The Organ, Master of them all - general organ thread

Started by Harry, January 08, 2008, 01:08:57 AM

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Marc

#100
Having lots of listening pleasure lately with the orgue Bernard Aubertin de Saint-Louis en l'Île, Paris.
Bach's Trio Sonatas by Benjamin Alard (check the Bach organ thread).
And now: organ works of Mozart, played by Olivier Vernet and some quatre mains with Cédric Meckler.



Beautiful instrument!
(Though the Alard recording is much warmer recorded, with more space also.)

With Mozart and the organ it's something like what if he had grown older and got a job as organist, f.i. at the Wiener Stephansdom? Considering his works of 1791, including the unfinished Requiem, my guess would be that we wouldn't have to worry about the quality.

Antoine Marchand

Menno van Delft plays "Vater unser im Himmelreich" by Georg Böhm on the Arp Schnitger organ in the Jacobikerk at Uithuizen, The Netherlands.



Marc

Quote from: Antoine Marchand on December 07, 2009, 03:28:11 PM
Menno van Delft plays "Vater unser im Himmelreich" by Georg Böhm on the Arp Schnitger organ in the Jacobikerk at Uithuizen, The Netherlands.

Thanks for posting. :)
Beautiful piece, beautiful instrument!
Constructed by Schnitger, and built (1699-1701) by two of his employees: Rudolf Garrels and Johannes Radeker.
After the last restoration (Bernhard Edskes, 2001): Hoofdwerk, Rugwerk, Pedal, 28 stops, 21 of them are original Schnitgers.

listener

Nice story in the New York Times - replica of an unplayable historic organ at Vilnius built in Rochester NY

some excerpts
The organ, the Craighead-Saunders, is a unique instrument, not only because of its lovely sound, but also because it is a nearly exact copy of a late Baroque organ built by Adam Gottlob Casparini of East Prussia in 1776. The original stands in the Holy Ghost Church in Vilnius, Lithuania.
The project to build a replica of the Vilnius organ began in 2000 at the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, but Eastman had long wanted a new instrument for Christ Church. David Higgs, a concert organist and head of the Eastman organ department, had been seeking one for years.

In 1998, Mr. Higgs met Dr. Davidsson, the founder of the Goteborg Organ Art Center in Sweden. The center specializes in reconstructing historic organs and in making sure that restored instruments sounded the way the builders intended and that they properly played the music that was written for them.

Reconstruction is not easy. The technique for building large Baroque pipe organs had matured by the 17th century, but progress since then has put new tools in builders' hands. Entirely new schools of organ-building, performance, composition and taste evolved. These days, organs are tuned differently. Many are bigger, more robust and designed to play different kinds of music. Older organs needed to keep up with the times, so they were modified, sometimes so radically that their original tone could no longer be discerned.

It took four years to make the parts in Goteborg. Meanwhile, in Rochester, specialty cabinet-makers were building a new organ balcony for Christ Church, using lumber salvaged from a 19th-century South Carolina factory. Digital scans enabled the team to reproduce the carvings of the Vilnius cabinet, including the statue of King David above the console. German specialists painted the exterior wood surfaces with 18th-century-style gesso.

The Goteborg Center formed a collaboration with the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture and Mr. Gucas to support Lithuania's efforts to restore the Vilnius organ and make a replica as part of the project.

The team began by measuring everything in the Vilnius organ, including the cabinets and the smallest hand-wrought iron fixtures and nails. Team members made drawings of every fixture, every join, every pipe and every surface. The data were printed out and put together in enormous manuals the size of telephone books.

Then they were analyzed. The team removed the pipes to study the metal composition and to test the acoustics. The Vilnius organ was not playable, so the team could not hear what it sounded like. In fact, the meticulous preparations were necessary partly because the replica was to provide guidance in restoring the original.
The organ arrived in Rochester in 2007 and took a year to assemble. Behind the soaring facade, the interior is roomy and airy like a three-story, walk-in pine closet. Pipes of all sizes leap toward the rafters, but virtually all the moving parts — stop throttles, key action, air valves and trackers — are made of wood and driven mechanically by the power of human hands and feet.

