J S Bach - Fantasia and Fugue in G minor BWV 542 [Played from memory]
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ก.ย. 2022
- NB: HiFi or headphones recommended!
Performed by myself, John Bladen, 18th April 2022.
Recorded for Richard McVeigh's BiS recital 24th April 2022.
Organ: Eisenbarth organ in St. Bartholomäus church, Friesach, Austria.
Organ platform: GrandOrgue.
Organ console: Yamaha CLP-280 with added 32 note pedalboard.
BiS recital version (with inferior sound quality and no legs swinging over the organ bench at the start, but very nice live chat comments!): • 🔴 An Organ Recital giv...
When I recorded this I thought only of one thing: to catch Bach's attention!
I imagined him being alive today - in anonymity. I imagined him listening to people arguing over "What Bach would have done". I failed to imagine him suddenly shouting, "You! You over there! You cracked it! You got it right! You worked out exactly what I wanted / what I did! Hurrah! Well done!".
So I didn't try to play it "right", whatever that means.
Nothing like that at all.
Instead, I tried to catch Bach's attention!
I imagined he was in a position of hearing multiple versions, and I wanted him to be drawn to mine. I therefore used everything I knew about him to try to achieve that.
I wanted him to say, "Hmm ... that's interesting. I like that!".
THIS
I like that!
And what a beautiful job you did of it Mr Bladen 👌 bravo mate
There are so many ways Bach can be interpreted and if he was alive today, I am sure he would be delighted and overwhelmed. Perhaps Bach was talking through the many wonderful comments you received for his Great G minor. We see this in the way he took music from his great contemporaries like Vivaldi and re arranged them ( in this case ) for organ. That is the wonder of his music. It wasn’t so long ago that the purist brigade condemned works of Bach, Buxtehude etc which were not historically accurate. There is certainly a place for that but it is not the only way. Virgil Fox was particularly critical of those who took this line. Yet I purchased part of a series of a commercially recorded complete works of Bach played on famous historical instruments. To me these recordings leave me cold. Interesting that a reviewer said much the same.
I am trying to arrange and play music which is largely unknown and or has never ( to my knowledge) been played on the organ. I recently played my arrangement of Hummel’s Overture to his fantasy opera “Die Eselshault “ at a concert which was well received.
I am really looking forward to your rendition of Johnathon Scott’s work
Someone did not skip leg day
Haha - I started it mate! 😄
This is an amazing performance but it is more significant. It is the democratisation of great music. No longer do we have to wait for the great Schweitzer of the moment playing on a great organ somewhere in the world. John gives it to us electronically from his sitting room. Quite a moment in music history. Congratulations John.
Never Seen an Organist play in Khaki Shorts, Sweatshirt, and Athletic socks, Which is Cool, but I must say, that Performance was Stellar!!! My Favorite Organ Work by JS Bach!! Thank You!!
Yep - definitely the first!! 😄 Actually, it was a draft recording that became the actual one when I couldn't make the intended 'properly dressed' actual one. The baggy sweatshirt was because my shorts seemed a bit too 'revealing' during setup 😲🤭 (though judging by some of the comments here and elsewhere on my channel, that might have made the video even more popular 😅). Stick around - there's lots more in the pipeline - potentially hundreds or more - though I don't get much time atm. Thanks for the stellar comment 👍.
Good choice of favourite Bach piece BTW!
My favorite thing about this piece is that Bach wrote it for a job interview and he DIDN'T get the job 😄😳😳
With all those consecutive fourths in the manual parts at 08:55, maybe they thought he was hopeless?! 🤔🤭😅
He didnt wrote the fugue in advance, he even improvised it in his audition...for the vacant position as the Organist of St James Church in Hamburg. The Fantasy is for sure written some years earlier in his Köthentime.
Who did get the job?
@@JohnMcPhersonStrutt Johann Joachim Heitman, the son of a wealthy artisan.
@@JoshBreakdowns Thankyou for your reply. I confess, I hadn't ever heard of J. J. Heitmann. Have I been missing something good all these years?
This is one of a kind❤
Beautiful playing! Soli Deo Gloria!
Sehr guter Vortrag! Solche Männer braucht das Land! Ein Mann der sich auskennt! Alles Gute für den Meister!
Hi John, that's great. I think it's great how you brought the organ into your house, a piano and a pedalboard! Great, I'm very excited. I subscribe to your channel and I look forward to your videos! You play the organ fantastically!
Many greetings!
