Fraser Gartshore Any chance you could play Toccata by Gastón Beliér? I just finished learning the piece myself and it’s one of my favorite allegro organ pieces.
Every Bach organ piece has it’s athmosphere. Come sweet death (BWV 478) is also dark, haunting, wonderful, and so. But maybe a bit darker than the Passacaglia. BWV 542, 544, 546, all great stuff :-)
I can't thank you enough for the way you are breaking up this piece and giving us a chance to study it up close. I can say now that I can hear the polyphony much better than I ever could before. I am not speaking as a performer, but as a sixty year Bach admirer-his music appeals to me on so many different levels. It just goes straight to my soul.... Thanks again, Tenney Doble Duxbury, MA
You are right. The Passacaglia is perfectly suited to a terraced registration. In my mind, the famous P&F version played by E.Power Biggs on the magnificent Flentrop at Harvard (OMG the pedal reeds!) is virtually perfect in terms of registration.
I’m sharing your opinion about Ton Koopman’s registration choices 😉 Xaver Varnus has a nice recording in the Budapest synagogue but the audio quality is not the best (one audio channel disconnecting during the soft part and so).
You roll your 'R's' like Carlo Curley ! Carlo used to hold your attention when describing an organ piece and you do as well. Wish I had you as my organ teacher years ago. Thank you for your videos.
I agree with you Frasier that playing with the regstration is a good sugestion. I like that way better the full on so yeah... please do it that way. As for the weather here it's cool, but not cold a few 70⁰F days (21.1⁰C) here & there so it has been rather nice here unlike there where it is still cold. I haven't seen anything of your other channel lately sadly I like watching you work on your cars. As well as playing the organ.
Very interesting video (part 1 also). Nice to see, and hear, how you break down a piece of music to learn it. Beautiful piece, too, I love it. I agree about the registration changes - such a beautiful piece needs registration changes, and dynamic expression throughout.
You have something in the loft which vibrates when you play the low F in the pedal line. At one of my churches I have a barometer that rattles when I play the low G.😂
At 11:02, the inverted mordent, by music theory rules, should be played with the note next to it in the scale, unless there is an accidental mark above or below the mordent/inverted mordent. If the accidental is there, the ornamental note should use the accidental in the interpretation. That's how I learned it on the piano and that's 20th century theory. Wikipedia indicates that "in the Baroque period it appears that a Mordent may have sometimes been executed with more than one alternation between the indicated note and the note below, making it a sort of inverted trill", so ultimately you are probably correct in the "however you interpret it" comment. =-)
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE EVERYTHING about this video!! First, this is my most favorite organ piece by JSB, and pretty much the only reason why I am learning organ in the first place! I am currently learning this and I am so excited that you’ve chosen to play this as well. I’ve watched countless versions of BWV 582 on RUclips, and I have a few “go-to” videos to see how the organists approach trouble spots. Fraser, would it be possible to have a permanent inset screen in either the lower left or right corner of the main screen to show your feet? That would would be most helpful to show footwork and pedaling in upcoming variations, when the feet become more involved. I cannot wait for you to play this on other organs.... it will be a real treat to hear!! Thank you for this utterly delightful video... it has certainly lifted my spirits especially during this dark & stressful time!! Actually, there’s no better time than now to hibernate, hunker down & practice!!🌺😊💕🎶
Mr. Gartshore was commenting on how his fingers were going to negotiate wide intervals of notes in 1 particular passage. I saw somewhere on a documentary that they determined that Bach had unusually large hands and could span a 12th on the keyboard.
Wonderful again and almost right. It doesn’t looks easy at all. I am still surprised you didn’t ended with two fingers on one key. 😀 thank you for sharing!
“Practice makes perfect.” is actually the wrong sentiment. It should be “Practice makes permanent.” If you practice it wrongly, you’ll remember it wrongly. Food for thought. My dance teachers and my friend’s professors at the Mozarteum in Vienna drove this idea into our heads.
