Tag: Viscount Organs

J. S. Bach’s ‘Orgelbüchlein’ (BWV 599–644)

J. S. Bach’s Orgelbüchlein (BWV 599–644) is a collection of short organ pieces that he composed over several decades from 1704 onwards. Bach’s idea  was to assemble 164 works in a variety of styles, all based on pre-existing Lutheran hymn-tunes, and arranged according to the Church’s calendar. The collection would serve Bach not only in church services but also in his teaching. Alas, the project remained incomplete at the composer’s death.
      I made these recordings during the UK’s various Covid-related restrictions of 2020–22. For some of my other lockdown recordings go to: ‘Exordia ad missam’: my lockdown recordings.

Recordings ©Andrew Pink.
Material on this page is published under the Creative Commons licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) : Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International. All rights reserved.

Advent

Christmas

Purification

Passiontide

Easter

Pentecost

Catechism

General

  • Technical notes.
    – Edition: Johann Sebastian Bach Orgelbüchlein. Series: Neue Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke. IV/i (Kassel ; London : Bärenreiter 1987)
    – Temperament: Werckmeister III; pitch A=440
    – Organ: Viscount Sonus 60
    – Microphone: Zoom Q2N-4K
    – Recordings: ©Andrew Pink. All rights reserved.
    Creative Commons licence: [Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International]

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Ein guter neuer Dantz

Renaissance dance music: 1577-1629

Ein guter neuer Danz’ edited by Hans Haselbock (Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1989)
Dancing Peasants (late 16th Century). Woodcut by unknown German artist. [Source: German History in Documents and Images. http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_image.cfm?image_id=3299 ]

During the Christmas and New Year period 2016-17 I found myself playing the organ at a variety of venues here and there across London (UK). As part of my seasonal  offerings I decided to try out a newly acquired set of nine renaissance-era dances edited for keyboard by Hans Haselböck: Ein guter neuer Dantz (Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1989). 

I was pleasantly surprised by the number of people who, having heard these little pieces, not only commenting how much they enjoyed them but also asking about them. So without more ado here below are details of the music with some recordings of them.

Keyboards: Andrew Pink's practice organ.

The instrument used here is tuned to a period-appropriate quarter-comma meantime (pure thirds) temperament set at A=427, lower than present-day concert pitch . The pieces, as they are published, are either in G or F and make playful use of  of F\F# and C\C# contrasts, thus adding  spice to the already piquant quarter-comma temperament. However, despite such talk of temperament and pitch, I make no claims to presenting an historically informed performance these brief and unpretentious dance-pieces, and I hope that you too might find something to enjoy in them.

Recordings©Andrew Pink
Material on this page is published under the Creative Commons licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) : Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International. All rights reserved.

Further reading