Friedrich Wilhelm ZACHOW (1663-1712)
Complete Organ Music
Simone Stella (organ)
rec. 22-24 March 2019, Church of San Giorgio, Rieti, Italy
BRILLIANT CLASSICS 96022 [79:00 + 77:18]
These two well-filled discs largely comprise organ settings and variations of German Lutheran chorale melodies that will likely be familiar to listeners from the much more extensive output of J.S. Bach for the same instrument. Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow is probably best remembered, if at all, not so much for his music but for the fact that he taught the young Handel when the latter was growing up in Halle. There are some incidental similarities in flamboyant style between Zachow’s handful of freely-composed organ compositions such as the preludes, fugues, or fantasias, and the harpsichord pieces his young protégé was already composing before he studied in Italy, even if only in the loose sense that both groups of works are for the keyboard. But on account of his much larger output of chorale preludes and variations, Zachow is clearly best understood within the context of the North German organ school of composers, rather than as a musical forbear of the uniquely cosmopolitan voice which Handel was to develop once he left his country of birth. It is possible, though, that Handel remembered a piece such as the Fugue in C, LV.54, as its theme bears a similar rocking character as the fugato subject of the later overture to Tolomeo.
Simone Stella is an adept and dedicated guide through the 65 items which constitute Zachow’s surviving output for the organ. He plays the whole set on the modern Pinchi organ Op 444 at the Church of San Giorgio in Rieti, built in 2011, rather than a historic instrument, but its specification and dimensions do equate with organs of Zachow’s time and place. The unequal temperament – no specific details are provided in the booklet notes, other than indicating that it is ‘elaborated by Claudio Brizi’ – brings out some piquant points of interest in the melodic or harmonic turns of the music, not least in the chromatic theme of the chorale prelude ‘Erbarm dich mein, o Herre Gott’ LV.28 which stand out all the more in the context of Zachow’s generally restrained harmonic palette.
The dynamic capacity of the Pinchi organ is fairly modest, but its registrations come over clearly and distinctly, and combine to create a well-integrated pleno timbre. However, the pedal division has a tendency to sound as though it is plodding, such that the changes between notes in that department slightly break up the seamless flow in the overall sonority in ‘Allein Got in der Höh sei Ehr’ LV.46 for instance. Being pitched at a=465 Hz, the organ is a touch higher than modern concert pitch, and therefore higher still than Baroque pitch, so the sound is generally lucid. Stella further clarifies the texture in some passages by registering them such that certain treble lines come out an octave higher than notated, such as the first variation of the Chorale Partita on ‘Jesu, meine Freude’, or the almost shrill melody of ‘Komm, Heiliger Geist, Herre Gott’ LV.38 – perhaps evoking the insubstantiality of the Holy Ghost – over the bubbling tones lower down.
In the execution of the music Stella brings notable flair to what are otherwise quite a solemn series of essentially chorale or hymn elaborations. There is a supple and lively articulation of the counterpoint of such pieces as ‘Vom Himmel hoch’ LV.51 for instance; the solid, Bachian succession of harmonies in another setting of ‘Komm, Heiliger Geist’, LV.20 is shot through with a vital skipping rhythm, rather than made ponderous; and restrained, tasteful use of ornamentation subtly seasons other chorale preludes. Sometimes Stella’s use of ornaments seems to invoke the French organ tradition, as in the Prelude LV.59, where the full registration of its dramatic suspensions is also like a plein jeu; or the more extrovert flourishes of the broken chord patterns in the Prelude LV.56 and the flood of semiquavers of the Capriccio LV.64 hark back to the clavecinistes.
Zachow’s organ music is, in general, less adventurous and ambitious than that of Buxtehude and Bach. But Stella’s appealing performances show that there is still much music that is enjoyable and edifying to listeners, as well as a useful addition to the repertoire of practising organists.
Curtis Rogers
Contents
Praeludium in C major, LV.55
Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein, LV.16
Ach Herr, mich armen Sünder, LV.24
Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr, LV.46
Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, LV.1
Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, LV.1a
Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, LV.25
Präeludium in C Major, LV.53
Fugue in C Major, LV.54
An Wasserflüssen Babylon, LV.2
Auf meinen lieben Gott, LV.26
Aus tiefer Not lasst uns zu Gott, LV.27
Christ lag in Todesbanden, LV.47
Christ, unser Herr, zum Jordan kam, LV.3
Durch Adams Fall ist ganz verderbt, LV.17
Fantasia in D Major, LV.63
Erbarm dich mein, o Herre Gott, LV.18
Erbarm dich mein, o Herre Gott, LV.28
Es ist das Heil uns kommen her, LV.29
Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ, LV.30
Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir, LV.31
Herr Gott, dich loben wir, LV.4
Herr Jesu Christ, wahr' Mensch und Gott, LV.32
Capriccio in D minor, LV.64
Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, LV.5
In dich hab ich gehoffet, Herr, LV.33
In dulci jubilo, LV.34
Jesaja, dem Propheten, das geschah, LV.48
Jesu, der du meine Seele, LV.6
Jesus Christus, unser Heiland, der den Tod überwand,
Jesus Christus, unser Heiland, der von uns den Gotteszorn wandt, LV.7
Jesus Christus, unser Heiland, der von uns den Gotteszorn wandt, LV.19
Jesus Christus, unser Heiland, der von uns den Gotteszorn wandt, LV.36
Praeludium in F major, LV.57
Prelude and Fugue in F major, LV.56
Disc 2:
Choralpartita “Jesu, meine Freude”, LV.49:
Prelude and Fugue in G major, LV.59
Komm, Gott Schöpfer, Heiliger Geist, LV.37
Komm, Heiliger Geist, Herre Gott, LV.20
Komm, Heiliger Geist, Herre Gott, LV.38
Komm, Heiliger Geist, Herre Gott LV.8
Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin, LV.9
and Fugue in G major, LV.60
Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, LV.21
Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, LV.10
Choralpartita “Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland”, LV.50:
Nun lasst uns Gott dem Herren, LV.39
O Jesu Christ, du höchstes Gut, LV.11
O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig, LV.40
Vater unser im Himmelreich, LV.22
Fugue in G major, LV.62
Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her, LV.51:
Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her, LV.42
Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her, LV.41
Warum betrübst du dich, mein Herz?, LV.52
Was mein Gott will, das gescheh allzeit, LV.23
Wenn mein Stündlein vorhanden ist, LV.12
Prelude and Fugue in G major, LV.58
Wer Gott vertraut und auf ihn baut, LV.13
Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, LV.43
Wir Christenleut habn jetzund Freud, LV.14
Wir glauben all an einen Gott, LV.15
Wo Gott, der Herr, nicht bei uns hält, LV.44
Wo Gott, der Herr, nicht bei uns hält, LV.45
Fugue in G major, LV.61