WOW! WOW!! WOW!!! What a SUPER Performance! In addition to a wonderful interpretation of this piece the sound is also awesome! The pedal notes were especially awesome. I listened to you play this piece three times in a row using two Cerwin Vega subs in a relatively small room. You ROCKED my home! Thanks so much for sharing your talent and instrument. I would be a happy man If I had 1 tenth your talent!
Such a good job I broke all the rules and used a 32' reed throughout the fugue.
And such a good job you bought the right equipment to hear it. www.amazon.com/Skar-Audio-Complete-Subwoofer-Package/dp/B083DJ3F2L/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_ssp
Bach will be so happy! 😀
Such clarity ! That’s tremendous!
Bravo!Excellent!
What a great recording! Very well played! I like it very much! Thanks for uploading!
Thanks for this upload and exciting performance John. Bravo!!! Looking forward to more!!
Fantastic playing and audio quality, John!
Amazing and very powerful performance!
The sound and performance are amazing!
Awesome! Thank you for sharing!
Grande . Bravo .. bella combinazione e grande esecuzione.
Grandioso és Tu, Bach! Excelente interpretação!Parabéns!!!
Loved that. Thanks for posting.
Супер!!!!!🥰
Excellent work.
John, that was a brilliant performance! I love that you use a Clavinova as your keyboard!
Perfect!
Superb! Ingenious console! Subbed and liked!
Wonderful playing. And from memory❤
Thank you.
Wonderful record. My profound thanks!
Thank you too. It wouldn't be complete without you the listener!
Way! fantastic
Impressing! This "organ" sounds like a real organ. How you do I have not the faintest idea of, but the result is quite wonderful! Greetings from Sweden.
Lovely 😊
sei bravissimo❤
That one!!!! Is really good!!🤗🎹🎹🎹🎹 I normally listening to real organ...but this sounded really good!! Thank you man!🙏🤗🎹
Inspirational. Ty.
Great! Inspiring others is a big part of my mission! 😉🙂
masterly interpretation,
Fabulous performance! also glad to see I'm not the only one to play in my socks.
Socks Rocks! 😄
I absolutely love playing in socks. All the worry of whether my feet are in the right position is gone. Note that I don't need to get my feet into position early (I left it a bit late for the final pedal entry of the fugue 🤭, but that proves my point perfectly because it caused no problem). That's fantastically useful when playing from memory, as I am here. Thinking ahead is disastrous when playing from memory, I find. I can very quickly get my feet into position. Almost zero time. Through the socks I can read the pedals as I slide over them. It's so automatic I can pretty much forget all about my feet and focus on other things. 🙂
11:28 Here's the final pedal entry. In the recording (but not rehearsal) I added a slight stretto just before it to keep the listener's attention and to prevent loss of momentum. I was just pondering whether I'd done the right thing when I realized the pedal entry was due! 😄
Amazing performance!
Thank you! I just listened to your Bach 564 - also an amazing performance! 🙂
Brilliant! 👏👏👏🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷
I remember the sping tingling zap I had when I heard this performed for the B!S International Organ Festival. Mind blowing.
Bravo
Excelent Quality content
Sehr ansprechende Interpretation, gefällt mir!
🙌 Bravo 🙌
Exelente 👍
Супер! Фантастика!
One word ''Great''...
I commend you for your excellent performance.
Thank you. Appreciated!
wow! nice job.
🇮🇹❤️👌👏 ~ Magnifico brano, magnifica e perfetta interpretazione - Molto OK!!!
This beats everything! You get the cake! This takes me back about 30 years to a period when every day of my life for at least 6 or 7 years I would listen to a recording of this piece played by the great E Power Biggs on something called the pedal harpsichord. It is from a famous LP with the appropriate title of Bach on the Pedal Harpsichord. I think it is somewhere on TH-cam.I have to go look it up. Great great album and your rendition is worthy of it.
Now for Prelude and Fugue E minor, BWV 548! Let's see you do that one.
Yes Sir! Here's the fugue you requested...
J S Bach's BWV 548ii "Wedge" fugue in E minor: th-cam.com/video/7xlM2XQ586A/w-d-xo.html
I just posted it. It's from memory, like this BWV 542 here.
It may be a draft version or may be final. I haven't decided yet. I had a range of technical issues with the organ, making it impossible to play for 8 minutes without a glitch of some sort. Anyway, having done that recording, I know the piece impeccably well now, so I can easily do it again!
