J.S. Bach on the Organ

[Mandryka]

Can anyone help me find a way to hear Bert Matter's Bach CDs? By wealth or by stealth.


france-orgue lists Leipzig Chorales and CU 3 but they've disappeared without trace. I like his Sweelinck ricercar on NM.

[prémont]

Can anyone help me find a way to hear Bert Matter's Bach CDs? By wealth or by stealth.


france-orgue lists Leipzig Chorales and CU 3 but they've disappeared without trace. I like his Sweelinck ricercar on NM.

Are you sure it was CDs? May have been LPs. After all he was born in 1937.

Edit:

Well, I see here CDs:
http://imul.math.uni.lodz.pl/~frydrych/www.jsbach.org/matterjsbachdrittertheilderclavierubung.html

Maybe Marc can help to tell, what Musica Waldburga is (was).

Maybe it can be ordered here. Like many other small Dutch Labels:

https://www.france-orgue.fr/disque/index.php?zpg=dsq.fra.edi&lnfd=3189&edi=%22Musica%20Walburga%24%22

[Mandryka]

Maybe it can be ordered here. Like many other small Dutch Labels:

https://www.france-orgue.fr/disque/index.php?zpg=dsq.fra.edi&lnfd=3189&edi=%22Musica%20Walburga%24%22

No I tried that and the email address is no longer functioning.

There's a CD on ebay, but it's got very little music on it and much of it is Madder's own compositions, so I'm resisting the temptation. There's one here which is quite tempting in fact

http://www.boeijengamusic.com/magnificat.html

[Marc]

Can anyone help me find a way to hear Bert Matter's Bach CDs? By wealth or by stealth.
[...]

You could try the Stichting Henrick Baderorgel.
Matter was, before his retirement, organist of the historic Bader-organ in the Walburgiskerk, Zutphen, NL (hence 'Musica Waldburga', I think).
And yes, he is/was a very good organist, too!

Here's their website:
http://www.baderorgel.nl/

Here's their cd shop:
http://www.mijnwebwinkel.nl/winkel/baderorgel/c-3200695/cd-s/

Don't know if they deliver abroad, but one is free to ask:
e-mail: info@baderorgel.nl

Good luck!

[prémont]

Here's their cd shop:
http://www.mijnwebwinkel.nl/winkel/baderorgel/c-3200695/cd-s/

Don't know if they deliver abroad, but one is free to ask:
e-mail: info@baderorgel.nl

Thanks Marc, you always know how to find the sources.

I am going to write to them too.

[Mandryka]

You're fabulous Marc.

Well, I've ordered the two Bach Cds and they appear to ready to ship to the UK -- I've had a confirmation email and I await an invoice with bated breath.

The invoice number was 26 -- only 25 other people have used their website it seems!

The Dutch are unbelievably good at music. How can such a small nation have so many great musicians and so many great organs? I'm going to try to find a tour of Dutch organs with concerts.

[Marc]

[...] How can such a small nation have so many great musicians and so many great organs? [...]

Well, personally I believe that there are plenty of great musicians in other countries, too... about the organs I would say: protestantism and its traditions.
About the fact that, relatively, so many old organs survived: calvinistic frugality. Why pay money for an entire new instrument when the old one is still making some sound?
And, thanks to the growing welfare after World War 2, combined with a more 'red-white-blue' historical awareness, the wave of proper restorations in the last 50 to 60 years.

Btw: our neighbours in Germany 'own' a great amount of beautiful organs, too (with great musicians!), and there are many foundations and websites with interesting recordings, too.
In most cases just a small amount of discs, and: OOP is OOP. Which means: no reissues.
Like, in NL, the 7 twofers of Piet Wiersma playing Bach on Groningen organs: beautiful recordings in a small edition, and, after Wiersma's premature death in 2003, since long OOP (with the exception of some second hand stuff of course).

