Tír Na HiFi

Jared wrote: I'm still no great fan of the organ, I'm afraid... :-((

The best bit of advice that I can give you now is to walk away and leave the organ alone. Do not force it....if you come to like it then so be it but best not to turn yourself off completely at this point in time.

fergus wrote:

Jared wrote: I'm still no great fan of the organ, I'm afraid... :-((

The best bit of advice that I can give you now is to walk away and leave the organ alone. Do not force it....if you come to like it then so be it but best not to turn yourself off completely at this point in time.

I have some BBC Music organ disks which I will listen to first, and we'll see where we go from there... certainly, the Handel Organ Concertos might be a possibility, as I've said..

fergus wrote:

Ironically, just as appropriate for Easter, as it is for Christmas which we tend to associate it with... and for me, that version is a winner every time.

Jared wrote:

fergus wrote:

Jared wrote: I'm still no great fan of the organ, I'm afraid... :-((

The best bit of advice that I can give you now is to walk away and leave the organ alone. Do not force it....if you come to like it then so be it but best not to turn yourself off completely at this point in time.

I have some BBC Music organ disks which I will listen to first, and we'll see where we go from there... certainly, the Handel Organ Concertos might be a possibility, as I've said..

Good idea....I had forgotten that they were on their way to you.

Jared wrote:

fergus wrote:

Ironically, just as appropriate for Easter, as it is for Christmas which we tend to associate it with... and for me, that version is a winner every time.

I assume that you know that work was premiered in Dublin....we do not have that many claims to fame in musicological history so we grab what we can!!!

fergus wrote: I assume that you know that work was premiered in Dublin....we do not have that many claims to fame in musicological history so we grab what we can!!!

No, I am very well aware of that... because it's one of those unusual facts which sticks in the mind, like Mendelssohn's Elijah being premiered in Birmingham Town Hall...

fergus wrote:

mcq also seems to have an extensive Early Music/Renaissance/Baroque collection... have you two fed off each other's enthusiasm for this period over the years?

Jared wrote:Fergus: Do you have a particular favourite recording of the Bach Motets?

I think I can feel a purchase coming on...

Bach's Motets are one of the most perfect distillations of Bach's genius and are, in my view, the best entry point into the great man's vocal music. My favourite version is Rene Jacobs' recording on Harmonia Mundi. Jacobs is one of the great conductors of this repertoire and this is a highlight of his career, in my opinion. I'm also very fond of Konrad Junghanel's version on Deutsche Harmonia Mundi. This version may, officially, be out of print, but it's still available on the Web. I've also heard great things about Masaaki Suzuki's recent version which I haven't yet heard, but, considering Suzuki's considerable achievement in his recording of the Cantatas and the Passions, can safely be purchased blind.