LCSCD006 HCMYK Res Nicolas Kynaston BACH at Amorbach · 2021. 2. 19. · in 1911, when Vivaldi’s...

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Nicolas Kynaston BACH at Amorbach Hi Res

Transcript of LCSCD006 HCMYK Res Nicolas Kynaston BACH at Amorbach · 2021. 2. 19. · in 1911, when Vivaldi’s...

Page 1: LCSCD006 HCMYK Res Nicolas Kynaston BACH at Amorbach · 2021. 2. 19. · in 1911, when Vivaldi’s lost original resurfaced in an old library, 200 years after its first publication

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LCSCD006Bach at Amorbach

Nicolas KynastonBACH at Amorbach

LCSCD006

H i R e s

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LCSCD006Bach at Amorbach

Credits:

Executive Producer L. Carrick-Smith

Produced by Jonathan R Wearn

Chief of Production Mario Palmeros-Ramirez

Design: Hugh O’Donnell

Booklet cover photo: © Jenny Setchell

Special Thanks to The Royal House of Leiningen, D. Friedrich Oswald the Court Administrator, Curator Professor Klemens Schnorr and Wenzel Hübner the distinguished Abbey Organist who turned pages, tuned the organ, calmed the birds and became a good friend indeed.

Recorded in The Abbey Church, Amorbach May 24th-26th 1994

[email protected]

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J.S.BACH 1685 – 1750

Concerto in D minor after Vivaldi, BWV596 11:54

1 Presto - Grave 1:58

2 Fugue 3:46

3 Largo & Spiccato 2:53

4 Finale 3:17

5 Choral Prelude 'Ich ruf' zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ', BWV639 2:29

Passacaglia & Fugue in C minor, BWV582

6 Passacaglia 8:00

7 Fugue 5:38

8 Choral Prelude 'Nun freut euch, lieben Christen g'mein' 2:02

Prelude & Fugue in E flat, BWV552 'St Anne'

9 Prelude 8:29

10 Fugue 7:49

13:38

16:18

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LCSCD006Bach at Amorbach

Positiv (III) C-g3

24. Prinzipal 8’25. Grob Gedackt 8’26. Flaut travers ab c1 8’27. Salicional 8’28. Oktav 4’29. Rohr-Flaut 4’30. Quint 3’31. Super Oktav 2’32. Terz 13/5 ’33. Mixture 4f 1’34. Krummhorn 8’35. Vox Humana 8’36. Glockenspiel c1- f3

Tremulant

Schwellwerk (IV) C-g3

37. Bourdon 16’38. Geigenprinzipal 8’39. Bourdon 8’40. Flúte harmonique 8’41. Viola di Gamba 8’42. Vox coelestis ab A 8’43. Geigenprinzipal 4’44. Konzertflöte 4’45. Piccolo 2’46. Sesquialtera 2f 22/5 ’47. Plein jeu 5f 2’48. Basson 16’49. Trompette harmonique 8’50. Hautbois 8’51. Clarion 4’52. Grobmixtur 12-16f 2’

External

Pedal C-f153. Offner Baß 16’54. Subbaß 16’55. Violinbaß 16’56. Oktavbaß 8’57. Cello 8’58. Super Oktavbaß 4’59. Flötenbaß 4’60. Mixturbaß 6f 2’61. Posaune 32’62. Posaunebaß 16’63. Fagotbaß 16’64. Baßtrompete 8’65. Klarinetbaß 4’66. Concertbaß 2’Couplers I/II, III/II, IV/II, IV/I, II/P, IV/P, IV/III

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11 Choral Prelude 'Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier', BWV731 3:00

Fantasy & Fugue in C minor, BWV537

12 Fantasy 5:16

13 Fugue 4:03

14 Choral Prelude 'Herzlich tut mich verlangen’, BWV727 2:34

Chromatic Fantasy & Fugue in D minor, BWV903

(J. S. Bach transcribed by Max Reger)

15 Fantasy 8:45

16 Fugue 7:05

THE ORGAN

The organ in the Abbey church of Amorbachwas completed in 1782 by the brothers JohannPhilipp (1705-1776) and Johann Heinrich (1715-1788) Stumm of Rhaunen-Sulzbach, Hunsrüch.Consisting of three manuals and 46 speakingstops the organ was rebuilt at various timesduring the 19th and 20th centuries by theorgan builders Steinmeyer & Co. In 1981-1982the organ was comprehensively restored bySteinmeyer & Co and Johannes Klais Orgelbau.Manuals I-III were returned to their originalspecification and the additions of later periodswere incorporated into a new IVth manualSchwellwerk.

