Top ten organ works ever written...

[giovannimusica]

Hi Lars,

Thank you for your kind words and acknowledgement. I am on this forum to learn all the other facets of music that have *escaped* me, either by commission or omission. If I can help anybody with their questions about music, organs and their construction, or composers then all the merrier since I see my self as a servant to people who are interested in good music. To be a helper and facilitator gives me great pleasure.

Tell me - is that IV/79 Wurlitzer at that restaurant that serves pizza and other goodies? I do appreciate a good size theatre organ. The prodigious bass output that they are capable of really send me.

In closing, I sometimes get a hankering for contemporary organ composers who don't dilly-dally with serial atonality and all that *other* craziness, which sometimes reminds me of nails being dragged across a chalkboard.

I could be rightfully critiqued for being too conservative - so be it - but hey, the repertoire that I do usually gets a good reception. I'm no Virgil Fox or E. Power Biggs or Stephen Tharp for that matter. Just an ardent and fervid lover of organ music and the instrument.

Cheers!

Giovanni :tiphat: :tiphat: :tiphat: :tiphat: :tiphat: :tiphat: :tiphat:

 

[Krummhorn]

Hi Giovanni,

The IV/79 Wurlie is at Organ Stop Pizza (1st listing in a google search) in Mesa, Arizona. They have an 32' Open (wood) Diaphone that rattles the floor pretty good - also a full scale horizontal trumpet (bronze) in the rear, upstairs. The two main organists there are Charlie Balogh and Lew Williams ... Lew does more classical repertoire in his program - to hear Thou Art the Rock by Henry Mulet on this instrument is awesome.

:cheers: Lars

 

[giovannimusica]

Hey Lars,

I just noticed - you're a *regulator* now - congrats dear sir - couldn't happen to a nicer fellow than you.

Holy Hannah - Mulet's *Tu Es Petrus* on that 79 rank Wurly!!!!!!!!!

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good Heavens - that will really get that place *shaking*...

:grin: :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin:

Cheers!

Giovanni :tiphat: :tiphat: :tiphat: :tiphat: :tiphat: :tiphat: :tiphat:

 

[Krummhorn]

Hey Lars,

I just noticed - you're a *regulator* now - congrats dear sir - couldn't happen to a nicer fellow than you.

Thanks Giovanni ... I appreciate your accolades ... I moderate Open Debate, Science & Technology/Community Center forums ... even at that, I only consider myself as another participant, albeit more pro-active in a sense ... In the rest of the music within MIMF, I am just another organist/musician/audiophile participating in the discussions.

Lars :cheers:

 

[Caddis]

Top ten

Hi here's my list:Louis Vierne-Symphony no.2,Clair de lune Op.53/Widor-Symphonie Gotique/H.Purcel-Trumpet tune/Cesar Franck-Choral III,Pieces de "L'Organiste"/Charles Tournemire-L'Orgue Mystic/Mozart-KV 608/Marcel Dupre-Evocation Final/Healey Willan-Aria.

 

[Soubasse]

Despite being a newbie (god I hate that word), I wouldn't mind adding my 2 cents ... sorry 10 cents worth to this list.

Alain - Trois Danses
Alain - Litanies
Vierne - Symphony No.1
Franck - Choral 3
Dupre - Variations sur un Noel
Bach - Passacaglia and Fugue
Liszt - Ad Nos
Pärt - Annum per annum
Reubke - 94th Psalm
Durufle - Prelude et Fugue sur le nom d'ALAIN

That's off the top of my head - there are many others vying for equal positions in there such as Glass' Mad Rush and more Alain (2 Fantasies, the Suite). Bach Toccata, Adagio and Fugue, and the 3 'Great' Prelude and Fugues.

 

[Jeffrey Hall]

Whew, this is hard. This is a rough order, and it's probably just ten that jump quickly to mind, and they may be more my favorites from different periods than an absolute top 10. But I'm pretty sure about #1 and #2!

Bach, Passacaglia & Fugue in c, BWV 582
Durufle, Prelude & Fugue on the name of ALAIN
Bach, Prelude & Fugue in e, BWV 548
Franck, Chorale #2 in b
Vierne, Symphony #6
Bach, Fantasia & Fugue in g, BWV 542
Messiaen, Nativity of the Lord
Vierne, Symphony #2
Liszt, Prelude & Fugue on the theme BACH

and at #10, why not Jongen, Symphonie Concertante? You go to concert halls and endlessly hear the Saint-Saens and the Poulenc, but to my mind this is the organ concerto. The first 45 seconds to the awesome entrance from the organ is almost by itself worth the price of admission.

 

[Contratrombone64]

Bach BWV: 538 (Dorian) Toccata and fugue
Bach BWV: 537 Fantasy and fuge in c minor
Widor: Symphonie No. 3 Op. 13/3 (e minor)
Dubois: Toccata in G major
Vierne: Carillon de Westminster
Messiaen: Apparition De L'eglise Eternelle
Boëllman: Toccata from Gothic Suite
Franck: Heroic Piece
Hindemith: Sonata 2
Willis: Pictures at an Exhibition transcription (Ely Cathedral organist)

 

[nachoba]

Mi top ten (but not in order, or sort of an order):
Tournemire: L'Orgue Mystique
Vierne: 24 Pièces de Fantasie
Franck: Trois Chorals
Liszt: Ad nos, ad salutarem undam
Mullet: Esquises Bizantines & Carillion Sortie
Bach: Passacaglia in C minor
Frescobaldi: Fiori Musicali
Bach: Orgelbüchlein
Correa de Arauxo: Facultad Orgánica
Boëllman: Suite Gothique

Cheers

 

[Art Rock]

I'll give this some thought, but I am surprised that so far Mendelssohn has not been mentioned.

 

[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 :crazy: 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 :tiphat:

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".