Karl Richter war einer der besten Bach-Interpreten überhaupt und einer der genialsten Orgel- und Cembalovirtuosen. Dieses frische und belebende Spiel ist immer wieder zum dahin Schmelzen - vor allem das grandiose Spiel im Pedal. Schade, dass er so früh gestorben ist.
Da geb ich Dir zu 100 % recht, er war ein begnadeter Bach Interpret. Viele seiner Interpretationen sind unerreicht. Wer die Tiefe seines Spiels erlebt und spüren kann muss einfach überwältigt sein. Ich habe als junger Mensch schon sein Spiel geschätzt. Man denke nur an seine Matthäus oder Johannes Passion - bis heute habe ich nichts vergleichbares mehr gehört.
This is a work of Bach's that is like the construction of a Gothic Skyscraper ... beauty all the way from the ground to heaven. Stunning and Richter, of course, maximizes the output.
Probably the most powerful of the four toccatasand fugues of JSB in spite of the energy of the toccata in C major. There are modulations that were not usual in Bach's time in the development of the toccata which make it a very advanced work for its time.
@@hugoclarke3284 Dear friend Hugo, This completely depends upon what we understand by “advanced”.. This word is completely context dependent. Here, I am speaking quite technically in harmonic terms as a musicologist. You will hardly find so far modulations or, to be more precise, exploration of remote regions, in music of that time. This kind of harmonic progressions got usual one century and half later on, for instance in Richard Strauss’ or Prokofiev’s music. If you have the chance to play organ, this is quite obvious and should influence registration issues. If we were speaking technically too but in contrapuntal terms, we would have to look at ‘canonic variations’ or ‘ Art of the fugue', with the complex problem to compare baroque counterpoint with that of, say Ars Nova (and “ars subtilior”) and Franco Flemish. By no ways I was addressing the aesthetic domain which is an everlasting issue, with a subjective component. Cheers, Gérard
I would normally think this tempo was too fast, but Richter does such a good job that it's not a problem. The distortion is like nails on a chalkboard, though. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
THE TEMPI OF HERR CARL RICHTER ARE MORE RAPID AND CHEERFUL, LIVELY THAN OTHER PERFORMERS. AND AS SUCH I REALLY LIKE THE ENERGY WHICH HE BRINGS TO THIS GREAT WORK.
WOW!!! This is a STUNNING performance. I'm going to play the fugue next month for some masses and hope I can do about this well. I usta play this and the toccata 50 or so years ago and it is FASCINATING to come back to them, the fugue right now, and think, "Did I REALLY do this?" But I did and I did it quite well back then. This is a WONDERFUL Richter performance.....
It should be noted that the organ builder had very limited space in which to work when this instrument was built in the 1950's. That explains at least some of Richter's choices as to registration; there simply weren't that many stops for him to work with as he might have liked, especially in the Pedal! Nevertheless, Richter makes superb use of the resources at his disposal, and the rhythm and phrasing are nothing short of superb!
Why did he have to choose such an organ, then? In the same years, and even before, Helmut Walcha chose historical organs (Hamburg, Alkmaar). No way, I never liked Richter, and I never will.
Gianluca Cagnani Helmut Walcha is my favorite of all organists. (My playing is complimented because they hear Helmut in me.) But Richter plays the best Trio-Sonata #2 that I have ever heard. His D major is also stunning.
Frank Kuhl Yes, sometimes Walcha is a little slow. But he plays such detail - cares about every note. Love his phrasing, articulation, perfect trills, connected notes.
Robert Gift I love Walcha's way, since I was a 9 years old organ student. But honestly 'perfect trills' can't be said. He made serious mistakes about. I agree on the rest.
Combine the pinnacle of performance with the pinnacle of recording technique for which DGG is always known, and you have a great treasure for all time.
Magnificent. - Probably composed by J.S.Bach 1716 in Weimar, dedication to the Duke of Sachsen-Weißenfels, first performed in the church of his Castle Neu-Augustusburg, Weißenfels/Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany
If you are talking about the peak of "creepy" organ music, then yes, bwv 565 is also in d minor, but if you are saying that organ music is at its peak when it is creepy and ominous, then get out of here. come back when you have actually educated yourself in the art of the organ.
To bad there is no video of Richter playing this.It is fascinating to watch the pedal footwork.I am at a total loss as to how one manages to control both hands and feet to make them bring music as glorious as this alive.especially on an instrument as complicated as a pipe organ.
OldDobroPicker To critique my technique, posture and playing, years ago I made stereo VHS tapes with my girlfriend's video camera. (She said my hands reminded her of "spiders crawling on the keyboards".) Others have borrowed the tapes and I have no idea where they are. One favorite, containing Bach's "Gigue" Fugue, got chewed in the tape player. My most favorite, most joyous and clear recording of BWV 577, is by E. Power Biggs. Go find it, it's wonderful! Sadly, Marie Claire-Alain's 577 sounds like a perfectly-played organ exercise. Hey, did I do that double trill at 13:17?