Another delightful video. Thanks so much! On the subject of full organ vs. variations of stops (to accompany the variations of notes): I can see valid arguments on both sides. Bach (like Mozart) is one of those composers who's music is immediately identifiable (because its so perfect) and who's music would probably sound good even if played on a brake drum. I'm looking forward to hearing your performance of this piece (once you've learned it all).
Received the very good CD (with signature) and enjoyed to listen to it. Totally different from what I use to play from my collection or Spotify but done with craftmanship and a good tonal balance!
Better get the note to trill on sorted out - you've got an entire bar to trill on in bar 269! Love your work, really enjoying your approach to this beautiful piece of music.
Thank you very much for this. I really wanted to see your fingering for variation 3. I can play it but my fingering always feels awkward, too much swapping out. I can't wait to take my tablet down to my organ and try it your way. Please thank your wife for the nice shots of your hands while playing.
Thank you. I've enjoyed your teaching. You said that it is important to keep the same fingering. However how can you remember it without writing it down? Or may be you use the fingerings sequence 1.23-1234 used for this C minor mode. A student organist without a teacher. East Greenland
Thanks, Fraser. Very interesting. 👍 ❤️ Regarding trills, mordents, etc.: it only makes sense to play them *in the key they appear in,* unless notated differently by the composer. That mordent at the bottom of the first page is in C major, so one plays g, f-natutal, g (as you did), and *not* as a trill (as some organists mistakenly do) ... N'est-ce pas ? - Évidemment ! 👍 This particular Bach piece offers nearly unlimited possibilities for registration and manual changes - perhaps more than any other. It's all about *delineating the architecture* of each phrase, I think. I can see the "correctness" of either beginning this piece in an organo pleno (8,4,2, III Mixture) registration (perhaps on the Positiv or open Swell division?), OR beginning it quietly, as you seem to prefer, and gradually building up to organo pleno. I've done it both ways, and either approach "works" for me; and each approach creates a very different effect/affect.
I think it also depends on the organ on the day, as it were, and its capabilities. Once we get deeper into the structure of the piece, I will be referring to Marie Claire Alain’s renditions where she registers according to thematic material. When you hear her play, it does make sense. I suspect there will have to be at least three different versions of the final piece on three different organs demonstrating three different approaches. I must be mad!
During this outbreak of Covid-19 i think what you need Fraser Gartshore is your very own purpose built home pipe organ console so that you can play music using any organ from around the world using the hauptwerk organ software and post your videos from the comfort of your home so you don't need to visit a church in order to play the organ due to what the travel restrictions are in place over in Germany?
You are perfectly right! I’ve always wanted to get a HW setup for home, but just can’t afford it! 3 manuals would be more than enough, a decent computer with lots of RAM and about 5 or 6 different organ samples (including a Theater Organ of of course) would be perfect. But as that alone would cost several thousand euros, it’s difficult at the moment! I am of course open to donations towards such a project!😁
@@FraserGartshore So how are you going to be able to film your organ videos if there are travel restrictions in place within Germany including places of worship as the German government has said in the last few days? i know that you like to show off a very wide variety of organs big and small and also medium sized depending on if it's housed in a Small church or a very large cathedral? keep the videos coming i love organ music your channel is just what everyone needs to get us through these difficult times?
At present, we are still allowed to visit churches - there are just no services taking place. Strange times indeed... I think there will have to be a few piano videos over the next couple of weeks to keep things going!
You mentioned an older Dutch organist around 21:15. Now I don't want you to get into trouble however I would like to listen to this interpretation as well. Just to form my own opinion on a great piece for which I thank you for sharing your thoughts. Could you in any way reveal the name of the Dutch organist ?
I suppose he means Ton Koopman. But he plays it on mixtures for the entire piece. Good to have a listen at to know what its about but i never came back to it afterwards.
I love Messiaen. Once you understand how it works, it’s not actually all that mad to play as you might think. Messiaen himself was a very good, though not brilliant, organist (his own words!) I heard him play “at home” in his church in Paris in 1991. Wonderfully mesmerising!
It's odd that the key signature in this edition is two flats (G minor) rather than three flats (C minor). My Peters Edition is written in three flats and the third note of the alto voice in the third variation has no natural sign, so it's an A-flat (not an A).