Thanks for your support. And the cake! 🙂
Here's a performance of BWV 548i (prelude) played by me in 2011 on a pipe organ in a local church in Sheffield. It was during my 20 years away from the organ - the director of music Ian Roberts was trying to coerce me back to it!
I'm playing it from the score unrehearsed having not played it since the mid 1980s, but nevertheless it's quite good I think. I hope to learn it again and post a TH-cam version played on my current organ setup sometime.
www.johnbladen.co.uk/ClassicalMusic/Media/Bach_Prelude_in_E_minor_BWV_548.mp3
@@JSB2500 Thanks so much for this. I just listened to it and actually downloaded it. It is such an, so to speak, empowering piece that I intend to listen to it while I do some breathing exercises I do mornings. I love this prelude "to pieces" and it is IMHO greater by half than the fugue attached to it and that is saying somethng. It is priceless to be able to play this music the way you do.
5:40
Fugue starts here.
I have been watching this video for months and use it also in the gym😊❤
John, the tremendous sound of your Yamaha piano is mind-blowing! Your organ-playing technique is superb! Your interpretation of Fantasia sounds... reasonably arguable for my ear, especially about tempo (for ex. 3:43 - 4:07) and rubato throughout the composition. I know that the interpretation of all kinds of music fantasia's is very subjective, especially in Baroque music.
Super!!
Thank you! Bach certainly did a good job of these two! 😀
I fell in love with the Fantasia when I first heard it, which I think was around 1981 on an LP record played by Karl Richter.
Genial. Buen invento y buena interpretación.
Muchas gracias. Agradezco mucho sus comentarios. 🙂
Magnificent, John! I play the piano of Liszt, Rachnaninoff, but never think I am able to add 2 foots on the additional keyboard.
On the pile of music on the left, right near the top is Rach 2. Further down, more Rach and also Liszt B minor Sonata. 😀
Would love to hear how you got possession of such an instrument and how it all works. Fabulous piece of music which you played beautifully. Well done!
Boom!
Wooooow bravo j'adore cette oeuvre de Bach ! Elle est si puissante et l'écouter avec un casque rend l'expérience encore plus puissante ! Imaginez Bach jouer cette oeuvre dans une église en faisant trembler les murs xD
A few years ago I had the idea of getting a keyboard, pedalboard and Hauptwerk and amusing/amazing myself in my declining years but unfortunately my health declined at an accelerated rate. There isn't any memory loss evident in your performances, and I hope Bach would appreciate the fact his works are widely loved and performed with new technology.
Hello organblower and thanks for popping by!
I started memorizing pieces around 2009 when I was worried about losing my eyesight. I figured that I could be happy if I had the pieces in my brain before I couldn't read the music anymore. Recently I found that Karl Richter did the same.
Incidentally, I learned to read organ music from Karl Richter: when I was around 15, I played his performance of Bach BWV 582 (Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor) over and over again very loud, following the score very carefully until I was satisfied I was correctly following all the parts. It took only around three hours! At age 16 I got an organist job playing cathedral Evensong every week, and also played once or twice a week St Alban's Cathedral. At that point I was learning an average of one big Bach Prelude or Fugue (542 543 544 548 etc) every week, with a total learn time of two weeks each. Crazy days!
That was in the1980s. I mostly stopped playing the organ 2000 to 2020, then started again when a friend gave me a pedalboard for my piano and coerced me into installing GrandOrgue, which I used here. If you want help with having something similar yourself, please ask me to see whether I can help you.
Anyway, over the lockdowns I committed many Bach P&Fs to memory. I like playing from memory - I think it creates a more immersive experience for the listener.
Currently I'm putting most of my effort into learning the violin (which I started Feb 2022 age nearly 54!).
Is it worth it? It is for me. I love it! I do worry that my brain will deteroriate before I finish learning everything I want to learn!
I had a close call last year - broken skull brain injury when I was hit on the back left of my head by a large piece of wood when I did an emergency stop in my car. My memory WAS affected then and I was very frightened, but I think it's recovering well. I'm memorizing Rachmaninoff's 2nd piano concerto at the moment to give it a challenge!
I hope you are managing OK. Where are you based?
> I hope Bach would appreciate the fact his works are widely loved and performed with new technology.
I think the exact same as you.
I used to play in cathedrals and the like, and I loved it, but more than anything else I want to get Bach's great music out to the world - and teach people everything I can about playing them - but whatever means.
Looks the same as my Yamaha, a rather old but still excellent CLP 170. I have often wondered if a pedalboard could be added. Looks like I have my answer. You are a genius.
Belle interprétation, beaux mollets !
