| What an Instrument! But... (review from amazon.com) |
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... I can't recommend this CD strongly to anyone but other organists and serious fans of the organ repertoire, most of whom already have their Froberger scores under their pillows.
Johann Jacob Froberger (1616-1667) was yet another German of his era who traveled to Italy for musical enrichment. In order to study with the great Frescobaldi in Rome, he converted to Catholicism. His mature musical life took him here and there in the Hapsburg realm and in France, with all sorts of dangerous passings in the century of the great wars of religion. Nearly all his work was written for keyboard, both organ and harpsichord. His keyboard fantasies, ricercares, toccatas, etc were mightily influential on the next generations of German composers, Bach especially but also Kuhnau, Handel, Quantz, and even Mozart.
Bob van Asperen has long been one of my favorite harpsichordists. His performance of the Bach Goldberg Variations is my "desert isle" choice, for its sensitivity and grace. I bought this CD more for van Asperen than for Froberger, whom I admire more than enjoy. Unfortunately, harpsichordists don't always make the best organists; the great Gustav Leonhardt was certainly one example, and van Asperen is another. His touch on the organ keyboard seems tentative, as if the keys were too stiff and cumbersome for his nimble fingers. His choice of stops is tasteful, and his interpretations suitable, but he can't seem to keep the rhythms forthright. The fantasies sound labored, and they shouldn't.
On the other hand, this organ - the Cipri organ of the San Martino church in Bologna - is a treasure in its own right, built first in 1559, expanded in the 1750s, and now restored inside and out by people who know what they're doing. It's tuned to an authentic mean tone just below A440, with just the proper pipes and gamut of keys for the music of Froberger and other 17th C composers. Music is all about the sound, of course, and this organ has a richness of tone that prompts me to start planning a visit to Bologna.
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