[SACD-R][OF] Arp Schnitger Organ Norden: Agnes Luchterhandt - Thiemo Janssen. Vol. 1 & Vol.2 - 2005, 2008 (Classical)

Fortunately, Arp Schnitger (1648-1719), the most famous of North German organ builders, left a legacy of many fine instruments which have survived the depredations of time. The second largest extant is the one featured here, situated in the Ludgerikirche in Norden. Sympathetically restored, after a chequered history through wars and changes in fashion, by Ahrend between 1981-1985, the organ sections cluster about the corner of the chancel and the nave. It radiates sound in three directions; the Gothic choir space is filled with resonance from the Oberwerk and develops a cathedral sound, the Hauptwerk makes its mark in the transept, and the pedal tower is directed toward the Romanesque nave. The MDG recording engineers have made use of this spatial separation in their excellent recording, moving the microphones between the chancel and the nave to suit the music.
Rather than invite a famous guest artist for this recital, MDG have the husband and wife organists at the Ludgerikirche, who are also jointly charged with the care and maintenance of this precious instrument. They are thus uniquely qualified to know the organ's quirks and strengths, and to select stops and combinations of tone colours which work well together. Agnes Luchterhandt takes the first half of the programme and Thiemo Janssen the second part, and both clearly love taking this instrument for a drive to show it off to best advantage.
The programme is devised to display the organ's capabilities. Ahrend restored the original mean tone tuning of Schnitger, allowing it to play all the commonest major key triads with great purity of sound. But this would have limited it to music from around the period of its construction. Some compromises were, therefore, made in the refurbishment so that these later works, written in more remote keys, would also sound well. Apart from illustrating the power and fire of the departmental combinations, with sizzling mixtures, majestic reeds and strong pedal division, much of the music concentrates on the organ's delightful chamber aspect, with toothsome solo registers, such as magic flutes which float and gurgle, quietly noble diapasons and even chirping birds, as heard in the Buxtehude Canzona in C. Managing to avoid the hackneyed areas of the organ repertoire, there are some very fine pieces on display as well as the organ itself, deriving from Spain, England and the Netherlands as well as Germany. It is particularly good to have three Buxtehude works, in this year (2007) of the 300th anniversary of his death, and his brilliant and exciting Toccata in D minor - hardly less dramatic and thrilling than the famous one attributed to JS Bach - makes a fine ending to the recital.
MDG make a speciality of recording organ music, and their engineers therefore have great experience. The PCM recording is in their 2+2+2 speaker format, but works equally well in a 5.1 system. It portrays both the power and the intimacy of the organ and places it nicely in the church acoustic, so that the intriguing spatial separation of the divisions is readily apparent. There is a minimum of action noise, but some of the 'chuffs' forming the attack of the pipes is authentically preserved. There is plenty of bass for a subwoofer to work on, so there is no need to tie the cat down, as the deepest notes of the pedal department come from 16' pipes, rather than the 32' or even 64' pipes of later organs. A demonstration-worthy recording, therefore. It makes one want to immediately repeat some of the tracks to hear more of the galaxy of varied and delightful colours of the seemingly inexhaustible palette of this big Schnitger.
A very well-filled disc at 72 minutes, with excellent notes typical of MDG, including a history of the organ, its specifications and even the registrations used for each piece, enabling other organists to try similar schemes. Indispensable as a musical experience for organ fans, with sonics from both the instrument and the engineers to amaze any music lover.

The question of great sound is decisive, because any pipe organ’s tones, voices, choices of ranks and registers to be used for any particular work are always (I should say almost always) one of the major decisions organists have to make for the performance of any work. Composers of the 15th, 16th and 17th Century almost never went beyond basic black and white notation in their scoring. Just about all live and/or recorded realizations we now hear from organists are “solutions” of their own creation albeit based on the original score, but tailored to their organ’s capabilities - which are not always and everywhere the same. To wit, the composer composed the original tune and the organists are now in charge of realizing an interpretation that will somehow adhere to the composer’s original intentions within the limitations imposed by the unique characteristics of the organ to be used. The reality is that no two pipe organs anywhere in the world are exactly alike and composers have compensated for that by not scoring any desired registrations. However, things will change in time with the advent of modern symphonic organs beginning with the Cavaillé-Colls in mid 19th Century and the likes of César Franck; but that’s another story altogether.
Presently the two organists in this disc had to create their own solutions as far as the choosing of any particular registrations for each work recorded - we can find them notated in the accompanying booklet. It should be noted that these registrations, everything being equal, would only work for this particular Arp-Schnitger organ because they are tailored to it. For example, Bach’s F major Toccata and Fugue, BWV 540/1 (Track 5) is performed here as he intended originally with a long sustained F major note on the pedals from m.1 to m.54 (0:01 to 1:00) and the also long sustained c´ note from m.82 to m.136 (1:36 to 2:37); they are faithfully rendered which gives this piece the correct tonal character. This not-so-minor adherence to the original score speaks loudly about these two organists' musical integrity. In most live and recorded performances I have heard that f´ note is transposed to a c´ (C3) note unfortunately. I am very much for the come è scritto version if at all possible in everything, like in the present recording. It gives this piece a very special and authentic flavor obviously reflecting Bach intentions, and we must thank our organist (Ms. Luchterhandt) for her commitment to authenticity. This Arp-Schnitger organ is located at the Ludgerikerche in Norden (not far from Bremen and Hamburg) in Germany.
The Arp-Schnitger organ employed in this recording is an instrument that embodies in aural terms the image of the Baroque organ: lean, capable of great power, refined, agile, athletic and with a very fast mechanical action. Bach in his own time favored not only the Silberman organs but also these Arp-Schnitgers. Invariably these organs as far as I know were all pitched at A=480 Hz which makes for a brilliant and lively tone and timbre throughout all the organ ranks and MDG’s 2+2+2 marvelously and faithfully captures that very special sonority for greater sound impact and sonority. There is nothing dull about the sound in this disc and the clear fine playing of these two organists attests for the fact that one (or two) can make good without rattling the listening room’s windows and I like that - unless I decide that I am willing by raising the gain to rattle these windows!
Given the rank disposition of this Arp-Schnitger which beautifully lends itself to a stereo effect MDG’s 2+2+2 sound engineering aptly captured that division effect as well as the natural not too long reverberation of the church itself. This is a beautifully balanced recording horizontally and vertically (please remember MDG’s 2+2+2 six speakers 3D disposition). A good demonstration well beyond its obvious remarkable artistic merits of this 3D effect is Buxtehude’s Toccata in D minor, BuxWV 155 on Track 11; do not miss this track, raise the gain some 3 to 5 decibels and hear one of the most extreme examples of the so-called “stylus phantasticus” and especially the ending, beginning at about 6:20.
The 2+2+2 process was able to capture with this recording every detail of the music with great vividness achieving visceral impact and all the inherent drama in the aural dimension with subtlety, precision and energy. The two performers make this organ recording captivating and compelling, for a very satisfying set of performances. The formal outlines of the works are actually enhanced by one “great” organ and one “great” sound reproduction system – a great symbiosis – and they cannot be separated from each other.
Final words: this is one of the most honest, unpretentious, unostentatious approaches to organ keyboard and pedal-board I have heard in a long time. Sound perception reaches very high levels – a highly recommended disc.
John Nemaric
Final words: MDG's discs using 2+2+2 are truly 3D sound with the highest transparent instrumental sound image I have ever experienced, thus get my highest rating. My system, my listening room and my ears are no longer on trial, mission completed…successfully. By the way, MDG was never on trial…they are serious, very serious on everything they do and I believe that just about everything they do is to be relished.