What's playing today ?

Other than M C Alains first recording of Grigny's Mass I own Isoir (Calliope) and Pierre Bardon (Pierre Verany). Bardon is brilliant, temperamental but sensitive when needed (e.g. Recit du tierce from Gloria). Sound is a bit sharp.

But I also own two LP's with extracts, probably not released on CD. René Saorgin (Vox ca 1968) in his usual grand style, and Melville Smith (Valois middle 1960es), who recorded the entire Livre, from who's integral I own the first LP containing the lions share of the Mass. Smith is surprisingly informed for his time and his interpretation is warm and expressive (played on the A Silbermann organ, Marmoutiers), and easily the best I have heard. Unfortunately I could not afford at the time (1969) to acquire the complete set.
 
Well, I was talking about the last version, with Mandrin. I also have Michel Chapuis's version. Madly fast and unhistorical, but sometimes very impressive. But I vastly prefer the version I mentioned: the organ is superb, and the choral gregorian parts are incredibly — I even lack an adjective to it...
 
If for no other reason than to confirm my eclectic taste:

'Temporary Pleasure' Simian Mobile Disco - just great!

'Terra' Mariza - fab, but not so much of the unaccompanied 'fado' I was hoping for.
 
41v8-H0V3XL._SL500_AA240_.jpg


This is me listening to Josquin Desprez - Messes et Chanson de L\'Homme Armé,
sung by A Sei Voci. Very beautiful.
 
Well, I bought this partly because of the cover. Perhaps I identified myself with the mysterious masked man, who might be Agilulf, the Nonexistent Knight that Italo Calvino wrote about.
Agilulf was a medieval knight who existed only as an empty suit of armor.
That's me. A man who exists only as an empty suit of skin. A Knight Rider, a man that does not exist. There's nobody inside. Just an empty suit of armor listening to this ethereal music.
 
Bach's Toccata & Fugue in F-Major, BWV 540.
(This time played by Cor Ardesch on the Verschueren organ [2007] of the Grote Kerk in Dordrecht, NL.)

WOW!
Am I having a great time!

My favourite Toccata by Bach, though with only a small margin. Depending on which organ work is called / could be called a Toccata, this is my Top 5 ;):
01 Toccata & Fugue in F, BWV 540
02 Toccata & Fugue in d, BWV 538
03 Toccata, Adagio & Fugue in C, BWV 564
04 Toccata & Fugue in E, BWV 566 "Preludio Concertato"
05 Toccata & Fugue in d, BWV 565

Well, I find the world-famous BWV 565 a spectacular and enjoyable work .... which means that all the other ones are even more to my likings!

On this particular disc to come: a.o. the chorale arrangements An Wasserflüßen Babylon, Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele, Vor deinen Thron tret' ich hiermit (BWV's 653, 654 & 668) and the Trio Sonata in D-minor BWV 527.

Lucky me. :D
 
I find Toccata & Fugue in F, BWV 540 to some extent irritating and silly.
Below is an alternative. Today I (really) had the feeling that they are going to take me away, ha-haa. Moroney's disc three saved me this time.

034571165516.png
 
bat said:
I find Toccata & Fugue in F, BWV 540 to some extent irritating and silly.
Below is an alternative. Today I (really) had the feeling that they are going to take me away, ha-haa. Moroney's disc three saved me this time.
Click to expand...

The Hyperion hotlink didn't work:

You appear to have followed a link which attempts to directly access a digital asset such as an MP3 or PDF file.
For reasons that we hope would be obvious to you, Hyperion strives to protect certain digital assets, specifically, MP3 files, hi-resolution album images, and booklets/notes from potential abuse.

You are welcome to access these things by navigating the Hyperion site in the normal way, but not to deep-link to them from other websites.

About BWV 540: to some extent irritating?
Sure, these things happen. F.i.: I can find the echo passages in the fugue of the famous BWV 565 to some extent irritating.

But BWV 540 to some extent silly?

:mana:

Dear bat, I'm really afraid you're going meshuga, ha-haa ho-hoo, he-hee .
 
Well, the banned Hyperion hotlink was about Davitt Moroney's celebrated William Byrd box of 7 CDs. All keyboard works.
For me it is a treasure. In fact I swear it has curative properties. It is medicine.

Then there is Toccata & Fugue in F, BWV 540. The one with a really long pedal part in the beginning. Aargh! It lasts forever. Perhaps Bach was a humorist and this is tongue-in-cheek Bach. I don' t understand this work at all. Of course, my opinion has absolutely no importance.

About ha-haa ho-hoo, he-hee: the world is obviously insane. Maybe insanity would be only adaptation to this insane world. According to Mark Twain, certainly one of the best writers, it is impossible to be both happy and sane in this world.

By the way, I am interested in the predecessors of Bach (Buxtehude excluded), especially Weckmann and Scheidemann. But I have not heard their works, expect Franz Tunder, who was very good. But I bet at least RdS and pe-zulu have. Maybe they read this and take time to post their opinions.
 
Hello Bat

I understand (I think) the idea that the toccata in F is boring. I don't find it so, but studying it is another matter: it is damned difficult to play and all the semiquavers do seem to go on for ever.

Now Weckmann, Scheidemann and others. Weckmann is not all that interesting, I think. For me it is OK music, somewhat dull. Sheidemann is quite another matter. It is ponderous, seemingly contemplative music, but at the same time very moving (but I think I remember that Scheidemann was said to play cheerfully? I'm not sure).