Hi Fraser as an ex organ builder, I'm a bit surprised at the noise the pedal action is making as you play the passacaglia theme. Is that the normal sound or is there some action loose ? Perhaps a phone call to your organ builder may be in order.
It's all on cone valves - noisy from the console but not so down in the church itself. As I've coupled the pedal to the 2nd manual here, we've got both valves clacking away...
Hey Fraser, I’m just wondering what the argument is for the use of an F# in the mordant here? I know that mark was often used for a trill-like ornament in the Baroque, but I’m not aware of any common practice for playing outside the key signature unless explicitly marked as such. But perhaps there’s some context I am missing?
Such a mordant indicates that you must play the note underneath... But must you play the note STRICTLY underneath (F#) or the note under in the scale (F). The latter is usually accepted as the valid answer as it sounds less... weird. The question is made ominous by the fact that baroque composers sometimes didn't care to indicate accidentals.
I consider this video a great interpretation and explanation of Bach, but I am sorry... the staff who took this video was breathing heavily, so the audio is mixed into the video.
J.S. Bach lived from 1685 - 1750, had the organs at that time been able to handle such complex compositions or have they been rewritten/adapted? The original still looks very complex. upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/AutograafBach582_2.jpg
"Such complex"? What's so complex on it? There are many organs around preserved from Bach's time, even much older. And plenty of recordings of Bach's music made on those organs.
It insults me when you use the word “battling” with Bach 😂😂. I know it’s figured speech, but if it’s possible is there perhaps another way to say it? Idk maybe, “exploring with Bach” would be a better term. Although, great video about learning Bach’s music. To me his music has to be considered very serious, even if it’s figuratively speaking, why I say that? Is because if you make a more serious approach mentally you would appear to interpret his music more closer to the truth. It’s a mental thing, but I suppose it works with Bach’s music at least.
Don’t forget to read more about the Passacaglia and more in my blog (or order your copy of my new CD!)
frasergartshore.com
Fraser Gartshore Any chance you could play Toccata by Gastón Beliér? I just finished learning the piece myself and it’s one of my favorite allegro organ pieces.
I never dared to ask for this tune :-D In my opinion, this is the most wonderful, dark, terrific and haunting piece ever written for the organ.
Every Bach organ piece has it’s athmosphere. Come sweet death (BWV 478) is also dark, haunting, wonderful, and so. But maybe a bit darker than the Passacaglia. BWV 542, 544, 546, all great stuff :-)
You think this is dark you should listen to the Dorian from Bach, the only piece fit for judgment day.
I dared to ask a while back when Fraser was doing the Toccata and my prayers have been answered! Who says Father Christmas doesn't exist!
Listening to this piece makes me think of God in His beauty and His glory, His plan of salvation of mankind.
My former screen name was Passacaglia28. I love BWV 582. Thank you for posing this video, Fraser.
Very informative and very helpful. You are generous thank you.
Hi Fraser, from Canada. This is one of my favourite Bach pieces, well done and thanks for posting this. IMHO F, not F-sharp.
I can't thank you enough for the way you are breaking up this piece and giving us a chance to study it up close. I can say now that I can hear the polyphony much better than I ever could before. I am not speaking as a performer, but as a sixty year Bach admirer-his music appeals to me on so many different levels. It just goes straight to my soul.... Thanks again, Tenney Doble Duxbury, MA
You are right. The Passacaglia is perfectly suited to a terraced registration. In my mind, the famous P&F version played by E.Power Biggs on the magnificent Flentrop at Harvard (OMG the pedal reeds!) is virtually perfect in terms of registration.
I think you should make a cd called “battling with Bach”...it’s a pretty funny cool title to me.
I so love that you chose this piece. I agree that this piece is far too long to not have registration changes.
Thank you for your videos. From Akron Ohio.
Bravo....darn good for sight reading!
Just watched the first part yesterday, amazing and informal video even for a long time organist!!
