Not everyone keys into the inherent beauty and aesthetic gravitas of Bach's music. But you certainly do as this performance indicates. Very satisfying to hear!
Fabulous playing, Ben - and what a treat to hear you at the splendid Father Willis Organ in Lincoln Cathedral (a place I love and an instrument I know as I was Housemaster to the choristers for five years in the early 1990s, back in the days of the Cathedral School, now sadly long gone). A really sparkling performance oozing with consummate artistry. This amazing masterpiece by Bach - unique in form and in harmonic structure, grandiose in size and style, and mysterious in its origins - is nothing less than an awe-inspiring musical drama that unfolds with a sense of sublime inevitability. The monumental Toccata with its jaw-dropping pedal solos is an exuberant celebration of canonic counterpoint, and along the way, there are jarring and deceptive surprises in the form of cadences which set up our expectations for a resolution . . . which does not come! These teasing moments maintain plenty of interest. Oh! How it would have been fascinating to witness the audience’s reaction at the first performance. Of all of Bach’s prelude-fugues, this Toccata is surely the most massive, embodying as it does in every sense the notion of God's create prowess. The Fugue, which as you remark seems to have been written at a different time, is filled with spicy chromaticism and dissonances. Two fugue subjects are exposed in separate sections and then combined in a moment of contrapuntal majesty. Its quite remarkable how the pedal line drops out for an extended period, allowing the higher voices to meander freely, to then return with titanic power, ensuring the subject is a persistent, unrelenting force that cannot be ignored. The German musicologist, Hermann Keller (1886 - 1967) when commenting on BWV 540 stated: "At the beginning, the extensive linear construction of the two voices in canon, the proud calmness of the solos in the pedal, the piercing chord strokes, the fiery upswing of the second subject, the bold modulatory shifts, the inwardness of the three minor movements, the splendor of the end with the famous third inversion of the seventh chord - who would not be enthralled by that?" And who could fail to be enthralled by your performance, Ben? Not me: bravo!
The problem is here, is that the pedal reeds are miles away, and the disconnect is obvious. Years ago when I was turning for a German player giving a bank holiday recital, he did the same thing as here. I advised him to draw the Great 16 and 8 reeds for the pedal solos instead. He agreed that this was the better option.
@@JonathanSilverton-ol7kn It certainly is a challenge for any performer to achieve a 'balanced' sound in English cathedrals where divisions can be separated by quite a distance, and speaking in different directions, if all the pipework cannot be accommodated in the main casework and projected outwards coherently. You have to know the building in question very well, and registering for how it might sound best at the console can still leave a 'disconnect' for listeners seated in the choir or nave or anywhere else that sees the sound swirling round in a huge acoustic.
Well done, Ben. You achieve genuine virtuosity by making it look so deceptively simple -- you just sit there and play without any form of theatrics to draw attention to yourself. As Catherine Crozier once said to a gyrating student during a master class, "Sit still, dear; you're wasting energy!"
Interesting reflection about what K C. had said. She was my teacher's teacher, Melvin West. Thank you for sharing. This particular master work (the Toccata in F) change my life.
Not everyone keys into the inherent beauty and aesthetic gravitas of Bach's music. But you certainly do as this performance indicates. Very satisfying to hear!
Le toccata BWV 540 est une de mes meilleures mélodies. La grandeur du chant repose sur les pédales. ❤❤❤
Fabulous playing, Ben - and what a treat to hear you at the splendid Father Willis Organ in Lincoln Cathedral (a place I love and an instrument I know as I was Housemaster to the choristers for five years in the early 1990s, back in the days of the Cathedral School, now sadly long gone). A really sparkling performance oozing with consummate artistry.
This amazing masterpiece by Bach - unique in form and in harmonic structure, grandiose in size and style, and mysterious in its origins - is nothing less than an awe-inspiring musical drama that unfolds with a sense of sublime inevitability. The monumental Toccata with its jaw-dropping pedal solos is an exuberant celebration of canonic counterpoint, and along the way, there are jarring and deceptive surprises in the form of cadences which set up our expectations for a resolution . . . which does not come! These teasing moments maintain plenty of interest. Oh! How it would have been fascinating to witness the audience’s reaction at the first performance. Of all of Bach’s prelude-fugues, this Toccata is surely the most massive, embodying as it does in every sense the notion of God's create prowess.
The Fugue, which as you remark seems to have been written at a different time, is filled with spicy chromaticism and dissonances. Two fugue subjects are exposed in separate sections and then combined in a moment of contrapuntal majesty. Its quite remarkable how the pedal line drops out for an extended period, allowing the higher voices to meander freely, to then return with titanic power, ensuring the subject is a persistent, unrelenting force that cannot be ignored.
The German musicologist, Hermann Keller (1886 - 1967) when commenting on BWV 540 stated: "At the beginning, the extensive linear construction of the two voices in canon, the proud calmness of the solos in the pedal, the piercing chord strokes, the fiery upswing of the second subject, the bold modulatory shifts, the inwardness of the three minor movements, the splendor of the end with the famous third inversion of the seventh chord - who would not be enthralled by that?" And who could fail to be enthralled by your performance, Ben? Not me: bravo!
The problem is here, is that the pedal reeds are miles away, and the disconnect is obvious. Years ago when I was turning for a German player giving a bank holiday recital, he did the same thing as here. I advised him to draw the Great 16 and 8 reeds for the pedal solos instead. He agreed that this was the better option.
@@JonathanSilverton-ol7kn It certainly is a challenge for any performer to achieve a 'balanced' sound in English cathedrals where divisions can be separated by quite a distance, and speaking in different directions, if all the pipework cannot be accommodated in the main casework and projected outwards coherently. You have to know the building in question very well, and registering for how it might sound best at the console can still leave a 'disconnect' for listeners seated in the choir or nave or anywhere else that sees the sound swirling round in a huge acoustic.
Well done, Ben. You achieve genuine virtuosity by making it look so deceptively simple -- you just sit there and play without any form of theatrics to draw attention to yourself. As Catherine Crozier once said to a gyrating student during a master class, "Sit still, dear; you're wasting energy!"
Interesting reflection about what K C. had said. She was my teacher's teacher, Melvin West. Thank you for sharing. This particular master work (the Toccata in F) change my life.
Excellent
BRAVO! 👏
Great performance! And a lot of gravitas in the Willis pedal division!
Wonderful!