The Organ, Master of them all - general organ thread

[prémont]

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.

I have now purchased this CD and agree that it is most interesting. Maybe the  music might be better chosen and I do not care for the inclusion of a cornet even if Dongois is a great musician. But the CD gives a very fair picture of this unique organ.

Other recordings with the Compenius organ are:

About one third of Koopman´s  four CDs Sweelinck integral for Philips
http://www.amazon.de/Cembalowerke-Ton-Koopman/dp/B00005ND44/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1273687323&sr=1-4

One half of a CD by Albert Bolliger (Sinus)
http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/Albert-Bolliger-Orgel/hnum/4118529

One CD by Per Kynne Frandsen on DaCapo
http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/D%E4nische-Orgelmusik/hnum/7742201

One CD by Lena Jacobsson on BIS
http://www.amazon.de/Court-Dance-Music-Renaissance-Baroque/dp/B0000263OT/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1273687415&sr=1-2

I think most of these are available at the moment, see links.

Francis Chapelet and Helmut Tramnitz have also made recordings with this organ on Harmonia Mundi France and Archiv, but these are as far as I know OOP.

[prémont]

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

Thanks for this entertaining and indeed lovely clip, Marc.

[listener]

ALICE TULLEY HALL NYC 

Pipe Organ Returns to Alice Tully Hall
By JAMES R. OESTREICH
Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times Workers carry one of the organ pipes into Alice Tully Hall.

Skepticism stirred when Lincoln Center spirited the pipe organ out of Alice Tully Hall before the building's renovation in 2006, promising its eventual return. The skepticism only grew when the renovated hall reopened in early 2009 with no sign of the organ.

But Lincoln Center promised all along, and now it has delivered. The 19-ton instrument, 4,192 pipes strong, returned to Tully Hall on Monday morning aboard two semitrailers. Employees of the manufacturer, Orgelbau Th. Kuhn of Männedorf, Switzerland, and Lincoln Center stagehands began unloading the trucks at 8 a.m.

The process started at the hall's loading dock on 66th Street, with smaller pieces at first. Occasionally a recognizable feature — the organist's bench, for example — would float by. Other objects required a bit of explanation: wind chests, wooden frames about the size of small pool tables, each with hundreds of holes on the upper face to hold miniature pipes. (One of these elicited a choice bit of stagehand lingo, as the workers were told to "Iwo Jima it onto the dolly," the makeshift verb evidently denoting a number of brawny backs leaning into a task.) But most of the early cargo remained anonymous, in wooden crates or cardboard boxes.

A little later, the second truck started yielding up organ pipes on 65th Street, where the stage entrance provided a more direct route and easier turns into the hall. The pipes were laid on the floor of the orchestra level, between rows of seats. A Kuhn technician had to caution a stagehand to carry pipes cradled in his arms, not resting on a shoulder, which could leave a dent in the soft metal, an alloy of tin and lead.

Then it was back to 66th Street for the unloading of squarish wooden pipes (the contrebombarde) and the heaviest item yet: the console, looking naked, stripped of its wooden cabinet. The renovation of Lincoln Center, which has continued in the organ's absence, has evidently made a few things easier. When the console was removed, the door of the freight elevator had to be left open, a stagehand recalled, and the instrument rubbed up against the walls. But the renovation has brought a new, larger elevator to the Tully loading area.

The organ, a personal gift to the hall from Alice Tully, was built by Kuhn in 1974 and inaugurated in 1975 by the organist E. Power Biggs. In recent years it has resided in storage facilities at the Adirondack Scenic company in Argyle, N.Y., some 20 miles northeast of Saratoga Springs. It was cleaned and rebuilt there by Kuhn in May.

The various parts are being scattered about the Tully stage, each as close to its ultimate destination as possible. "The bench can go right in place," a technician said. The rear wall of the stage, which has large sliding doors, "remains exactly the same," John Tiebout, Lincoln Center's director of concert halls and operations, said on Monday, though "a small amount of cutting and chopping" will take place behind the scenes.