The recordings were made during the eveningsof May 24th, 25th and 26th 1994 as a host ofyoung birds were hatching in their nests amidstthe beautiful gardens of the Abbey Church.Whilst the birds sang and fed their hungry off-spring, turboprop aeroplanes droned overheadmaking the food and medicine runs to Bosnia.At one point, air traffic controllers decided toplace a holding pattern of large commercial jetairliners over Amorbach, a very small 13th

century Bavarian town with more organ pipesthan inhabitants, and in the midst of all this wetried to record. I believe we missed the aircraftby judicious editing and the deliberate spacingof takes but the birds are quite definitely to beheard in quieter passages singing their ownjubilant evensong accompanied by the quarterhourly chimes from the churches of beautifulAmorbach.

SPECIFICATION

Echowerk (I) C-g3

1. Hohlpfeife 8’2. Flaut 4’3. Gämsenhorn 4’4. Oktav 2’5. Quint 11/2 ’6. Flageolet 1’7. Krummhorn Baß 8’

Hautbois Diskant8. Vox Humana 8’

Tremulant

Hauptwerk (II) C-g 3

9. Prinzipal 16’10. Bourdon 16’11. Oktav 8’12. Gedeckt 8’13. Viol di Gamba 8’14. Quint a Töne 8’15. Super Oktav 4’16. Klein Gedackt 4’17. Quint 3’18. Oktav 2’19. Cornet 5f, ab c1 8’20. Mixture 6f 2’21. Cymbal 3f 1’22. Trompet Baß/Diskant 8’23. Vox Angelica C-h 2’

9:19

15:50

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LCSCD006Bach at Amorbach

For the past 150 years J.S. Bach has beenuniversally acknowledged as the greatestcomposer of his age – perhaps of any age. Butduring Bach’s own lifetime things were verydifferent. His employers at Leipzig, where hespent more than half his working career, donot seem to have appreciated his talents, andcolleagues were divided over the merits of hiscompositions. In the words of his Obituary(1754), “His serious temperament drew himby preference to music that was serious,elaborate and profound”; while this was avirtue in the eyes of later generations, it wasa fault for many of his contemporaries, whosetastes were less demanding. There was justone area in which Bach’s unique mastery wasgenerally recognised, and that was his organplaying. As early as 1717 he was alreadybeing described as “the famous organist ofWeimar”, and the Obituary declaredunequivocally that “Our Bach was the greatestorganist and clavier player that we have everhad”. Bach himself was apparently quitemodest about his own achievements: “There isnothing remarkable about it. All one has todo is hit the right notes at the right time,and the instrument plays itself.” (It shouldperhaps be pointed out that on a historicinstrument like the Amorbach organ, this isnot always strictly true!). At the same time, heexpected everyone else to reach his ownstandard of perfection, and is reported tohave hurled his wig at an organist whoplayed a wrong note, exclaiming that his

talents would have been better employedas a cobbler.

This story dates from the Leipzig years (1723-50), when Bach was employed as Cantor at theThomas-Schule and Director of Music at theprincipal churches. But the traditional pictureof an old man in a wig is not really appropriatefor Bach the organist, as his activity in thisarea was concentrated in the earlier partof his career, and a large proportion of hisorgan works were already composed beforehe was 30. He was still a teenager when heobtained his first salaried position in the townof Arnstadt (1703), and in 1708 he was calledto Weimar, at the age of 23. Here, as Organistto the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, Bach continuedto develop his skills for the next ten years;this was his golden age as an organist.In 1717 he moved to Cöthen, where his dutieswere mostly concerned with instrumentalmusic, and finally in 1723 he settled in Leipzig,where again the organ often had to take aback seat.

Performances of Italian string concertos were aregular feature of musical life at the Court ofWeimar. As an accomplished string player, Bachno doubt took part in these performances, buthe also found a more effective way ofpenetrating to the heart of the Italian style, bytranscribing many of these works for solokeyboard. His own creative personality wasprofoundly affected by this vibrant music from

NICOLAS KYNASTON

Nicolas Kynaston was born in Devon, Englandand was a student of both Fernando Germaniand Ralph Downes. He was organist ofWestminster Cathedral from 1961 to 1971 priorto his career as a full time concert organist.Nicolas is Organist to The Athens Concert Halland a professor at the Royal Academy ofMusic.

