J.S. Bach on the Organ

[Harry]

I only attended a concert in Roden once, it must have been 2 years ago. Given the expected acoustic circumstances (which you described very well) I picked a place rather far away from the organ. I must say, that, despite the lack of reverb, the sound was rather pleasant to the ears, even though I found this particular Hinsz instrument not as spicy as some others. It might be that Henk de Vries, who played the organ that evening, knew a little bit more about the instrument in its circumstances than Zerer did last Friday.

Monday evening Zerer will be playing on the organ in the Der Aa Kerk. If things work out, I will attend it.

The church was so full with people, that I could not choose a place as far away from the organ as possible, but still the sound is a dry as a dino bone, and this detail is also destroying the aural bliss.
I will if time permits be in the Aa church too.

[Mandryka]

Are the discs available again somewhere?

(Or did you just get lucky? )

I'll let you have them later. I don't have them all.

Very characterful playing on characterful modern organs. Fun and virtuoso, I'm not sure it really suits my temperament, but fun,  it made me think I should reappraise Isoir and Vernet sometime, whose Bach has never meant much to me. But Eisenberg has been rather dwarfed in my imagination by Rubsam (Philips) and Chorzempa, both of which have been a source of great pleasure.

Oh I also had a listen to a bit of Alain III after your laudatory comments. I listened to my favourite prelude -- BWV 547. And suddenly, after weeks of a diet of Eisenberg, Rubsam and Chorzempa, I remembered the joys of a big baroque organ well recorded played through good  speakers and amp!

[prémont]

I'll let you have them later. I don't have them all

Which are the ones you have?

[Mandryka]

Which are the ones you have?

I have 1,2,3,4b, 5, 6a, 6b, 9. So I guess I'm missing 4a, 7 and any after 9.

[bioluminescentsquid]

The one I've just acquired is Matthias Eisenberg. Well recorded, I think, and some nice organs (Eg the Osnabrück Flentrop) But so far I've only had a chance to hear the very beginning of orgalbuchlein and the middle of CU3.

I've been having a hard time with Eisenberg. I've listened to a few ones in this set - the recordings on the historical Cappel and Gifhorn organs, and also the CU on the Flentrop and they just sound rushed and dead. What stood out with these performances with you?

[Mandryka]

I've been having a hard time with Eisenberg. I've listened to a few ones in this set - the recordings on the historical Cappel and Gifhorn organs, and also the CU on the Flentrop and they just sound rushed and dead. What stood out with these performances with you?

It is secular. Chapuis is also secular, but I think Eisenberg is more interesting because of his greater sense of architecture.

It's lively, fruity coloured, fleet of foot and swift of hand. The absence of gravitas is compensated for by his virtuosity.

As you must know by now, I'm a glass half full person.

[bioluminescentsquid]

It is secular. Chapuis is also secular, but I think Eisenberg is more interesting because of his greater sense of architecture.

It's lively, fruity coloured, fleet of foot and swift of hand. The absence of gravitas is compensated for by his virtuosity.

As you must know by now, I'm a glass half full person.

I just listened to a buxtehude recording that can be described in the same exact terms . Posted about it in the general organ thread, wonder how you think of it. I'll give Eisenberg another chance.

[Mandryka]

This is a contentious recording.

Johan Van Veen thought that the performances were very good but that they had nothing new to say

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2014/Jul14/Bach_organ_LWC1035.htm

Hannah Parry Redout says that the interpretations are dynamic and are spoilt by an anachronistic 16' Bombarde which speaks late.

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2013/Feb13/Bach_organ_LWC1035.htm

Dr. L Offerhaus, reviewing on amazon, says he knows the organ well and that the sound on the CD doesn't do it justice.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Concertos-Choral-Preludes-Kare-Nordstoga/dp/B0094BDOZE/ref=sr_1_16?keywords=Nordstoga+Kare&qid=1565702997&s=music&sr=1-16

And Mandryka on GMG says he loves the Bombarde, which gives the recording something distinctive. And he agrees with Ms. Parry-Redout that the performances are dynamic. And he doesn't find the sound take a problem at all, unlike the good doctor Offerhaus.