Robert Gift Thank you for the heads up on Bigg's version of the Gigue Fugue.I found it and have added it to my collection.A shame about the tapes.I'm sure it would have been a great joy to listen to and watch you play.
OldDobroPicker Even my wife, who at first disliked organ music, (so did I when I was young), liked Bigg's joyous performance of Bach's Gigue Fugue. Some "scholars" claim that Bach did not write it. No onelse could have written this well.
I liked this performance of one of my favourite Bach works. Despite the restrictions on registration, his performance had momentum, good phrasing and technical mastery. I have heard worse! :-)
Of all the performances of the Toccata 540, this is the one that most resembles and evokes my comparison of the Toccata to kundalini energy and awakening that I discuss here: philosopherswheel.com/toccata.htm
Bach = Karl Richter = The best.
Wow!! Here's the first interpertation i heard (and the best !!)when i was sixtheen !! How his plated chords are also of a beautiful lightness !!
Bach and Richter togheter Forever
Karl Richter war einer der besten Bach-Interpreten überhaupt und einer der genialsten Orgel- und Cembalovirtuosen. Dieses frische und belebende Spiel ist immer wieder zum dahin Schmelzen - vor allem das grandiose Spiel im Pedal. Schade, dass er so früh gestorben ist.
Da geb ich Dir zu 100 % recht, er war ein begnadeter Bach Interpret. Viele seiner Interpretationen sind unerreicht. Wer die Tiefe seines Spiels erlebt und spüren kann muss einfach überwältigt sein. Ich habe als junger Mensch schon sein Spiel geschätzt. Man denke nur an seine Matthäus oder Johannes Passion - bis heute habe ich nichts vergleichbares mehr gehört.
Grandissimo interprete di Bach
This is a work of Bach's that is like the construction of a Gothic
Skyscraper ... beauty all the way from the ground to heaven.
Stunning and Richter, of course, maximizes the output.
The toccata is my desert island Richter.
It starts singing at measure one and never lets up.
His musicality was great.
Every time l almost hardhearted cry to it's greatness NOBLESSE beauty
Probably the most powerful of the four toccatasand fugues of JSB in spite of the energy of the toccata in C major. There are modulations that were not usual in Bach's time in the development of the toccata which make it a very advanced work for its time.
El mejorKarl Richter
If that is something that makes a piece "advanced" then Bach has written music more advanced than the current age.
@@hugoclarke3284
Dear friend Hugo,
This completely depends upon what we understand by “advanced”.. This word is completely context dependent.
Here, I am speaking quite technically in harmonic terms as a musicologist. You will hardly find so far modulations or, to be more precise, exploration of remote regions, in music of that time. This kind of harmonic progressions got usual one century and half later on, for instance in Richard Strauss’ or Prokofiev’s music.
If you have the chance to play organ, this is quite obvious and should influence registration issues.
If we were speaking technically too but in contrapuntal terms, we would have to look at ‘canonic variations’ or ‘ Art of the fugue', with the complex problem to compare baroque counterpoint with that of, say Ars Nova (and “ars subtilior”) and Franco Flemish.
By no ways I was addressing the aesthetic domain which is an everlasting issue, with a subjective component.
Cheers,
Gérard
I would normally think this tempo was too fast, but Richter does such a good job that it's not a problem. The distortion is like nails on a chalkboard, though. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
THE TEMPI OF HERR CARL RICHTER ARE MORE RAPID AND CHEERFUL, LIVELY THAN OTHER PERFORMERS. AND AS SUCH I REALLY LIKE THE ENERGY WHICH HE BRINGS TO THIS GREAT WORK.
Organ music of J.S Bach teaches manful, high-hearted Belief! Tepper Michael. Israel.
Sie haben recht, Herr Tepper. Herzliche Grüße aus Leipzig
Wow... I just... wow.... BEAUTIFUL.
WOW!!! This is a STUNNING performance. I'm going to play the fugue next month for some masses and hope I can do about this well. I usta play this and the toccata 50 or so years ago and it is FASCINATING to come back to them, the fugue right now, and think, "Did I REALLY do this?" But I did and I did it quite well back then. This is a WONDERFUL Richter performance.....
+Blockedify yes true
Bach can be played at masses??
Excellent performance. Pity about the sound quality.
Outstanding.
I love J.S Bach and I like very much this performance
Just Excellent!
WUNDER !!! Tepper Michael.
It should be noted that the organ builder had very limited space in which to work when this instrument was built in the 1950's. That explains at least some of Richter's choices as to registration; there simply weren't that many stops for him to work with as he might have liked, especially in the Pedal! Nevertheless, Richter makes superb use of the resources at his disposal, and the rhythm and phrasing are nothing short of superb!