If you like this, please click the "Like" button so that others get to hear it, and consider subscribing because I have many more similarly high calibre pieces in the pipeline...
Update: Here's one - The great Scherzo by Eugène Gigout! th-cam.com/video/wvdjNFg_RTg/w-d-xo.html
Дякую....💛💙
You played this purely from memory??? That's AMAZING!
👍 Thanks! I discovered a way to do it, based on things I learned from two concert pianists I know. Not only is it great to be free from the score and page turning, it's also an incredibly enjoyable process! 😀
First saw this on the International organ recital. This performance is of high professional standard. But I am also so impressed with the Virtual pipe organ set up using Grand Orgue software.
Thank you 🙂
The next BiS international online organ recital is this coming Friday 15th Dec starting 17:00-18:00 UTC. ~50 contributions.
I'll be playing Jonathan Scott's "A Christmas Fantasy" - and it'll be great! 😃 [I've recorded the performance already, so I know this for sure!]
See here for more details:
th-cam.com/users/beautyinsound
This is an AMAZING performance. Thank you!
Thiis is what I do not understand though:
Organ: Eisenbarth organ in St. Bartholomäus church, Friesach, Austria. ?? - what do you mean? Is this the sampling source?
Organ platform: GrandOrgue. ?? Is this the registration? From where? From the Yamaha keyboard?
Organ console: Yamaha CLP-280 with added 32 note pedalboard - this I get, because this is what I see :)
I'm asking all this, because I'd love to have such a keyboard set at home. :)
Anyone?
Where did you get that foot pedal board?!?! I am building a home organ and I am very impressed with your setup.
Hi Josiah - I'm trying to find out the pedalboard details for you. I was given it by a friend in Feb 2020 just before the first COVID lockdown - perfect timing!! I had a very happy time in 2020 learning literally dozens of Bach P&Fs etc as well as some wonderful orchestral arrangements by Jonathan Scott. Heaven!!
I think the person who gave it to me expected me to build a proper organ console to go with it, but I was impatient to get going (I'm a musician more than an organ builder!) so I just built something out of wood to raise the piano, and painted it with a special shiny black paint to match the piano. Having only one manual is a bit limiting and the organ bench falls forward easily (as it did at one point in the fugue 😅) because it's on carpet, but it's wonderful for me, having been away from the organ for around 20 years (since 1999).
I think the pedalboard was taken from a pipe organ - maybe Compton or Walker? - then someone added reed switches, magnets, and a commercial "switch array" to serial MIDI converter. I'll contact the friend who gave it to me to see whether he has anything more to add.
All the best with your musical endeavours!! 😀
Keep in touch.
Amazing! High quality home renditions of Bach’s organ works are near impossible to find. Whats your playing background?
Thanks Samuel! Regarding my background, I'm thinking how best to respond. Here's some information...
My main organ influences early on were Peter Hurford and Roger Carter. Later, Thomas Trotter, Stephen Darlington, Colin Walsh, Andrew Parnell (who, during my audition to play regularly at St Alban's Cathedral back in 1985, requested the quaver discipline I tried to enforce in the Fantasia here) and the candidates for the St Alban's IOF (International Organ Festival) in the 1980s, including Diane Belcher.
My main piano influence is Danny Driver; also Kaoru Bingham, Charles Owen, and Stephen Hough.
I say "influences" because I've had only a handful of lessons. They were mostly back in the mid 1980s when I was around 15. I started the organ at 14 having not played the piano beforehand.
I had so few lessons because my family could not afford it. (They couldn't afford a piano either, which was why I didn't learn the piano first, even though I desperately wanted to after hearing Roger Carter play when I was 5).
The organ lessons I had were with Roger Carter, unpaid. Some were ~3 hours long because I was learning so much I didn't want them to stop, so they overran by hours! I remember learning Bach 562 in 45 minutes and not overly liking it. Then we studied it for hours together and that was one of the memorable and wonderful experiences of my life. Roger took it from 20% to 100% power.
I had the most incredible 4 hour lesson with concert pianist Danny Driver in 2011, and I had a masterclass lesson with David Goode re Duruflé Fugue on Alain.
I learned to memorize, even huge pieces like piano concertos, from a combination of Kaoru Bingham and Danny Driver. I really like committing pieces to memory: it feels like a good investment!
In the absence of more lessons, I learned by listening carefully and studying carefully and watching carefully at close range (I did a lot of page turning at the cathedral) the great organists I listed above.
