Organ Works Vol. 9 by Jacques van Oortmerssen

Johann Sebastian Bach

Jacques van Oortmerssen

Organ Works Vol. 9

Price: € 12.95
Format: CD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917217520
Catnr: CC 72175
Release date: 01 March 2008
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Label
Challenge Classics

UPC
0608917217520

Catalogue number
CC 72175

Release date
01 March 2008

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

About the album

The ‘Bach Organ’
Many authors have considered questions about the type of organ that is most ideal for the interpretation of Bach’s organ works. The notion of a ‘Bach Organ’ quickly established itself. All things considered, the conclusion can only be that the ‘Bach Organ’ is an unattainable and utopian ideal. Bach had extensive knowledge of organ-building and came into contact with builders from differing German organ-building traditions. His own sphere was Thuringia and Saxony, a region where a multitude of influences from other areas can be observed, and which possessed its own indigenous types of organ.

Bach became acquainted with, and played on, instruments of all traditions, and undoubtedly thought about these types of instrument in course of writing down his com- positions. The eclectic nature of Bach’s works for organ equates, as it were, with the diver- sity of the organ timbres he encountered. The versatility of his organ compositions, with their immense stylistic palette, makes for per- formance on organs of different traditions not only possible but even desirable.

Registrations
In choosing registrations for his Bach recordings, Jacques van Oortmerssen is following exactly Bach’s (infrequent) indica- tions for the use of one or more manual(s) and forte/piano dynamics. Moreover, he is basing his interpretations on that which is known about registrational practices in Bach’s time and region; in this respect the surviving prescriptions of Georg Friedrich Kauffmann (1733-6) and Jacob Adlung (1758) are par- ticularly useful. For the plena of the large ‘free’ works, he is following conventions that are rooted in older traditions. Trio textures are registered with timbres that correspond to instruments commonly used in trio compo- sitions. A colourful spectrum is thus brought to life, and the player is therefore able to illustrate the diverse Affekten of Bach’s music more effectively.

Orgelwerken van Bach zorgvuldig uitgevoerd
Deze zorgvuldig gekozen en goed gedocumenteerde selectie van Bachs orgelwerken bevat twee Prelude en fuga (BWV 548 & 549), uitgevoerd op één van de mooiste historische kerkorgels van Nederland: het Christian Müller orgel in de Waalse Kerk van Amsterdam.

Jacques van Oortmerssen heeft bij het maken van opnames van Bachs werken uitvoerig onderzoek gedaan. Zo heeft hij Bachs aanwijzingen voor het gebruik van dynamiek op de (forte)piano bestudeerd. Bovendien baseert hij zijn uitvoeringen op wat er bekend is over de muzikale gewoonten in de tijd en regio van Bach. Van Oortmerssen stond niet voor niets bekend als "de man van details".

Jacques van Oortmerssen was een Nederlands pianist, organist, dirigent en componist. Hij studeerde orgel aan de conservatoria van Rotterdam en Parijs. Hij was een veelvuldig gevraagd gastdocent aan conservatoria en universiteiten over de hele wereld. Hij trad als solist op op vele internationale festivals, waaronder de BBC Proms in de Royal Albert Hall in Londen, het Praagse Lente festival, het Bach festival in de Thomaskirche in Leipzig en het City of London Festival. Hij heeft echter niet alleen in Europa opgetreden, maar ook in Japan, Zuid-Korea, China, Brazilië, Mexico, de Verenigde Staten, Canada, Zuid-Afrika en Rusland.

Jacques van Oortmerssen studierte am Konservatorium zu Rotterdam Orgel bei André Verwoerd und Klavier bei Elly Salomé. Er setzte sein Orgelstudium bei Marie-Claire Alain in Paris fort und erhielt 1976 den Prix d'Excellence. Jacques van Oortmerssen ist seit 1979 Professor für Orgel am Sweelinck Konservatorium in Amsterdam. Er ist der Nachfolger von Gustav Leonhardt als Organiste Titulaire an der Waalse Kerk in Amsterdam und gibt jährlich zahllose Konzerte in der ganzen Welt und mehr und mehr auch als Dirigent.

Artist(s)

Jacques van Oortmerssen

Jacques van Oortmerssen (Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 1950) studied at the Conservatory of Rotterdam, where he completed his soloist diplomas for both the organ, as a student of André Verwoerd, and for piano as a student of Elly Salomé. Thereafter he undertook postgraduate study with Marie-Claire Alain in Paris (France). He was awarded the Prix d’ Excellence in 1976. In 1977 he won first prize in the National Improvisation Competition in Bolsward (NL) and was runner-up in the Tournemire Prize in St Albans (England). He has been professor of organ at the Conservatory of Amsterdam (NL) since 1979, where his organ class attracts students from many countries. In 1982 he succeeded Gustav Leonhardt as Organiste Titulaire of the Waalse kerk in Amsterdam, where he plays the famous 1734...