He has recorded for HMV, Phillips, Decca, EMIClassics, Unicorn, Hyperion, Carlton andnumerous other labels. Amongst the manyawards he has received are the EMI Award forsales of over 100,000 discs and the covetedDeutscher Schallplattenpreis. His Liszt CD fromIngolstadt (Guild) was nominated inGramophone magazine successively as Editor’sChoice, Soundings Choice and Critics’Choice.

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Southern European – by its motoric rhythmicdrive, by its wealth of characteristic musicalfigures and turns of phrase, and by the formalprinciple of the concerto ritornello or recurringtheme, which offered endless possibilities forthe building of large-scale musical structures.Bach’s arrangement of Vivaldi’s Concerto in Dminor was first published in 1844 as an“original organ work” by his son WilhelmFriedemann; only later was it discovered thatFriedemann had erased his father’s name onthe manuscript, and substituted his own. Thetrue origins of the work were finally revealedin 1911, when Vivaldi’s lost original resurfacedin an old library, 200 years after its firstpublication in 1711.

The organ Passacaglia stands with theChaconne for violin and the GoldbergVariations as one of Bach’s three great master-pieces in variation form. The earliest source isfound in a manuscript collection written out byBach’s elder brother between about 1706 and1713, which is also the only surviving source forfour masterpieces in ground-bass form byBuxtehude. Bach visited Buxtehude in Lübeckin 1705; it appears that he broughtBuxtehude’s ciaconas home with him, and it istempting to regard this work as his owntribute to the great master of 17th-centuryNorth German organ music. But the scale ofthis musical homage far exceeds its models.The traditional length for a ground-bass themewas four bars, but Bach (like Purcell in his

Chacony for strings) doubled it to eight,and this opened up a whole new world ofpossibilities for logical motivic developmentwithin each of the twenty variations. Many ofthese figures and motifs are derived from thework of older composers, but the way Bachuses them, and his control of the wholemagnificent structure, are quite unique (noticehow the theme leaves the bass and soars up tothe soprano at the exact mid-point, Var. 11).And then after the last variation Bach crownsthe Passacaglia with a Fugue on the sametheme, bringing the whole work to a climax ofalmost symphonic proportions. No other workprovides a more concentrated demonstrationof the essence of his genius: the Passacagliadisplays in its purest form “a veritablybreathtaking logic and consistency in thedevelopment of musical ideas that hasnever been surpassed or perhaps evenequalled since...”

Very few of Bach’s works were ever publishedduring his lifetime; most of his organ worksonly survived in hand-written copies, and werenot published until the 19th century. A rareexception is the Prelude and Fugue in E flatwhich form the first and last movements of acollection of pieces published in 1739 as thethird part of Bach’s Clavierübung. The choralepreludes that make up the bulk of the volumeare all permeated by the various kinds ofsymbolism that preoccupied Bach in his lateryears, and the Prelude and Fugue also share in

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this, with key signatures of three flats andthree themes each, all in homage to the HolyTrinity. Dominated by its grand openingritornello, in the dotted rhythm of thetraditional French overture, the Prelude isparticularly direct in its appeal – majestic,brilliant, profound, but at the same timetuneful, straightforward and modern (modernfor 1739, that is). The great triple Fugue fallsinto three separate sections, each with itsown subject, but the first theme makes itspresence felt throughout. Once again theform of the piece looks back to earliercomposers, but they could never have con-ceived a structure as perfect as this, or a climaxas logical and satisfying as Bach achieves herewhen the main theme finally returns in thepedals at the end.

The elegiac character of the Fantasia & Fuguein C minor is distinctively Bach’s own, and isalso found in much of his other C minor music,such as the closing choruses of the Passions.The first subject of the Fantasia is an angulartheme presented in a sombre exposition overlong pedal points, and the second is composedof paired descending quavers – a motif thatSchweitzer described as “the motif of noblelamentation”. There is a striking resemblancebetween this music and the opening aria ofCantata 56, ‘I will gladly bear the cross-staff’,and this perhaps provides a clue to thesignificance of the whole work, especially sincethe figure of a jagged diminished seventh,

which forms such a prominent feature of thefugue subject, also delineates the outline of across. The structure of the Fugue is unusual: itis one of only two surviving organ fugues inwhich Bach uses da capo form, repeating theopening section at the end. But although itappears symmetrical on paper, it is also one ofhis most dynamic works, and the tortuouschromatics of the middle section drive themusic forward to a triumphant conclusion.