Thank you for sharing the variations on the variations! :)
Thank you! Shall look forward to the next set of variations
I’m sharing your opinion about Ton Koopman’s registration choices 😉 Xaver Varnus has a nice recording in the Budapest synagogue but the audio quality is not the best (one audio channel disconnecting during the soft part and so).
Just press the right notes at the right times. Very simple.
Fraser, Thank you for posting this. I am a dyslexic organist and have found this to be very helpful. God bless.
John from Connecticut, USA
Fraser the Fluffer, who'd imagine that!
Probably my favorite Bach piece.
You roll your 'R's' like Carlo Curley ! Carlo used to hold your attention when describing an organ piece and you do as well. Wish I had you as my organ teacher years ago. Thank you for your videos.
I knew Carlo well back in the UK. Hilarious guy and a wonderful organist and entertainer!
I agree with you Frasier that playing with the regstration is a good sugestion. I like that way better the full on so yeah... please do it that way. As for the weather here it's cool, but not cold a few 70⁰F days (21.1⁰C) here & there so it has been rather nice here unlike there where it is still cold. I haven't seen anything of your other channel lately sadly I like watching you work on your cars. As well as playing the organ.
Wonderfull!! Thank´s a lot. I always wanted to see how professional musicians study a new piece of music. I learned a lot. See you next week.
Received the CD yesterday. Thank you uncle Fraser! Wonderful music, as usual. Both in this video and on the CD.
Very interesting video (part 1 also). Nice to see, and hear, how you break down a piece of music to learn it. Beautiful piece, too, I love it. I agree about the registration changes - such a beautiful piece needs registration changes, and dynamic expression throughout.
You have something in the loft which vibrates when you play the low F in the pedal line. At one of my churches I have a barometer that rattles when I play the low G.😂
We love Bach!!
At 11:02, the inverted mordent, by music theory rules, should be played with the note next to it in the scale, unless there is an accidental mark above or below the mordent/inverted mordent. If the accidental is there, the ornamental note should use the accidental in the interpretation. That's how I learned it on the piano and that's 20th century theory. Wikipedia indicates that "in the Baroque period it appears that a Mordent may have sometimes been executed with more than one alternation between the indicated note and the note below, making it a sort of inverted trill", so ultimately you are probably correct in the "however you interpret it" comment. =-)
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE EVERYTHING about this video!! First, this is my most favorite organ piece by JSB, and pretty much the only reason why I am learning organ in the first place! I am currently learning this and I am so excited that you’ve chosen to play this as well. I’ve watched countless versions of BWV 582 on RUclips, and I have a few “go-to” videos to see how the organists approach trouble spots. Fraser, would it be possible to have a permanent inset screen in either the lower left or right corner of the main screen to show your feet? That would would be most helpful to show footwork and pedaling in upcoming variations, when the feet become more involved. I cannot wait for you to play this on other organs.... it will be a real treat to hear!! Thank you for this utterly delightful video... it has certainly lifted my spirits especially during this dark & stressful time!! Actually, there’s no better time than now to hibernate, hunker down & practice!!🌺😊💕🎶
I am a happy owner of THE CD ! Fraser, T H A N K S a lot. Great job !
Yeah! I got the CD just before the quarantine started, so happy! :-) It's quite amazing, congrats!!!
Mr. Gartshore was commenting on how his fingers were going to negotiate wide intervals of notes in 1 particular passage. I saw somewhere on a documentary that they determined that Bach had unusually large hands and could span a 12th on the keyboard.
Wonderful again and almost right. It doesn’t looks easy at all. I am still surprised you didn’t ended with two fingers on one key. 😀 thank you for sharing!
“Practice makes perfect.” is actually the wrong sentiment. It should be “Practice makes permanent.” If you practice it wrongly, you’ll remember it wrongly.
Food for thought.
My dance teachers and my friend’s professors at the Mozarteum in Vienna drove this idea into our heads.
Thank you for your music. I just got my copy of your exciting "Piping Hot" CD here in Finland and I've had enjoying it a lot!
