Top ten organ works ever written...

[Krummhorn]

Jan. 22, 2007 ... my list is: ...

Mendelssohn: Sonata I

Hi Art Rock,
... actually, good ol' Felix is on the list ... Oddly enough, the day before (Jan 21st), I had performed his Sonata II in a concert. Still, Mendelssohn's 1st Sonata is my most favorite of all his organ works. It is surprising though that his name hasn't popped up more than once ... nor has Schumann.

[Art Rock]

Sorry, missed that. Another name missing (I think, let's be careful now .. ), but perhaps less surprising, is Franz Schmidt. I have four CD's of his organ works and there is some great music there.

[Jeffrey Hall]

Hm, yes, Mendelssohn deserves at least an honorable mention in this thread, and I'm glad he made it onto one list.

Sonata I is a fine work, but I would give the nod for Best Sonata to III, though, with such a clever "fugue and toccata" idea woven above the Aus tiefer Not.

My favorite Mendelssohn organ work, though, is the P&F #1 in C Minor...beautiful throughout, and what a propulsive fugue! In fact, if we did a top ten "most fun to play" thread, this one would be on there above some of the more severe ones in the list I posted above.

[PraeludiumUndFuge]

Only Bach, Buxtehude, Sweelinck and Froberger belong in this category.

[AustinPrince14]

Come on. Is nobody going to say it? Do I have to be the one to say it? The perfect organ/rock fusion in one epic song: In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. Although Doug Ingle was not a virtuoso by any means, his blend of classical and contemporary organ stylings transform Iron Butterfly's songs from cheesy, 60's-era heavy metal to beautiful, haunting pieces of work, perfectely complimenting the overdriven guitars of Danny Weis/Erik Braunn.

[AeroScore]

OK, since we're getting into the "rock" organ scene, I have to ask: does my favorite have to be a solo organ selection, or can it be, say, organ and orchestra? If that is the case, my vote has to be Joseph Jongen's "Symphonie Concertante`." Michael Murray recorded this to great effect with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra in the mid-80's, on Davie's Symphony Hall's terrific Ruffatti Organ. In fact, Virgil Fox used to perform the "Toccatta" from this work as an organ solo!

Dean

[PraeludiumUndFuge]

Stop this rock organ stuff please.

[Krummhorn]

Hmmm, we seem to have slowly digressed away from the original thread here Perhaps we might entertain returning to topic ...

Here's the original thread starter:

Dear MIMF'ers,

Which, in your own mind, are the top ten finest organ compositions ever written, past or present?
Giovanni

Kh

[kierantk]

Personally, my favourite would probably by Lloyd-Webber's Phantom of the Opera... the overture to that rock-opera is simply amazing...

other than that, probably bach's toccata & Fugues in D Minor (both) and Prelude and Fugue in C Minor (BWV 549)

[Pipequeen]

Nice choices! I particularly enjoyed playing "The wedge".