Go figure!

One little addition. I think one of Nordstoga's real strengths is his versatility - each Bach recording sounds different, not the organ, but the way he adapts his general approach. If the Lawo cycle gets finished it will be a very good thing I think.

[SurprisedByBeauty]

Just back from a Bach-by-Bike trip that meant to hit many of the organs Bach played, knew, or tested. It ended up not being super-methodical, because there was a vacation-aspect and the reality of bicycle-limitation to consider, but still a beautiful experience.
Some of it can be followed on instagram (where the pix will be deleted, before long, though), some on Twitter: https://twitter.com/search?q=%23bachbybike&src=typed_query




(This is one of the four Silbermann organs in Freiberg. We don't know if Bach played any of them but it is at least likely that he played the grand instrument in the dome (not this one, at the Petri Kirche). He owned shares in a silver mine nearby and was of course well acquainted with colleague Silbermann, so even without documented evidence, it's fairly likely he visited and played there.)

[Elk]

I'm envious of your Bach-by-Bike tour. That must have been fun.

After Manryka's comment that the Prelude of BWV 547 was his favourite, I had a listen to the 7 interpretations I have: Walcha, Rogg on HM, Kibbie, Houbart, Herrick, Kastner on Capriccio, and Hurford. I also listened to 2 Alain recordings on Naxos, which I believe are from the first and second sets. Hurford's was the sprightliest and most infectious of the bunch, on a fairly new Hradretzky organ in the Abbey of Melk, Austria. Kastner came 2nd in my preference. Unfortunately, I don't have access to Alain's 3rd. Otherwise it would have been included.

[bioluminescentsquid]

I'm envious of your Bach-by-Bike tour. That must have been fun.

After Manryka's comment that the Prelude of BWV 547 was his favourite, I had a listen to the 7 interpretations I have: Walcha, Rogg on HM, Kibbie, Houbart, Herrick, Kastner on Capriccio, and Hurford. I also listened to 2 Alain recordings on Naxos, which I believe are from the first and second sets. Hurford's was the sprightliest and most infectious of the bunch, on a fairly new Hradretzky organ in the Abbey of Melk, Austria. Kastner came 2nd in my preference. Unfortunately, I don't have access to Alain's 3rd. Otherwise it would have been included.

I like my 547 prelude sprightly and infectious too! I think you'll enjoy Koopman on the Den Bosch cathedral organ (On paper - and optically - a Dutch Renaissance organ, but in reality a wonderful-sounding Flemish classical-era organ after the rebuilds of Heyneman and Flentrop Nothing to do with "Gothic"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeYbWye_2hk

There's also a wonderful 547 on Bernard Winsemius' Music for Advent and Christmas, played on the Amsterdam Nieuwe kerk organ.

[Marc]

[...]
There's also a wonderful 547 on Bernard Winsemius' Music for Advent and Christmas, played on the Amsterdam Nieuwe kerk organ.

You beat me to that one!

I like this performance, too. Very playful:

http://allofbach.com/nl/bwv/bwv-547/

[bioluminescentsquid]

You beat me to that one!

I like this performance, too. Very playful:

http://allofbach.com/nl/bwv/bwv-547/

Sadly I think that's a recording that is hard to find outside of the Netherlands (I got mine when I was there a few years ago). I could send samples if anyone's interested.

[Marc]

Sadly I think that's a recording that is hard to find outside of the Netherlands (I got mine when I was there a few years ago). I could send samples if anyone's interested.

Is the link dead outside the Netherlands?

Maybe this one works?

http://allofbach.com/en/bwv/bwv-547/

Or were you referring to the Et'Cetera cd-series 'Bach in Context', with the Gesualdo Consort and Musica Amphion (Belder)?
AFAIK, BWV 547 has not been recorded (yet?) in that particular setting...

[Mandryka]

I'm envious of your Bach-by-Bike tour. That must have been fun.