Why did he have to choose such an organ, then? In the same years, and even before, Helmut Walcha chose historical organs (Hamburg, Alkmaar). No way, I never liked Richter, and I never will.
Gianluca Cagnani Helmut Walcha is my favorite of all organists. (My playing is complimented because they hear Helmut in me.) But Richter plays the best Trio-Sonata #2 that I have ever heard. His D major is also stunning.
Walcha is your favourite organist, but why? he plays Bach in the most boring way
Frank Kuhl Yes, sometimes Walcha is a little slow. But he plays such detail - cares about every note. Love his phrasing, articulation, perfect trills, connected notes.
Robert Gift I love Walcha's way, since I was a 9 years old organ student. But honestly 'perfect trills' can't be said. He made serious mistakes about. I agree on the rest.
Energetic performances. Very much of their period (for performance practice and organ) but I still enjoy Richter’s performances.
Combine the pinnacle of performance with the pinnacle of recording technique for which DGG is always known, and you have a great treasure for all time.
Wow...this is exciting.
Fantastic!!!!
Un Bach che si esalta fino al parossismo e ti trascina nel vortice della esaltazione!!!!!
Incomparable!
Magnificent. - Probably composed by J.S.Bach 1716 in Weimar, dedication to the Duke of Sachsen-Weißenfels, first performed in the church of his Castle Neu-Augustusburg, Weißenfels/Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany
WHAT!! I NEVER HEARD OR READ THAT THIS TOCCATA IN F IS probably from J.S.BACH !!??
Yeah, mine too... ^^
Great performance, I never heard the fugue before.
Bravíssimo!
super
If you have been there, as I have, this recording is a shadow of the how it really sounds but...we must let our imagination flesh it out.
It's amazing how much difference a change in key makes. This is D minor is the quintessential ominous, creepy organ music.
? D minor?
If you are talking about the peak of "creepy" organ music, then yes, bwv 565 is also in d minor, but if you are saying that organ music is at its peak when it is creepy and ominous, then get out of here. come back when you have actually educated yourself in the art of the organ.
Yeah. Try the radiant key of F major
To bad there is no video of Richter playing this.It is fascinating to watch the pedal footwork.I am at a total loss as to how one manages to control both hands and feet to make them bring music as glorious as this alive.especially on an instrument as complicated as a pipe organ.
Robert Gift Fascinating.Have you posted any videos of your playing an organ on TH-cam?I'd love to see one or more!!
OldDobroPicker To critique my technique, posture and playing, years ago I made stereo VHS tapes with my girlfriend's video camera. (She said my hands reminded her of "spiders crawling on the keyboards".) Others have borrowed the tapes and I have no idea where they are.
One favorite, containing Bach's "Gigue" Fugue, got chewed in the tape player.
My most favorite, most joyous and clear recording of BWV 577, is by E. Power Biggs. Go find it, it's wonderful!
Sadly, Marie Claire-Alain's 577 sounds like a perfectly-played organ exercise.
Hey, did I do that double trill at 13:17?
Robert Gift Thank you for the heads up on Bigg's version of the Gigue Fugue.I found it and have added it to my collection.A shame about the tapes.I'm sure it would have been a great joy to listen to and watch you play.
OldDobroPicker Even my wife, who at first disliked organ music, (so did I when I was young), liked Bigg's joyous performance of Bach's Gigue Fugue.
Some "scholars" claim that Bach did not write it. No onelse could have written this well.
Robert Gift I absolutely agree.Bach was a brilliant composer.So were you ever a church organist or tour as a concert organist?
realy good performance... pedal sounds amazing, and reminds me the bass of bagpipes xD ! Thanks for uploading !
Spot on, just like the drone of the bagpipe.
💕
Mi favorito
Thank you You Tube and Thank you Google.
Oh, that reed at 3:00 or so - sounded like my speakers went on the fritz XD.
Anyway, a very nice, clean interpretation. Nuanced without being blatant.
I liked this performance of one of my favourite Bach works. Despite the restrictions on registration, his performance had momentum, good phrasing and technical mastery. I have heard worse! :-)
Tarkus!
EL&P
Amazing, but I think the pitch was a bit high, I like to hear the chord's sound longer.
This was the correct pitch of the day when the piece was written. This performance is highly authentic. This man is a German master.
Much too fast, Mr. Richter. This is the infinite energy of the Universe with God shaping the first galaxies.
Seems you never stumbled upon Ton Koopman xD
Or Camreon Carpenter
Che registrazione orrenda
Of all the performances of the Toccata 540, this is the one that most resembles and evokes my comparison of the Toccata to kundalini energy and awakening that I discuss here: philosopherswheel.com/toccata.htm