2007 is, of course, Buxtehude year. It’s nice that a number of
complete cycles of his organ music will presumably be completed
in time for the occasion. There is now a body of recordings of
this music from younger players to complement, if not entirely
supersede the MDG Harald Vogel cycle from a decade ago. I have
written twice here about the playing of the Danish organist Bine
Bryndorf on her ongoing cycle for DaCapo. Naxos’s cycle started
disappointingly with the CD of Volker Ellenberger, playing a not-so-interesting
German organ. It has gathered pace though, mainly down to its
use of outstanding modern organs in the US, but also to the playing
of organists such as the quirky Wolfgang Rübsam, and his former
student Julia Brown, and my friend and colleague Craig Cramer.
Cramer’s volume 4 was recorded on the stupendous Fritts organ
at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma; an instrument which
defined the new American School of organ building in the generation
after CB Fisk and the highly influential John Brombaugh. The largest
and conceptually most interesting of these organs take 17th
and 18th century Northern European models as their
starting point and expands them to the point of virtual 21st
century eclecticism, swell box and all. In a sense it’s what Rieger,
Klais and all their European imitators have being trying to achieve
for thirty years or more, albeit their starting point in the late
1960s and 1970s was to make a truly ‘modern’ statement. Initially
they succeeded in creating some compelling organs. The Americans
however have now achieved ‘universal’ instruments of a far higher
artistic standard than virtually anyone in the ‘old world’.
Martin Pasi is another of these organ builders. A 1995 two manual
instrument at Trinity Church in Lynnwood, Washington awoke the
US to his talents. The featured organ here is the builder’s op.
14, a three manual instrument for St Cecilia Cathedral, Omaha,
completed in 2003. The organ develops not only the mentality behind
the Fritts organ in Tacoma , but also refers back to Fisk’s influential
dual-temperament organ built for Stanford University in California,
twenty or so years ago. Here, like Tacoma, the organ features
the swell box with harmonic flute, French reeds, and Celeste.
But in the same 55 stop organ, no fewer than 29 stops from Great,
Positive and Pedal are also available in ¼ comma meantone. These
stops have no fewer than twenty pipes per octave.
This is all well and good but how does it sound? Based on this
recording I think I can only judge the 29 stops which are in meantone,
because I suspect that Brown plays mostly in meantone throughout
the disc. By and large this is to the benefit of the music. Occasionally
however the music goes beyond the bounds of the tuning to painful
effect, (BuxWV 148 @ 7’30 in particular is rancid). But the parts
of the organ which are demonstrated here are beyond criticism.
The reeds are outstandingly good, the Prestants have a fabulous
vocal quality; the chorus puts one in mind of Hamburg St Jacobi.
This is a genial piece of organ building aided by an excellent
sounding room. If you are interested to learn more about this
extraordinary creation, Martin Pasi has an excellent set of photos
on his website here: http://www.pasiorgans.com/cecilia/index.htm
The playing is also uniformly good. Like her Scheidemann CDs,
Brown displays a highly sophisticated articulation-vocabulary,
and a fine sense of affekt and atmosphere. As a former student
of Rübsam, some rhetorical eccentricity is inevitable. The exaggerated
snowball accelerando at the beginning of pieces, and of sections
of free works grates after a while, and has the effect, occasionally,
of inverting the accents. Most beautiful is her reading of the
large Fantasia on Nun Freut Euch, where her registration changes,
while still extensive, never become annoyingly excessive. Also
noteworthy is that Brown doesn’t always resort to the Vogel formula
‘consort registration’ for the fugues; both in BuxWV156 are played
with near-plenum registrations with the 16’ reed in the pedal!
The playing is for me a little too quirky to be unreservedly recommendable,
but Brown is a real musician, and this organ is stunning beyond
belief. Given the price, and the impending anniversary, don’t
miss this!
Chris Bragg
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Reviews of other issues in this series
on Musicweb
Volume 1 (8.554543) - Kirk
McElhearn
Volume 2 (8.555775) - Gary
Higginson
Volume 3 (8.555991) - Don
Satz
Volume 4 (8.557195) - Don
Satz
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Julia Brown (organ) 
