Welcome to my new vlog. Again not from my study at home, but from the Waalse Kerk
(Walloon Church) in Amsterdam. You can see the beautiful Christian Müller organ of this church,
in an even older case. This church is very important to the
Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and choir. Here we recorded all of the Bach Cantatas,
and made all the Buxtehude recordings. And many other recordings, like the Haydn Symphonies. I recorded a lot of organ music here:
Bach, Buxtehude, earlier and later music. I have been here so many times.
This beautiful church feels like home. I made harpsichord recordings here as well.
The church has excellent acoustics, it feels great to be here. When I made the vlog about the chest organ, people asked:
when will you talk about the great organ? Since I'm recording here tomorrow, this makes a good opportunity to create a vlog about the great organ. This organ is from 1680, built by Nicolaas Langlez from Gent. But not much remains from Langlez,
just the case and some stops are original. Christian Müller built a new organ in the old case in 1732. Müller is the famous organ builder we know from the Bavo in Haarlem and the Great Church in Leeuwarden. This is a lesser known organ of his, but it's a gem. A splendid organ, in a church with little reverb,
quite dry acoustics that allow you to hear lots of details. So I thought this would be a nice place to make this vlog. The organ has two keyboards.
I will pull some stops to let you hear. You can hear how superb the stops sound.
This is one of my favourite organs. It's an ideal organ for Bach's music, but especially for Buxtehude. For Bach, you would like to have a little more power in the pedal. But this organ was not built to play Bach, it was built for the Walloon congregation, l'Église Walonne. It has been beautifully restored in the sixties. Jürgen Ahrend started the restoration in 1960, led by Gustav Leonhardt, who was the principal organist for many years. He took incredible care of this organ. It was really his organ. He also recorded some Bach with it. You can listen to Bach's D minor Toccata
played by Leonhardt on LP or CD. Some organs only have a one keyboard. As you can see, you have a lot of stops on both sides. There are also organs with four keyboards, two more. And with five, or even seven keyboards, although those are not such beautiful organs, meant for romantic music. For baroque music you never use more than five keyboards. These can be found mostly in Belgium and France,
on the organs where French music was played. The last two or three keyboards were only half keyboards,
a descant, here in the upper part. And here the keyboard was fixated with a piece of wood,
nothing happened there. A common organ had two keyboards and a pedal, like this one. Pedal. You can play with your feet just as well as with your hands. They say about Bach that at 55, he could play faster with his feet, than his colleagues with their hands. He was a great virtuoso. This undermines the problem of people saying French organists play much too fast. They say that about me too. That the organ should be played slowly and solemn,
because you are in church. That may be the case in the present time,
but it was not in Bach's time. Bach is known to have liked fast tempi, also in the cantatas.
And he loved variety. On an organ like this you can really show that,
because there's less reverb in this church. Unlike in many of the great churches, like in the Netherlands,
where there is a 6-7 second reverb in which a lot of details are lost, unless you are close. Who has the chance to sit next to the organist during a concert? Very few people. Christian Müller was a German organ builder,
who didn't belong to the students of Arp Schnitger. Arp Schnitger was the most famous German organ builder of the 18th century, together with Silbermann. Müller had a very distinctive style, a fierce tone,
which you hear also on this instrument. So he was no student of Schnitger, but he belonged to the Schnitger school. He built his instruments with the same remarkable style and sound, which you can hear with both Müller and Schnitger. This organ has a very high pitch, which is important to note. For the people who have absolute pitch, when I play: Someone with perfect pitch will here the organ is a semitone higher. It should sound like this: And here: This was very useful for congregational singing, but it was especially beneficial for the organ builder. Because the organ in a higher pitch, has shorter pipes. So this means less material, less organ metal. This was quite lucrative. Especially for the large pipes, like the 16-foot of 3-4 metres high, a semitone makes a big difference. If you want to hear the Langlez sound of this organ,
you have to hear this: Beautiful French reeds. On an organ you have flutes, you have the Prestant, which means 'stand in front' When you look up, you can see these pipes standing in front. These front pipes are called the Prestant. The Prestant sounds like this: The Prestant has friends. I add an octave higher. It's better to hear them separately.
This is the Prestant 8'. An octave higher, I play the same keys. And another octave higher. You can combine all of that. There also stops called Quint. When I play the Quint I play a bit lower, and combined. There a stops called Mixture. These stops sound multiple pipes for each note. Listen. Perhaps it's hard to hear for the untrained ear, but when I play: And now combined stops An octave lower. The same stops can be played on the other keyboard.
We use a coupler for that. When using the coupler at the harpsichord, the keyboard slides away.
On the organ the coupler is a stop. You can see the lower keys playing along. I can add more stops.
I have the same Prestant here. And this Prestant. Combined. All the former stops pulled together is what we call a Plenum. A rich sound. Now I add the same octaves, the same Mixture.
This sounds: To play the pedal you need to pull a few reeds. Then it sounds like this. Before showing the Reed stops, I want you to hear the flutes. On this organ the flutes are incredibly beautiful. On the principal organ, we have a beautiful Chimney Flute. The same flute, but now on the lower manual. It is very curious, but unlike every other organ,
this organ lacks a Flute 4' stop. A flute that would sound like: It's not here.
We do have a flute that is another octave higher. Splendid. Of course all these stops can be combined. This organ has a special special feature that is very beautiful. The Tierce, a combined stop.
When I play it seperately: High.
Now combined. Another special stop is the Quintadena.
