The Organ, Master of them all - general organ thread

[DavidW]

Any recommendations for organ Concertos and symphonies that are generally more grandiose in sound?

Copland and Saint Saens immediately come to mind.

[Mandryka]

Any recommendations for organ Concertos and symphonies that are generally more grandiose in sound?

Vivaldi, JC Bach, Haendel, Dupré, Guilmant, Poulenc

[lordlance]

Vivaldi, JC Bach, Haendel, Dupré, Guilmant, Poulenc

I don't bother with baroque music because it sounds so emotionally inhibited to me; the writing fails to be as charged as Romantic music. I am rather tepid on JC Bach overall. I have heard some Guilmant and the Poulenc concerto.

Copland and Saint Saens immediately come to mind.

I will add Copland. I've already heard the Saint-Saens.

Any more suggestions are welcomed.

[Mandryka]

It's not quite what you had in mind @lordlance but have you tried the symphonies for solo organ by Vierne and Widor? With a Cavaillé Coll organ you really don't need an orchestra to write a symphony -  the point of the machine is to be a keyboard orchestra!

I remember as a child hearing a Widor solo organ symphony on the wireless and not being able to believe my ears, because of the harmonies and the timbres! The organ part in the later Widor symphonies for orchestra and organ is nice enough too - his symphony sacra. Just spoilt by the conventional orchestral writing for me.

By the way, isn't it strange that there's nothing in this genre by Liszt? Or Brahms? My own feeling is that Cavaillé Coll made France the organ symphony capital of the universe!

[lordlance]

It's not quite what you had in mind @lordlance but have you tried the symphonies for solo organ by Vierne and Widor? With a Cavaillé Coll organ you really don't need an orchestra to write a symphony -  the point of the machine is to be a keyboard orchestra!

I remember as a child hearing a Widor solo organ symphony on the wireless and not being able to believe my ears, because of the harmonies and the timbres! The organ part in the later Widor symphonies for orchestra and organ is nice enough too - his symphony sacra. Just spoilt by the conventional orchestral writing for me.

By the way, isn't it strange that there's nothing in this genre by Liszt? Or Brahms? My own feeling is that Cavaillé Coll made France the organ symphony capital of the universe!

It's strange that Brahms or Liszt didn't write symphonies for organ solo/orchestra or organ Concertos? Not really. It's not as popular a genre as the big three - violin, cello and piano. It's actually a niche to be honest.

[VonStupp]

Any recommendations for organ Concertos and symphonies that are generally more grandiose in sound?

If you haven't searched for it already, @vandermolen started a thread of Favorite Works for Organ and Orchestra which has some wonderful suggestions.

Myself, Richard Strauss' Festival Prelude is right up there, and Khachaturian's Symphony 3 is a hoot!
VS

[JBS]

[Crosspost from WAYLT2]

Finishing this set tonight with the second of two CDs devoted to concerto transcriptions.


The Brilliant version is the one I have; it is apparently OOP.
The green covered version is available on Amazon US for strraming or downloading, but it does not have the concerto transcriptions, which is why it's only 10 CDs.

Overall I liked the music more than I did before. The core of the set is 9 CDs in a row of chorale settings, arranged alphabetically from A to W. [Walther wrote no settings for chorales starting with X,Y, or Z, it would seem.] Stella gives enough variation among the settings that it doesn't bore.

The first CD of the set are free-form works, in the same tradition as Bach's.

Overall, I would say if you can find the Brilliant set at a reasonable price, get it.

[lordlance]

Is the reason why organ music used to be much more commonly written for during baroque related to church music being more important back then?

[Mandryka]

The uses of organ music

1. Something to listen to when you come into church and when you leave.
2. In some countries, there was a tradition of playing organ during a service. I guess it was also used in some secular ceremonies.
3. Something to listen to in the interval of a theatrical piece or in a circus, or when you enter or leave the venue.
4. Domestic music, people had little organs at home
5. Part of machinery like clocks, automata
6. For playing in concert halls.

[prémont]

Is the reason why organ music used to be much more commonly written for during baroque related to church music being more important back then?

I think you are right, since very much of the surviving organ music from the baroque age is sacred service related.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Vierne - Keiko Nakata. I don't know what she's trying to do. Also I heard that she released a Bach organ album, but can't find it.

[prémont]

Vierne - Keiko Nakata. I don't know what she's trying to do. Also I heard that she released a Bach organ album, but can't find it.

https://www.grooves-inc.com/keiko-nakata-joy-bach-arcantus-cd-pZZa1-2097947160.html

or:

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8668770--bach-joy-of-bach

[Roasted Swan]

Vierne - Keiko Nakata. I don't know what she's trying to do. Also I heard that she released a Bach organ album, but can't find it.

From the image above - it looks like she can't find it either......  You've had "air guitar" - time for "air organ"

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

https://www.grooves-inc.com/keiko-nakata-joy-bach-arcantus-cd-pZZa1-2097947160.html

or:

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8668770--bach-joy-of-bach

Thank you! Very helpful!

[Mandryka]

This one has really caught my attention!

Does anyone have his recording of the Bach trio sonatas?

[Harry]

This one has really caught my attention!

Does anyone have his recording of the Bach trio sonatas?

Have it.

[prémont]

Have it.

What do you think of it? I don't have it, but what I have with him (Bach Inventions, Fischer Ariadne Musica among others) strikes me as being somewhat colorless.

[Harry]

What do you think of it? I don't have it, but what I have with him (Bach Inventions, Fischer Ariadne Musica among others) strikes me as being somewhat colorless.

Sorry Poul for not answering earlier, but I only saw this posting today. This recording is in a container so not at home, must go and find it back again, when found, I report on it. But since I bought it, I must have found some, or much merit in it, otherwise I would have passed this one.

[david515mi]

The Jongen Symphonie Concertante.

[Mandryka]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00023P3HA/ref=dm_rwpmb_pur_lnd_albm_fr

Even those who are normally allergic to French baroque organ music may find it worthwhile to  give this recording by Bruno Beaufils a go, because it's quite interesting organologically. St Pierre d'Oleron is in Charente Maritime, the organ is genuinely baroque, chiff in spades, you can hear the patina on the pipes. I can't find anything online about it apart from this - though the Wikipedia French page for Oleron has some information too.

https://inventaire-des-orgues.fr/detail/orgue-saint-pierre-doleron-eglise-saint-pierre-fr-17385-ssole-stpier1-x/
https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Pierre-d%27Ol%C3%A9ron

In the Montreal Organ Book material, Beaufils is not as eloquent as Ken Gilbert - but Gilbert is playing a much more anonymous modern organ.