E. Power Biggs (1906-1977)
santiago538
from Sony, does anyone here have any hope there might be a bicentenary one?
Paul Ilechko
> Since his birthday has already come and gone, with no centenary box set
> from Sony, does anyone here have any hope there might be a bicentenary one?
Does anyone hear expect to be alive to hear it if there is? Who's
betting their kids' inheritance on cryonics ?
santiago538
That was my point: will our posterity be able to enjoy what was
evidently denied us?
William Sommerwerck
> with no centenary box set from Sony...
Good point, as the Japanese are nuts about "big collections o' everything".
You might celebrate by purchasing the SACD of EPB playing the four
antiphonal organs at Freiburg. (There was a second album in this series that
has not been reissued.) It's one of a mere handful of classical SACDs with
full surround (ie, direct sounds in the rear channels).
Yes, I have the SQ LPs of these albums.
jwl...@yahoo.com
of the more disgraceful moments in the history of recording. I know of
no better sounding organ on record -- unfortunately it has been
revoiced since the LP.
Joel Warren Lidz
david...@hotmail.com
including the Mozart, available from
http://www.haydnhouse.com/home.htm. The transfers are from lps that
are in good condition, and to me they sound excellent.
David Enos
santiago538
I already have the CD and a friend has the SACD, which I listened to on
his system. I can say, the sound has been much improved, but the way it
was recorded, it sounds like 4 monophonic recordings of each of the
organs. I don't know how the original was mic'd, but listening to it
would be a much more satisfying experience if it were remixed with, say
the rightmost microphone for the Nave Organ being added to the speaker
immediately clockwise from the one the current mix plays on.
John
If one doesn't have SACD, the stereo version of the above is available
as SK 92769, part of Sony's Great Performances series (the one with the
butt-ugly covers and skimpy liner notes, not the recently relaunced
series with original LP covers). There was also an earlier CD, part of
CBS's informal "Artist Signature" series, with additional material (not
from the second antiphonal LP, however) which may no longer be
available.
Trivia: due to mechanical limitations, the Q8 cartridge of the original
released deleted the Adagio from BWV 564. (The Q8 cartridge was limited
to about 50 minutes, the LP ran 53 1/2 minutes.)
John
John wrote:
> If one doesn't have SACD, the stereo version of the above is available
> as SK 92769, part of Sony's Great Performances series (the one with the
> butt-ugly covers and skimpy liner notes, not the recently relaunced
> series with original LP covers). There was also an earlier CD, part of
> CBS's informal "Artist Signature" series, with additional material (not
> from the second antiphonal LP, however) which may no longer be
> available.
>
selections (not recorded on the antiphonal organs) are:
Chorale Prelude: Wir glauben all' en einen Gott, Schvpfer, BWV 680
Chorale Prelude: Jesu, meine Freude, BWV 753
Fantasy in G Major, BWV 572
William Sommerwerck
> I listened to on his system. I can say, the sound has been
> much improved, but the way it was recorded, it sounds like
> 4 monophonic recordings of each of the organs.
Which is pretty much what it is, unfortunately.
> I don't know how the original was mic'd, but listening to
> it would be a much more satisfying experience if it were
> remixed with, say the rightmost microphone for the Nave
> Organ being added to the speaker immediately clockwise
> from the one the current mix plays on.
I expect they didn't have much time for experimentation, and did it "quick
'n dirty".
Given enough recording channels, they could have laid down mono and stereo
tracks of each organ, plus ambience-only channels.
Perhaps some day someone will make a similar recording, and do it in a more
acoustically sophisticated manner.
jwl...@yahoo.com
> There are some very nice cd transfers of a number of Biggs recordings,
> including the Mozart, available from
> http://www.haydnhouse.com/home.htm.
I agree. I bought the Mozart and the sound is great. Still, Biggs has
not been done justice by Sony.
Joel Warren Lidz
Handel8
I guess for me the question is: Is or was EPB that good an organist or
was he just very good at popularizing the instrument(and himself) in
the 1950s and 60s ? My feeling is that his playing does not hoild up
well with the passage of time. There are much better organists out
there now, many of them. As one example I can site, EPG's Handel organ
concerti recordings do not hold up well at all. While recorded with an
organ that Handel had some business designing or playing (I forget) in
Aldburgh (sic), I think it was, the performances are really not very
good. Any number of recordings since just are vastly superior_
Koopman, Chorzempa, etc. My favorite is Chorzempa now on Pentatone,
but others may like Pinnock or others. Any of them is better than E
Power Biggs. I don't denigrate the man's contribution and recorded
legacy, but one has to keep things in perspective.