[Jo498]

A question for those who have heard dozens of recordings:
Which 5 (five) complete (for small values of complete, i.e. older boxes without Neumeister chorales etc. do count) and which 5 singles (1-2 disc sets/anthologies, can be part of complete set but have to be available separately and no partial traversals with >3 discs like Koopman/Novalis) recordings of Bach's organ music would have your highest recommendation/be considered essential/...?

[Marc]

A question for those who have heard dozens of recordings:
Which 5 (five) complete (for small values of complete, i.e. older boxes without Neumeister chorales etc. do count) and which 5 singles (1-2 disc sets/anthologies, can be part of complete set but have to be available separately and no partial traversals with >3 discs like Koopman/Novalis) recordings of Bach's organ music would have your highest recommendation/be considered essential/...?

So difficult to answer, really. Lots of good stuff has gone OOP... but if you manage to grab Albert Schweitzer (some mono recordings probably avalaible), Helmut Walcha (f.i. the stereo integral by Deutsche Grammophon), Karl Richter (a small set, also by DG), Lionel Rogg (his Harmonia Mundi integral has gone OOP, but there are still a few EMI 2cd-sets, a.o. with Die Kunst der Fuge), Marie-Claire Alain (2 integrals, both good, the last one on historical instruments), Wolfgang Stockmeier (integral, now in 2 volumes on Membran), Ton Koopman (a Warner Classics integral and a 6cd-set of former Novalis recordings, reissued by Brilliant Classics, also a few DG/Archiv recordings), and the integrals of Bernard Foccroulle (Ricercar), George Ritchie (Raven Records), Olivier Vernet (Ligia), Gerhard Weinberger (CPO), various performers on Hänssler and Ewald Kooiman & pupils on Aeolus, then you're quite all right.



But there's so much choice... check out for instance the first post of this thread by Premont, and some other recommendations by Don/Bulldog/Sammy and others in this thread. Personally I have quite a lot of discs by Dutch organists (most of them bought/ordered locally), but these are very difficult to purchase if you're not living in NL, and many of them turn OOP rather quickly. Still, if you search the internet and stumble upon names like Piet Kee, Wim van Beek, Bram Beekman et al, then you're assured of very good quality.

I fear this post is not really helpful, but I do hope you'll find at least something worthwhile in it...

[Turner]

Am definitely, definitely no expert on Bach´s organ music, but it´s necessary to name more organists, I think; so far, I have settled with

Complete - Walter Kraft (probably extremely cheap)
Complete - Hans Fagius (BIS, now Brilliant Classics)

Recitals:
3x Anton Heiller
2x Carlo Curley
1x Power Biggs
1x M-C. Alain
1x Chorzempa
1x Vollwyder
1x Schweitzer
1x Viderø

The Harpsichord/Piano Concerto BWV1051 has also been recorded as a concerto for organ & orchestra by Max Pommer.

[Jo498]

I think a young Christine Schornsheim (probably in her midtwenties then) plays the organ on the reconstructed d minor organ concerto with Pommer.

I probably listed somewhere above already what I have already:

Complete: Koopman/Teldec, diverse/Hänssler
Koopman/Brilliant
7 discs from the "Silbermann organs" on Berlin Classics
4 with Weinberger/cpo
4 with Corti/Antes
CÜ III: Krapp/Berlin, Friedrich/Motette, Brosse
several 1-2 discs anthologies: Walcha, Power Biggs, Tachezi, Bleicher, Friedrich

I don't really want to buy much more (admittedly I have not heard all of my larger boxes although I listened to all of the singles/twofers) but I am thinking about one more "classic" integrale, like Walcha or Alain and was wondering if there were some extraordinary singles/recitals I should know about.

[kishnevi]

There is a two disc anthology from Vernet's set, which will serve in place of the full thing, which is OOP.
Rogg on EMI: there are at least 3 two disc anthologies available which you would probably like.

You have the Hanssler, which is my second favorite among the ones I have, after Vernet

The other full sets I have are, in order of my liking them
Preston/DG
Koopman/Teldec
Alain II

I seem to like Preston more than most people.  I did not like Alain because I felt much of the set was played "to meet the contract", especially the chorales, very mechanically. Don't know what her third cycle is like.