Jacques van Oortmerssen (Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 1950) studied at the Conservatory of Rotterdam, where he completed his soloist diplomas for both the organ, as a student of André Verwoerd, and for piano as a student of Elly Salomé. Thereafter he undertook postgraduate study with Marie-Claire Alain in Paris (France). He was awarded the Prix d’ Excellence in 1976.
In 1977 he won first prize in the National Improvisation Competition in Bolsward (NL) and was runner-up in the Tournemire Prize in St Albans (England). He has been professor of organ at the Conservatory of Amsterdam (NL) since 1979, where his organ class attracts students from many countries. In 1982 he succeeded Gustav Leonhardt as Organiste Titulaire of the Waalse kerk in Amsterdam, where he plays the famous 1734 Christian Müller organ. Jacques van Oortmerssen enjoys an international reputation as both soloist and pedagogue, in which context he is regularly invited to teach at Universities and Conservatories throughout the world.
He has been leader of the Falun Organ Academy in Falun (Sweden) for many years since 1984, was Betts Fellow in Organ Studies at the University of Oxford (England) during the 1993-1994 academic year and Associate Professor at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki (Finland) during the 1994-1995 academic year. He will receive an honorary doctorate at this academy in June 2012.
Jacques van Oortmerssen was a regular guest professor of organ at the Lyon Conservatory (France) between 1999 and 2004, and he has also been a guest professor at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester (England) and during many years at the Conservatory in Göteborg (Sweden). In addition he has been a member of the advisory board of the Göteborg Organ Art Centre (GOArt) at the University of Gothenburg. As soloist Jacques van Oortmerssen regularly performs throughout Europe, North and South America, Africa, Japan and South Korea and is frequently invited at prestigious international festivals sucu as the BBC Proms in London (England), the Prague (Czech Republic) Spring Festival, the Bach Festival in Leipzig (Germany) and the City of London Festival. He is well known for his interpretations of early music and in particular of music of J.S. Bach.
Jacques van Oortmerssen is also active as a composer and conductor.
As a recording artist, van Oortmerssen has featured on more than 50 CD releases for prominent international labels, as well as broadcasting on both radio and television.
Among the recordings he made are the complete works of C.P.E. Bach and Johannes Brahms as well as a series of records of J.S. Bach’s organ music, already having released nine volumes.
Jacques van Oortmerssen has been actively involved with the art of organ building in the broadest sense since 1970. Through his international career he intensively used and examined many organs, both historical and new, all over the world. As an organ expert he guides both restorations of historical instruments and constructions of new instruments.
Jacques van Oortmerssen is one of the inspirators of the Göteborg Organ Art Centre (GOArt) at the University of Gothenburg. This centre is committed to improve the quality of the art of organ building, both in restoring historic instruments and building new instruments, having built up a huge international reputation in doing so. Therefore interdisciplinary research is being conducted here in which musical instrument builders, musicians, organologists, technologists and musicologists cooperate on an international level. Thus the Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg carries out important research on different aspects of historical organ building in the field of metallurgy, thermo-dynamics and acoustics.
As a result of these efforts two large projects have been realized, of which the North German Organ Research Project particularly caused an international stir.
Jacques van Oortmerssen believes the current profile of ‘omniscient advisor’ to now be obsolete. The complexity of restoring organs and the diversity of the historic patrimony demand a different approach in which the organ advisor will increasingly develop into a leader of a team of specialists.

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Composer(s)

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. He enriched established German styles through his skill in counterpoint, harmonic and motivic organisation, and the adaptation of rhythms, forms, and textures from abroad, particularly from Italy and France. Bach's compositions include the Brandenburg Concertos, the Goldberg Variations, the Mass in B minor, two Passions, and hundreds of cantatas. His music is revered for its technical command, artistic beauty, and intellectual depth. Bach's abilities as an organist were highly respected during his lifetime, although he was not widely recognised as a great composer until a revival of interest in and performances of his music in the first half of the 19th century. He is now generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time.

Bach's abilities as an organist were highly respected during his lifetime, although he was not widely recognised as a great composer until a revival of interest in and performances of his music in the first half of the 19th century. He is now generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time.

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