Another delightful video. Thanks so much! On the subject of full organ vs. variations of stops (to accompany the variations of notes): I can see valid arguments on both sides. Bach (like Mozart) is one of those composers who's music is immediately identifiable (because its so perfect) and who's music would probably sound good even if played on a brake drum. I'm looking forward to hearing your performance of this piece (once you've learned it all).
Hello! I am in love with the Pfeifenorgel!
You are amazing !
Received the very good CD (with signature) and enjoyed to listen to it. Totally different from what I use to play from my collection or Spotify but done with craftmanship and a good tonal balance!
Thanks! Glad you’re enjoying it - the plan was to keep the sound as natural as possible.
Better get the note to trill on sorted out - you've got an entire bar to trill on in bar 269! Love your work, really enjoying your approach to this beautiful piece of music.
Thank you very much for this. I really wanted to see your fingering for variation 3. I can play it but my fingering always feels awkward, too much swapping out. I can't wait to take my tablet down to my organ and try it your way. Please thank your wife for the nice shots of your hands while playing.
17:13 This is me to a "t" practicing piano lol
And many thanks for this lesson on practice - much needed by me, I think. And yes, I hope you don't have it too.
Check out the Carlo Curley version at St Eustace Paris. A huge variety of colours!!
Thank you. I've enjoyed your teaching.
You said that it is important to keep the same fingering. However how can you remember it without writing it down? Or may be you use the fingerings sequence 1.23-1234 used for this C minor mode.
A student organist without a teacher.
East Greenland
Thanks, Fraser. Very interesting. 👍 ❤️
Regarding trills, mordents, etc.: it only makes sense to play them *in the key they appear in,* unless notated differently by the composer. That mordent at the bottom of the first page is in C major, so one plays g, f-natutal, g (as you did), and *not* as a trill (as some organists mistakenly do) ... N'est-ce pas ? - Évidemment ! 👍
This particular Bach piece offers nearly unlimited possibilities for registration and manual changes - perhaps more than any other. It's all about *delineating the architecture* of each phrase, I think.
I can see the "correctness" of either beginning this piece in an organo pleno (8,4,2, III Mixture) registration (perhaps on the Positiv or open Swell division?), OR beginning it quietly, as you seem to prefer, and gradually building up to organo pleno. I've done it both ways, and either approach "works" for me; and each approach creates a very different effect/affect.
I think it also depends on the organ on the day, as it were, and its capabilities. Once we get deeper into the structure of the piece, I will be referring to Marie Claire Alain’s renditions where she registers according to thematic material. When you hear her play, it does make sense. I suspect there will have to be at least three different versions of the final piece on three different organs demonstrating three different approaches. I must be mad!
@@FraserGartshore Not mad, just diligent and thorough. 😊
During this outbreak of Covid-19 i think what you need Fraser Gartshore is your very own purpose built home pipe organ console so that you can play music using any organ from around the world using the hauptwerk organ software and post your videos from the comfort of your home so you don't need to visit a church in order to play the organ due to what the travel restrictions are in place over in Germany?
You are perfectly right! I’ve always wanted to get a HW setup for home, but just can’t afford it! 3 manuals would be more than enough, a decent computer with lots of RAM and about 5 or 6 different organ samples (including a Theater Organ of of course) would be perfect. But as that alone would cost several thousand euros, it’s difficult at the moment! I am of course open to donations towards such a project!😁
@@FraserGartshore So how are you going to be able to film your organ videos if there are travel restrictions in place within Germany including places of worship as the German government has said in the last few days? i know that you like to show off a very wide variety of organs big and small and also medium sized depending on if it's housed in a Small church or a very large cathedral? keep the videos coming i love organ music your channel is just what everyone needs to get us through these difficult times?
At present, we are still allowed to visit churches - there are just no services taking place. Strange times indeed... I think there will have to be a few piano videos over the next couple of weeks to keep things going!
in my opinion the best version I've ever heard of the Passacaglia and fugue was by Xaver Varnus on a rather old organ
Finally😍😍
Argh! That A natural feels so awkward! I know it's natural in the MS, but still I can't get used to it. All best to you and your loved ones!
