UPDATED 06/08/2008

FEATURED INSTRUMENT CONCERT   If you enjoy this concert, please donate by clicking on the button to the left! Virtual organ set from 1766 Schmidt organ in Peruc, Czech Republic - Samples by Jiri Zurek Bach, Johann Sebastian: Concerto in D minor (after Vivaldi), BWV 596 A very energetic transcription of a Vivaldi concerto, with a restful middle movement. Arrangement of Antonio Vivaldi's Concerto Op. 3, No. 11, RV565 or else Op. 12 by W.F. Bach. The variations in the arpeggios in the third movement were added to my performances years ago. Fortunately, I wrote them in my personal score along with rather precise registration ideas. The movements are Allegro - Fugue - Largo e spiccato - Allegro. [11:47] HW1 Bach, Johann Sebastian: Nun freut euch, lieben Christen gmein, BWV 734 Yet another delightful trio from the Master. The alternate text for this tune is "Es ist gewisslich an der Zeit." [2:31] HW1 Bach, Johann Sebastian: Wo soll ich fliehen hin, BWV 646 The second of the Schübler Chorales, named after Georg Schübler, the person who engraved them. This is the only one of the six not to be based on an extant cantata movement. Registration: Left and right hands together on Man. 2: Copula Major 8' +Fugara 4' + Principal 2'; the chorale is sounded on the pedal which is coupled to Man. 1: Principals 8' + 4', Terz 1 3/5, Kvinta 1 1/3. [2:0] HW1 Sweelinck, Jan Pieterszoon: Echo Fantasia 3 (Aeolian) A rather forthright fugue-like exposition to begin with, regressing to the softer manual for the echo section, back to the louder sound for some quasi-echo passages a charming hemiola section and then scalar passages in eighth notes and later sixteenth notes, which alternate between right and left hands, with the opposite hand holding long chords. [3:18] Midi file available. HW1 Sweelinck, Jan Pieterszoon: Echo Fantasia 1 (Dorian) A long exposition precedes the sort of echo passages which contrast one manual with another, marked in the score by f[orte] and p[iano]. The Phantom Organist perceived a few more playful echoes possible near the end that were not written in the score. [7:29] Midi file available. HW1 Froberger, J. J.: Canzona IV There are 4 basic sections. The first expounds the main melody - Registration: Man. 2: Copula major 8' + Fugara 4' + Principal 2'. The second adds a countermelody, both of which are sometimes inverted - Registration: Man. 1: Principal 8' + Principal 4' + Oktava 2' + Kvinta 1 1/3'. The third, in 3/4 meter, embroiders the main theme a bit, but it still has the upward chromatic motion - Registration: Man. 2 as above but Mixture has been added. The fourth, in 12/8 meter, plays even more with the melody, puttng the chromatic intervals a little off kilter, and there is a florid coda in common meter at the end - Registration: Man. 2: Salicional 8' + Kryt 8' + Principal 4' + Octava 2' + 1 3/5' + II/I coupler. [5:46] Midi file available. HW1 Handel, George Frederick: Andante in Bb The second movement of Organ Concerto in F, transcribed for organ. [4:52] HW1 Sweelinck, Jan Pieterszoon: Echo Fantasia 2 (Ionian) The term "Echo" here is not taken literally, but the change of timbre between "loud" and "soft" is notable. [3:10] Midi file available. HW1 Bach, Johann Sebastian: Concerto in C Major after Ernst, BWV 595 This cheerful one-movement concerto by Prince Johann Ernst von Saxe-Weimar was rearranged by Bach for two manuals and pedal. [3:49] Midi file available. HW1 Pachelbel, Johann: Magnificat Secundi Toni Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706), one of the major keyboard composers of the late seventeenth century and a link between the southern and central German schools, having studied in Vienna and finally settled in his native Nuremberg, composed these Magnificat fugues while organist of St. Sebald, Nuremberg's wealthiest church, where he was employed from 1695 on. Unlike many other organ settings of the Magnificat (Canticle of the Virgin) that treated alternate verses of the chant, in the tradition of Renaissance vocal settings, Pachelbel's Magnificat fugues are preludial in nature, like his fugues based on chorales; they are brief intonations to establish the pitch for the singers, and thus occur in the contemporary equivalent of the eight different "tones" or modes of plainchant. Only a minority of them, however, use the chant formula, the majority being based on freely invented themes. [16:15] HW1