The major works in this recital are separated byfour short chorale preludes which provide awonderful illustration of the advice that Bachgave one of his pupils: “The organist shouldnot play chorales in an offhand manner, butshould express the sentiment of the text”. Nunfreut euch is a lively trio, with the chorale tunein the pedal, perfectly suited to the mood ofthis hymn: ‘Now rejoice, good Christians all,and let us leap with joy’. The other three piecesare more subdued, with the melodies of theirrespective chorales delicately ornamented inthe soprano part. Ich ruf’ zu dir (‘Lord, hear thevoice of my complaint’) is a prayer for grace, inthe sombre key of F minor, a key that wastraditionally described as “gentle, calm, deepand melancholy”. Similarly, the serenity ofLiebster Jesu is emphasised by the warm key ofG major; this chorale is also a prayer, which wasoften sung before the sermon (‘Blessed Jesus,we are here..’). The last prelude is an exquisitesetting of the well-known Passion Chorale, inwhich Bach just adds little breaths and

decorations to the tune, creating an effectof great poignancy through the simplestof means.

The final work in the recital provides both asumming-up and a postscript to all that hasgone before. In the 19th century Bach wasrediscovered by the Romantics, who wereoverwhelmed by the grandiose and sublimecharacter of his music (as Goethe said, “It is asif the eternal harmony were communing withitself…”). The publication of Bach’s work had agreat influence on many German composers –Schumann, Liszt, Brahms, and particularly MaxReger. Around 1900 Reger transcribed fororgan a number of Bach’s harpsichord works,including the extraordinary Chromatic Fantasiaand Fugue, a brilliant virtuoso piece probablydating from the Cöthen period. With itsdramatic flourishes and chords, expressiverecitatives, colourful harmonic progressions,and wide dynamic range, this music, in thisunfamiliar guise, is perhaps closer to Reger’sown organ style than to Bach’s, but the resultis still authentic in a surreal kind of way. The19th and 20th century additions to theAmorbach organ, which have previously beensilent during Nicolas Kynaston’s recital, arehere given free rein, and they provide aperfect vehicle for the realisation of Reger’scosmic conception of Bach as “the Alpha andOmega of all music”.

© David Gammie 1994/2009

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this, with key signatures of three flats andthree themes each, all in homage to the HolyTrinity. Dominated by its grand openingritornello, in the dotted rhythm of thetraditional French overture, the Prelude isparticularly direct in its appeal – majestic,brilliant, profound, but at the same timetuneful, straightforward and modern (modernfor 1739, that is). The great triple Fugue fallsinto three separate sections, each with itsown subject, but the first theme makes itspresence felt throughout. Once again theform of the piece looks back to earliercomposers, but they could never have con-ceived a structure as perfect as this, or a climaxas logical and satisfying as Bach achieves herewhen the main theme finally returns in thepedals at the end.

The elegiac character of the Fantasia & Fuguein C minor is distinctively Bach’s own, and isalso found in much of his other C minor music,such as the closing choruses of the Passions.The first subject of the Fantasia is an angulartheme presented in a sombre exposition overlong pedal points, and the second is composedof paired descending quavers – a motif thatSchweitzer described as “the motif of noblelamentation”. There is a striking resemblancebetween this music and the opening aria ofCantata 56, ‘I will gladly bear the cross-staff’,and this perhaps provides a clue to thesignificance of the whole work, especially sincethe figure of a jagged diminished seventh,

which forms such a prominent feature of thefugue subject, also delineates the outline of across. The structure of the Fugue is unusual: itis one of only two surviving organ fugues inwhich Bach uses da capo form, repeating theopening section at the end. But although itappears symmetrical on paper, it is also one ofhis most dynamic works, and the tortuouschromatics of the middle section drive themusic forward to a triumphant conclusion.

