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Bach Concerto en La mineur pour 4 clavecins BWV 1065 Pascale Mélis à l'orgue St. Clod

John Watt

Member
I have to admit, I grew up singing in the choir with a Hammond organ.
When I was on the road as a musician, having to be onstage at nine,
I'd hang out where a Hammond organist was doing a solo gig, or had a drummer.
Needless to say, the keyboardists in bands I was in didn't haul around cathedral organs.
And that includes listening to piano everywhere I go, from students to jazz and classical recording artists.

Ever since I found Magle.dk and listened to Frederik Magle, I've been listening to his organ playing.
That means I've listened to him more than all the other cathedral organists together.
It's true what it says on the home page, he takes you on musical journey, expressing himself, telling a story.
Bach, and all the other traditional organists, can captivate your mind, and there are dynamics and sound variations,
but it, for a lack of more symphonic words, sounds old-fashioned to me, like Steve and Edie singing a duet.
There's just something too comfortable about it, despite the wide-ranging technique.
I hear some Jon Lord from Deep Purple, Keith Emerson from Emerson, Lake and Palmer, what progressive rock borrowed,
yeah... I guess what I'm saying is the older music doesn't have the same drive, sounding more decorative.

Now, if I was an organist playing these pieces it would be a real accomplishment, and note-worthy, even notable,
if not notatissimo, but part of sounding old fashioned is not being able to imagine playing along with it,
seeing these compositions as being a stand-alone piece, like a musical post-card that shows different melodic variations.

I even bought "Switch-On Bach" and the synthesized "The Four Seasons", thinking I'd get into the music that way,
but I never really did.
Now, this is going to sound like a very uninformed question, but did Beethoven play the organ?
I can't think of any music of his on organ, and Beethoven is someone who paints a moving picture in my mind.
The first section of Sonata in C#minor is one of the first things I learned to play with my Stratocaster and Marshall with effects.
I actually think the sound of a nicely distorted guitar, with reverb, echo and phase shifting, sounds better than a piano.
And it gets louder. The vibrations are in the strings under your fingers and in the air around you.

I know I'm typing more about what this thread isn't, more about my general appreciation of cathedral organs,
but that's more important to me than just digging up a YouTube video to show someone else.
I'm sure you know what it's like to listen to some music and then get up and walk away from it,
leaving it behind. It's an old cliche, getting back to Bach, but I never have.
I'm thinking of Radar in M.A.S.H., who was told to put his hand to his chin and lean back in thought,
and then say "aaah... Bach", to impress a new nurse. That would be me, faking it, and I don't do that.

okay... okay... here's some organ music I get into.
I've been listening to this for a while, so it was on top of my suggested videos.
I like how he starts with a soft sound, letting the organ breath, before the notes pile up.
It's not all over the place, not trying to be everything all at once, like Bach,
and I'm hearing instrumentation and want to play along... hearing a song,
as elevated as it gets. And yes, this is an improvisation, where I'm at, hearing off notes. That makes me smile.
It's nice to be reminded that the musicians I'm playing with are all so human.


 
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Ella Beck

Member

I'm listening now. It's absolutely gorgeous!
Thank you. :)

I see that Bach wrote this for four harpsichords, and I'm a big fan of harpsichords, but this organ sound is so rich.
And so varied too - the daintier bell-like sound at six minutes.

This is music to lift the listener beyond Time.
 
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John Watt

Member
I just came back here for a quickie.
I was saying cathedral organs, thinking that's the only venue they could be constructed in, and for.
Or course, there are recreational organ consoles for homes, but nothing like these.
However, I just saw this video and have to change my mind.
This is taking a cathedral organ approach and making it very personal.


 

Taggart

Sr. Regulator
Staff member
Sr. Regulator
Bach "borrowed" this from Vivaldi's RV 580 for 4 Violins

 
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John Watt

Member
Seeing someone building a cathedral organ into their home made me change my mind about how I would like to live,
and who I could invite over to jam with me, as an organist.
This video could change your mind about Bach, hearing it on a digital piano,
and watching the notes coming down like game pieces on Tetra, not notes on paper.
This is dark music, any way you hear it.


 
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