UPDATED 11/25/2010

FEATURED INSTRUMENT CONCERT   Your support is necessary to continue this service. Even a small donation will help. Virtual organ set from 1766 Schmidt organ in Peruc, Czech Republic - Samples by Jiri Zurek Bach, Johann Sebastian: Fantasy and Fugue in C minor, BWV 537 Pensive prelude joined with, some say "Tragic" others say "Uplifting" Fugue. [7:0] Midi File Available HW1 Bach, Johann Sebastian: Pastorale in F Major, BWV 590 Gentle flute frolicking over a series of long notes on the pedal (here an assistant would have been required to play the pedal part on Manual 1 because the pedal was too loud for the delicate flute). What follows are four manual only movements. Made on the original Peruc organ with hand registration and a shortened keyboard which required note substitution even note omission. The bottom of the manuals looks like F F# G G# A but those keys play C F D G E A, omitting C#, D#, F# and G#. The hand registers are a bit late sometimes, but this would have been par for the course. The good old days, simulated as best the Phantom can. [10:25] Midi File Available HW1 Sweelinck, Jan Pieterszoon: Echo Fantasia 4 (Ionian) The actual echo section comprises less than a page of this 6-page score, Sequences and repeated notes and scalar passages comprise the rest, much like a keyboard improvisation. [6:48] Midi file available. HW1 Bach, Johann Sebastian: Sonatina to Cantata No. 106, BWV 106a Adaptation of Acts 17:28; Subtitled Actus Tragicus (used at funerals). Though the transcription was made from a piano score, the striking interaction of the two flutes in the orchestra was emulated in a way that a single performer would find impossible to play. The sonic characteristics of the Pedal Eb were adjusted for a bit at the beginning, as if the organ were gathering steam to proceed, Registration: Man. II (second flute) 8 Copula Major + 4 Copula Minor; Man. 1: Kryt 8 + Fletna 4; Pedal: Subbas 16 + II/P coupler. [2:6] Midi file available. HW1 Sweelinck, Jan Pieterszoon: Echo Fantasia 6 (Ionian) [attributed] The usual manuals are reversed, with the loud parts soloed out on a cornet combination and the soft part on bright flues. [3:47] Midi file available. HW1 Bach, Johann Sebastian: Symphonia to Cantata 52, BWV 052a Written for Twenty-third Sunday after Trinity. Poet unknown. First performance: 24 November 1726, Leipzig; Parody: First Brandenburg Concerto, BWV 1046. Here the Phantom Organist goes beyond the realm of a Virtual Performance, unless it be by dual organists at two consoles with good timing. The orchestral sounds are in no way imitated, just transcribed in an interesting way for two manual organ. The lyrics to the opening recitative epitomize profound weariness with the world, and the contrast with the exuberance of the Symphonia is so extreme that you wonder how anything but death and resurrection can reconcile the two: a perfect example of Lutheran Pietism. Registration: Manual 2: Copula Major 8 + Fugara 4 + Principal 2 + Oktava 1; Manual 1: 8 Principal + Principal 4 + Oktava 2 + Kvinta 1 1/3; Pedal: Subbas 16 + Viole 8 + Choral Bas 4. [5:2] Midi file available. HW1 Pachelbel, Johann: Jesus Christus, Unser Heiland, 3rd Setting The Bicinium form, for two voices, was a pedagogical tool in the Renaissance and early Baroque. Here the slower moving chorale tune in the right hand is accessible for the student to play with her/his teacher doing all the fast-moving parts, but the roles are reversed in the middle. I suppose the beginning student switched to the left hand and continued to play slow notes, and more advanced ones would have struggled with the sudden cascade of notes. Registration: RH Man. I - Principal 8' + Fletna 4' + Oktava 2' + Terz 1 3/5; LH Man. II - Copula major 8' + Fugara 4' + Principal 2' + Mixtura 2-3x + Oktava 1' [2:51] Midi File Available HW1 Bach, Johann Sebastian: Fantasy with Imitation in B minor, BWV 563 One of Bach's simpler efforts, the Fantasia is in common time, the Imitatio in 3/4 time. [4:2] Midi File Available HW1 Krebs, Johann Ludwig: Liebster Jesu, Oboe and Organ Concerted Chorale consisting of very light and bubbly organ part contrasted with creamy sampled oboe sound. [3:24] Midi File Available HW1 Sweelinck, Jan Pieterszoon: Echo Fantasia 5 (Ionian) [attributed] The gentlest of little echo fantasias, very few echoes, ending with a "virtuoso" passage up and down the louder keyboard with softer chords accompanying. [4:47] Midi file available. HW1 Bach, Johann Sebastian: Prelude and Fugue in G minor, BWV 535 The brooding principal sounds give way to a sparkling cadenza and a series of rapid echoing arpeggios echoed by the Swell (and an imaginary Positiv), then a driving buildup to the final cadence. The fugue starts with a charming subject that gets somewhat more stern as the fugue progresses. Another ripping cadenza and pedal point create a dazzling finish. One of the earlier Preludes and Fugues, this piece lies in the shadow of the great G minor Fantasy and Fugue, and hence is somewhat neglected. For broadband users, or if you're extremely patient: Download (14.6 MB). [7:37] Midi File Available HW1