That said, no musician from the North German/ Dutch school stands the comparison with Buxtehude. Buxtehude was a true genius, with a formidable sense of narrative, of structure and of rhetoric. I can honestly say that I consider his organ music the best music ever composed for the instrument. The others (but Lübeck and Bruhns, perhaps chiefly Lübeck, were truly amazing creators) seem to have been just professional musicians.
Suffice it to say that I listen very seldom to either Sheidemann or Weckmann and I never made the effort of acquiring the scores. I think this tells you what I think of the music. As for Lübeck, I even tried to learn some pieces by him, but they are rather hard to play well.
A new world is opening before you :)
 
Dear Professor, I am slowly exploring Buxtehude (Vogel's boxed set) and trying to find out how good he was. Currently I prefer Byrd's organ compositions.

The differences in organ schools are interesting. I got M-C Alain's recording of de Grigny's organ mass that you recommended. It is good indeed, extremely french, not at all like the North German/ Dutch school.

Are you familiar with Francois Couperin's organ masses too?
 
Well, I listened to BWV 540 again today, and to me the Toccata & Fugue in F is a TREAT!

:p

IMO, the fact that it seems to go on for ever, is another feather in Bach's cap, creating the illusion of a perpetuum mobile. Pity though that at a certain point .... the composition ends.

Speaking of TREATS: yes, me thinks Buxtehude wrote quite a few, too!

And yes, the same goes for Byrd!
I adore the 'Agnus Dei' of his 4-part Mass, and I enjoy listening to My Ladye Nevells Booke for harpsichord.

Treats, treats, treats!

:cool:
 
bat said:
Dear Professor, I am slowly exploring Buxtehude (Vogel's boxed set) and trying to find out how good he was. Currently I prefer Byrd's organ compositions.

The differences in organ schools are interesting. I got M-C Alain's recording of de Grigny's organ mass that you recommended. It is good indeed, extremely french, not at all like the North German/ Dutch school.

Are you familiar with Francois Couperin's organ masses too?
Click to expand...

For a moment, you made me quite confused: my Erasmus students always write to me in that way :) So I asked myself if I was on the right place!

I know Couperin's organ music relatively well, but it is not really in the same league as Grigny. To my mind, Grigny stands alone in a very small niche he built and that no one has really mastered.

But may I suggest that there is a Leonhardt recording that you would like? It is his Sweelinck organ recording. I hope I am not wrong.

It is a pity so little of Portuguese polyphony is recorded. Perhaps you might like it. Manuel Rodrigues Coelho has similarities both with Sweelinck and Byrd, but is more tormented and perhaps more expressive.
 
Marc said:
Well, I listened to BWV 540 again today, and to me the Toccata & Fugue in F is a TREAT!

:p

IMO, the fact that it seems to go on for ever, is another feather in Bach's cap, creating the illusion of a perpetuum mobile. Pity though that at a certain point .... the composition ends.

Speaking of TREATS: yes, me thinks Buxtehude wrote quite a few, too!

And yes, the same goes for Byrd!
I adore the 'Agnus Dei' of his 4-part Mass, and I enjoy listening to My Ladye Nevells Booke for harpsichord.

Treats, treats, treats!

:cool:
Click to expand...

Treats indeed! Perhaps I gave the impression I do not like the Toccata and Fugue in F; This is not so. The toccata in F really is a fascinating piece: as you say, a perpetuum mobile based on two themes that go to combine. Not sonata form, but the idea is the same. And then the fugue, which really is marvelous: again two contrasting themes that combine into perfection. Bach really was a master of uniting opposites.
 
Hi there! :)

I just ordered the Naxos disc Early Iberian Organ Music (organist: Robert Parkins) at the central Dutch library .... it's got one piece by Coelho: 'Tiento para organo in cuarto tono'.
I'll have to wait about 7 to 10 days before it arrives .... something to look forward to, I hope.

Rodrigo, do you know the Sweelinck disc of Robert Woolley (Chandos)?
I have it myself and think it's well-played, but maybe a bit aloof. The chosen instrument, the Van Hagerbeer organ of Leiden's Pieterkerk, is well-suited for this genre IMO.

bat said:
About ha-haa ho-hoo, he-hee: the world is obviously insane. Maybe insanity would be only adaptation to this insane world. According to Mark Twain, certainly one of the best writers, it is impossible to be both happy and sane in this world.
Click to expand...

Well, since I'm happy .... :crazy:
Perhaps this has caused my love for pieces like BWV 540! :D
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Marc said:
Hi there! :)

I just ordered the Naxos disc Early Iberian Organ Music (organist: Robert Parkins) at the central Dutch library .... it's got one piece by Coelho: 'Tiento para organo in cuarto tono'.
I'll have to wait about 7 to 10 days before it arrives .... something to look forward to, I hope.

Rodrigo, do you know the Sweelinck disc of Robert Woolley (Chandos)?
I have it myself and think it's well-played, but maybe a bit aloof. The chosen instrument, the Van Hagerbeer organ of Leiden's Pieterkerk, is well-suited for this genre IMO.



Well, since I'm happy .... :crazy:
Perhaps this has caused my love for pieces like BWV 540! :D
Click to expand...

Hi :)
I hope you will like the CD. If I remember correctly it is played in a monster organ, with a very beautiful acoustic, and very lovely principals and flutes (a Flentrop). I must confess I don't recall the playing of Coelho (in fact, he ought to be called Manuel Rodrigues, but it's OK).

I never heard Wolley's Sweelinck. I do know his Partitas by Bach, and he is way too laid back and aloof for my taste.
 

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