# Looking for some Bach organ recommendation(s)



## Clouds Weep Snowflakes

Lately I seem to develop a like for Bach for the organ, most pieces sound like horror movies music, and I like horror movies; something like this:




If you can recommend any good album to try and get for these pieces, please tell me!


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## Guest

Helmut Walcha. Is an excellent choice for Bach. The 2-disc Great Organ Works album on DG is an excellent starting point, along with his recording of the Art of the Fugue. I also really enjoy John Butt's recordings for Harmonia Mundi.


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## Clouds Weep Snowflakes

DrMike said:


> Helmut Walcha. Is an excellent choice for Bach. The 2-disc Great Organ Works album on DG is an excellent starting point, along with his recording of the Art of the Fugue. I also really enjoy John Butt's recordings for Harmonia Mundi.


More details please?


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## Bulldog

On CPO, Gerhard Weinberger recorded the complete organ works. He uses historical organs, and his readings are quite severe. I love them.


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## Guest

Clouds Weep Snowflakes said:


> More details please?


What are you wanting to know?


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## Clouds Weep Snowflakes

DrMike said:


> What are you wanting to know?


Specific albums, some background...


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## Mandryka

Clouds Weep Snowflakes said:


> some background...


One fascinating factoid about Walcha is that he was blind.

I wonder if this is the sort of thing you'll like






or this






or possibly this


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## tdc

Clouds Weep Snowflakes said:


> Specific albums


There are specific recordings mentioned in the post...



DrMike said:


> *Helmut Walcha*. Is an excellent choice for Bach. *The 2-disc Great Organ Works album on DG* is an excellent starting point, along with his recording of the Art of the Fugue. I also really enjoy *John Butt*'s recordings for* Harmonia Mundi*.


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## Reichstag aus LICHT

DrMike said:


> Helmut Walcha. Is an excellent choice for Bach. The 2-disc Great Organ Works album on DG is an excellent starting point, along with his recording of the Art of the Fugue.


Totally agree about Helmut Walcha's 2-disc set - it's superb. However, I think the _Art of Fugue_ is a bit esoteric as a starting point, especially for someone who likes "horror movie" organ music, as the original poster is. I'd say that there's more of the _bel canto_ than Bela Lugosi about _The Art of Fugue_ 

The 2-CD Walcha set looks like this:


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## Reichstag aus LICHT

Mandryka said:


> or possibly this


That performance of the Passacaglia & Fugue by Cameron Carpenter was painful, if you don't mind my saying. It's my all-time favourite organ work, and I fell in love with it when I bought Helmut Walcha's recording (see above) some 40 years ago. It still takes some beating:


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## Jacck

Bach - Complete Preludes, Toccatas, Fantasias, Fugues & Sonatas (ref.rec. : W.Stockmeier)





I sometimes plays this video as background music for work. I like the sound of this organ. Stockmeier obviously recorded all of Bach's organ works - a 10 CD edition can be found on Amazon - but the price of a couple hundred euros is a little too much.


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## classical yorkist

When people ask about Bach's organ works I always point them to this resource:
http://www.blockmrecords.org/bach/index.htm

Investigate at your leisure Bach's entire organ output recorded on an interesting set or organs.


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## classical yorkist

I will also recommend this free resource: http://baroquemusic.org/silbcdeng.html

All this music played on wonderfully mellow Silberman organs constructed by Bach's friend and someone who Bach worked very closely with.


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## Dorsetmike

The full catalogue of the Baroque music site is here

http://www.baroquemusic.org/bmlcatalogue.html

Many other Bach works to be downloaded, organ, Harpsichord, choral and orchestral works, plus many other baroque composers.

Tha Passacaglia BWV582 is also a favourite of mine, I agree with Reichstag's views above, as a contrast here it is on pedal harpsichord
http://www.baroquemusic.org/DLower/BACH727T2PassacagliaFugue582Phpschd.mp3

You may also like this work
http://www.baroquemusic.org/DLower/BMC01T1JohnStanleyConcerto2Op2.mp3


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## Guest

Reichstag aus LICHT said:


> Totally agree about Helmut Walcha's 2-disc set - it's superb. However, I think the _Art of Fugue_ is a bit esoteric as a starting point, especially for someone who likes "horror movie" organ music, as the original poster is. I'd say that there's more of the _bel canto_ than Bela Lugosi about _The Art of Fugue_
> 
> The 2-CD Walcha set looks like this:
> 
> View attachment 117465


Very good point. I think I glossed over the reference to a "horror" sound. Quite honestly, that was my initial impressions of Bach's organ works, but now I think I have come around to the opposite view. They are incredibly moving and profound. Still, for that sound, Walcha I think brings it out the best.

