Two Concertos For Organ

On this CD Jorg Halubek and his Ensemble "Il Gusto Barocco" attempt a reconstruction of three of Bach's organ concertos that today are primarily treated as harpsichord concertos. How thrilling must it have sounded when Johann Sebastian Bach at the organ engaged in a contest of virtuosity with an entire orchestra. The present recording offers a tangible and imaginative impression of it.

Conclusion of a Sensational and Unprecedented Edition. We are now finally presenting to you our last CD featuring Handels organ concertos in the version for piano and orchestra. The positive response to our first two CDs in this series has shown that the transfer of the solo part of Handels organ concertos to todays piano is a logical and obvious move. Johann Sebastian Bachs harpsichord concertos belong to the standard repertoire of all world-class pianists, and the same principle truly applies to Handel.

Francis Poulenc (1899 - 1963) enjoys an audience for his works for the stage and for the solo piano but his grander works are usually reserved for special 'theme events' by our orchestras. This recording repairs that omission by offering three disparate works for solo instrument and orchestra. And the performances are first rate! Pascal Roge delivers the 'Piano Concerto in C sharp minor' with all the ping and tongue in cheek fun so identified with Poulenc's music. He is joined by Charles Dutoit conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra of London in a collaborative event that respects the surging melodic statements so often missing in Poulenc's concerto performances.

During his years at Weimar Bach made a number of keyboard arrangements of concertos and instrumental movements by other composers. His arrangements of concertos by Vivaldi, six of them for harpsichord and three for organ, remind us of the strong influence Vivaldi exercised over Bach's Instrumental compositions. The sixteen arrangements for harpsichord include a keyboard version of an oboe concerto by Alessandro Marcello, a violin concerto by Telemann and three concertos by Prince Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar. The six concertos transcribed for organ also include arrangements of two concertos by Duke Johann Ernst. The latter was a nephew of Bach's employer and a pupil for keyboard and for composition of Johann Gottfried Walther, organist of the Weimar Stadtkirche. His principal instrument was the violin and Telemann wrote for him a set of six sonatas for violin and clavier. Johann Ernst died in 1715 at the age of nineteen, leaving nineteen instrumental works. Of these six concertos were published posthumously by Telemann in 1718.

Many of us tend to pigeonhole composers; we think of Beethoven and Brahms as symphonists (and rightly so) and associate the name of Mozart with his 20-odd piano concertos. With Haydn we might answer with either the symphony or his unassailable settings of the Latin Mass. Seldom—if ever¬—is the gentleman from Rohrau, Lower Austria, thought of as a composer of concertos. But Haydn wrote a respectable number of them, including ones for flute, bassoon, and double bass that are irretrievably lost.

Bach on the Silbermann cathedral organ in Arlesheim, Switzerland, performed by Oslo Cathedral organist Kåre Nordstoga! Andreas Silbermann, brother of the more famous organ builder Gottfried Silbermann, originally built this organ. The cathedral’s acoustics are superb, and although the organ has been rebuilt over the years, it still has the unique warmth and clarity of sound that was the hallmark of the baroque masters. On the first of the two CDs, we find all of Bach’s transcriptions for organ. Three are Bach’s arrangements of violin concertos by Antonio Vivaldi, and Prince Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar originally wrote two others. He died at age 21, and is perhaps best remembered by music historians because Bach — while he was organist at the ducal court in Weimar — transcribed the compositions for organ and cembalo.

Albrecht Mayer - New Seasons: Handel for Oboe & Orchestra
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 396 MB | Full Artwork: 118 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Deutsche Grammophon # 00289 476 5681 | Country/Year: Germany 2006
Genre: Classical | Style: Baroque, Oboe

"New Seasons is a project undertaken by oboist Albrecht Mayer to create "new" concertos for oboe, based primarily on the operas and oratorios of George Frideric Handel. He and arranger Andreas N. Tarkmann used arias, sometimes including bits of recitative, and gave the vocal lines to the oboe, flute, and bassoon without changing too much of the accompanimental parts to create a cycle of four concertos. Compared to Handel's original instrumental music, these are naturally more lyrical and sometimes more declamatory, but it is surprising how often the music is very dance-like. Lively, moving rhythms are not what is normally expected in vocal music, but it makes the arias used here very natural sounding as concerto movements…" ~AMG

A graduate of Pembroke College, Oxford, Reverend Richard Mudge (1718­-1763) was appointed curate of both Great and Little Packington in 1741. He may have been private chaplain to Lord Guernsey, who would later become the Earl of Aylesford. The family had significant musical connections, the best known being Handel's friend and librettist, Charles Jennens. In 1750, Mudge obtained a position at St. Martin's, Birmingham, where he became a popular preacher. In 1756, we find him in the post of rector at Bedworth, where he lived until his death. Even though Mudge's liturgical career is well documented, there is almost nothing pertaining to his musical pursuits.