I play by internalizing the music, usually away from both the score and the keyboard, and then touching things up at the instrument. (I learned 542 for this performance largely in bed with an obstructed lung).
I play Bach by voices, not chords. For the pedal part in this fugue I pretty much told my feet to get on with playing the relevant theme. Playing by voice makes it easy for me to memorize the piece, perform it from memory, and makes it good for the listener too I believe.
I play very slowly to identify mental errors, and very fast to ensure there are none left. After that I play any speed I fancy. I DO NOT learn a piece slowly and then gradually speed it up. Although a commonly regurgitated method, I don't observe it working.
My approach is a mixture of understanding the piece, and learning how best to use my body. The latter includes optimising my hand shapes for minimal tension and maximum freedom and ease of movement. (That was important for my recent Gigout Scherzo recording).
I more or less gave up the organ 1999-2020 (I used to get called to play high profile Easter and Christmas services and I gave one recital, which was very successful). I started playing the organ again in Feb 2020, just before the lockdowns, when a friend gave me that pedalboard. I had a happy time memorizing Bach P&Fs and some Jonathan Scott orchestral arrangements. Me and my family also gave daily home concerts during the lockdown!
I have tons and tons of pieces I'd love to record, many of them Bach, but don't have much time!
Does that help?
@@JSB2500 Great info!
Could you recommend how to set up the hardware and software for organ simulation like what you have? If you could make a tutorial video about that it would be awesome.
Bravo, Maestro John! I would very much like you do Passacalia BVW582 and Prelude and fugue BWV546. Good luck & good health! 😊👍
Yes Sir! 🫡 🙂
@@JSB2500 Look forward!
Well done. you play great. question: how much does the organ cost? is the organ connected to a pc or not? Saluti. Stefano
Thank you. The setup details are in the video description. Yes, the keyboard and pedals connect to a PC using USB MIDI. GrandOrgue can be downloaded free of charge. The Friesach organ data is also free of charge, which is great because I love it! I didn't manage to find any other organs I liked though. Hauptwerk is the main software people use, but it's brutally expensive for individual use (as opposed to church / concert hall etc).
PEDAL PIANO which also serves as a one-manual organ and pedal! Very nicely done! The sound is excellent! Will I venture a guess with piano now an organ that the 3 pedals are toe lever's as on a tracker?
QUITE impressive. Must admit I can now think of several pieces from Bach that I wouldn't mind hearing on the pedal piano. Some have said Bach walked a lot (including 250 miles to hear Buxtehude play)- which gives rise to his ability or more to say enjoyment for long and extended tap-dance sessions on the organ's pedalboard. 😂😂 Though also as they are not today- the pedalboard back in Bach's time was also much wider for bigger feet. Having size 13 feet- I myself and others of similar nature find it a bit of a challenge sometimes to play the passage perfectly when Bach's feet went off on a tangent of their own. You've nailed it here- even and smooth!
When a friend gave me the pedalboard in Feb 2020 I was very impatient to get it working. I've no time or patience to be an organ builder!! So I bought some wood and black paint and had this Frankenstein Monster Organ working in no time! 😆
Then we had CV lockdowns so I memorized tons of Bach, having barely played the organ for twenty years. Perfect timing!
Feel free to request! 🙂
I've not managed to get the original piano pedals to do anything, sadly.
I started learning the violin a few months before recording this. I love it! It also completely transformed my organ technique - for the better. With the violin you have to attend to every single aspect (pitch, bow force, bow speed, etc, at every point along the note) of every single (stopped) note.
At the organ, I found my pedalling changing. My organ technique basically disappeared and is replaced by getting the music clear in my head, and my feet automatically sliding around by themselves doing stuff!
I can easily play bottom F# with my RIGHT foot, and bottom G# with my LEFT foot! 😆 Easy as anything. I don't think that's possible with normal organ technique.
I don't wear shoes now. (I used to). For me that would be like playing the violin with leather gardening gloves.
Without shoes, my feet can "read" the pedals. I don't position my feet carefully at all! My feet just read where they are and go from there.
My reason for writing all this?
Partly in case it helps you.
And partly because I suspect it's what Bach did too. Bach was a violinist too, and I suspect that's why he was so good at the pedals.
BTW Your large feet on the organ are like my large hands on the violin - definitely very cramped for me!