The organ made its debut in October 2008, with four days of lectures, workshops and concerts.


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/science/22organ.html?_r=1&ref=science&pagewanted=all
"Keep your hand on the throttle and your eye on the rail as you walk through life's pathway."

Coopmv

Quote from: listener on December 22, 2009, 08:11:34 PM
Nice story in the New York Times

Thanks for the excellent article, which was a pleasure to read ...

Marc


Que

Well, this thread deserves a good awakening! :)

I've immersed myself in this disc with music by Michael Praetorius (not to be mistaken with Jacob Praetorius), an early German Baroque composer and music theorist, contemporary and colleague of Heinrich Schütz.



This disc comprises ten organ compositions from his music collections Musae Sioniae (fantasias on Lutheran chorales) and Hymnodiae Sioniae (Latin Hymns). I think it's brilliant stuff, brilliantly played. The fact that the music consists of heavy polyphonic fantasias on chorales and hymns, drawn to heavenly length does provide an hurdle for the listener to get into the music. But that being said, both composer and performer provide ample variation and colour to keep our attention. If anyone can guide us into this music, it's Jean-Charles Ablitzer who combines intellectual rigour and grasp of musical structure with an airy touch and wonderful articulation. He is supported by the wonderful organ of the Sankt-Stephanskirche in Tangermünde, built in 1623-24 by Hans Scherer the Younger and Fritz Scherer, which has a beautiful colourful tone, clarity and refinement. One can't get enough organ recordings of this instrument IMO! :)

Interestingly, this recording was made under supervision of Ablitzer himself, Alpha has just issued it! But you won't notice - it's technically excellent. More info about this recording HERE.

Q

premont

Quote from: Que on February 06, 2010, 12:40:12 AM
I've immersed myself in this disc with music by Michael Praetorius (not to be mistaken with Jacob Praetorius), an early German Baroque composer and music theorist, contemporary and colleague of Heinrich Schütz.

Maybe I should draw your attention to a CD with organ works of Jacob Prætorius played by Leon Berben (also on the Scherer organ in Tangermünde) (Ramée).  I do not know if I can recommend it, because the works are even more difficult to access than the organworks of Michael Prætorius. But the splendid organ is well caught and the playing is as far as I can hear - for obvious reasons I have not heard much other organ music by this composer, as this CD as far as I know is the only existing exclusively Jacob Prætorius CD -  stylish.
γνῶθι σεαυτόν

Que

Quote from: premont on February 06, 2010, 04:14:16 PM
Maybe I should draw your attention to a CD with organ works of Jacob Prætorius played by Leon Berben (also on the Scherer organ in Tangermünde) (Ramée).  I do not know if I can recommend it, because the works are even more difficult to access than the organworks of Michael Prætorius. But the splendid organ is well caught and the playing is as far as I can hear - for obvious reasons I have not heard much other organ music by this composer, as this CD as far as I know is the only existing exclusively Jacob Prætorius CD -  stylish.

Thanks, I have noticed that intersting disc as well! :) Looks like absolutely mouth watering stuff! ;D (I'm dooooomed.. :-\ 8))


Info & samples HERE.

Also, Ablitzer did a another Michael Praetorius disc - this time with organ adaptations of motets and secular dances - "Auch auff Orgeln" on Musique et Mémoirs. That disc features a rare cabinet organ.



Review in French HERE. (In a Googled "translation" HERE).
A review by Johan van Veen HERE.

Q

premont

Quote from: Que on February 07, 2010, 01:34:37 AM
Also, Ablitzer did a another Michael Praetorius disc - this time with organ adaptations of motets and secular dances - "Auch auff Orgeln" ... That disc features a rare cabinet organ.

Fortunately the Compenius organ in Frederiksborg Slotskirke is well documented on disc already, but Ablitzers Prætorius programming is of course interesting. Do you think it is possible to get hold of the his CD without having to execute extraordinary procedures as to payment?
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Que

Quote from: premont on February 07, 2010, 03:12:36 AM
Fortunately the Compenius organ in Frederiksborg Slotskirke is well documented on disc already, but Ablitzers Prætorius programming is of course interesting. Do you think it is possible to get hold of the his CD without having to execute extraordinary procedures as to payment?