I might retract my Butt recommendation - his recordings feel lighter and airier than Walcha, and may not convey that "horror" atmosphere.

As others have said, the Passacaglia BWV 582 is an incredible work, and definitely one to hear. It is on the 2-disc Walcha recording.


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## leonsm

Walcha or Marie-Claire Alain: BWV 538, 564, 540, 582 (a lifetime favorite), 542, 543, 537, 578, 552.


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## Clouds Weep Snowflakes

classical yorkist said:


> When people ask about Bach's organ works I always point them to this resource:
> http://www.blockmrecords.org/bach/index.htm
> 
> Investigate at your leisure Bach's entire organ output recorded on an interesting set or organs.


Thank you!
And for all of you-am I the only person to think Bach's organ works sound scary? They would fit in places like the Pokémon tower in Lavender (for people not into Pokémon-a haunted tower filled with Ghost-type Pokémon in a VERY gloomy town)...


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## Guest

I wouldn't know about Pokemon. There are certainly precedents for linking his organ music to the macabre - if I recall, the Bela Lugosi Dracula incorporated organ music. But I would also take the opportunity to view them a different way around - look at them as inspiring, frequently religious works (as many of his organ works were), and you might see a different aspect.


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## Clouds Weep Snowflakes

DrMike said:


> *I wouldn't know about Pokemon*. There are certainly precedents for linking his organ music to the macabre - if I recall, the Bela Lugosi Dracula incorporated organ music. But I would also take the opportunity to view them a different way around - look at them as inspiring, frequently religious works (as many of his organ works were), and you might see a different aspect.


Here's a glimpse:


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## millionrainbows

I'm certainly no expert on Bach organ recordings; I just know what I like according to my own criteria. One of my criteria is that it "kick a**." 
I'm not orthodox, so I like recordings which are interesting in terms of venue, audience, history, such as this "touring" recording of Virgil Fox, playing to a large crowd of "hippies" at the Fillmore West and East; and they must be good recordings in terms of bass, so I can give my subwoofers a good workout.


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## Blancrocher

Like MR above, I'm no expert. But Anton Heiller is #1 on my kick-*** meter...I basically just listen to his Passacaglia & Fugue in C minor all the time.


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## millionrainbows

Clouds Weep Snowflakes said:


> Lately I seem to develop a like for Bach for the organ,* most pieces sound like horror movies music, and I like horror movies...*


As far as the "horror music" aspect of this, maybe you'd like Messiaen's organ music. Anybody got a recommendation on this? All I have is the old recording of Messiaen himself playing, which is pretty lo-fi.


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## Mandryka

Here's my favourite, I want this played at my funeral






Seeing him play here makes me keen to hear him play CU3 in Groningen in September, but it's such a pain to get there -- a day's journey, the day before the concert. I suppose if Bach can travel to Luebeck I can travel to Groningen . . .


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## Bulldog

Mandryka said:


> Here's my favourite, I want this played at my funeral


It's also one of favorites. Man, I have too many favorite works, so my funeral will last all day.


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## infracave

I have a really hard time liking the organ.
The sustain and the weak attack makes it really hard to hear the inner voices properly. I was at a Widor recital recently and I had to look up the score on my phone to undertand what was going on.

So, it's a little bit off topic but are the Bach-Busoni transcriptions any good ? Any recording to suggest ?


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## Reichstag aus LICHT

millionrainbows said:


> As far as the "horror music" aspect of this, maybe you'd like Messiaen's organ music. Anybody got a recommendation on this? All I have is the old recording of Messiaen himself playing, which is pretty lo-fi.


My favourite is the set by Olivier Latry on DG.


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## Mandryka

infracave said:


> I have a really hard time liking the organ.
> The sustain and the weak attack makes it really hard to hear the inner voices properly. I was at a Widor recital recently and I had to look up the score on my phone to undertand what was going on.
> 
> So, it's a little bit off topic but are the Bach-Busoni transcriptions any good ? Any recording to suggest ?


I think you're listening to bad performances and or poor organs because, with properly chosen registrations etc, the polyphony can, indeed should, be transparent in Bach at least. Widor is someone I know nothing about.

