Heinrich Walther - Keyboard Music from Three Centuries: Bach - Brahms - Scarlatti - Usandizaga (2024)

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Heinrich Walther - Keyboard Music from Three Centuries: Bach - Brahms - Scarlatti - Usandizaga (2024)

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This beautiful new CD by the outstanding organist Heinrich Walther contains, in addition to works by Johann Sebastian Bach, a selection of lesser-known and rarely played compositions from the Romantic and Late Romantic periods. These include three of the Eleven Chorale Preludes op 122 by Johannes Brahms as well as his Prelude and Fugue in G minor WoO 10. And by José María Usandizaga the first movement “Andante” from the Fantasia for cello and orchestra (1908) in the one written by Heinrich Walther himself in 2022 written organ version, an artist who loves the music he performs and unspectacularly delves into each of the works before him.

Usandizaga, who died far too early in 1915 at the age of 28, was initially interested in the organ, but his interests were broader. His musical language at that time was that of the orchestra, i.e. symphonic poetry, in the genre of the musical play ("zarzuela") and in the opera. He proved to be a master of instrumentation and explored the sonic boundaries in new ways, e.g. B. the higher registers of the violins, the use of double basses similar to the 32' registers of the large organs.

Originally Fantasia (track #13) was a work for cello and piano. But José María's brother Raúl Usandizaga wrote a version for cello and large orchestra in 1920. Heinrich Walther arranged this orchestral score for the organ, thereby impressively supplementing the repertoire for this instrument.

The album Keyboard Music from Three Centuries, Bach, Brahms, Scarlatti, Usandizaga, recorded last summer in the parish church of San Pedro Apóstol, Pola de Siero (Asturias), begins with the Toccata, the Adagio and the Fugue in C -Major BWV 564 (1708). This unusual (for the time) work by the young Bach contains a special feature, namely a slow movement between the introductory toccata and the final fugue.

The Prelude begins with virtuoso playing of great clarity, abruptly stopped three times by the lowest note of the pedal, before the pedal begins its own extensive and virtuoso solo. After a minute or two at the most, the listener is literally enveloped in the whirlwind of this piece rich in sparkling contrasts. Walther executes the “magic tone” of the toccata with precision.

The slow Adagio - Grave, with its almost meditative character, creates a rather melancholic impression. It almost seems like a fragment from an Italian concerto by Antonio Vivaldi or Tomaso Albinoni. Bach wrote this movement during his more "Italian-influenced" time at the Weimar court between 1708 and 1717. The final fugue begins with an almost dance-like lightness and ends abruptly after a virtuoso cadenza.

Although the melodic material is unmistakably Bach's, the first bars of the Toccata are reminiscent in style and structure of the Prelude, Fugue and Chaconne in C major by Dietrich Buxtehude (BuxWV 137), whom Bach had visited a few years earlier and whose music clearly reflects his style influenced. On the other hand, many details of the work clearly show the influence of the Italian concertante form before Bach became familiar with the new style of Antonio Vivaldi around 1713/1714. The idea of a slow movement between the prelude and fugue must have appealed to Bach for years.

Heinrich Walther is one of the internationally outstanding organists; He has recorded important organ repertoire, premiered numerous works and arranged many orchestral works for organ.

He has been active in the church service as an organist since 1976, including being titular organist of the Saint-Matthieu church in Colmar in Alsace from 2006 to 2016. Heinrich Walther teaches at the Freiburg University of Music and as a professor at the Heidelberg University of Church Music.

When a mayor of Leipzig said about Johann Sebastian Bach some 300 years ago that "he excels on the piano!", he was referring to all the possibilities of manual and pedal use on the organ. This applies to all composers and their works on this recording. In addition, the boundaries between the keyboard instruments were more permeable: harpsichord and organ shared a common repertoire, which was further expanded by arrangements. The organist Heinrich Walther plays a purely mechanical instrument with only 13 sounding stops from the church of San Pedro Apóstol in Pola de Siero in Asturias, which was only built in 2013.