@@JSB2500 With amusement, I can relate with the pedalboard aspect- I'd want to get it working NOW as well and not have to wait- but kudos for your efforts- I frankly think this is the most economical and cost-effective Hauptwerk setup I've ever seen. But the reason I mentioned the pedal piano was also because aside from having hearing recordings of one on vinyl over the years- the amount of people who played organ works on a Pedal Harpsichord were what gave the idea. I can think of MANY of Bach's fugue's I'd like to hear on a pedal piano.
With regard to the weighted piano keys versus the touch of a typical organ keyboard- I can see the advantage it would mimick the heaviness of a tracker action with almost all couplers enabled as on a 250 year old organ. Even though there's the absence of switching back and forth between the positive and swell or coupling such- this truly IS the perfect practice instrument as it gives more time to concentrate on pedal technique, perhaps. Nonetheless- well played on one of my favorite fugues- and the sound reproduction is fabulous! I know few people who played with organ shoes (although it's considered proper)- I never have and the organists I knew only wore moccasins or house slippers. The only person I knew who had size 13 ft who wore shoes said to me, "It's truly a pain in the ass, quite often due to having large feet I continually have to play the pedals with my foot at an angle so I don't play the pedal next to the one I need...."
The absence of shoes DOES enable perhaps easier technique- and particularly chords as in your pedal-only version of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.
Regards from Duncan, British Columbia, Canada, Nigel
P.S. If you take requests- Bach's Prelude and Fugue from St. Anne in Eb, BVW552.
What a calf o.o
😮 Exciting! 🤭😄
I concur 😂
Звук достойный. Удивительно. И басовый регистр отлично звучит. Хочу такую ямаху себе!
Hi Audrey. The sound is produced by GrandOrgue software running on a PC (Linux or Windows). The organ sounds are special recordings of the individual pipes in a real organ (in Austria). The Yamaha is used only as a MIDI keyboard here - and actually not a good one because the action and keys have worn badly! See the Description above for more info. The GrandOrgue software and Friesach organ data used in this video are both free of charge. Good luck!
@@JSB2500 I understand. Very interesting information.
Thank you.
Top notch performance. And interesting equipment - you must have raised the Clavinova up in order to fit the pedalboard under the piano pedals.
Hi David. Thank you regarding your opinion on my performance. I had no idea that it would be so well received. I feared the worst actually! I loved the Fantasia when I first heard it in my teens, and then quickly learned it during my second year of playing the organ (which was before I played the piano, unusually). I played it at a big recital when I was 19, then barely looked at it for 35 years at which point a friend encouraged me to submit something for the April 2022 online BiS recital. It didn't take much work for me to memorize the Fantasia: just some key points in the two quiet sections and understanding what happens in the descending pedal scale section after the second quiet section. By nearly the end of the many hour recital, there was no mention at all of my performance, so I presumed they'd decided to drop it because it wasn't good enough.
In the event, it was almost right at the end - and was incredibly well received. I was truly overwhelmed by the very positive reception, both of the piece and my performance of the piece. It became evident that I'd lived in a musical vacuum for 35 years. In September 2022 I posted it here and it's been well received here too.
Just in case you want to know about my unusual music journey, see Samuel Taylor's comment. I've presented it there.
You are correct that I've raised the piano. I didn't initially but got backache learning forward too much. I simply used FreeCAD to design something around some nice planed wood from Wickes, bolted it together, and painted it black with a spray can of special paint that looks just like the piano when it dries (not that it matters).
I don't necessarily recommend any of this! I basically gave up the organ in 1999 and didn't intend ever to return. Then a friend gave me that pedalboard in 2020 and I didn't want to put too much effort into the setup in case I didn't end up using it. I also have marital and family constraints! Then the lockdown happened so I started memorizing Bach organ P&Fs with a sense of urgency, and also Jonathan Scott transcriptions.
I think Bach's music is amongst the very best things that humans have ever done, so I'm delighted to be able to do this to help keep it alive
I see that you are a pianist and composer. I've subscribed to your channel, and will listen when I find some WiFi. (I'm on PAYG data at the moment).
You were lucky being given a pedalboard. They are quite difficult to get hold of, unless you buy one new. I managed to get an old pipe organ pedalboard MIDIfied, which was cheaper than a whole new unit. But I never have time to really practice the organ. I agree that this is one of the greatest keyboard pieces ever written. Thanks for the sub!
Wish I lived next door!
😄 That particular recording was with headphones, but right now I'm not using headphones - to give my ears a break. I don't know what the neighbours hear or think!
There is something super cool about this video... Just can't put my finger on it.
SPIFFING!
More to come. Please subscribe!
Dear Mr. Bladen: Brilliant! Have you thought of paying more attention to articulation, and leaving more space between notes?