The major works in this recital are separated byfour short chorale preludes which provide awonderful illustration of the advice that Bachgave one of his pupils: “The organist shouldnot play chorales in an offhand manner, butshould express the sentiment of the text”. Nunfreut euch is a lively trio, with the chorale tunein the pedal, perfectly suited to the mood ofthis hymn: ‘Now rejoice, good Christians all,and let us leap with joy’. The other three piecesare more subdued, with the melodies of theirrespective chorales delicately ornamented inthe soprano part. Ich ruf’ zu dir (‘Lord, hear thevoice of my complaint’) is a prayer for grace, inthe sombre key of F minor, a key that wastraditionally described as “gentle, calm, deepand melancholy”. Similarly, the serenity ofLiebster Jesu is emphasised by the warm key ofG major; this chorale is also a prayer, which wasoften sung before the sermon (‘Blessed Jesus,we are here..’). The last prelude is an exquisitesetting of the well-known Passion Chorale, inwhich Bach just adds little breaths and

decorations to the tune, creating an effectof great poignancy through the simplestof means.

The final work in the recital provides both asumming-up and a postscript to all that hasgone before. In the 19th century Bach wasrediscovered by the Romantics, who wereoverwhelmed by the grandiose and sublimecharacter of his music (as Goethe said, “It is asif the eternal harmony were communing withitself…”). The publication of Bach’s work had agreat influence on many German composers –Schumann, Liszt, Brahms, and particularly MaxReger. Around 1900 Reger transcribed fororgan a number of Bach’s harpsichord works,including the extraordinary Chromatic Fantasiaand Fugue, a brilliant virtuoso piece probablydating from the Cöthen period. With itsdramatic flourishes and chords, expressiverecitatives, colourful harmonic progressions,and wide dynamic range, this music, in thisunfamiliar guise, is perhaps closer to Reger’sown organ style than to Bach’s, but the resultis still authentic in a surreal kind of way. The19th and 20th century additions to theAmorbach organ, which have previously beensilent during Nicolas Kynaston’s recital, arehere given free rein, and they provide aperfect vehicle for the realisation of Reger’scosmic conception of Bach as “the Alpha andOmega of all music”.

© David Gammie 1994/2009

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Southern European – by its motoric rhythmicdrive, by its wealth of characteristic musicalfigures and turns of phrase, and by the formalprinciple of the concerto ritornello or recurringtheme, which offered endless possibilities forthe building of large-scale musical structures.Bach’s arrangement of Vivaldi’s Concerto in Dminor was first published in 1844 as an“original organ work” by his son WilhelmFriedemann; only later was it discovered thatFriedemann had erased his father’s name onthe manuscript, and substituted his own. Thetrue origins of the work were finally revealedin 1911, when Vivaldi’s lost original resurfacedin an old library, 200 years after its firstpublication in 1711.

The organ Passacaglia stands with theChaconne for violin and the GoldbergVariations as one of Bach’s three great master-pieces in variation form. The earliest source isfound in a manuscript collection written out byBach’s elder brother between about 1706 and1713, which is also the only surviving source forfour masterpieces in ground-bass form byBuxtehude. Bach visited Buxtehude in Lübeckin 1705; it appears that he broughtBuxtehude’s ciaconas home with him, and it istempting to regard this work as his owntribute to the great master of 17th-centuryNorth German organ music. But the scale ofthis musical homage far exceeds its models.The traditional length for a ground-bass themewas four bars, but Bach (like Purcell in his

Chacony for strings) doubled it to eight,and this opened up a whole new world ofpossibilities for logical motivic developmentwithin each of the twenty variations. Many ofthese figures and motifs are derived from thework of older composers, but the way Bachuses them, and his control of the wholemagnificent structure, are quite unique (noticehow the theme leaves the bass and soars up tothe soprano at the exact mid-point, Var. 11).And then after the last variation Bach crownsthe Passacaglia with a Fugue on the sametheme, bringing the whole work to a climax ofalmost symphonic proportions. No other workprovides a more concentrated demonstrationof the essence of his genius: the Passacagliadisplays in its purest form “a veritablybreathtaking logic and consistency in thedevelopment of musical ideas that hasnever been surpassed or perhaps evenequalled since...”

