The organ is making a comeback. A development to be welcomed, as with the massive decline in church attendance and the increasingly trivial nature of many church services, organs in numerous places became nearly redundant. Neglect of the instruments, fewer organists employed, no more audiences at concerts were the unfortunate consequences, but the tide is turning!
The younger generation of organ enthusiasts, consisting of professional organists to the everyday person who enjoys hearing the organ, whether in a church and/or during a service, has worked and continues to work to restore the organ to the place it deserves. The result is that concert cycles have emerged, organ walks, organ tours, increasingly more organ recordings, restorations have been carried out, are underway or are planned, new organs are being built and much more. The old audience, almost literally speaking, is being attracted back, but there is also a new audience discovering the organ outside of church services. More music is also being composed for organ again, there are competitions for organists, composers and improvisation. Everyone can look forward to that. The organ is therefore not disappearing, quite the opposite. Here we discuss three organ CDs, with music that may or may not be religiously related. Let yourselves be carried away, dear readers.
Mixture, the night sessions
Organroxx released a CD with improvisation for organ inspired by music from the Renaissance to today. This recording is perhaps the most striking of the organ's revival that makes new initiatives possible. Besides organ, Gregorian chant and music based on Gregorian chant is sung, with or without accompaniment by the organ. That in itself is not so new, but what is new is that a flugelhorn (bugle) is incorporated that improvises together with the organ and the singing. It does not stop at the meditative atmosphere of the Gregorian chant or the sometimes festive God-praising sounds of the organ. Jazzy and other contemporary elements permeate everything. Yet this CD still exudes a religious atmosphere and I would not want to hear a concert with these works in a concert hall, but rather and only in a Gothic or Baroque church. So the boundaries are not completely broken and they don't need to be, nor is this demanded or questioned. Some (musically and artistically justified) respect for a church, even if it is no longer in use for worship, should still be maintained.
Bart Wuilmus (organ), Jo Hermans (flugelhorn) and the Gregorian choir Cantabo recorded this CD during the dark hours of the day, the night that is, at the Pels organ and the Thomas organ of the Sint-Katarinakerk in Hoogstraten. Hence the title 'night sessions'. Mixture stands for the blending of the many elements one has at one's disposal from history to the present. The musicians provide an intelligently compiled CD with the legacy of Christian faith and its associated rituals as a connecting thread. The CD fits nicely into the revival of organ music with a broader approach. It is also nice that one does not simply break with the solemn church services that determined, influenced and shaped life in our regions for centuries, also musically. Anyone looking for a somewhat different yet faithful recording with the organ at its core, makes a good choice with the purchase of this recording.
- WHAT: Mixture The Night Session, organ, hornflugerl, Gregorian chant
- WHO: Bart Wuilmus (organ), Jo Hermans (hornflugerl) Cantabo (Gregorian chant)
- RELEASE: Organroxx
Organ Music in the Cathedral of Sankt-Gallen
Switzerland is not only the land of pointed mountains, it is also a country that offers much culture, among other things through the organ. Think of our Flemish artist Els Biesemans who is one of the greatest names there. Here we listen mainly to 20th century organ music that is worldly with or without a religious slant. Willebald Guggenmos virtuously performs the organ of the cathedral of Sankt-Gallen, the fourth CD in a whole series 'Musik aus der Kathedrale Sankt-Gallen'. Well-known and lesser-known names are brought together with works that form a beautiful whole. Guggenmos gives a showcase of organ music that can be freely performed in a program that has a fine harmony and does not jump from one thing to another by presenting works from a whole range of stylistic periods. An approach that has my sympathy.
Charles M. Widor, Jacques Vogt, Johann Gustav Eduard Stehle, William Faulkes, Frank Tirro, Tomás Garbizu, Lionel Rogg, Egil Hovland, Olivier Messiaen and Marcel Dupré all wrote organ works of substance, one majestic, the other subtle, but together on this recording they form a whole that can certainly delight the enthusiast.
The large organ from 1968 of this cathedral also lends itself excellently to the late Romantic and more modern works from the last century. Good then that this CD saw the light of day.
- WHAT: Organ Musik St. Gallen Cathedral
- WHO: Willibald Guggenmos
- RELEASE: TYXart (© cover) TXA 18108, realization Chromart Classic
Bach is not missing and never will be
Shelves full of CDs by Johann Sebastian Bach filling up? It can be done without effort. Not that it must, it may. If you want to start or supplement a collection, then Aliud has a double CD to offer you, recorded on the Christian Vater organ of the Sankt-Peterkirche in the German Melle (not the East Flemish Melle near Ghent). The organist on duty is the Dutchman Vincent van Laar who gives concerts almost everywhere.
Van Laar had the opportunity on this double CD to record the chorales from the Leipzig manuscript completely, supplemented with the Schübler chorales. In my view and that of many others, Bach really only unleashed himself when composing for organ. He had an exceptional instrument at his disposal in Leipzig, and he was not bound by the limitations of too small a choir and/or instrumental ensemble or musicians who did not fully meet his requirements. Here he could let loose, and it is stating the obvious to say that his most majestic and impressive music, but also his most fragile little artworks, were written for organ. Do not interpret this to mean that Bach's other music does not meet these standards. His genius was so great that with minimal means he achieved maximum results. But anyway, the organ.
Vincent Van Laar plays sensibly, transparently and clearly. He gives the organ the chance to breathe so that too many sounds do not merge together into a hollow jumble as sometimes happens. A light touch, clarity, musicality and Bach: a cocktail that leaves you wanting more. Baroque at its best, for sure.
- WHAT: Johann Sebastian Bach, The organ chorales of the Leipzig manuscript, Schübler chorales
- WHO: Vincent van Laar
- RELEASE: Aliud, ACD BN 103-2
- Featured photo: © Pixabay.com - Free Photo
