UPDATED 06/08/2008

FEATURED INSTRUMENT CONCERT   If you enjoy this concert, please donate by clicking on the button to the left! E.M. Skinner Organ, Opus 719 at Our Lady of Mount Carmel - Chicago, Illinois (1928) Samples by Brett Milan Bach, Johann Sebastian: Symphonia to Cantata 49, BWV 049a For Twentieth Sunday after Trinity. First performance: 3 November 1726, Leipzig. Marvelous concerto-like textures in an uncharacteristic key. Uses the 1.5 GB "Toccata" model. [7:16] Midi file available. HW1 Karg-Elert, Sigfrid: Herzlich tut mich verlangen, Op. 65, No. 16 Expressive canon in varying intervals between the Pedal (coupled to Swell flutes) and Choir (first with Clarinet, then the French Horn, instead of the Claribel Flute the composer originally called for). Uses the 1.5 GB Romantic subset. [3:32] HW1 Stanford, C. V.: Prelude 1, Op. 101 No. 1 Pleasant pastorale using foundations from Swell, Choir and Great, with Choir Clarinet at end. Thanks to Tom O'Driscoll for the score. [2:56] HW1 Karg-Elert, Sigfrid: Aus tiefer Not schrei Ich zu Dir, Op. 65, No. 45 The chorale alternates between the Choir Clarinet and the French Horn coupled to Great Concert Flute and plays against appropriate string combinations on the Swell. Composer's instructions involve "lamentoso, lugubre and misterioso" and the organ definitely seems up to it. Ues the 1.5 GB subset of [3:6] HW1 Karg-Elert, Sigfrid: Herr und Ältster deiner Kreuzgemeinde, Op. 65, No. 14 Billed as a Fughetta with a tempo indication of "Adagissimo e sempre teneramente," this is the only piece I have ever encountered with the time signature of 24/32. The text seems to be "lost Moravian." [1:36] HW1 Gigout, Eugène: Prelude - Chorale and Allegro No. 1 from Ten Pieces for Organ, the Prelude opens quietly with a pedal solo and then a restless theme on the Great which pervades the whole. The Chorale is sounded in close harmony on foundations and reeds of the Swell. At the Allegro there is a sudden surge of sound which builds in a meandering way to a thundering climax. Uses the 1.5GB "Toccata" subset. [8:28] HW1 Brahms, Johannes: Fuge für die Orgel A 2-measure chromatic fugue subject with a recognizable 3-note component is presented both rectus (right-side-up) and inversus (up-side-down), some softer interludes on the Hinterwerk over an organ point provide welcome relief from the sternness. The key changes from 7 flats to 2 sharps about halfway through and then back again, so smoothly one wouldn't think about it if one weren't looking at the score. On the last page, the three notes are used in both eighths and quarters, which I tried to emphasize, and then Brahms makes use of them in staccato with an extra eighth rest, with the rest of the fugue subject in dotted quarters again interrupted by quarter rests. The work was published in 1864, much earlier than his other organ music, possibly it is so dark because of the death of his friend Robert Schumann. [5:30] HW1 Gigout, Eugène: Scherzo No. 8 from Ten Pieces for Organ, this is about as droll as Gigout gets. Typical ABA construction with a delicate surprise of an ending. [5:48] HW1 Gigout, Eugène: Toccata No. 4 from 10 Pieces for Organ, this is a French toccata with some echoes of Widor and a Hollywood ending. Uses the 1.5 "Toccata" subset. [3:50] HW1 Scheidt, Samuel: Da Jesus an dem Kreuze Stund Two sections, the first with the Chorale in the right hand (a canon with the pedal only continues for two phrases) and the second a chromatic treatment for manual and pedal. [3:1] HW1 Karg-Elert, Sigfrid: Nach einer Prüfung kurzer Tage, Op. 65, No. 30 Chromatic balm for one who has been through some kind of trauma, this setting, marked "Andantino con molt' espressione." uses Swell flutes and strings coupled to a delicious Pedal with a very brief passage on the Choir. An attempt at simulating a crescendo pedal was as smooth as I could make it, and the marking "with religious fervor" was observed at the end. [1:50] HW1 Hanff, Johann Nicolaus: Erbarm dich mein, o Herre Gott The first verse uses the Swell strings and flutes with the Choir Clarinet; the 2nd verse subtracts the Voix Céleste from the Swell and changes the solo stop to the Choir Orchestral Oboe, Pedal is the Bourdon 16' coupled to the Great Harmonic Flute throughout. Uses the 1.5 GB Romantic subset. [4:14] HW1 Franck, César: Cantabile Chromatic, romantic and dramatic, with moments of great relief. [4:40] HW1 Karg-Elert, Sigfrid: Jesu, hilf siegen, Op. 65, No. 26 Composer's adjectives: "Adagissimo, divoto, ligato, espressivo." Uses the 1.5 GB "Fonds" subset. [1:24] HW1 Karg-Elert, Sigfrid: Jesu, meine Zuversicht, Op. 65, No. 27 With an unusual time signature of 8/8 and the tempo instruction "Largo e misterioso," somewhat hidden may be the an inexact canon between the top Pedal voice and the soprano as played on the French Horn. Uses a custom 4-manual subset. [2:36] HW1 Stanford, C. V.: Prelude 6, Op. 101 No. 6 This is also "Founded on an old Irish church melody" but the familiar tune is restricted to the Swell with interludes on the Choir. Uses the 1.5 GB "Fonds" subset. Thanks to Tom O'Driscoll for the score. [1:56] HW1 Karg-Elert, Sigfrid: Dir, dir, Jehovah, will ich singen!, Op. 65, No. 24 The Chorale melody hops between manuals and pedal, ending in eight voices including double pedal. [2:8] HW1 Krebs, Johann Ludwig: Fugue in F, Br II:13 The subject of the fugue is inverted about halfway through, but comes in right side up at the end in the pedal. [2:54] HW1