The reinstallation of the organ will take weeks. The next event scheduled in Tully Hall is the first of three shows featuring the Blind Boys of Alabama on July 12, part of the Lincoln Center Festival. The first performance on the restored organ is a reading of Bach's "Clavier-Übung," Part 3, by Paul Jacobs on Nov. 16, part of Lincoln Center's new fall festival, White Light.
source:
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/pipe-organ-returns-to-alice-tully-hall/

[snyprrr]

Contemporary Organ of Notre Dame (Solstice):

Xenakis
Chaynes
Chapelet

Wow! Can I get a witness?

[listener]

LONDON,   Royal Festival Hall

The Royal Festival Hall has received £950,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to restore and reinstall a grade I listed organ in its main auditorium.

The instrument, which has 7,710 pipes, was installed in the auditorium in 1954 but was removed for renovation work.

The restoration on the organ will be undertaken by Harrison and Harrison Ltd, its original creators.

The work, which is the final phase of revamp of the building on London's South Bank, will finish by 2013.
Organ's anniversary

The organ was known for its open-plan design and eclectic tone. Most of the components of the organ are being stored in Durham.

It will be reinstalled in its original location at the heart of Sir Leslie Martin's concert auditorium in time for the instrument's 60th anniversary celebration in 2014.

Alan Bishop, chief executive of Southbank Centre in London, said: "I would like to thank the Heritage Lottery Fund for their significant contribution to the full restoration of the great organ of the Royal Festival Hall for the next generation."

He said a fundraising campaign would be launched in September to appeal for public support.

Sue Bowers, head of the Heritage Lottery Fund for London, said she was delighted that the restoration will put the "amazing internationally important organ back in its rightful place".

from  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/england/london/10342262.stm

[ccar]

The Convent of Mafra is a large baroque monastery, built by King John V of Portugal in 1730. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafra_National_Palace.
 
The church includes a set of 6 historic baroque organs and 2 carillons, unique in the world. The 6 organs were recently restored and a concert with the complete set was held a few months ago.  This excerpt is only a small aperitif  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eet-yGNW-EA&feature=related

[Coopmv]

The Convent of Mafra is a large baroque monastery, built by King John V of Portugal in 1730. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafra_National_Palace.
 
The church includes a set of 6 historic baroque organs and 2 carillons, unique in the world. The 6 organs were recently restored and a concert with the complete set was held a few months ago.  This excerpt is only a small aperitif  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eet-yGNW-EA&feature=related

Nice.     

[Sid]

I'm just beginning to get into organ music again, after a long hiatus. I used to go to organ recitals in the '90's here in Sydney. I want to do that again, but every time there's an organ recital on, it clashes  with another concert I want to go to!

Anyhow, in the mean time, I have purchased some cd's of organ music. I especially like the French composers for this instrument. I have got Couperin's two organ masses, a cd of selections from Widor's organ symphonies on Naxos, some of Franck's organ music, some Durufle works, as well as a mixed collection of pieces by guys like Langlais, Boellmann (the amazing Suite gothique), Guillmant, and others. I've also got a cd with some of D. Scarlatti's organ sonatas.

Composers I want to get on cd (& of course, hear live) are guys like Messiaen, Sweenlick, Elgar (the organ arangment of his Enigma) and Alain (heard his Litanies live and it was amazing). I like organ concertos less, though I do have a cd of Respighi's, Lovelock's and Poulenc's efforts in that genre. I really can't stand Saint-Saens' Organ Symphony.

I really like the unique colours of the organ, it is the king of instruments, no less. The breadth and depth of it's sounds can only be compared to a large orchestra, if anything. I also like the harmonies, which can be very rich & subtle. There is much out there for me to discover yet.

[Marc]

Another re-discovery of the organ!

Even though I have different favourite flavours, I'm convinced you're gonna have a good time with this renewed journey. Enjoy yourself!

[vandermolen]

Fine new CD of Organ/Choral music:

[Que]

I tought I'd post my first impressions on this right away.