You mentioned an older Dutch organist around 21:15. Now I don't want you to get into trouble however I would like to listen to this interpretation as well. Just to form my own opinion on a great piece for which I thank you for sharing your thoughts. Could you in any way reveal the name of the Dutch organist ?
I suppose he means Ton Koopman. But he plays it on mixtures for the entire piece. Good to have a listen at to know what its about but i never came back to it afterwards.
What do you think of Karl Richter's recording? He really builds the piece up on his registrations.
Im glad we have your videos in these unusual times, do you play or like Messiaen at all?
I love Messiaen. Once you understand how it works, it’s not actually all that mad to play as you might think. Messiaen himself was a very good, though not brilliant, organist (his own words!) I heard him play “at home” in his church in Paris in 1991. Wonderfully mesmerising!
What do you think of Peter Hurford? Or Bowyer?
You named all sort of organists, but you didn't mention the Italian ones : (
It's odd that the key signature in this edition is two flats (G minor) rather than three flats (C minor). My Peters Edition is written in three flats and the third note of the alto voice in the third variation has no natural sign, so it's an A-flat (not an A).
Are you going to continue this series?
I certainly am!
Hi Fraser as an ex organ builder, I'm a bit surprised at the noise the pedal action is making as you play the passacaglia theme. Is that the normal sound or is there some action loose ? Perhaps a phone call to your organ builder may be in order.
It's all on cone valves - noisy from the console but not so down in the church itself. As I've coupled the pedal to the 2nd manual here, we've got both valves clacking away...
@@FraserGartshore LOL tracker organ. LOL
Fraser Gartshore oh of course bloody cone valve actions! Always a pain in the butt always were always will be!
Hey Fraser, I’m just wondering what the argument is for the use of an F# in the mordant here? I know that mark was often used for a trill-like ornament in the Baroque, but I’m not aware of any common practice for playing outside the key signature unless explicitly marked as such. But perhaps there’s some context I am missing?
Such a mordant indicates that you must play the note underneath... But must you play the note STRICTLY underneath (F#) or the note under in the scale (F). The latter is usually accepted as the valid answer as it sounds less... weird. The question is made ominous by the fact that baroque composers sometimes didn't care to indicate accidentals.
Love this Bach piece. What music book are you using/ would recommend that includes BWV 582? Thank you!
Always the Bärenreiter Urtext edition - the 582 is in Volume 7... The boxed set of the collected works is a tad pricey! Worth it though.
6 minutes thirty before we get to the 3rd variation. Oh dear. How long is it going to take when we get to the fugue?
I see you take your left hand from the keyboard between phrases, Phraser (h-h, see what I dit there?) - it makes you miss notes ;-)
I'm battle-proof thanks to Cakewalk Sonar 7 ;-)
Which publisher do you recommend?
Bärenreiter, Peters, Breitkopf und Härtel etc?
I’m a Bärenreiter supporter!
I consider this video a great interpretation and explanation of Bach, but I am sorry... the staff who took this video was breathing heavily, so the audio is mixed into the video.
J.S. Bach lived from 1685 - 1750, had the organs at that time been able to handle such complex compositions or have they been rewritten/adapted? The original still looks very complex.
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/AutograafBach582_2.jpg
"Such complex"? What's so complex on it? There are many organs around preserved from Bach's time, even much older. And plenty of recordings of Bach's music made on those organs.
Best recording is definitely by E Power Biggs and I will FIGHT anyone who disagrees!!
No comments from the Bach Gurus and Purists out there?!? You must be right!
You forgot to mention the Russian organists....
Please cough into your elbow, not your hand - we don't want to see Germany go the way of northern Italy! Especially while you are playing the organ!
Hhhh you said the C word😒
It insults me when you use the word “battling” with Bach 😂😂. I know it’s figured speech, but if it’s possible is there perhaps another way to say it? Idk maybe, “exploring with Bach” would be a better term. Although, great video about learning Bach’s music. To me his music has to be considered very serious, even if it’s figuratively speaking, why I say that? Is because if you make a more serious approach mentally you would appear to interpret his music more closer to the truth. It’s a mental thing, but I suppose it works with Bach’s music at least.