Brian Charette Music For Organ Sextette

Dmitri Shostakovich - Music for Organ - Maria Makarova (2003) {Olympia 501082 rec 1996}
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© 1996, 2003 Olympia | 501082
Classical / Organ / 20th Century

Shostakovich wrote only one work for organ, the Passacaglia Op. 29b composed as an entr'acte between the two scenes of Act II of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk Op. 29. We hear it in performances and recordings scored for full orchestra because he realized that not many opera houses would have full-scale pipe organs. One wishes a recording would be made some day of Lady Macbeth with the organ rather than the full orchestra being used in its original context as it is absolutely shattering. Turn the volume up – and brace yourself for the explosion of sound!

Like Korngold, Toch, Schoenberg, Zeisl and Zemlinsky, Richard Stöhr (1874–1967) was one of many Austrian composers driven into American exile by the Nazis. His generous output of music, being rediscovered at last in these Toccata Classics recordings, includes seven symphonies, much chamber music, songs, and choral and piano pieces. His output for organ is not extensive, but its quality is high: the instrument plays an important role in a number of Stöhr’s orchestral works, and here Stöhr presents the organ in two thoroughly attractive duos and an imposing solo sonata. The Sonata and Intermezzi sit downstream from Brahms in the tradition of Viennese classicism; the chromatic touches in the later Suite lean towards the language of Korngold.

The organ works of Axel Ruoff, born in Stuttgart in 1957, constitute one of the most important contributions to the literature for the instrument by any composer since Messiaen. Stylistically, his music unites the French cathedral tradition of composers like Langlais, Dupré and Guillou with the concern with counterpoint and logic heard in Reger and later German figures. Like Messiaen, Ruoff often finds stimulus in religious sources; unlike him, it is biblical narrative that inspires many of Ruoff’s works, and he uses the unparalleled resources of the modern symphonic organ in his response to some of the most dramatic scenes in the Old Testament, writing music of freewheeling energy and uncompromising power.

During his lifetime, Johann Pachelbel (1653–1706) was best known as an organ composer. He wrote more than two hundred pieces for the instrument, both liturgical and secular, and explored most of the genres that existed at the time. He is considered to be the apex of the 17th century’s south German organ school and generally one of the most important composers of the middle Baroque.

I came to the Hammond organ quite by accident. I was a pianist from an early age and moved to NYC after college in 1994. I had planned on becoming a hot shot pianist but was starving in the beginning. To make ends meet, I started taking Chitlin Circuit blues gigs with artists like Percy Strothers and Lee "Shot" Williams. I was just 21 years old and got my first credit card which I maxed out immediately getting what was brand new tech at the time; a portable Hammond XB2 and Leslie speaker which I was going to use on the tours. As I was unpacking the stuff when it arrived in my kitchen at 96 St. Marks Place in the East Village (The building on the cover of the Led Zeppelin album, Physical Graffiti), I got a call from Frank Bambera who is a great jazz and latin drummer to play at The St. Marks Bar on the corner of St. Marks and 1st Ave.

Brian Eno - Music For Films (1978) {2009 Virgin DSD Remaster}
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© 1978, 2009 Virgin Records / Astralwerks | 50999 6 84535 2 7
Experimental / Avant-Garde / Ambient

The basic core of tracks making up Brian Eno's Music for Films was originally assembled in 1976 for inclusion in a promotional LP of prospective cues sent to film directors. In early 1978, a bit before Music for Airports, Editions EG released Music for Films with little more than Eno's cryptic comment: "some of it was made specifically for soundtrack material, (and) some of it was made for other reasons but found its way into films." As with most things Eno, this led to a good deal of speculation and controversy. One filmmaker long ago stated, "All of that is crap – this music was never used in any films," and another film student who had tried out some of the cues: "this is the worst music for films ever.