Organum musicum: november 2009

Er is een nieuwe besprekking verschenen van de dubbel cd met Toccata's van Bach, uitgevoerd door Leon Berben (Grote- of Sint Laurenskerk te Alkmaar en klavecimbel) verschenen in Jordan Times.

Bach’s complete toccatas in one album

By Jean-Claude Elias

AMMAN - How do you reinterpret seminal classical works that already have been played and recorded countless times by the greatest musicians and still manage to capture the listeners’ attention; even more, to amaze them?

If your name is Leon Berben this is not a problem at all. Especially if the material you have chosen to re-record is Johann Sebastian Bach’s Toccatas for keyboard, absolute reference works that are considered by musicologists to be like pillars in the realm of classical music. Berben is an undisputed master of the organ and the harpsichord, the two essential keyboards of the baroque era. The quality of his playing is enhanced by his deep, scholarly knowledge of the works he performs.
The double CD includes the complete toccatas for keyboard. Disc 1, titled “pedaliter”, includes six toccatas (and fugue) for organ. Disc 2, titled “maualiter”, includes eight toccatas for harpsichord and the adagio from toccata in G major (Bach’s catalogue reference BWV916).
The organ toccatas are in the form called “toccata and fugue”. The fugue is one of Bach’s known trademarks whereby the theme or the phrases are played by the right hand and the left hand in a nonparallel manner over time, often one chasing the other. The harpsichord toccatas are straight toccatas.
If you know only one of Bach’s Toccatas and Fugues then it is very likely the one in D minor BWV 565. Not surprisingly the first CD starts with this majestic, immensely popular work by the great master from Leipzig. The commanding, inspired introduction followed by Bach’s signature contrapuntal, almost lyrical part is among the most captivating pieces and the most easily recognisable of the entire classical repertoire. It was even adapted a few years ago by Singaporean virtuoso violinist Vanessa Mae, albeit in a “pop-rock” package; still not unpleasant.
Berben plays with authority and with restraint. There are ornaments here and there that you might not find in other interpretations but they are more than appropriate. Classy, carefully weighted, free of artefacts and absolutely authentic, this is in a nutshell Berben’s style.
The organ sounds fabulous. Berben certainly knows “what stops to pull”, to put it in organ’s technical terms! Press the play button, close your eyes and listen. If this does not take you to another world then no other music will. By moments the fugue parts gets very complex and may overwhelm those not used to Bach’s music, but its sheer beauty is unrivalled.
The sound of the harpsichord on Disc 2 is, of course, different from that of the organ on Disc 1. It is more intimate and, eventually, may provide some welcome rest from the big sound of the organ. Particularly noticeable here is the unusually warm sound of the harpsichord. In many recordings the baroque instrument tends to sound too crystalline, exaggeratedly thin. There is nothing like it in this very recording that generates some of the most comfortable, most ear pleasing harpsichord tones one can hear. This combined with the beauty of the music and the quality of Berben’s performance makes a delightful listening experience.
Ramée is a German record company that was founded in 2004 by Rainer Arndt. In just five years it has acquired a prestigious worldwide dimension. Small in size but huge in quality the company produces a limited number of classical recordings per year, typically less than 10. It takes utmost care of every detail, starting naturally with the choice of the eclectic music material, of the performer, the superlative recording of course and ending with a most refined packaging of the CD, with accompanying booklets that provide as much reading pleasure as the disc itself provides listening pleasure.
This is the second Ramée CD covered in this column. In February 2006 I reviewed Antonio Caldara’s “Cantate, Sonate ed Arie”.
Given the importance of the instruments used in such a production Ramée indicates that the organ played is a period instrument made in Alkmaar, Netherlands, between 1646 and 1725 by Galtus van Hagerbeer and Frans Caspar Schnitger. The harpsichord was made by modern British manufacturer Keith Hill, after the Christian Zell model made in Hamburg in 1728.

22 November 2009