Hello Daniel
I've paid a huge amount of attention to articulation - that's why it's so good, and that's why people like it so much. With full organ, including trompettes en chamade and 32' pedal reed, the fugue would surely not have survived otherwise.
I've listened to this piece played by many organists over many decades, and I do not know of another that I prefer over this one. (If I did I would improve this one). Peter Hurford's performance comes second for me. All the many live performances I've heard, including by famous recitalists, have given me the sense that they were glad to have got through it.
Whereas I have an upbeat confident stretto at the end of the fugue!
Some are nonsense for me e.g. 50% staccato with no expression - a computer could easily do that.
In this recording session I was battling a very long latency (time from pressing a key or pedal to hearing it) - 80+ ms. That was caused by the virtual organ sound generation process. I actually knocked the tempo down two notches (8 bpm) right before this recording to cope with the latency. That's a big change, and I'm surprised I held the tempo so steady given that. Anyway, maybe that is something you are detecting.
BTW, if someone read your comment and then heard your 100% legato synthesizer performances, they might not take you seriously 😉. I was unable to listen to them.
BUT BUT BUT you play the flute! So do I. I love the flute. And I like your flute playing. Your Bach A minor, and more.
It was when I learned the flute that my organ playing changed. No more formulaic huge gaps between notes (particularly pedal notes) that seem right only to organists, and seem nonsense to orchestral musicians and non-musicians. I thought, when I read your message, that that was what you were asking for. Now I know you play the flute, without excessive articulation, I'm back to trying to work out what you mean. Do clarify if you want.
I play music like I speak to another person - in smooth long lines, with subtle modulations and articulations. (Incidentally, my speaking at the start of the video is not how I normally speak - that was a recital requirement and it was very strange for me!). That's how I like music to be.
I am inspired by young Alma Deutscher. I think she does the same: speaks the music. I think it is her super power, and how she learned so fast. It's how I learn fugues so fast: I just speak all the parts! I tell my feet to speak the subject and basically leave them to it. (I acquired that ability by learning the violin, BTW. I always wanted it!).
I was away from the organ for about twenty years, and this was my return - coerced by a friend. I played other instruments in that time away. My articulation did get tighter / slicker in that time. I think that is correct. No one speaks with huge gaps between syllables and words, and I think the same should apply to music.
And I'm pretty certain Bach wouldn't have inserted huge gaps when improvising. I think he would have used articulation to express what he's trying to say. Please see my Bach BWV 593 performances (Concerto 2 A minor) for how I do this. (All three movements).
I hope that helps you understand my expertise and strategy and position and how much thought I've put into it. If I've misunderstood your (very brief) point, feel free to clarify.
In terms of performance style and personality: I particularly like Ray Chen and Maxim Vengerov. Their playing always sounds human and passionate and extrovert to me, and not over-rehearsed. I understand you may have quite different preferences.
I hope we are still friends after all this. I very much believe that there is not one correct way to play this music. As I say in the pinned comment, my goal was to catch Bach's attention, not to be right!
All the best.
@@JSB2500 Dear John: First and foremost, you have to play as you see fit-no one has the right to tell you how to play. I did not mean to offend you. Incidentally, I think that you are one HELL of a musician. You sound very fine indeed. I agree that my MIDI realizations of my compositions are terrible-the organ pieces less so, but still not the magic of a live performance. I tried to do the best I could with what was available to me. Now, as regards articulation, I find that most organists are too much in love with the marvelous sonority of their instrument. This can become bothersome, especially in the usual reverberant spaces in which most organs are situated. I certainly do not espouse any mannered and prissy overuse of articulation. But the possibilities of expressive articulations are endless; and they can do much to clarify the lines and polyphony. I certainly agree that there is no one “correct” way of playing music. I too hope that we are still friends; and I look forward to hearing more of your work. With all best wishes, Dan.
where did you buy the 32 note pedalboard?
It was a gift to me. I'm told it was part of a Compton-Edwards Canzona organ (1976-1978) that was in a Freemason lodge and was sold on eBay for a small amount. The person who gave it to me added the MIDI interface using a "Midi Boutique" module.
I guess that getting one is a matter of keeping your eyes open and luck.
It seems dimensionally perfect to me, which I really like, unlike the ones on many smaller pipe organs. If you're going to get one, I recommend getting a dimensionally correct one.
Also see my reply to Josiah.
Good luck!!