I will first play it singly. Combined. Or like this. This is a reed stop, the Vox Humana, the human voice. There are much louder reed stops, like the Trumpet. An octave lower. Combined. Often you pull the extra octave, because it sounds better. You can mix them all together. Someone made the comparison with the chef from a star restaurant, sitting behind the organ with his chef's hat on, and each stop knob shows a dish, like turkey for example. As a real gourmand he chooses today's menu.
That's how you compose the organ's sound. César Franck said: l'Orgue c'est mon orchestre. For Franck, colouring with the organ stops was like a composer orchestrating with the whole palette of an orchestra. Very special. I just spoke about very large organs,
with up to seven keyboards. That is such a huge structure, it makes it impossible
for an organist to feel what he is actually doing. When I touch a key on this organ, I actually feel the pull opening a valve, and the wind blows through the pipe. I feel I'm opening something. When I pull more stops to open more pipes,
I feel the difference. Especially when they are from different keyboards.
It feels heavier. The good thing is that I really feel what I'm doing.
I am in direct contact with the pipe. You probably already understood that
organ registration is a matter of taste. You listen how the organ sounds best and these are
the combinations of stops you use. Sometimes in organ music,
the composer dictates the registration in the score. Sometimes, the presribed stops are lacking,
especially with smaller organs. Then you have to be creative, and find your own registration,
that works well for the organ. Often the organist has one or two people standing next to him,
to pull the stops. They are constantly busy, running around. I actually think the organist should register himself,
and that you shouldn't overdo the registration. When you play a beautiful organ,
it is nice to hear the same sound for longer. But of course variety is always important,
in each concert and with each instrument. When I was a young boy, I started playing the organ.
I started at 10, in a small chapel. It was a very small organ, and not a very good one,
but for me it was a delight to play on a real organ. The organ had a pedal, and I wanted to use it.
So I had to figure out how to play it. I had to slide from left to right to be able to reach it. My trousers wore out completely in 3-4 months. My mother didn't like that very much.
So I learned to reach the pedals with the toe of my shoes. To play like this. I have never learned to play toe-heel,
what is now common for most organists. So playing not only with the toes, but also the heel. I never learned to play in this manner.
I could play well with my toes, I never changed it. Even my organ teacher, Simon Jansen, never noticed during
our lessons that I played the pedal with only the toes. He found out only 2-3 weeks before my final exam,
and then told me to change it. I asked: Why? He said:
You can't you play like this! What will my colleagues say? But the great thing with the organ is, you are hidden,
no colleague can see you. So I sat behind the rückpositiv, and promised him that I would change my pedal playing, but only after my final exam. I didn't keep my promise.
I still play with the toes. Because I think you can play more rhythmic with the toes. Of course I'm not talking about Romantic music,
only about Early music. Moreover I discovered that in Bach's time,
they only played pedal with the toes. All of Bach's organ music can be played with the toes.
And it is much more rhythmical. Crossing over, that is a technique. It is a lot of fun and sporty to do. Your shoes have to suffer, but... c'est la vie!
It's just part of it. In earlier days you needed someone at the organ,
who took care of the wind. Nowadays we use a wind engine, very comfortable.
It's located outside the organ, because it is noisy. Now, you turn a key or press a button and you have wind. In earlier times there were human organ blowers,
they were called calcants. The larger organs, like for example
the great Schnitger organ in Zwolle, where the old bellows are still present,
and will be put back into use after the restauration, you needed at least 8 people to blow the organ. When the organist really wanted to go big,
and combine all four keyboards together, young men worked incredibly hard to raise the wind in the pipes. I once made a recording with a calcant,
a human making wind instead of an engine. And it really sounds different. It's an important thing,
but it's not a very practical way to play. Nowadays this is too expensive,
and you really work up a sweat to blow the organ. You might do this for a concert, once,
but not for studying. You can play the organ very loud to very soft,
but it requires a lot of activity. Like I said before,
I think the organist should registrate himself. Don't handle the organ stops like a little girl unable to choose which doll to play with, because she has too many. Find a nice sound and learn to play with that
for several minutes. Maybe even for 10 minutes.
If you can do that, you are a good organist. During a concert, you are often hidden behind the rückpositiv,
if there is one. People often don't applaud after an organ concert in a church. Sometimes you wonder: has the audience left? Did they like it? Or did they leave in silence?
It's a very strange feeling, being tucked away up there. As an organist you're in your own world, enjoying the instrument, hearing it better than anyone else. The organ was meant to improvise.
Johann Sebastian Bach was the greatest master at it. We know many stories about how he could improvise,
how he would improvise fugues. How he could improvise over a chorale
for half an hour... Brilliant. It is still taught in conservatories. The fragments I just played were also improvised,
non-existing pieces. Of course I could go on and on, but I need to end this vlog. I want to say two more things: As an organist you must enjoy playing.
Enjoy the organ and enjoy the music. And let your audience enjoy it as well.
The organist of often very isolated. Invisible to the audience, until after the concert.
That's a shame. And the other thing is:
Play the organ, don't let it play you. Some organists are very happy when
the organ sounds very loud. I remember how happy I was, as a 10 year old boy,
pulling all the stops of the Schnitger organ in Zwolle. A great experience, the sheer volume you can achieve. But stay master of the instrument.
Also when playing loud: articulate. Make music on the instrument.
Only then, the organ can regain it's place. Many people are afraid
there will be less interest in organ concerts. I think organists should have a lot of variety
in their programmes, and play in many different styles, mix loud and soft, emotional, slow pace,
bringing tears to your eyes, and moments of great joy,
where the organ is bursting at the seams. Enjoy! I hope many organists wil be doing that again. Thank you.
