Pipe organs offer a more
vibrant, colorful sound," he says, while electronic organs "basically synthesize the sound of an
organ pipe" by using computerized sampling to duplicate the sound of a pipe organ.
In an unusual analogy, Vitacco can even mix his enjoyment of Fighting Irish football
with his dislike of untrained musicians toiling away on electronic organs: "If Notre Dame put
talent similar to the stereotypical organ player on the football field, none of us alums would have
to worry about winning tickets in the ticket lottery," he says. While Vitacco himself can play the
organ, he freely admits that his own skill "is at a B- level."
Vitacco works full time as an executive recruiter for Ajilon Finance in New Jersey and
runs his classical music recording company as a "labor of love." He founded the recording
company in 1997, with initial financial assistance from Thomas A. Coleman '56, who died in
2000. "My mission," Vitacco says, "was to record performances by the finest organists on the
finest organs in the world."
That mission has taken him to churches and schools across the United States and
overseas to Paris and London, places that are home to either stately, finely restored pipe organs
or new (and very expensive) ones. While his day job no longer allows for a lot of travel, he still
oversees the projects, employing a recording engineer in the United States and another in
Europe. Dan Madden '03 creates art for the covers and booklets accompanying many of the CDs.
One of Vitacco's recent projects is the Craig Cramer Plays the Paul Fritts Pipe Organ at
the University of Notre Dame CD. Recording the new million-dollar organ at the DeBartolo
Performing Arts Center, Vitacco says, was a way to give back to the University "for all the place
and her alums have given to me."
The CD features works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Pablo Bruna, Dieterich Buxtehude
and others. Cramer, a Notre Dame professor of music, says he chose the pieces on the recording
"to show off the many possibilities of the new Fritts organ," an instrument he calls "stunning."
For Vitacco, the CD also serves another purpose. Besides showcasing the Fritts organ, he
says, it helps promote Notre Dame's music program "so the most talented young musicians
know that this is a place they should come to study."
The Fritts organ CD and 70 other JAV recordings are available at pipeorgancds.com.
Carol Schaal is managing editor/web editor of this magazine.
(January 2007)
