Organ

Forthcoming UK organ recitals

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This is the listing of some of my forthcoming organ recitals from the very last issue of the now defunct Early Music Review diary, for many years put together by Helen Shabetai every month.

The Wetheringsett OrganThe recital in Worcester on 31 July will mostly be played on the ‘Wetheringsett’ organ, a reconstruction of a medieval English organ based on a fragment of an East Anglian organ dating from around 1525. Thomas Tomkins was organist at Worcester Cathedral. He was also an avid collector of earlier music, dating from around the time of the Wetheringsett organ. I will be playing music by Tomkins and from the earlier manuscripts that Tomkins owned and commented on – “A  daynty fine verse” being just one of his comments. I will also play an Organ Concerto by William Hayes, an 18th century Worcester Cathedral organist,  on the 1795 Gray organ.  Continue reading →

Katharinenkirche Hamburg

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Katharinenkirche Hamburg
Sietze de Vries, organ
Fugue State Records/JSB Records FSRCD007. 79’37

Jacob Praetorius, Reincken, Bach and improvisation

The recent reconstruction of the famous Hamburg Katherininkirche organ was major landmark in the organ world. Its nickname of the ‘Bach organ’ (or ‘ an organ for Bach’) is misleading, and relates to the visit of Bach in 1720. But it could equally, and with far more accuracy, be described as the ‘Scheidemann’ or ‘Reincken’ organ (Katherininkirche organists for nearly 100 years from 1629-1722), both of whom had far more influence on its development, and whose music it better represents. Its roots go back to about 1400, and it had reached an advanced state by 1605 when Continue reading →

Bach at Martinikerk, Groningen

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Bach at Martinikerk, Groningen
Wim van Beek, organ
Fugue State Records/Helior FSRCD003. 2 CDs. 51’12+57’41

Bach: Clavierubung III

This is a recording made in 2006 of the famous organ in the Martinikerk, Groningen, one of the famous North German Baroque organs. Its roots lay in the mid-15th century 1450 with a rebuilding around 1482 by Johan ten Damme. The Gothic organ was rebuilt in Renaissance style in 1542 and further enlarged in 1628, 1690, 1691/2 (by Arp Schnitger), by Frans Caspar Schnitger and Hinsz in 1729/30 and 1740. After many poor re-buildings in the early 20th century, it was finally restored back to a 1740 state in 1984 by Jürgen Ahrend, retaining most of its early pipework, some dating back to 1542. It is seen by many as an ideal ‘Bach organ’, although more recent thinking has recognised that the very different Saxon and Thuringian organs are closer to the sound world of the mature Bach. But he was certainly influenced by these more northern instruments, particularly in his youth. Continue reading →

Koororgal Martinikerk Groningen

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Koororgal Martinikerk Groningen
Wim van Beek, organ
Helior HGWB02. 77’08.

DuMage, Clérambault, JS Bach, Mozart, CPE Bach, Zipoli, Daquin, Paradisi.

Although the Martinikerk choir organ was only acquired in 1939, it has a much earlier history. There are no records, but is seems that it was originally built around 1742 for the St Elisabethsdal cloister in the south Netherlands, probably by Jean-Baptiste Le Picard, the best known of the French family of organ builders. In 1799, during the French occupation, the cloister was closed, the organ and other furnishings sold off, and the church demolished. The two-manual organ was divided between two churches, Continue reading →

L’organo a Firenze dai Medici all’Unità d’Italia

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L’organo a Firenze dai Medici all’Unità d’Italia
Gabriele Giacomelli
Tactus TC 860002. 79’03

This CD has been issued in celebration of the brief period, 150 years ago, when Florence was declared the capital of the Kingdom of Italy. Using the two historic organs in the San Lorenzo basilica, it covers the period from the time of the Medici family (who built San Lorenzo as their parish church and eventual mausoleum) to the Unification of Italy. The first half is played on a small Renaissance period organ, tuned in quarter-comma meantone, with pipework dating back to the 1450s, restored by Continue reading →

Bach in Montecassino

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Bach in Montecassino
Luca Guglielmi
Vivat 108. 69’12

This is a rather unexpected CD of Bach organ music played on a one-manual North Italian organ. But there is an interesting back-story. The pieces come from the Bach works collected by two 18th century scholars, Friedrich Wilhelm Rust and Padre Martini, who both played a part in what became the first collected edition of Bach’s works. After Rust visited the Abbey of Montecassino (south-east of Rome) and played the organ there (in 1766), he presented the Abbey organist with several Bach organ manuscripts. The Abbey Continue reading →

