Tír Na HiFi

Franz Schubert
String Quintet, D956
Brandis Quartet Berlin with
Jörg Baumann cello

This volume mainly consists of a set of Chorale Preludes nicely broken up with a few Praeludium works, namely the Praeludium in D minor, G minor, C minor with the finishing off with my favorite piece of the lot, the Praeludium in F sharp minor. There is enough variation in the Chorale Preludes to keep one interested and to my ears anyway they sound and are played beautifully.
My only gripe is that the recording feels just a tad close mic'd but I think I've been perhaps spoiled in listening to performances from places like St Ouen and St Sulpice recently. Those recordings capture the wonderful ambience and reverb from these venues. But perhaps the Buxtehude works are more suited to a 'smaller sound' if that makes any sense. ????

Question for Simon or anyone else with the knowledge: Does an organist usually have to adapt their style or performance based on the venue they are playing in? For example, a vast space like St Ouen would have a lot of reverb and delay generated by the sheer size of the place, so does that dictate in way how fast you can play or the technique you use so that the notes dont sound a mess by falling on top of one another? I'd imagine that it takes a skilled organist to get the sound right.

DaveF wrote:Question for Simon or anyone else with the knowledge: Does an organist usually have to adapt their style or performance based on the venue they are playing in? For example, a vast space like St Ouen would have a lot of reverb and delay generated by the sheer size of the place, so does that dictate in way how fast you can play or the technique you use so that the notes dont sound a mess by falling on top of one another? I'd imagine that it takes a skilled organist to get the sound right.

Excellent and interesting question Dave and I look forward to an answer on that one!

This is a lovely recording with wonderful vocals accompanied by crisp and clean instrumental lines.

Dave's earlier post above reminded me that I still had one disc left to listen to in this set....



CD 6 for Trinity

Franz Schubert
String Quartet No. 13, 'Rosamunde'
String Quartet No. 14, 'Death and the Maiden'
Brandis Quartet

DaveF wrote:
Question for Simon or anyone else with the knowledge: Does an organist usually have to adapt their style or performance based on the venue they are playing in? For example, a vast space like St Ouen would have a lot of reverb and delay generated by the sheer size of the place, so does that dictate in way how fast you can play or the technique you use so that the notes dont sound a mess by falling on top of one another? I'd imagine that it takes a skilled organist to get the sound right.

You're absolutely spot on, Dave, and that would be one of the things that organists must take into account. Tempo and articulation, plus choice of stops, all help or hinder the performance. Of course, the organs you're talking about at St Sulpice etc wouldn't be ideal for this repertoire, but I've heard Daniel Roth play Buxtehude there and it's been fantastic. Not authentic, perhaps, but really great all the same.

Given that you've already figured this out, I think you should start taking organ lessons ASAP. You're one step ahead of the posse!

Diapason wrote:

DaveF wrote:
Question for Simon or anyone else with the knowledge: Does an organist usually have to adapt their style or performance based on the venue they are playing in? For example, a vast space like St Ouen would have a lot of reverb and delay generated by the sheer size of the place, so does that dictate in way how fast you can play or the technique you use so that the notes dont sound a mess by falling on top of one another? I'd imagine that it takes a skilled organist to get the sound right.

You're absolutely spot on, Dave, and that would be one of the things that organists must take into account. Tempo and articulation, plus choice of stops, all help or hinder the performance. Of course, the organs you're talking about at St Sulpice etc wouldn't be ideal for this repertoire, but I've heard Daniel Roth play Buxtehude there and it's been fantastic. Not authentic, perhaps, but really great all the same.

Given that you've already figured this out, I think you should start taking organ lessons ASAP. You're one step ahead of the posse!

He's a clever lad.

Franz Schumann
Piano Quintet
Piano Quartet
Beaux Arts Trio with
Dolf Bettelheim Violin
Samuel Rhodes Viola

I finished off this cycle (again!) with the String Quartets Op. 132 & Op. 135