After Manryka's comment that the Prelude of BWV 547 was his favourite, I had a listen to the 7 interpretations I have: Walcha, Rogg on HM, Kibbie, Houbart, Herrick, Kastner on Capriccio, and Hurford. I also listened to 2 Alain recordings on Naxos, which I believe are from the first and second sets. Hurford's was the sprightliest and most infectious of the bunch, on a fairly new Hradretzky organ in the Abbey of Melk, Austria. Kastner came 2nd in my preference. Unfortunately, I don't have access to Alain's 3rd. Otherwise it would have been included.

Thanks for doing that!

I wonder you and everyone else makes of this? It will come as a real shock, I want to reconstruct the thought processes which led to this articulation and rhythm, and indeed what led the others to the interpretation which has become pretty standard -- in so far as anything can be standard when you're talking organs!

https://www.youtube.com/v/XdzY_DBcssU

[bioluminescentsquid]

Is the link dead outside the Netherlands?

Maybe this one works?

http://allofbach.com/en/bwv/bwv-547/

Or were you referring to the Et'Cetera cd-series 'Bach in Context', with the Gesualdo Consort and Musica Amphion (Belder)?
AFAIK, BWV 547 has not been recorded (yet?) in that particular setting...

Winsemius, I meant. Toccata records are hard to find outside NL.

[prémont]

Thanks for doing that!

I wonder you and everyone else makes of this? It will come as a real shock, I want to reconstruct the thought processes which led to this articulation and rhythm, and indeed what led the others to the interpretation which has become pretty standard -- in so far as anything can be standard when you're talking organs!

https://www.youtube.com/v/XdzY_DBcssU

Her rhythmic "deviations" and over-articulation have nothing to do with expressivity. She has made herself a fixed idea (Gosh knows from where) about these things and carries it through all the way in an intolerably mannered way. There is nothing spontaneous in her playing. I find listening to her tedious. It might be interesting to know, what Colin Booth or Rübsam thinks of her, even if I think I know, what they will say.

[Elk]

Gosh Howard, that's positively funereal. I feel as if I'm driving behind someone who is driving so slowly I wish to tell them, "The gas pedal is on the right."

As for Koopman, had I noticed it was a Novalis recording, I might have given it a pass. The one I have is probably the least played Bach organ recording
I have. As it is, I quite liked it, even if it was played by the Jean Guillou of Baroque organ playing (BTW, Guillou made a spectacular transcription of the Goldberg for organ on Dorian if you ever have a chance to hear it).

The van Doeselaar is much more to my taste, and of course it's a treat to watch him playing. However, for now, I'll stick to Hurford and Kastner until I finally spring for a 'complete' set of the Bach organ works. I thought I had settled on Alain II, but maybe III?

[Mandryka]

In the Jacobson, no information is lost, as it were. Because the voices are rhythmically out of phase and the tempo is slow, you can hear, you can feel, everything in the music.

In the prelude, she gives a shape to the whole despite the complex, very complex, textures.

[bioluminescentsquid]

Thanks for doing that!

I wonder you and everyone else makes of this? It will come as a real shock, I want to reconstruct the thought processes which led to this articulation and rhythm, and indeed what led the others to the interpretation which has become pretty standard -- in so far as anything can be standard when you're talking organs!

https://www.youtube.com/v/XdzY_DBcssU

I actually think this is not (too) bad! At least compared to other things she's done. A bit Gouldian, in how she "deconstructs" the whole thing. Her "rhetorical" style at her best - it is indeed very speech-like. Although it won't really be a recording I'd reach for when I want to hear 547.

BTW, another wonderful Winsemius performance of 547 live here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBmtItZQm9U

On the statelier side, still on the same Amsterdam Nieuwe kerk organ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMN_O932v8Y

Although Elk lists it as his top, I've been having difficulties with Hurford. I think it's more about the rather bland screechy neo-baroque organs he plays on, rather than the playing itself. On the other hand, his recordings on historical organs are wonderful.