Walcha's circa 1960 Bach Harpsichord Recordings.

The price is a scandal, and one of the sister EMI companies - say French EMI - should have the integral set out, and not just parts of it as at present!

These are great foundation stone performances. Not the only way and Walcha's playing style is not quite what we would get from the newer recordings from Pinnock and other great current luminaries, but I find them breath-taking in their depth and strength of purpose!

ATB from George

George, I am having trouble finding any Walcha Bach WTC harpsichord in my preferred mp3 download. This one from 1954 with Landowska is available at amazon,com for 16.99 US for 2 discs (256k mp3) and the amazon comments are favorable - any comments on this particular one ?

Dear Jeff,

Please don't.

Landowska pioneered the harpsichord revival and was a great and forceful character as well as being a splendid musician, but the harpsichords she used are simply horrible. The whole restoration of the harpsichord to its rightful place as the keyboard of choice for Bach was almost still-born because of the horrid sound of the recordings of Landowska's instrument.

The instruments she used were specially made for her by the great French piano maker, Pleyel, and the bear little relation to the old baroque harpsichord. They have a massive clangorous sound, made worse on those old recordings by the adoption of very close microphone technique.

It would likely as not finish you off, and send you back to the piano!

I think that you may be forced to buy CDs of the Walcha set as French EMI has not yet made it available as an MP3 download, as far as I know.

ATB from George

quote:

Originally posted by GFFJ:
Dear Jeff,

Please don't.

I think that you may be forced to buy CDs of the Walcha set as French EMI has not yet made it available as an MP3 download, as far as I know.

ATB from George

Okay, I won't.

Can I impose on you for a link to your referral at EMI France - I got nowhere trying to dig that up from the google results I got.

Thanks for your guidance
Jeff A

http://www.amazon.fr/Bach-Clav...id=1262765439&sr=1-1

Unfortunately this can't be had from Amazon.co.uk just now but this brand new re-release will soon appear on the uk version of Amazon again no doubt. Good luck with the hunt. It will be worth it.

ATB from George

Hi George,
Thanks for the heads up. I going to try to order this EMI 5 disc set. It is another long-standing item on the top of my wish list for some time but I just wasn't sure how to get a hold of this one. With my pocket French guide I hope I get what I think I'm ordering....

I was also wondering if you can help me with the following:


I have both of Walcha's Mono and Stereo sets from Archiv Produktion for the Organ Works but would you know if these are just repackaged (from either the mono or stereo set?). This set is certainly cheap compared to what I paid for the Archiv sets.

Thanks for your help on this.
Doug

This is the Mono set issued by an independant company because the copyright has lapsed by now.

Pe zulu has this particular issue and commented to me that the sound has slightly more bass weight, and there is a hint of added reverberation compared to the [very straightforwardly transferred] DG Archive issues of the same recordings. These are incredibly clear and of very high quality and all the more surprising given the recording dates. They accurately portray the organs recorded in a slightly "warts and all" way, which is no disadvantage in my view when it make the musical lines so easy to follow.

His view was that these mastering details in the independant issue are a good thing, whereas I think the official DG issue which is currently out on a 10 CD set in the "Original Masters" series is more less ideal! [I prefer them to the stereo remakes in most cases, though I shall get the stereo set eventually]. The Original Masters DG set is more expensive, and so you have the choice!

The recordings are of the same performances, but the ordering on the discs is apparently somewhat different, but that is not important.

ATB from George

The French EMI set of Helmut Walcha playing the Well Tempered Clavier, The Goldberg Variations, and the Two and Three Part Inventions arrived today.

This has exceeded expectations even though none of the recordings are new to me. The CDs are far better than the old LPs!

Soon should arrive the Japanese EMI Toshiba CD of the Italian Concerto [etc]. It is fascinating how the complete absence of quiver on the notes is such a massive improvement in rendering the timbre of the Harpsichord.

The performances are released from a whole layer of LP inspired distortion! So they take flight as if the instrument and player were sharing the room with you! Wonderful!

ATB from George

quote:

Originally posted by GFFJ:
http://www.amazon.fr/Bach-Clav...id=1262765439&sr=1-1

Unfortunately this can't be had from Amazon.co.uk just now but this brand new re-release will soon appear on the uk version of Amazon again no doubt. Good luck with the hunt. It will be worth it.

ATB from George

Only one left unless you go beyond the Amazon

£18.09 - so a nice price for the new issue, and just less thn half what I paid for the last of the older issue.