Alan Prichard
William Sommerwerck
> an organist or was he just very good at popularizing the
> instrument(and himself) in the 1950s and 60s?
Perhaps the issue is that EPB was not a show-off. I was never particularly
wowed -- or disappointed -- with his performances.
Perhaps, also, the organ is an instrument that tends to be "under-played" or
"over-played" by overly modest or flamboyant players.
I've been meaning to post a brief review of the Chapuis Bach cycle. To make
a long story short -- very conservative performances. Not once, throughout
the entire set, does he ever "let go". There's nothing bad about any of
these performances -- but he too often misses the musical and emotional
points.
jwl...@yahoo.com
considers him "very conservative." Many of his registrations are not in
the least conservative. I would prefer to reserve the title of "very
conservative" for someone like Walcha. I find Chapuis to be quite a
spontaneous player whose love of playing is palpable. As for "letting
go," there's Anthony Newman who does nothing but let go, and the only
other case that comes to mind of an organist letting go is Karl Richter
in the Wedge fugue. Then again, we may be operating with different
notions of letting go...
Joel Warren Lidz
Richard Loeb
news:1152372912....@m73g2000cwd.googlegroups.com...
Richard
William Sommerwerck
> considers him "very conservative." Many of his registrations are not in
> the least conservative. I would prefer to reserve the title of "very
> conservative" for someone like Walcha. I find Chapuis to be quite a
> spontaneous player whose love of playing is palpable. As for "letting
> go," there's Anthony Newman who does nothing but let go, and the only
> other case that comes to mind of an organist letting go is Karl Richter
> in the Wedge fugue. Then again, we may be operating with different
> notions of letting go...
I won't argue about Anthony Newman! But I'd rather hear someone "overdo"
Bach, than play his compositions as if they were historical relics that had
not to be merely venerated, but worshipped. Not only was Bach deeply
religious, but he also -- how should I put this? -- enjoyed the pleasures of
the bed.
A good example of Chapuis missing the point is BWV 578, the Fugue in g
(V4413, track 6). This is a piece that moves, in three minutes, from the
trivial to the profound, the quotidian to the transcendental. Chapuis misses
it. Utterly. Almost everyone else "gets it". Chapuis' BMV 577, the fugue in
G ("jig") (V4424, track 24), does not incite in me a desire to get down and
boogie. Furthermore, his registration is much too "monophonic" -- Fox and
Newman would have the voices bouncing left and right.
Throughout Chapuis' performances, I hear nothing profound, insightful, or
just plain FUN.
William Sommerwerck
>> I've been meaning to post a brief review of the Chapuis Bach cycle.
>> To make a long story short -- very conservative performances.
>> Not once, throughout the entire set, does he ever "let go". There's
>> nothing bad about any of these performances -- but he too often
>> misses the musical and emotional points.
> I agree [with the other poster] -- Chapuis is the one I always go back
> to -- very alive and dramatic. -- Richard
This is an excellent example of why people shouldn't argue about musical
opinions, just express them. De gustibus...
jwl...@yahoo.com
William Sommerwerck wrote:
> Throughout Chapuis' performances, I hear nothing profound, insightful, or
> just plain FUN.
This proves beyond any question that different people hear things
differently, as well as have different tastes. That's why they make
vanilla and tutti frutti.
Joel
alanwa...@aol.com
I disagree about Mr Biggs. I have a lot of his LPs and I actually
treasure the Handel concerti although I may be in a minority with this.
The instrument itself is not "big" and Sir Adrian Boult's orchestra
was very pared down and I like the balanced dialogue between the two of
them. For a time the recordings (mine are on Odyssey think) were
exceptionally good I still play them a lot and get a lot of pleasure
from them. These did make it to CD but I believe is now deleted again.
It was not Aldeburgh - it was Great Packington, Warwickshire. The
church has no electricity (still doesn't) and generator cables had to
be laid two miles across farm fields to the church. Mr Biggs and Sir
Adrian were domiciled throughout in the local pub and got on
marvellously! Just as well! The LPO had slightly more up market
accommodation in a hotel about 10 miles away.
The organ itself was virtually restored for the occasion by Noel
Mander. The first thing Noel had to do was correct the pitch which was
all over the place.