Harry wasn't pleased with it at all. I am a bit more positive. But what doesn't help is the recording (from 1979): it creates a very diffuse and overtly bright sound picture which might be responsible for the fact that Felix Friedich's playing comes of as a bit too superficial and glitzy. After my ears adjusted, I found that Johann Ludwig Krebs was composer that wrote some pretty damn good German "Baroque" organ music: clearly infuenced by Bach but already more forward looking - Krebs was kind of a transitional figure in the Gurn's Classical Corner way! More "feminine" music due to the projected "emfindlichkeit" that is quintessential for this musical movement and slightly less intellectually rigorous than Bach.

Felix Friedrich turns out to be an authority on Johann Ludwig krebs, he who wrote several academic publications on the composer. I found out he did a complete Krebs cycle on Querstand. He fits into the "Music Academics behind the Organ School" with Harald Vogel (Buxyehude) and Gerhard Weinberger (Bach). So competent and very historically correct playing, though he sounds to my ears less "academic" than Vogel or Weinberger.

I would like to explore Krebs' organ music - any suggestions? Anyone heard Friedrich cycle on Querstand, which is probably better recorded?

Q

[Marc]

[....]
I would like to explore Krebs' organ music - any suggestions? Anyone heard Friedrich cycle on Querstand, which is probably better recorded?

I have some Krebs at home and I certainly love to listen to his organ stuff. The discs are from Naxos (forgot organist) and Friedrich (forgot label).

I'm at work right now, and tonight I'll be listening to Lorenzo Ghielmi live in the Martinikerk (unlucky me ).
No Krebs at his programme, but Bruhns, Buxtehude, Sammartini and .... Bach.

But I'll come back on this .... if Premont doesn't beat me.

I guess our Danish connaisseur will say something like I like Krebs very much, but he always makes me longing for the Grandmaster (a certain JS Bach) even more.

Let's wait and see ....

[Harry]

I have some Krebs at home and I certainly love to listen to his organ stuff. The discs are from Naxos (forgot organist) and Friedrich (forgot label).

I'm at work right now, and tonight I'll be listening to Lorenzo Ghielmi live in the Martinikerk (unlucky me ).
No Krebs at his programme, but Bruhns, Buxtehude, Sammartini and .... Bach.

But I'll come back on this .... if Premont doesn't beat me.

I guess our Danish connaisseur will say something like I like Krebs very much, but he always makes me longing for the Grandmaster (a certain JS Bach) even more.

Let's wait and see ....

I will try to be there too, I was just listening to Lorenzo Ghielmi, playing organ on a Frescobaldi disc!

[prémont]

I guess our Danish connaisseur will say something like I like Krebs very much, but he always makes me longing for the Grandmaster (a certain JS Bach) even more.

Almost spot on, Marc. To be honest I have never been seriously attracted by Krebs´organ works. Too much copying of Bach´s works, going so far as to paraphrase specific Bach works, and much of it sounding like a collection of Bachian turns in casual order, without the tension and inner logic, which marks Bach´s organ works (do not confuse this with intellectual rigorism!). And many of Krebs´fugue subjects are lame and do not really evolve in the course of the fugue. Accordingly he is sparingly represented in my collection, and I have never considered a purchase of an integral. I own all in all six Krebs CD´s including a few overlappings together representing about one third of his works.  These are two CD´s with Riccardo Doni, the one discussed above with Felix Friedrich, and one each with Gerhard Weinberger (Christophorus), Graham Barber (ASV) and Gerhard Gnann (Naxos). All are competent musicians and do their best to make the music interesting without overdoing it, but - as you write - I can not listen to Krebs without longing for the real thing all the time.

[Que]

Interesting, Premont!
I guess you are less impressed by Krebs' transitional quality in style. But I do understand what you are saying and do not necessarily disagree. Still, but my impression was that I would enjoy a nice chunk of his music, provided tht it is played by the right organist (expressive, articulated) and on the right organ.