It is probably not a remastering at that price, but the digital master is a masterpiece in any case!

Anyone who cares for Bach's solo keyboard music diserves to hear Walcha's recordings and the price is a marvel as well!

ATB from George

quote:

Originally posted by GFFJ:
£18.09 - so a nice price for the new issue, and just less thn half what I paid for the last

£9.01 from the marketplace sellers so even better value.

Only a matter of time before I succumb. I hate this forum!

Hehehehehe! [Evil cackling ....].

Duly ordered, 10 quid. Thanks George, I love this Forum!

I have this rather battered bit of vinyl which I play fairly regularly -



Landowska plays Bach's Partita in C Minor, Capriccio on the Departure of his beloved Brother, Fantasia in C Minor & J.K.F. Fischer "Passacaglia in D Minor.

This is now the only playable bit of harpsichord music I possess so I'll be interested to hear the difference with Walcha.

Best wishes!

Dear Tony,

Expect the harpsichord to be a good deal more gentle than Landowska's for a start!

And Walcha was totally blind [from his teens] and somehow he connects with the music in a way that is very special, even serene, which is not to suggest his playing lacks energy. Quite the reverse, his music making often dances with a wonderful lift and swing.

May I suggest you start with the Goldberg Variations, and you will find something very special indeed IMHO.

ATB from George

Well the Italian Concerto, The French Overture [a full blown suite like the Partitas in emotional sweep and structure], and the Chromatic Fantasy has arrived in the Toshiba [Japanese EMI] issued CD.

The quality is as in the French EMI album of the Well Tempered Clavier, the Goldbergs, and the Inventions set discussed above - top-flight.

Both are using the most recent ART [Abbey Road Technology] London made restoration.

That asside these are glorious performances, though the disc, £42, is the most expensive CD have ever bought!

There are five more in the Japanese series that I want, and I have them marked at Amazon on my so called wish list! They cover the French Suites, the English Suites and the Partitas, six of each ...

Intersting that iTunes/Gracenote got the titles right without the need to change or adjust any details at all.

ATB from George

quote:

Originally posted by GFFJ:
Well the Italian Concerto, The French Overture [a full blown suite like the Partitas in emotional sweep and structure], and the Chromatic Fantasy has arrived in the Toshiba [Japanese EMI] issued CD.

That asside these are glorious performances, though the disc, £42, is the most expensive CD have ever bought!

Prompted by your post here, I have recently acquired this very CD from Amazon.uk, but I did not pay more than
ca. 20 £ for it.

Did Helmut Walcha have Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080 recorded on harpsichord?

...or piano?

I know his organ version is up there with the best

Debs

Dear Debs,

It is quite strange, because Walcha's attitude to the Art Of fugue changed over the years.

At first Walcha did not think that the AOF should be performed on the organ, and his first mono integral [1947-53] series of Bach organ recordings reflected this by not including it. By 1956 he had become convinced of the AOF's viability on the organ and so his recording was made at that time in superlative early stereo. And I think that it is fair to say the recording still holds its place today, both tehnically and artistically.

There are other great versions on the organ, and of course some people would rather that the music on the harpsichord, or even arranged for an ensemble of instruments such as the arrangements used by Munchinger on the Decca recording.

There are many approaches to it really.

ATB from George

Dear George

I believe it's undeniable ability to be performed by so many different ensembles is part of what makes AoF such a great masterpiece, and would bet JSB would be ecstatic with pleasure over the wide range of versions that has become available to us today.
Walcha's 5 disc EMI set is superb imo, listened to all of them 3 times now ...but shame no Walcha AoF, and no recording of this available by Walcha on harpsichord? : (

I have recently acquired a 10 x LP box-set of JSB harpsichord works by Isolde Ahlgrimm. It's starts off with the hairiest AoF i've heard so far, a 1956 version, strangely unpredictable, aggressive at times (for a poor old harpsichord), but technically interesting all the same.
But her W-TC book 1 und 2 (1954 recordings) is a sheer delight imho, so full of character, sounds that reach out and stimulates the attention, difficult to stop listening after a few bars.
It was also astonishing for me to hear such wonderful bass resolution coming from a very old harpsichord, although i think the analogous quality of the lp format helped a lot with that outcome ; )

She is now my present subject of interest and research, and have just ordered a couple of Ahlgrimm cd’s and eagerly await their arrival : >

kindest regards

Debs

Dear Debs,

Walcha seems to have viewed the AOF as something almost too great [for him!] to perform, but eventually he built up the courage. He went on to write a completion of the unfinished fugue [Contrapunctus 19] which is at least fascinating in illuminating his understanding of Bach's counterpoint. As far as I know, once he started to perform it on the organ he never considered it for his harpsichord performances [or recordings].