John Bladen, How did you connect the pedal board to your electric keyboard and how did you get that pipe like sound?
this is amazing! how did you do the registration changes?
hi pianissimo...
The pipe organ manual has fewer keys than the piano keyboard, and doesn't include the bottom octave (and a bit) of the piano keyboard, so I use those keys to change the registration (white keys for generals and black keys for couplers).
I can also use two of the three piano pedals as registration decrementers and incrementers (through a list of stop configurations that can easily be configured from the PC).
Thanks for calling by, and for your question.
🙂
@@JSB2500 cool, i tried that with mine and it works! thank you for the help.
Wait where did you get the pedal board?
Weel played, congratulations, like me your version
what pedalboard is that? thank you sir
Hi! I'm told it was from a Compton-Edwards (Canzona model) electric (transistor) pipe organ. It was bought from eBay by a friend who later gave it to me Feb 2020. I hope that helps in some way!
32 note pedalboards in general tend to be quite expensive, but I guess high quality wood must be used, and a huge amount of work is involved.
This one in particular feels quite perfect to me. The action is a little noisy and I'm hoping to find a way to make it quieter. It already has felts and leather, which seems in good condition, so I don't know what else can be done.
Incidentally, I originally learned on a Compton-Makin pedalboard. That was dimensionally good, and the pedals were well shaped, but it had coil springs near the front (toe end) of the pedals and they were bad in the sense they caused muscle tension.
How did you set up the organ sounds and pedal board to the keyboards?
Hi Seph.
For the organ sounds, see GrandOrgue online. It's software that runs on Windows / Linux.
For the pedalboard connection, see my comment to a similar question on my video th-cam.com/video/GSiyh63piQg/w-d-xo.html.
Cheers.
What's your yamaha piano and how were you able to install an organ pedal board?
The Yamaha piano is not making the organ sound it all comes from the Grand Orgue software.
He could use any keyboard with a midi output and my Yamaha, Casio and Kawai keyboards all have it. Go to Hauptwerk hardware videos and look for “My Hauptwerk setup videos” where many show how they setup their system. Hauptwerk is the main provider of this computer technology but here he is using Grande Orgue which is free to download and has been sampled from a famous organ in Austria I believe. I hope to set up a system for a local church
Needs a stained glass window in the corner somewhere, to complete the ensemble.
Skip all sheet music. Play it the way you like it! Wonderful! By the way, you look younger than 54. Says an old man, already 78. Good luck to you in the future!
How can I get in touch directly, John?
Hi Guy! Email me using the address at the bottom of this webpage, then I'll send you my private email address for future use. Looking forward!
www.johnbladen.co.uk/ClassicalMusic/ClassicalMusic.htm
Nice calf muscles.
wow you look a lot younger than 54
Imagine bro stepping on a roach. He would push it clear the planet 🤣
can you show your midi pedal sistem?
Hola Javier! The pedalboard has reed switches that connect to a commercial board that outputs serial MIDI data. That goes to a serial MIDI to USB MIDI converter and then through a long USB cable to a PC running Ubuntu or Windows. That's it!
I'm using the Yamaha piano as a USB keyboard, connected to the computer by another long USB cable, and as an audio amplifier and speaker system.
The project started when I visited a friend from school, and he wanted me to have the pedalboard, which already had MIDI serial output. I didn't have an organ at home, so I added it to my piano to make this hybrid!
Hasta luego!
I live in Sheffield. Have we met?
IDK! Are you the John Silverton from Facebook FAO group, studied at Sheffield Uni and Lincolon Cathedral?
Senza spartito ???
Indeed!!
@@JSB2500 ..complimenti di cuore. ❤️
Just 1 Manual?
Yes, but...
The bottom key (A) resets the registration sequencer.
The bottom octave (C to B) white keys operate generals 1-7.
The bottom octave black keys operate couplers.
The left two foot pedals decrement and increment the registration sequencer.
The remainder of the keyboard can be assigned to one or more manuals in the original pipe organ. For example, four octaves could go to one manual, and the remaining keys could go to another (optionally transposed).
This is configured in the GrandOrgue application on the PC, which includes a picture of the original organ, which makes it quite easy to understand the overall picture.
Does that help?
Great. The only comment I'd make is: let us enjoy the harmony a bit more in the fantasia. ie highlight discords.... the fugue's a bit serious... so joined up. Give us some rhythm! ie articulation. Sounds like a story told with no teeth! Too smooth and gluey! But you hit the right notes at the right time. That's quite an achievement... really. All best wishes.
Those calves though
Those calves ! What is your routine?