Q

[Marc]

I made a mistake: I don't have a Krebs disc with Friedrich, but with Beatrice-Maria Weinberger (Gerhard Weinberger's spouse). It's a copy of Volume 1 of their Krebs-integral for the Motette label.

Here's a Dutch link:

http://www.landgoedgerianna.nl/nieuws/cd-besprekingen/nr.-12-09-motette-krebs-serie-complete-organ-works-gerhard-beatrice-weinberger.html

BTW1: the Ghielmi concert was very fine, with exquisite registrations, especially the final Toccata, Adagio & Fugue in C-Major BWV 564.
I was only slightly disappointed with BWV 622 (O, Mensch, bewein dein' Sünde groß), played a bit too aloof. IMO, Ghielmi didn't get the severe protestant atmosphere of that piece.

BTW2: Harry, were you there?

[Marc]

http://www.youtube.com/v/QHWT6kP5AvI

The instrument at the end of the clip is the historic organ of the Martinikerk, Groningen, NL, restored during 1976-1984 by Jürgen Ahrend, after thorough research by Cor Edskes.

[Bulldog]

I would like to explore Krebs' organ music - any suggestions? Anyone heard Friedrich cycle on Querstand, which is probably better recorded?

Q

A Krebs organ disc I can recommend without any reservations is William Porter playing the Krebs Clavier-Ubung and two chorales on a Loft disc #1026.  Porter is one of my favorite organists and does himself proud on this recording (significantly better than Gnann on Naxos).  His choice of instrument is the Pehr Schiorlin organ (1806) located in Gammalkil, Sweden.  The recording was made in 2001 and times in at 76:54.

Of course, there is a limit to how much one can enjoy the music of Krebs, but Porter takes me to its upper reaches.
I do suggest listening to just a few pieces at one sitting. 

For those of you who might consider going to the Naxos Music Library to listen to 15 minutes of the Loft disc, it unfortunately is not listed as of today.  However, I'm confident it will be added soon.  FWIW, I love the aesthetic appeal of the cover.

[Coopmv]

I would like to explore Krebs' organ music - any suggestions? Anyone heard Friedrich cycle on Querstand, which is probably better recorded?

Q

Q,

I have all 6 volumes of Krebs Complete Organ Works by John Kitchen on the Priory Label.  You may want to check them out ...

[pjme]

A Belgian organ inCairo – 1914.

Egypt boasts 15 church organs. One of them was built in 1914 ( by Georges Cloetens, in Brussels) for the Heliopolis cathedral, near Cairo.


Modern Heliopolis (Arabic: مصر الجديدة‎, transliterated: Maṣsr el-Gedīdah – literally "New Egypt", is a district of Cairo. The town was established by the Heliopolis Oasis Company, headed by the Belgian industrialist Édouard Louis Joseph, Baron Empain, as well as Boghos Nubar, son of the Egyptian Prime Minister, Nubar Pasha, beginning in 1905. The Baron, a well known amateur egyptologist and prominent European entrepreneur, arrived in Egypt in January 1904, intending to rescue one of his Belgian company's projects in Egypt; the construction of a railway line linking Matariya to Port Said. Despite losing the railway contract to the British, Empain stayed on in Egypt; a decision due to his relationship with Yvette Boghdadli and/or love of the desert.
The Basilique Catholic church situated on Al-Ahram street is a famous landmark in Heliopolis, and it is the burial place of Baron Empain. The many places of worship in the district, including Saint Maron and Saint-Rita church on Beirut street, a Jewish synagogue on Al Missalah street, and the mosques all over the neighborhood, demonstrate that the city has been living in religious tolerance since it was established.

Over the years the organ in the Basilique became silent : desert sand filled the pipes and Heliopolis itself became part of greater Cairo.

Belgian organbuilder Gerard Pels and the Ktesibios http://www.ktesibios.eu/kte%20projecten.html organisation found money to restore this instrument. After more than a year of hard work , the instrument will be playable again.
Ktesibios tries to restaure organs in Arabia and third world countries.
Festive concert on november 12th!