Another fine record was Heroic Music for Brass and Percussion with Vic
Firth and Arthur Press, Boston percussion.
I may also be alone in saying that in organ performances it is the
instrument which matters to me far more than the player. If I do not
like the sound of the instrument - or the available registrations and
voices - it won't matter *who* is playing it.
Conversely if I *love* the sound it can be anyone at the keyboard.
Obscure "loves" in no particular order include Blackburn Cathedral,
England, the Metropolitan Hall, Liverpool, the "Handel" organ at Great
Packington, Tyn Church, Prague, St Simon and Juda, Prague (this is the
one Mozart played - wonderful sound), and the Compenius organ at
Fredericksborg Castle, Denmark.
The Fredericksborg I believe a somewhat acquired taste:):) You can
hear every clatter of the keyboard as it huffs, puffs and chuffs
through Dowland, Scheidt, Geist, the prolific Mr Anonymous et al with a
flute stop which is timorously wonderful and sounds somewhat fragile
but when the Battalia stops are used it all sounds rather delightfully
vulgar. What a great instrument!
I know people who can't stand more than a few minutes of this
instrument. I could listen to it for hours. I suppose it is HIP in a
way - with all it's noisy deficiencies that is how they would have
heard the music played, then and now.
I even went there on holiday just to listen to it live. We had a
wonderful time in a very beautiful country but after attending said
recital I said to my wife: "Wasn't that wonderful?" and she remarked,
after a pause, "Ermmm....well it was different, yes."
Kind regards,
Alan M. Watkins
On organ discussion groups it is *definitely* an acquired taste!
jwl...@yahoo.com
joel
JohnGavin
The charm of E. Power Biggs was a rather self-effacing quality and a
passion for clarity in recording techniques and instruments. His
interpretation of some of the landmarks in Bach's work still remain for
me the best. I've never heard a recording of the big Prelude and Fugue
in B minor, Passacaglia and Fugue, Schubler Chorales and a number of
others that I've liked more than Biggs. Also, he turned me on to
Flentrop organs and for my taste, they are the world's greatest bar
none. The next Biggs album I would like to see on CD, (transferred
with excellent fidelity) is the French Organ Music LP. Biggs has a
decidedly baroque take on these works by Franck, Alain, Widor etc, but
I like it anyway - you'll never hear their textures rendered more
transparently.
jwl...@yahoo.com
performances, as I found the action somewhat difficult. I much
preferred playing the Fisk organ at Harvard's Memorial Church, which
comes much closer to a true Baroque sounding instrument. Fisk
(http://www.cbfisk.com/welcome.html) was a true master builder who
learned his trade by listening to Europe's great instruments. I've
never played better organs in this country.
Joel
JohnGavin
Did Harvard maintain the Flentrop well after Biggs' death? Anything
mechanical and complex needs of course to be kept well lubricated and
maintained. I've heard the organ at Memorial - not even close for me.
Flentrops have that wonderful focus without harshness, the crystal
clarity - well each to his own - I still vastly prefer the Flentrop
sound to any other. What ruins many baroque trackers for me is the
unbearable harshness of sound - whether or not that is considered
authentic, I don't see it as a positive.
ron...@usa.net
That's two of us for the French Organ Music. I learned most of these
works from this LP, and I still love it. I've looked for a used copy of
the open-reel tape for years (unsuccessfully), figuring it would have
better sonics than the LP -- a Sony CD would be ideal!
Ron Whitaker
JohnGavin
ron...@usa.net wrote:
>
> That's two of us for the French Organ Music. I learned most of these
> works from this LP, and I still love it. I've looked for a used copy of
> the open-reel tape for years (unsuccessfully), figuring it would have
> better sonics than the LP -- a Sony CD would be ideal!
>
> Ron Whitaker
It's a pretty spectacular recording for it's time - great stereo
seperation. His rendition of Franck's Piece Heroique might be a bit
baroque, but it's so transparent you could take dictation from it!
Also, I've never heard Alain's Litanies played better than Biggs'
performance.
ron...@usa.net
Again, I agree. The Alain is an amazing work, and even though I
imprinted on the Biggs, every other performance I've heard has paled
besides Biggs!
John Harrington
Within five to ten years there will be a place on the internet where
you can download a zip file (or whatver the standard will be by then)
of every recording ever made. And the download will take less than two
hours and represent less than 20% of your hard drive.
