The Organ Magazine www.theorganmag.com
February 2001
This
is an ingenious release from the imaginative Loft Recordings. It features
one of America’s leading proponents of historically informed organ
playing, recorded on one of the most wonderful organs in Northern Europe,
the 1554 Rottenstein-Pock / 1611 Nikolaus Maas / 1654 Gregor Millisch
instrument, reconstructed by Marcussen, in Roskilde Cathedral, near
Copenhagen. William Porter plays the complete organ works of Nicolaus
Bruhns, though not including the G minor Praeludium – perhaps Mr Porter
believes that this piece is in fact by A Brunckhorst (1670-1725), an
increasingly popular theory, though by no means universally accepted –
together with the six chorale preludes of Johann Nicolaus Hanff
(1665-1711).
William
Porter’s approach to this music strikes me as being rather similar to
his approach to large scale Bach – see this issue’s Star Recording – thoughtful, considered, or ponderous depending on
your taste. He sets out his conception of the performances in an excellent
programme note. Essentially it is based on his experience of this
particular organ, the more “aristocratic, elegant and sweet” nature of
the Danish organ as compared with its North German counterparts bringing
out a “reflective and refined quality in the music that one can hardly
experience elsewhere”.
Consequently,
who are we to argue? After all Bruhns himself lived for a period in
Copenhagen and would have experienced this style of organ building, so I
certainly won’t. Suffice it to say that the result is, for my taste,
more successful in the large Nun
Komm der Heiden Heiland fantasia than in the free works, which seem to
lose a little of their unpredictability – shock value if you will –
and sense of unity through the hugely expansive readings they receive.
However this is a personal preference. Listeners should however be aware
that the results require intense listening to appreciate the very intense
playing.
The
organ, as ever, sounds quite marvellous, the 4 Principal on the Rygpositiv,
especially when used down an octave is just indescribably beautiful and is
used here as by other organists who have recorded at Roskilde with
excellent results. But there are many other wonderful sounds and
thankfully all registrations are documented in the tremendous booklet
which also contains Cor Edskes’ very thorough essay on the organ’s
history, re-printed from the booklet ‘Roskilde Domkirkes Orgel’. The
recording is good, though better recordings of this organ exist.
Fanfare
Magazine
September 2000
The surprising delights of the disc spring up from track
to track....how often can one claim to collect the complete organ works of
any one composer on a single disc, let alone two? Absolutely worth it.
- Haig Mardirosian
