Bach - Organ Works [Walcha] Organ works are not a genre that i particularly find extremely pleasing, in my mind it's actually hard to compose something really good in this genre, even in this recording, i find myself trying to plough through some of the movements, it's not an easy listen, but it's worth persevering.
Helmut Walcha was born in Germany in 1907, and died in 1991, he made these recordings between 1963-1965, a good broad selection, played on a Dutch organ, the booklet front cover is excellent, a very colourful piece of art [by Richard Paul Lohse], which takes on a new dimension if you view it from further away, colourful diamond squares and crosses appear.
On this listen i just love the Trio Sonata No1, it lasts roughly 13 minutes, fairly easy to digest, and it's the opening movement which has a glorious noble tune, and it's the use of the treble pipes which brings this piece to life, the opening is played mid keyboard fairly quietly [0:00-0:07], a nice low-key start, Bach gets a sort of Fugue going between the different hands, and nice complex work where the treble pipes really whistle away nicely [0:35-1:09], and right after the opening reappears [1:09-1:15], but this time much more up into the treble, a lovely restatement, there's a few moments where Walcha hits some very nice high pipes indeed [1:57+], and gets some nice squeaks from other pipes [2:03+], a complex enough piece which pays repeated listening.
Here's Helmut Walcha playing the opening movement of Trio Sonata No1 on YouTube.
I think Helmut Walcha was a true giant; he opens up a great deal of imagery in his playing.. but it does take repeated listening... thanks for your blog, Russell
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