500 Years of Organ Music, Vol. 2

By Bruno Forst

Item Number: NX.BRI96139

The first volume of 500 Years of Organ Music (95310) plunged us into the world of a majestic instrument which has been a formidable presence in churches and cathedrals for thousands of years. In this new anthology we delve deeper into the vast soundscape, discovering an eclectic range of composers and their equally varied works for what Mozart once described as 'the king of instruments'. Much of the oldest organ music has been lost or destroyed. However, to this day in institutions and libraries around the world ancient manuscripts are still discovered languishing on cobwebbed shelves, and the music's fragments are painstakingly pieced together, allowing new works to come to light. For instance, we are introduced to Gonzalo de Baena, whose collection Newly devised method for learning to play, dating from 1540, was only rediscovered in 1992. Other Renaissance-era highlights include Italian virtuosi Cristofano Malvezzi, Giovanni Maria Trabaci and Antonio Valente, whose works offer an insight into the era's musical traditions, with parallel triads and typically highly ornamented melodies. Encompassing a range of European contributions, the anthology also features Spanish early music and particularly the tiento. Deriving its name from tentar 'to touch', the tiento is Spain's answer to the Italian ricercar. The style is exemplified by Francisco Correa de Arauxo's Libro de tientos y discursos de musica practica, published in 1626, and its pieces set the stage for the Spanish Baroque era. Among the German composers, the set includes Johann Caspar Kerll, a highly-respected composer in his day whose works were studied by Handel and J.S. Bach. He is virtually forgotten today, but receives due credit here with a full album dedicated to his canzone and toccatas. Naturally, a survey of the German organ music repertoire is not complete without the contribution made by the Bach family, and seven members of the family, including J.S. Bach, grace this set.

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