Very few of Bach’s works were ever publishedduring his lifetime; most of his organ worksonly survived in hand-written copies, and werenot published until the 19th century. A rareexception is the Prelude and Fugue in E flatwhich form the first and last movements of acollection of pieces published in 1739 as thethird part of Bach’s Clavierübung. The choralepreludes that make up the bulk of the volumeare all permeated by the various kinds ofsymbolism that preoccupied Bach in his lateryears, and the Prelude and Fugue also share in

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LCSCD006Bach at Amorbach

For the past 150 years J.S. Bach has beenuniversally acknowledged as the greatestcomposer of his age – perhaps of any age. Butduring Bach’s own lifetime things were verydifferent. His employers at Leipzig, where hespent more than half his working career, donot seem to have appreciated his talents, andcolleagues were divided over the merits of hiscompositions. In the words of his Obituary(1754), “His serious temperament drew himby preference to music that was serious,elaborate and profound”; while this was avirtue in the eyes of later generations, it wasa fault for many of his contemporaries, whosetastes were less demanding. There was justone area in which Bach’s unique mastery wasgenerally recognised, and that was his organplaying. As early as 1717 he was alreadybeing described as “the famous organist ofWeimar”, and the Obituary declaredunequivocally that “Our Bach was the greatestorganist and clavier player that we have everhad”. Bach himself was apparently quitemodest about his own achievements: “There isnothing remarkable about it. All one has todo is hit the right notes at the right time,and the instrument plays itself.” (It shouldperhaps be pointed out that on a historicinstrument like the Amorbach organ, this isnot always strictly true!). At the same time, heexpected everyone else to reach his ownstandard of perfection, and is reported tohave hurled his wig at an organist whoplayed a wrong note, exclaiming that his

talents would have been better employedas a cobbler.

This story dates from the Leipzig years (1723-50), when Bach was employed as Cantor at theThomas-Schule and Director of Music at theprincipal churches. But the traditional pictureof an old man in a wig is not really appropriatefor Bach the organist, as his activity in thisarea was concentrated in the earlier partof his career, and a large proportion of hisorgan works were already composed beforehe was 30. He was still a teenager when heobtained his first salaried position in the townof Arnstadt (1703), and in 1708 he was calledto Weimar, at the age of 23. Here, as Organistto the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, Bach continuedto develop his skills for the next ten years;this was his golden age as an organist.In 1717 he moved to Cöthen, where his dutieswere mostly concerned with instrumentalmusic, and finally in 1723 he settled in Leipzig,where again the organ often had to take aback seat.

Performances of Italian string concertos were aregular feature of musical life at the Court ofWeimar. As an accomplished string player, Bachno doubt took part in these performances, buthe also found a more effective way ofpenetrating to the heart of the Italian style, bytranscribing many of these works for solokeyboard. His own creative personality wasprofoundly affected by this vibrant music from

NICOLAS KYNASTON

Nicolas Kynaston was born in Devon, Englandand was a student of both Fernando Germaniand Ralph Downes. He was organist ofWestminster Cathedral from 1961 to 1971 priorto his career as a full time concert organist.Nicolas is Organist to The Athens Concert Halland a professor at the Royal Academy ofMusic.

He has recorded for HMV, Phillips, Decca, EMIClassics, Unicorn, Hyperion, Carlton andnumerous other labels. Amongst the manyawards he has received are the EMI Award forsales of over 100,000 discs and the covetedDeutscher Schallplattenpreis. His Liszt CD fromIngolstadt (Guild) was nominated inGramophone magazine successively as Editor’sChoice, Soundings Choice and Critics’Choice.

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LCSCD006Bach at Amorbach

11 Choral Prelude 'Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier', BWV731 3:00

Fantasy & Fugue in C minor, BWV537

12 Fantasy 5:16

13 Fugue 4:03

14 Choral Prelude 'Herzlich tut mich verlangen’, BWV727 2:34

Chromatic Fantasy & Fugue in D minor, BWV903

(J. S. Bach transcribed by Max Reger)

15 Fantasy 8:45

16 Fugue 7:05

THE ORGAN

The organ in the Abbey church of Amorbachwas completed in 1782 by the brothers JohannPhilipp (1705-1776) and Johann Heinrich (1715-1788) Stumm of Rhaunen-Sulzbach, Hunsrüch.Consisting of three manuals and 46 speakingstops the organ was rebuilt at various timesduring the 19th and 20th centuries by theorgan builders Steinmeyer & Co. In 1981-1982the organ was comprehensively restored bySteinmeyer & Co and Johannes Klais Orgelbau.Manuals I-III were returned to their originalspecification and the additions of later periodswere incorporated into a new IVth manualSchwellwerk.