Bach: Clavier-Übung III – Stephen Farr

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J.S.Bach: Clavier-Übung III
Stephen Farr organ
The 1975 Metzler organ,Trinity College, Cambridge
Resonus Classics RES10120.  105’08

Bach’s Clavier-Übung III is one of his most important contributions to the whole organ repertoire. Published for ‘connoisseurs’ in 1739, the 27 pieces include music of the utmost intensity and contrapuntal complexity, alongside more approachable pieces such as the well-known ‘Giant’ Fugue, Wir glauben all an einen Gott. Bettina Varwig’s detailed programme notes reveal that this collection could be Bach’s defiant response to his critic, and former pupil, Scheibe who criticised him for writing in “an antiquated, bombastic style that eschewed the current taste for pleasant, natural, singable music”.  It is about as far as he could get from that new style, one taken up with gusto by his son CPE Bach.

Stephen Farr’s choice of the 1975 Metzler organ in Trinity College, Cambridge, is a good one. An early UK example of continental organs designed with Continue reading →

Organ Music before Bach

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Organ Music before Bach
Kei Koito.
1736 Johann Jakob Hör organ, Pfarrkirche St. Katharina,Wolfegg, Germany
Deutsche Harmonia Mundi – Sony Music 8843040912. 78’37

Pachelbel Toccata in D Minor, Ciacona in D Minor, Fantasia in D Major (ex E-Flat Major), Vom Himmel hoch, da komm’ ich her, Toccata in G Minor, Ciacona in G Minor (ex F Minor), Fantasia in C Major, Toccata in C Major, Prelude in E Minor, Fugue in E Minor; Muffat Toccata prima, Ciacona in G Major, Toccata decimal; Fischer Ricercar pro Festis Pentecostalibus, Chaconne in F Major, Rigaudon & Rigaudon double, Passacaglia in D Minor; Kerll Passcaglia in D Minor;  Froberger Ricercar in D Minor, FbWV 411, Canzon in G Major, FbWV 305, Meditation faist sur ma Mort future laquelle se joue lentement avec discretion, FbWV 611a

Despite the all-encompassing title of this CD, the focus is on German organ music before Bach and, more specifically, South German and Austrian music. The opening piece is by Pachelbel, an organist composer raised in the strict Lutheran tradition.  But the Italian influence is immediately apparent. Like so many other Continue reading →

Fragments

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Claude Ledoux: Notizen-Fragmente (2009/13)
Jean-Pierre Deleuze: Voici l’absence – Cinq déplorations en antiphonie (2011)
Cindy Castillo, organ, Aurélie Frank, voice
PARATY 114122.  69:39’

If ever an organ was designed for the performance of contemporary music, it is the 1981 Detlef Kleuker instrument in Notre-Dame des Grâces au Chant d’Oiseau in Brussels, designed by Jean Guillou as a successor to his 1978 ‘hand of God’ organ in Alpe d’Huez.  In this CD, two talented young Belgian musicians perform works composed for them by Belgian composers Claude Ledoux and Jean-Pierre Deleuze. The combination of organ and solo Cindy Castillofemale voice is a beguiling one. In this case it is enhanced by a generous acoustic, fascinating music, an extraordinary organ and excellent recording techniques (the engineer gets his own CV in the booklet) – and, of course, by the musically and technically virtuosic organ playing of Cindy Castillo (left) and singing of Aurélie Frank (below). Continue reading →

Les ombres heureuses: Les organistes français de la fin de l’Ancien Régime

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Les ombres heureuses: Les organistes français de la fin de l’Ancien Régime Olivier Baumont (1748 Dom Bedos organ, Bordeaux & 1791 Érard-Fréres piano organize)
Radio France TEM316053.   63′ 31″ 

Music by Balbastre, Beauvarlet-Charpentier, Benaut, Corrette, A-L Couperin & Lasceux

The CD was so tightly jammed into the central jaws that it snapped in half as I tried to get it out of the box.  However I found snippets of all the pieces on the internet. The period leading up to the French Revolution formed the technical peak of the French Classical organ although the music written for it didn’t reach similar heights.  In France, the musical highlight came around 1700 with De Grigny, after which Continue reading →

HANDEL ORGAN RECITAL. St George’s, Hanover Sq. 7 April 1:10.

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The London Handel Festival and Mayfair Organ Concerts present a lunchtime organ recital by

Andrew Benson-Wilson

Handel Overtures and Organ Concertos, arranged for solo organ by Handel, Babell and Walsh c 1755. Played on the ‘Handel House’ chamber organ and the 2012 Richards Fowkes & Co organ in Handel’s own church of St George, Hanover Square in London’s Mayfair. SGHS Handel organ_crop 2