J.S. Bach on the Organ

[prémont]

Oh, now I see: limited Edgar!

No, much worse than that, and please do not tell anyone. Edgar Crap.

[Marc]

No, much worse than that, and please do not tell anyone. Edgar Crap.

Pfui dich!

Btw: the Dutch word 'krap' means 'tight' or 'narrow', which explains my blabbering. Anyway, I'm in hopeful expactation of some more 'crap'.

[FideLeo]

Pfui dich!

Btw: the Dutch word 'krap' means 'tight' or 'narrow', which explains my blabbering. Anyway, I'm in hopeful expactation of some more 'crap'.

I wonder what Bach's attitudes toward unintended humour were like?  Perhaps laughing at someone's 'krapp' was more of a Handel thing.   

[Marc]

Posted a Bach organ contribution to the thread The most intense ending in a piece of music, with an upload of my fave performance (so far) of another favourite composition:

Sometimes, when a piece is intense from start to finish, it needs a skilled musician to make that finish just a tad more intense ....

http://www.mediafire.com/?80e31cmd83noj2a

J.S. Bach, Choralbearbeitung Jesus Christus, unser Heiland BWV 665.
Organist: Bram Beekman.
Instrument: Schnitger/Timpe organ, Der Aa Kerk, Groningen, NL.

After being in a whirlpool for almost too long, after about 3:00 minutes the piece seems to come to an end. But it isn't .... and Bram Beekman's inexorable performance is engraving in my soul again, for another minute and a half.

Jesus Christ, our Saviour,
who turned God's anger away from us
through his bitter suffering,
helped us out of the torments of hell.

As with f.i. the final chorus of Mahler 2 or the final movement of Tchaikovsky 6, I'm always very shaky after listening to this, in this particular performance none the less.

[FideLeo]

Are Ahrend organs supposedly in the Neo-Baroque category?  I know of quite a few Bach recordings made on the same instrument (San Simpliciano, Milan) 

http://www.youtube.com/v/9YhBplWvk-c

[asin]B00080UZ34[/asin]

[Marc]

Are Ahrend organs supposedly in the Neo-Baroque category?  I know of quite a few Bach recordings made on the same instrument (San Simpliciano, Milan) 

[Lorenzo Ghielmi playing BWV 639]

I do consider his organs neo-baroque: modern instruments, yet both built and sounding in a 'baroque way'.
Ahrend is also a very good restorer of old organs.

About Ghielmi: I have some discs with him, and last year I attended a concert given by him. In Bach, I find him more convincing in the free works. This BWV 639 f.i. lacks an inner soul IMO (whatever 'inner soul' might mean ).

[71 dB]

I have almost all disc Rübsam did for Naxos and also 8 discs of Weinberger on CPO (these where 2 euros each). I prefer Rübsam because the CDs sound much more edgy and energetic. Weinberger's discs are "silky". I am not considering buying other performers because Rübsam sounds great.

Preludes/Fantasias & Fugues are the meat for me. Awesome stuff!

[Marc]

[....] I am not considering buying other performers because Rübsam sounds great.

Good for you!

(But Beekman is better. Believe me. )

Preludes/Fantasias & Fugues are the meat for me. Awesome stuff!

Mmm, well, err, you just might want to have a go at Ghielmi, then?

[Marc]

Here's some real meat to me:

http://www.youtube.com/v/J0lk2dcHG-w

And after that:
off to bed!

This is Member Marcus sayin' good night to yez all, and God bless yez.

[prémont]

About Ghielmi: I have some discs with him, and last year I attended a concert given by him. In Bach, I find him more convincing in the free works.

So do I. Other than the CD Masolino mentions, Ghielmi has to my knowledge, recorded five Bach-only CDs, most of them using the Ahrend organ in Milano. There is unfortunately some overlapping between the CDs (more recordings of some of the Triosonatas and Concerto-arrangements). Before I regret a missing Bach integral from Ghielmi though, I more regret missing integrals from artists like Leo van Doeselaar and Stephen-Johannes Bleicher,. not to mention Jean-Charles Ablitzer.

[Marc]

Anyone heard this one? What's it like?