J
JohnGavin
One thing that always caught my ear in the Alain was the way Biggs
manages to put accents into the main theme, much the way a pianist
would accent a note. I can see being able to do that on a tracker
organ, but I don't think that organ was a tracker!
Hank
<jwl...@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:1152382282....@p79g2000cwp.googlegroups.com...
>A book Biggs fans would enjoy -- and at a mere 40 cents!
>
> http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1586482629/qid=1152382147/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/002-5720715-3815239?s=books&v=glance&n=283155
>
> joel
>
A wonderful book. Highly recommended. Also read The Life and Times of
Ernest M. Skinner by Dorothy Holden which mentions Biggs'
involvement with G. Donald Harrison in the organ reform movement.
Hank
Hank
"JohnGavin" <dag...@comcast.net> wrote in message news:1152459261.8...@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
Does anyone recall which organ that was?
Hank
>
JohnGavin
perhaps?
david...@hotmail.com
tracker.
David
Terry Simmons
wrote:
> Since his birthday has already come and gone, with no centenary box set
> from Sony, does anyone here have any hope there might be a bicentenary one?
I really wish Sony would re-release the two-record set of Bach, played on the
various Arp Schnitger organs in Holland and North Germany. This was a lovely
set, beautifully recorded and presented.
--
Cheers!
Terry
Curtis Croulet
> the
> various Arp Schnitger organs in Holland and North Germany. This was a
> lovely
> set, beautifully recorded and presented.
You mean "The Golden Age of the Organ?" That set was magnificent.
--
Curtis Croulet
Temecula, California
33°27'59"N, 117°05'53"W
jwl...@yahoo.com
> I really wish Sony would re-release the two-record set of Bach, played on the
> various Arp Schnitger organs in Holland and North Germany. This was a lovely
> set, beautifully recorded and presented.
>
You can get it here for $20
http://www.haydnhouse.com/home.htm
click on organ loft
Joel
David
Way back when I was an undergraduate, I bought a number of EPB's LPs--I
think I need to listen again to the Bach series. I'd like to see on CD his
recordings of the Rheinberger concertos and the "Music for Organ, Brass and
Percussion" collection that was issued as an SQ LP. And there's "Music for a
Merry Christmas"--I was lucky enough to get that one on reel-to-reel
tape--it sounds quite a bit better than the LP. Let's see--some other LPs I
have: "Music for Organ and Orchestra" (Strauss, Barber, and Poulenc)--the
only example I know of Biggs playing an electronic organ; the recording of
organs of Spain and Portugal--my first exposure to trompettes en chamade; a
record of Buxtehude; "The Golden Age of the Organ"--a 2-record set recorded
on numerous Schnitger organs.
For me, many of his recordings were marred by Columbia's house LP sound--a
bit weak in the bass, and with the upper midrange made shrilly prominent.
His LPs recorded at St. George's in New York are a good example--an already
perversely-voiced and specified instrument made almost unlistenably shrill
in the processing. The instrument sounds much better in person.
David
JohnGavin
David wrote:
>
> Way back when I was an undergraduate, I bought a number of EPB's LPs--I
> think I need to listen again to the Bach series. I'd like to see on CD his
> recordings of the Rheinberger concertos and the "Music for Organ, Brass and
> Percussion" collection that was issued as an SQ LP. And there's "Music for a
> Merry Christmas"--I was lucky enough to get that one on reel-to-reel
> tape--it sounds quite a bit better than the LP. Let's see--some other LPs I
> have: "Music for Organ and Orchestra" (Strauss, Barber, and Poulenc)--the
> only example I know of Biggs playing an electronic organ;
Right, I believe it was for the Barber Toccata Festiva, for a concert
of Philharmonic Hall's inaugration. The big Aolean Skinner hadn't been
installed yet. Biggs participated in the installment concert along
with Virgil Fox and Catherine Crozier. Biggs and Fox - can you image
two more opposite personalities??
David
>
> Hank wrote:
>> "JohnGavin" <dag...@comcast.net> wrote in message
>> news:1152459261.8...@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
>> > manages to put accents into the main theme, much the way a pianist
>> > would accent a note. I can see being able to do that on a tracker
>> > organ, but I don't think that organ was a tracker!
>>
>> Does anyone recall which organ that was?
>>
>> Hank
>> >
> I remember that it was a Church in New York City - St. Bartholemew's
> perhaps?