It is quite something how clear the lower register of old harpsichords can be.

One pair of superb harpsichords captured in fine modern recordings is to be found on Hogwood's recordings for Decca of Bach's French Suites. I have these, and they are very special, IMHO.

For me this was cold and severe in a way that defied enjoyment, in spite of a beautifully recorded harpsichord. Then I got the "orchestral set" from Munchinger, and am saving up to get the Walcha organ set in the big stereo integral, which is about 14 CDs of the almost complete organ music. Walcha never quite saw fit to bring every organ piece by Bach or attributed to him into his repertoire!

I have a good aquaintance with Walcha's AOF recording and it is available separately as well as in the big stereo organ integral set.

Please do keep us posted about how you get on with Isolde Ahlgrimm.

ATB from George

For me this was cold and severe in a way that defied enjoyment, in spite of a beautifully recorded harpsichord. Then I got the "orchestral set" from Munchinger, and am saving up to get the Walcha organ set in the big stereo integral, which is about 14 CDs of the almost complete organ music. Walcha never quite saw fit to bring every organ piece by Bach or attributed to him into his repertoire!

Oh dear! I should have made more sense than that!

I meant with respect to the first sentence, that I used to have Davitt Moroney's Harmonia Mundi set of the Art Of Fugue. It was a splendid recording, but ... for me this was cold and severe in a way that defied enjoyment, in spite of a beautifully recorded harpsichord.

What I posted to say is that I cannot get over the phenomenal performance of the Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue played by Walcha on the Japanese EMI Toshiba CD mentioned earlier. Simply so fine and compelling. I don't think Walcha was on quite such fine form in the Italian Concerto, but the Fantasy and Fugue is worth the disc's price on its own! And you get the French Overture as superb make-weight.

Rarely does such a piece known so well to me [and in a recording I thought I knew well enough from LP] make such a great and renewed impact. The CD transfer is a revealtion in its presentation of the connection with the emotional weight and swing of the original performance.

This is a likely candidate for my CD of the year even only in January! Well unless the set of Partitas comes my way. They are splendid as well and if the CD transfers are as fine as this one, I shall be in for musical feast to say the least! I don't often get excited about recorded music, but here is an example. Best thing since those live Beethoven Symphonies with Klemperer at the Royal Festival Hall [from BBC broadcast tapes on Testament].

Tremendous!!!

ATB from George

Hi George,
Some more harpsichord vinyl arrived in the post yesterday, cleaned up nice and plays very well. The HMV Baroque Library (no.7) Walcha W-TC book 1 - Preludes and Fugues nos.1-12 (stereo) and i think the same recordings as on the EMI box-set if i'm not mistaken(?) A strange sense of it being different in feel but more or less as enjoyable (to me) as the cd format... somewhere in my LP collection i also have another HMV Baroque Library (no.8) which continues the W-TC book 1 Preludes and Fugues from 13-24 ~ but this one in mono.

Another LP which cleaned up in mint condition is JSB concertos for 2 and 3 harpsichords BWV.1060, 1062, 1064 with Isolde Ahlgrimm, Hans Pischner and Zuzana Ruzickova. Kurt Redel conducts the Dresden State Orchestra...
I'll listen to this (from the comfy-chair) later this evening when the mood takes me : )

Another LP i listened to a few days ago... on Archiv Produktion, JSB various W-TC again, this time with Ralph Kirkpatrick recordings from 1959-1969. imho this may have that cold and severe sound you speak of(?), or maybe i have been spoilt by hearing too much Walcha!

On order i have a Philips 2 x LP box-set JSB 6 Sonatas Walcha/Szeryng, don't really know what to expect here but i feel excited, and just hope they are in the near mint condition as described.

best regards ~
Debs

In a fit of enthusiasm I have just ordered [from Amazon.UK] the Bach organ cycle recorded by Marie Claire Alain.

I used to have access to the LPs and at only £37 plus postage for the CDs this should not be missed!

ATB from George

Careful George,

those fits of enthusiasm can be expensive! ; )

However, i don't think you'll be disappointed when your cd's arrive.

I have just looked on You Tube and found this fascinating video!

Debs