Don't know. But I've spotted that disc also at regular French sources like fnac, alapage or CDmail.
La Chaumière is also a very reliable source for French rarities! :)

Do you have any hot tips on recordings of that particular organ? :)

Q

Marc

Maybe this link has been posted before, but anyway: organ lovers might enjoy it!

http://mypipeorganhobby.blogspot.com/

Beginning with vids (+ sound) of Gwendolyn Tóth, playing at the 1531 built organ in Krewerd, Groningen, NL.

In the region, the instrument is known as de skreeuwerd van Krewerd (= the screamer of Krewerd). ;D

Why?, you ask.
I really haven't any clue. :-\

Check it out yourself!

John Copeland

Has anyone here visited the 'Bruckner Organ' at St. Florestan, if so, do you have nice photo of it you can publish here?  Also, the Linz organ?

premont

Quote from: Marc on March 05, 2010, 06:07:57 AM
Maybe this link has been posted before, but anyway: organ lovers might enjoy it!

http://mypipeorganhobby.blogspot.com/

Thanks for this great link, Marc.
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John Copeland

Magnificent.  Thank you for that, it's just the vision I needed.

PREMONT thank you for the link, it has everything I coiuld have asked for in this exploration.

listener

#115
SALE ON THIS WEEK AT GOTHIC

for the benefit of the penurious but obsessive-compulsive...
The March Madness sale is here:
This week, for one week only, all single organ solo recordings are $18.98 $9.98
Double organ CDs are $29:98 $14.98
Triple organ CDs are $39.98 $19.98
Includes new releases!
Offer limited to stock on hand on the labels:
Loft Recordings, Gothic Records, reZound
Offer expires midnight Friday March 12, 2010

http://www.gothic-catalog.com/Default.asp

and oh, do I feel tempted....
"Keep your hand on the throttle and your eye on the rail as you walk through life's pathway."

premont

Quote from: John on March 05, 2010, 11:09:50 AM
PREMONT thank you for the link, it has everything I coiuld have asked for in this exploration.

Well, I think I shall forward your thanks to Marc.
γνῶθι σεαυτόν

Marc

Quote from: listener on March 05, 2010, 08:30:16 PM
SALE ON THIS WEEK AT GOTHIC [....]

Offer expires midnight Friday March 12, 2010

http://www.gothic-catalog.com/Default.asp

and oh, do I feel tempted....
Yes, Gothic has got some yummie issues in their catalog!
For Europeans a.o. though, there's that lazy import tax thing .... but thanx for drawing our attention to this!

Quote from: premont on March 05, 2010, 11:30:21 PM
Well, I think I shall forward your thanks to Marc.
Thanx and you're all very welcome.
Maybe we should all thank the blog owner for that nice informative site! :)

Que

.[asin]B000BTQGXU[/asin]

As Premont commented before, this is an excellent disc. Coming from Froberger's works for harpsichord (see the German Baroque thread) that are very much oriented on the French tradition, this is somewhat of a surprise since this seems to me quite focused on Italian organ music by Frescobaldi et al. Pretty elusive and somewhat austere stuff too, basically a large collection of exercises in counterpoint. Playing by Van Asperen is pretty straight, unfussy. It is on the conservative side but not as much as his teacher Leonhardt. What makes it a success is the flexibility and subtle phrasing, bold at some times, almost transcendental at others. And the warm, intimate, characterful and transparent sound of the  organ of the Basilica S.Martini in Bologna, built in 1556 by Giovanni Cipri. Recording by the German label Aeolus, that specialises in organ music, is exemplary. A rewarding disc for advanced organ listeners.

Q

Marc

Lovely little clip about the restoration of the Lohman organ (1817), Village Church, Zuidwolde, NL.
A few days before the restoration started, I played a few Mozart bars on this one .... in an awful manner, of course. :-[

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I05jbWIrCCU