The recordings were made during the eveningsof May 24th, 25th and 26th 1994 as a host ofyoung birds were hatching in their nests amidstthe beautiful gardens of the Abbey Church.Whilst the birds sang and fed their hungry off-spring, turboprop aeroplanes droned overheadmaking the food and medicine runs to Bosnia.At one point, air traffic controllers decided toplace a holding pattern of large commercial jetairliners over Amorbach, a very small 13th

century Bavarian town with more organ pipesthan inhabitants, and in the midst of all this wetried to record. I believe we missed the aircraftby judicious editing and the deliberate spacingof takes but the birds are quite definitely to beheard in quieter passages singing their ownjubilant evensong accompanied by the quarterhourly chimes from the churches of beautifulAmorbach.

SPECIFICATION

Echowerk (I) C-g3

1. Hohlpfeife 8’2. Flaut 4’3. Gämsenhorn 4’4. Oktav 2’5. Quint 11/2 ’6. Flageolet 1’7. Krummhorn Baß 8’

Hautbois Diskant8. Vox Humana 8’

Tremulant

Hauptwerk (II) C-g 3

9. Prinzipal 16’10. Bourdon 16’11. Oktav 8’12. Gedeckt 8’13. Viol di Gamba 8’14. Quint a Töne 8’15. Super Oktav 4’16. Klein Gedackt 4’17. Quint 3’18. Oktav 2’19. Cornet 5f, ab c1 8’20. Mixture 6f 2’21. Cymbal 3f 1’22. Trompet Baß/Diskant 8’23. Vox Angelica C-h 2’

9:19

15:50

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Positiv (III) C-g3

24. Prinzipal 8’25. Grob Gedackt 8’26. Flaut travers ab c1 8’27. Salicional 8’28. Oktav 4’29. Rohr-Flaut 4’30. Quint 3’31. Super Oktav 2’32. Terz 13/5 ’33. Mixture 4f 1’34. Krummhorn 8’35. Vox Humana 8’36. Glockenspiel c1- f3

Tremulant

Schwellwerk (IV) C-g3

37. Bourdon 16’38. Geigenprinzipal 8’39. Bourdon 8’40. Flúte harmonique 8’41. Viola di Gamba 8’42. Vox coelestis ab A 8’43. Geigenprinzipal 4’44. Konzertflöte 4’45. Piccolo 2’46. Sesquialtera 2f 22/5 ’47. Plein jeu 5f 2’48. Basson 16’49. Trompette harmonique 8’50. Hautbois 8’51. Clarion 4’52. Grobmixtur 12-16f 2’

External

Pedal C-f153. Offner Baß 16’54. Subbaß 16’55. Violinbaß 16’56. Oktavbaß 8’57. Cello 8’58. Super Oktavbaß 4’59. Flötenbaß 4’60. Mixturbaß 6f 2’61. Posaune 32’62. Posaunebaß 16’63. Fagotbaß 16’64. Baßtrompete 8’65. Klarinetbaß 4’66. Concertbaß 2’Couplers I/II, III/II, IV/II, IV/I, II/P, IV/P, IV/III

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Credits:

Executive Producer L. Carrick-Smith

Produced by Jonathan R Wearn

Chief of Production Mario Palmeros-Ramirez

Design: Hugh O’Donnell

Booklet cover photo: © Jenny Setchell

Special Thanks to The Royal House of Leiningen, D. Friedrich Oswald the Court Administrator, Curator Professor Klemens Schnorr and Wenzel Hübner the distinguished Abbey Organist who turned pages, tuned the organ, calmed the birds and became a good friend indeed.

Recorded in The Abbey Church, Amorbach May 24th-26th 1994

[email protected]

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J.S.BACH 1685 – 1750

Concerto in D minor after Vivaldi, BWV596 11:54

1 Presto - Grave 1:58

2 Fugue 3:46

3 Largo & Spiccato 2:53

4 Finale 3:17

5 Choral Prelude 'Ich ruf' zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ', BWV639 2:29

Passacaglia & Fugue in C minor, BWV582

6 Passacaglia 8:00

7 Fugue 5:38

8 Choral Prelude 'Nun freut euch, lieben Christen g'mein' 2:02

Prelude & Fugue in E flat, BWV552 'St Anne'

9 Prelude 8:29

10 Fugue 7:49

13:38

16:18

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Nicolas KynastonBACH at Amorbach

LCSCD006

H i R e s