[Paul Jacobs Plays Bach (An Unedited Release)]

Attractive program, especially for newbies (with pieces like BWV 542 and 582, and some well-known chorale preludes).
Jacobs's playing is OK, apart from some unmotivated (IMO) tempi and registration changes.
Recording quality is good, too. Warm and present.
To me, the main problems are the organs: like the Montreal instrument, these Von Beckeraths suffer from anaemia, which leads to a certain 'listening fatigue'.
Strang really, because I really like the sound of the Von Beckerath organ in Montélimar (France), where Olivier Vernet recorded his first Bach disc in 1988.

[Opus106]

It is here -- again. Marie-Claire Alain's third cycle of Bach's organ works.

[Click on image for details]

[Coopmv]

It is here -- again. Marie-Claire Alain's third cycle of Bach's organ works.

[Click on image for details]

Thanks for the link.  This should be my last Complete Bach Organ Works ...   

[Marc]

It is here -- again. Marie-Claire Alain's third cycle of Bach's organ works.

[Click on image for details]

Thanks for informing us!
I will keep it in mind. But, based on my listening experiences of a 2cd-sampler of this 3rd integral, I think her 2nd cycle is more interesting. Apart from the choice of organs, that is.

[....] This should be my last Complete Bach Organ Works ...   

It should be, but will it be?

(And .... actually, it's not complete.)

[jlaurson]

Organic Bach
& other new Bach releases


http://www.weta.org/fmblog/?p=2890

Organ Works with Hansjörg Albrecht (Oehms), High-romantic pianism with Simone Dinnerstein (Sony), Partitas with Irma Issakadze (Oehms), Murray Perahia (Sony), Freddy Kempf (BIS), Jeremy Denk (Azica), and the Well Tempered Clavier (Book II) with Richard Egarr (Harmonia Mundi).

[Marc]

It is here -- again. Marie-Claire Alain's third cycle of Bach's organ works.

[Click on image for details]

Euro Boys & Girls who have some patience (until the end of this merry month): here's a bargain!

http://www.amazon.de/Works-Organ-Marie-Claire-Alain/dp/B004RUF022

[prémont]

Euro Boys & Girls who have some patience (until the end of this merry month): here's a bargain!

http://www.amazon.de/Works-Organ-Marie-Claire-Alain/dp/B004RUF022

But this is first and foremost of interest to completists IMO, so far I consider the rerelease of her second integral to be a better bargain as it is musically more satisfying than her third integral.

[Marc]

But this is first and foremost of interest to completists IMO, so far I consider the rerelease of her second integral to be a better bargain as it is musically more satisfying than her third integral.

But this Euro boy already has that 2nd.

And this boy happens to be a completist, too.

So, what to do?



Post Scriptum: yes I admit, I ordered it from my last two cents.
But also yes again: Premont is right. I have a 2cd sampler of MCA's 3rd integral, and in almost any piece I prefer her 2nd. But I couldn't resist it.
Btw, in case the readers didn't know, just to make things clear about mrs. Bach-Alain's 1st integral (recorded in the sixties): AFAIK, it has never been released on cd.

[prémont]

But this Euro boy already has that 2nd.

And this boy happens to be a completist, too.

So, what to do?



Post Scriptum: yes I admit, I ordered it from my last two cents.
But also yes again: Premont is right. I have a 2cd sampler of MCA's 3rd integral, and in almost any piece I prefer her 2nd. But I couldn't resist it.
Btw, in case the readers didn't know, just to make things clear about mrs. Bach-Alain's 1st integral (recorded in the sixties): AFAIK, it has never been released on cd.

If he is a true completist he must get the third integral. 

And to make things even clearer.
M C Alains Bach recordings, all Erato:

1) A near integral on  Parisian organs in the mid 1950es
2) First integral on Danish neo-baroque organs (1959 - ca.1966)
3) Second integral on well sounding neo-baroque organs (late 1970es)
4) Third integral on historical organs (1990es)

In between she recorded a few CDs with selected works, among others the Triosonatas.

I have never heard anything from the first (French) near-integral, whereas I know most of the first integral on Danish organs, which I heard in my youth in Copenhagen. The playing is unspectacular - but the integral is interesting because of the many important Marcussen and Frobenius organs used.

[Opus106]

In between she recorded a few CDs with selected works, among others the Triosonatas.

And the AoF, if I'm not mistaken, on the organ.