Johannes Brahms, O Welt, ich muß dich lassen, organ chorale prelude op.122 no.11: the organ lesson

Learning to play Brahms on the organ, using the chorale preludes opus
122. Performance starts • Johannes Brahms, O Wel...
For background information about Brahms performance style see the
episode on Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen ( • Johannes Brahms, Es is... ).
This episode was recorded in the Stadtkirche Neustrelitz in Germany
(Grüneberg, 1893). For details of the organ, see
neustrelitz-ev...
The series is presented by Dr Tim Rishton www.rishton.eu

[@Filius-kr9hk]

I should only watch one video in this Brahms-series, but then I have watched every one and it is sad, that they are finished. The information is engaging and useful. But the playing. You make it feel so easy, so natural, so obvious. That is technique and skill, but also artistry. Thank you for the inspiration!

[@timrishton5871]

Brahms can indeed be addictive! Glad you enjoyed it. Tim

[@monsieurgrigny]

A lovely video, full in interest and in the engaging Rishtonian style. I notice how unsentimental yet deeply touching the playing of this prelude.

[@timrishton5871]

Thank you so much. Some of these Brahms preludes are pieces that one keeps coming back to, and discovering new depths; really rewarding. I'm glad you're enjoying them too! Tim

[@EllenMoore-fb6nr]

How fascinating to see a 'real' organ from just the right time. It looks and sounds very distinctive. What sort of action is it? I love your idea of the progressive echos hinting at the soul's journey away from this life. Never heard that suggestion before, but it sounds right.

[@timrishton5871]

It's an interesting experience to play Brahms on a "Brahms" organ - it all feels very right for the music. The action is mechanical. I know that I keep going on about how conservative these instruments are, even at this point at the very end of Brahms' life. Mechanical action, a physical layout with a Hauptwerk and an Oberwerk, only the most rudimentary registration aids and swell pedal: utterly different from the instruments just the other side of the new century. In feel and sound it's nothing like a Baroque organ, but nothing like a 20th-century organ either. Glad you're enjoying it! Tim