Martin Schmeding has made numerous recordings for the ARS label,
but I’ve come across his name via Cybèle, with
excellent recordings including those of Bach
and Medek.
So, I’m already a declared fan, and this superb recording
of Bach organ transcriptions is one I’ve hardly put down
for weeks.
For a start, the ARS recording is very good indeed. It’s
warm but filled with clarity, and deep without becoming an overwhelming
woofer workout. The Stadkirche Karlsruhe-Durlach acoustic is
well-nigh perfect, being resonant in proportion with the marvellous
1999 Stumm/Goll organ, whose sound suits these adapted Bach
works without imposing too many idiosyncratic foibles or period-false
notes of timbre or tuning.
Do you have doubts about liking Bach, or Bach on the organ?
This may be the ideal place to start your exploration. The impression
which may linger in some quarters that Bach was more a mathematical
counterpoint machine than a red-blooded romantic is blown away
by the selection of works here, which to a certain extent represents
the importance with which Bach was seen by numerous composers
of the Romantic era and beyond. The transcriptions are largely
faithful to the essence of Bach’s original works, and
there will be few if any shocks for those familiar with the
works in this programme. What we have is a kind of transitional
absorber between contemporary aspirations for authentic performance,
and the kind of music composers of the 19th and earlier
20th century felt the need to preserve and express
in their own time.
Bach’s own transcription of Vivaldi is familiar enough
in the Concerto BWV 596, given a cracking but uncontroversial
performance on this recording. The expressive Largo e spiccato
is especially gorgeous here, and the lightness of touch in the
playing is something which brings out the basic transparency
in most of these transcriptions. The other multi-movement piece
is also the most recent transcription of the Trio Sonata
BWV 1031 made by Martin Schmeding. This is better known to us
flute players as one of the sonatas, and hearing the beautiful
Siciliano with one pipe per note is a different experience
but by no means an unpleasant one.
Heavyweight names such as Liszt, Karg-Elert and Reger seem to
promise a rich diet of spectacular organ sounds, but this is
by no means the case here. These pieces remain transcriptions
rather than arrangements, and Bach is very much to the fore
in each case. Hearing the closing chorale from the St Matthew
Passion in Robert Schaab’s organ version is another
mildly disorientating transplant, but Bach’s genius can
stand all kinds of treatment, and while the repetitions lose
a little of their content through the lack of a text this remains
a moving musical statement which works very well indeed on organ.
The restraint of pieces such as Reger’s transcription
of the Prelude and Fugue in B minor BWV 867 contrasts
well with the lively Sinfonia from Cantata BWV 29 selected
by Marcel Dupré. The grand finale is the almost inevitable
Chaconne from the violin solo Partita BWV 1004,
the gothic overtones of which are emphasised through organ transcription.
There have been numerous versions made of this great work, and
Arno Landmann may not be the most familiar name amongst greats
such as Mendelssohn and Busoni who are associated with the Chaconne,
but he was an organist of note in Mannheim, and described as
“an unsurpassable organ virtuoso” by his teacher
Karl Straube. Landmann’s Chaconne is a colourful
transcription and highly effective, though the superhuman feel
one has from a good violin performance is always levelled out
somewhat by having the piece played on an instrument with such
an arsenal of effects at its disposal. Other than the bridge-busting
section at 11:15 which brings about a momentary whirlwind of
virtuosity, there is little hint of technical boundary-breaking
in the actual performance. Where this version wins for instance
is in the quasi pastorale effect the central major-key section
has from about 7:30, one of several moments of repose which
heighten the surrounding turmoil and harmonic drama.
If you look up ‘Bach Organ Transcriptions’ you are
likely to find Bach’s own work in this field, and all-Bach
commercial releases of transcriptions by other composers seem
to be deeply unfashionable, which on this showing is an unfair
perception of what such a project can produce. This is an all-round
organ ‘hit’ release in my book, combining a well-chosen
selection of the sublime music of Bach in a stunning recording
and superlative performances. What more can one ask? Volume
II perhaps?
Dominy Clements
Martin Schmeding (organ) 