The Busoni transcriptions are OK for what they are, romantic pianistic reinterpretations, I think if you can find them you're at least as well off listening to other transcriptions, like Kurtag or Kempff. Angella Hewitt did a good CD of Bach organ transcriptions from different people.

But really it's best to hear Bach's organ specific music on organ.


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## infracave

Mandryka said:


> I think you're listening to bad performances and or poor organs because, with properly chosen registrations etc, the polyphony can, indeed should, be transparent in Bach at least. Widor is someone I know nothing about.
> 
> The Busoni transcriptions are OK for what they are, romantic pianistic reinterpretations, I think if you can find them you're at least as well off listening to other transcriptions, like Kurtag or Kempff. Angella Hewitt did a good CD of Bach organ transcriptions from different people.
> 
> But really it's best to hear Bach's organ specific music on organ.


Thanks. I think I'll give Walcha's and Koopman's recording of the Clavier Ubung III a go. Also Hewitt.


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## Mandryka

infracave said:


> Thanks. I think I'll give Walcha's and Koopman's recording of the Clavier Ubung III a go. Also Hewitt.


There are two Walcha recordings, I know the second better than the first.

Off hand I can't think of much CU3 on piano, which seems a shame given that so many chorales in the collection don't need a pedal board.

In addition to the Hewitt a couple of other Bach CDs I thought were OK are this one from Kempff (don't confuse it with his later recordings of the same music)









and this one, where Kurtag interleaves his own transcriptions from the Leipzig Chorales with his own compositions.









If you really want to hear Busoni, then Demidenko and Weissenberg did listenable recordings. Well, Demidenko is listenable at least.


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## infracave

Thanks for the suggestions Mandryka.

I know I might get some flack for this, but I loved Bl!ndman playing Bach's organ pieces.
They're a quintetof sax players (sopr sax + alt sax + ten sax + bar sax + tubax) and I really love how the small dynamics changes in each voice they add change the piece.

Listen to their Passacaglia&Fugue BWV582.
You can burn me at the stake after.


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## Mandryka

infracave said:


> Thanks for the suggestions Mandryka.
> 
> I know I might get some flack for this, but I loved Bl!ndman playing Bach's organ pieces.
> They're a quintetof sax players (sopr sax + alt sax + ten sax + bar sax + tubax) and I really love how the small dynamics changes in each voice they add change the piece.
> 
> Listen to their Passacaglia&Fugue BWV582.
> You can burn me at the stake after.


Those dynamic changes makes it sound like a different piece of music.


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## JosefinaHW

HPowders adored many of Bach's organ works and he had very good taste in music performances. Try and do a Google Search for all his posts re/ this topic.


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## Mandryka

Here's a collection of turn of the c19 Transcriptions, Rachmaninov, Busoni, Grainger and people of that ilk, played for in your face thrill rather than anything else


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## vtpoet

I have three complete sets of Bach on organ, and my favorite is the rather expensive set played on Silbermann organs. There are four different organists performing, but you don't buy this set for the organists. You buy it for the organs. The organs are the stars, the personalities, the impresarios.

And with that in mind: I would recommend you look for individual CDs from this set, because the sound of the organs (dating and surviving from Bach's time) is utterly and completely unlike a modern organ (in my opinion it needs to be said). The mic'ing is the best of any that I've heard. The series was a labor of love.

When the pipes on these organs get going, it's like the angels sound their trumpets---and that can be for war or glory. These organs have so much more personality than any modern organ that I'm aware of.

Gerhard Weinberger (another of the sets that I own) also plays on a Silbermann organ. But while his interpretation and skill exceeds those of the organists on the Silbermann set, the sound quality isn't as good (to me).


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## perempe




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## howlingfantods

infracave said:


> I have a really hard time liking the organ.
> The sustain and the weak attack makes it really hard to hear the inner voices properly. I was at a Widor recital recently and I had to look up the score on my phone to undertand what was going on.
> 
> So, it's a little bit off topic but are the Bach-Busoni transcriptions any good ? Any recording to suggest ?


Here's my favorite Passacaglia transcription on the piano--Zhukov playing his own transcription.






I prefer Bach's organ music transcribed for the piano. I think performers can make a stronger case for these compositions on the piano with the clearer textures, the cleaner attack, the dynamic range.


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## Mandryka

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