I also have, but not yet listened to anything from, Isoir.

[KevinP]

Awaiting delivery of the not-nearly-complete Karl Richter 3-disc set.

Which arrived, extremely late, as an empty and opened box. No CD. Now awaiting the replacement delivery...

In terms of a complete box set which I had asked about, I ended up getting Marie-Claire Alain's 80s set--largely because of Amazon's Autorip feature. Since I live far away, orders can take two to three weeks (or months if something goes wrong like with the Richter set), so being able to enjoy them right after I place the order sometimes is a deciding factor.

Probably not the only I'll ever get, but it's enough for a while.

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

...
3x Anton Heiller
...

Yes, indeed, one of the greatest ever IMO, and so rarely mentioned. Can you link to the recording you are talking about here? I have most or all of the Vanguard LPs. The Philips 2 LP set has probably the ghastliest sound quality I have ever heard--a huge disappointment.

For another treat, try to find Heiller playing Rameau on harpsichord (Vanguard, The Bach Guild). Not sure whether this ever made it to CD. 

[Marc]

Heiller is great indeed!
Somehow I tend to forget to mention Heiller, I've experienced this before... I wonder why.

Long time ago, Mandryka posted this interesting link:

http://klassichaus.us/Organ-Keyboard.php

You can find some Bach/Heiller stuff there, among other things, to buy or to download.
Both his 'Orgelbüchlein' and his 'Leipziger Choräle' are very good IMHO.
(Should listen to them again!)

[Jo498]

Yes, indeed, one of the greatest ever IMO, and so rarely mentioned. Can you link to the recording you are talking about here? I have most or all of the Vanguard LPs. The Philips 2 LP set has probably the ghastliest sound quality I have ever heard--a huge disappointment.

For another treat, try to find Heiller playing Rameau on harpsichord (Vanguard, The Bach Guild). Not sure whether this ever made it to CD.

I have it on a Vanguard Everyman CD. There is also a Couperin recital but I missed this and the used prices of that stuff are volatile. Not heard any of his Bach on the organ, though.

There is at least one Vanguard CD with Bach as well as another one

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and here the Rameau and Couperin
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[XB-70 Valkyrie]

Vielen Dank!

[prémont]

The Philips 2 LP set has probably the ghastliest sound quality I have ever heard--a huge disappointment.

I suppose these recordings were taken from Heiller's "complete" Bach LP set from about 1952. What I have heard from that set was indeed disappointing both as to sound and playing, which was stiff and unimaginative.

[prémont]

But there's so much choice... check out for instance the first post of this thread by Premont

I am (prompted by Que) working on an update of this list, but it will take some time until it is finished,

[Que]

I am (prompted by Que) working on an update of this list, but it will take some time until it is finished,

Your initial list has been a great help, premont! 

I think a young Christine Schornsheim (probably in her midtwenties then) plays the organ on the reconstructed d minor organ concerto with Pommer.

I probably listed somewhere above already what I have already:

Complete: Koopman/Teldec, diverse/Hänssler
Koopman/Brilliant
7 discs from the "Silbermann organs" on Berlin Classics
4 with Weinberger/cpo
4 with Corti/Antes
CÜ III: Krapp/Berlin, Friedrich/Motette, Brosse
several 1-2 discs anthologies: Walcha, Power Biggs, Tachezi, Bleicher, Friedrich

I don't really want to buy much more (admittedly I have not heard all of my larger boxes although I listened to all of the singles/twofers) but I am thinking about one more "classic" integrale, like Walcha or Alain and was wondering if there were some extraordinary singles/recitals I should know about.

And I'm not going to be of much help here, I'm afraid. Not a big fan of the "classic" integrales....
Though a friend had Lionel Rogg's set and that was quite OK, though I wouldn't buy it myself.
Other than that, you have everything I like safe for Vernet's cycle. Perhaps have a look at Léon Berben on Ramée.

Q