Organ

Old technology meets modern technology on this release from Germany's Oehms label, a top-notch Bach organ recording equally worth the consideration of the first-timer or those with large Bach collections. Featured is one of the monuments of central German organ-building, the Silbermann Organ at the Catholic Hofkirche in Dresden. The organ was dismantled during World War II but subsequently rebuilt and later thoroughly restored. It's a magnificent beast, with plenty of power and some unusual, highly evocative tone colors in the quieter registrations.

It is unclear how many organ concertos Joseph Haydn has written in total. Several of them are of doubtul authorship. Previously, ten concertos were attributed to Haydn, but these days, scholars have serious doubts about at least four of them. There is also discussion about the particular solo instrument for which the concertos were written. In the second half of the 18th century, the German word ‘Klavier’ denoted at least four instruments: pianoforte, harpsichord, organ en clavichord. There is little chance that these concertos were written for clavichord, mostly because it is unable to produce the required volume. The pianoforte is an instrument that plays a more prominent role in Haydn's later works, but was not yet in fashin when Haydn was 'Kapelmeister' at the court of Esterhazy.

Our new complete recording of the organ works of Johann Pachelbel, the most important composer of the Southern German organ tradition, concludes with a total of three albums – all of them once again in SS and with first-class organists performing on selected organs. Our three protagonists, Michael Belotti, Christian Schmitt, and James David Christie, have produced enthralling recordings on which they demonstrate their expertise in performances on various outstanding historical instruments. This final volume of our complete edition adheres to the same policy as Vols. 1 and 2: it too is based on the new collection and edition of the composer’s extant oeuvre.

On August 30, saxophone master James Carter will release his Blue Note Records debut James Carter Organ Trio: Live From Newport Jazz, a thrilling live performance of Carter’s imaginative soul jazz reinvention of Django Reinhardt that was captured at the 2018 Newport Jazz Festival.

Beginning his professional career in Chicago in 2001, Kyle has appeared extensively throughout the city and beyond. He has performed with Wynton Marsalis and Jazz at Lincoln Center, Melvin Rhyne, “Killer” Ray Appelton, Chris Foreman, Victor Goines, George Fludas, Ben Paterson and many others. While Asche is a versatile guitarist adept and comfortable in many different genres, the tenets of his style often find him in the company of many of Chicago’s premier jazz vocalists and Hammond organ bands. Now nearly 20 years into his tenure in Chicago, Asche continues to perform around the city on a weekly basis and can be found at many of the city’s jazz rooms regularly. As an active and caring music educator, he has held the jazz guitar faculty position at Loyola University Chicago since 2010.

This release follows some fine recordings with Christoph Schoener of Reger and Reger-arranged Bach from this venue, and with such consistently high results I’m now always on the lookout for new recordings from this source. As far as I can tell this is the only title available with this repertoire in organ arrangements, so quality and novelty would seem to be assured.

English organ music before the mid-nineteenth century tended to commune with itself and must indeed often have given satisfaction to a mere audience of one, the player. The widely-acclaimed exceptions are the eighteenth-century concertos with orchestra, with Handel as the presiding genius, and the often exciting voluntaries of John Stanley, whose popularity with congregations must have been bad news for a tired verger wanting his supper. But these well-planted forms wilted and dropped when handled by lesser masters. It took a special sympathy to be able to exploit the capabilities of England's modest little organs.