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Pachelbel: Organ Works - Kelemen

Pachelbel: Organ Works - Kelemen

Oehms Classics  OC 613

Stereo/Multichannel Hybrid

Classical - Instrumental


Johann Pachelbel:
Prälduium d-moll; Wir glauben all an einen Gott; Ciacona f-moll; Magnificat octavi toni; Ricercare C-Dur & c-moll; Fugen C-Dur & d-moll; Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan; Herr Christ, der einig Gottes Sohn; Nun lob mein Seel, den Herren; Vom Himmel hoch; Aria tertia; Jesus Christus, unser Heiland; Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern; Toccaten c-moll & C-Dur

Joseph Kelemen (organ)


In the Southern and Northern German Organ Schools, Johann Pachelbel has a special status. Although the Nuremberg-born composer probably never set foot in Northern Germany, some of his works are very Northern German in style. He was also a friend of Johann Ambrosius Bach, Johann Sebastian Bach’s father, as well as the teacher of the latter’s oldest son Johann Christoph. In addition, Johann Pachelbel is said to have studied the Southern German organ style with Johann Casper Kerll from 1673–75 in Vienna. Joseph Kelemen has chosen two instruments for this recording: the St. Petri organ in Erfurt-Büßleben, built by G.Ch. Stertzing in 1702, and the Crapp organ in Pappenheim from 1720, which is still in exemplary original condition. The instruments have different types of intonation: the Stertzing organ in Büßleben is still conservative mean tone, as was frequently the case around 1700, while the Pappenheim Crapp organ with its original well-tempered intonation points toward the future.

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Review by John Miller - January 1, 2008

Here is your chance to go beyond the Pachelbel of the countless unauthentic arrangements of his Kanon and Gigue. He was primarily a composer for the keyboard, and worked mainly in South Germany, based around Nuremburg, where he was born in 1653 and died in 1706. He was certainly an influence on the Bach family, being a great friend of Johann Ambrosius, the father of Johann Sebastian, and taught Johann Ambrosius' eldest son, Johann Christoph. Although he probably never set foot in the North German area, with its distinctive organs and musical practice, he rather uniquely for his day had knowledge and mastery of both the Northern and Southern styles.

Joseph Kelemen chose a varied programme of mostly shorter works to suit the two organs featured here, a Stirzting organ of 1702 in Erfurt-Büssleben and a Crapp organ of 1722 from Pappenheim. Don't expect the massive virtuosic fireworks of JS Bach's toccata and fugues; these came later, and Pachelbel worked on a smaller scale, although he is perfectly capable of producing splendour and majesty. Mainly the pieces here would fit well into liturgical situations; they are highly inventive, tuneful and often quirkily characterful.

The programme, split between the two organs, is as follows:
Stertzing-Orgel: Praeludium in D Minor / Wir glauben all an einen Gott / Ciacona in F Minor - transposed to D Minor. Magnificat octavi toni : Eroffnungsvers I - Improvisation / Fuga III / Fuga V / Fuga VII / Fuga IX / Schlussvers XI - Improvisation / Ricercar in C Major.
Crapp-Orgel 1722: Toccata in C Major / Ricercar in C Minor / Fuga in D Minor / Toccata in C Minor / Fuga in C Major. Was Gott tut das ist wohlgetan : Choral / Partita 1 / Partita 2 / Partita 3 / Partita 4 / Partita 5 / Partita 6 / Partita 7 / Partita 8 / Partita 9.
Stertzing-Orgel: Herr Christ der einig Gotts Sohn / Nun lob mein Seel den Herren / Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her - transposed from D to C. Aria tertia : Aria / Variatio 1 / Variatio 2 / Variatio 3 / Variatio 4 / Variatio 5 / Variatio 6. Jesus Christus unser Heiland der von uns den Gotteszorn wandt. Wie schon leuchtet der Morgenstern. Toccata in C major. Total playing time 75.08.

A fascinating feature of this disc is that the organs are tuned to different temperaments. The Stertzing has its original strict mean tone, whereas the later Crapp has a well-tempered (often called even-tempered) tuning, which means it can comfortably play music in remoter keys, which would sound somewhat dissonant on the Stertzing - hence the transposition of some of the pieces to a more comfortable key. Furthermore, the Stertzing retains its manually produced wind, often known as "breathing wind", imparting a particular character to its overall sound.

Organ sound is really judged from the interaction of the instrument with its environment. Here, the OEHMS engineers have elected to place the microphones quite close to the casing, so that in the case of the Stirtzing, the viewpoint is definately that of the organist. It really reminded me of sitting at the keyboard of a decent pipe organ in my younger days. Presumably a PCM capture, the multichannel sound gives a wide-spread image of the instrument, with the perspective and location of the ranks in the whole construction very clear. There is a little tracking and keyboard noise, but this is not distracting, and it adds to the vividness and transparency of the organ's sonic image, which is endearingly rustic and immediate. However, despite some nice clean sound coming from the surround speakers, the building does not make a great contribution to the overall picture. It is fascinating to switch to tracks from the later Crapp organ, where its sound as a whole is much more sophisticated and a little grander, and the microphones seem to be set a little further back, so the church acoustic has more presence. The 5.0 multichannel reveals a wealth of detail in the many solo stops and combinations, with a very good bass from the pedal department, especially in the 16' posaune which opens the final piece with a wonderfully rude noise!

Joseph Kelemen has an international reputation as an expert on organs from the 17th and early 18th century, and his playing is well-articulated and rhythmically alive, especially in some of the dance-like variations which have a nice lilt and rustic humour. If I have to make a criticism is that he tends to make major changes in registration for each short variation, so that although we are delighted by the new sound combinations, the overall structure and flow of the piece is sometimes obscured.

Recommended as a good introduction to Pachelbel's organ music, and revealing some important features of the organs of the period.

Copyright © 2008 John Miller and HRAudio.net

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Review by John Broggio - February 24, 2008

This is really an addendum to Geohominid's review.

The playing of Joseph Kelemen is wonderfully paced, bringing out the fine craft of Pachelbel who is (on the evidence here) unjustly only known for one work. Making light of all technical issues put before him (and there must have been a few from the photo of the pedal board shown of the Crapp organ), Kelemen is an ideal advocate for this repertoire. Whereas Geohominid found the registration changes to be detrimental to the overall structure of the partita and variation works, this listener was completely captivated throughout and thought - the changes in timbre just adding colour to the overall sweep.

One comment that I feel should be born in mind by unsuspecting listeners is not just that the Stertzing organ is mean tempered but that some pipes are more mean tempered than others; this leads to some very interesting tuning indeed! After a couple of listens, the ear adjusts but many will find the experience disconcerting and wondering if they are listening to a very ramshackle instrument. Odd, seeing as many stops are perfectly in tune with each other, it is a shame that a little more care could not have been taken to make all stops sound as good as the better ones.

The sound is very good, reflecting the change in acoustic and the situation of each organ within the respective churches. From the documentation provided, the Stertzing organ (that is shown on the cover) is more central in the church, whereas the Crapp organ (not as spectacular visually) is more recessed and this is reflected in the picture painted by the Oehms engineers.

A last word of thanks must go to the superb notes provided - if only all booklets were this well written and as interesting as this.

A wonderful recital.

Copyright © 2008 John Broggio and HRAudio.net

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Süddeutsche Orgelmeister, Vol. 3