>
St. George's Episcopal Church in New York City--a big four-manual Moller
from the late 1950s, I think. Biggs also recorded "Music for Organ, Brass
and Percussion" and the two Rheinberger concertos there. St. Bartholomew's
has one of the largest instruments in New York City--a huge Aeolian-Skinner.
Accents on the organ: if one can control well enough on the tracker, I think
some attacks can be crisper than others. But other than that, it's strictly
a matter of timing. Good organists are masters of agogic accents, and
slightly detaching the notes before and after a note that needs to stand out
is something I and my organist colleagues were taught in our training.
David
david...@aol.com
John Harrington wrote:
> Within five to ten years there will be a place on the internet where
> you can download a zip file (or whatver the standard will be by then)
> of every recording ever made. And the download will take less than two
> hours and represent less than 20% of your hard drive.
Correction. The technology will exist and this will be true for
virtually every recorded repertory, but the majors won't bother to make
"classical" back catalogue available.
-david gable
David
>
> David wrote:
>>
>> Let's see--some other LPs I
>> have: "Music for Organ and Orchestra" (Strauss, Barber, and Poulenc)--the
>> only example I know of Biggs playing an electronic organ;
>
> Right, I believe it was for the Barber Toccata Festiva, for a concert
> of Philharmonic Hall's inaugration. The big Aolean Skinner hadn't been
> installed yet. Biggs participated in the installment concert along
> with Virgil Fox and Catherine Crozier. Biggs and Fox - can you image
> two more opposite personalities??
>
Wow--I can't imagine a scenario throwing Biggs and Fox together on the same
series, much less the same program. Plus Catherine Crozier--a fantastic
player with flawless technique, and splendid understanding of how to play
American Classic instruments, and without the eccentricities of either Fox
or Biggs. I heard her play, when she was about 70, a recital that included
the Reubke "Sonata on the 94th Psalm"--it was just about perfect.
On the Strauss, Barber, and Poulenc LP, Biggs recorded the Barber Toccata
Festiva and the Poulenc concerto with Ormandy and the Philadelphia at the
Academy of Music on the then-new Aeolian-Skinner there. The Strauss was done
with Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic at Philharmonic Hall on the
glorious Allen electronic....
I read that the problems with installing the Aeolian-Skinner at Philharmonic
Hall were the beginning of the undoing of the Aeolian-Skinner company,
because there were so many problems with the instrument that made it
initially essentially unplayable. Apparently the organ was installed while
construction of the hall was still going on, and the installation had to be
done with union workers, and the Aeolian-Skinner people could not actually
enter the hall to supervise the installation.
David
David
<jwl...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1152372912....@m73g2000cwd.googlegroups.com...
> Chapuis remains my favorite cycle. I don't know why Mr Sommerwerck
> considers him "very conservative." Many of his registrations are not in
> the least conservative. I would prefer to reserve the title of "very
> conservative" for someone like Walcha. I find Chapuis to be quite a
> spontaneous player whose love of playing is palpable. As for "letting
> go," there's Anthony Newman who does nothing but let go,
Among the few organ recitals I have left before the end was one by Anthony
Newman.
Everything, and I do mean everything, was played absurdly fast, and there
were a lot of wrong and slipped notes as well. It was probably some of the
most unmusical playing I have ever had to endure. I also heard him play once
with the Tucson Symphony the Poulenc concerto and the Saint-Saens Third
Symphony. A big Allen was rented for the occasion, and sounded OK, and I
can't complain too much about Newman's playing in those pieces. But during
the intermission, he gave a demonstration of the organ and capped it off
with a playing of Bach's G major Prelude and Fugue, BWV 541, that probably
took less than six minutes. It sounded absurd....
David
JohnGavin
And for all that trouble it eventually ended up in Reverend Robert
Schuller's Crystal Cathedral in California.
Terry Simmons
jwl...@yahoo.com wrote:
I have visited this site as you suggest, but cannot find the recordings in
question. Can you provide more specific information?
--
Cheers!
Terry
jwl...@yahoo.com
http://www.haydnhouse.com/home.htm
click on organ loft
scroll down 4 cds to "The Art of the Organ"
santiago538
Organ," which seems not to be available on Haydn House. There is also a
single LP "Famous Organs of Holland and North Germany," also not available.
Terry Simmons
> > In article <1152551553.3...@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>,
> > jwl...@yahoo.com wrote:
> >
> > > > I really wish Sony would re-release the two-record set of Bach, played
> > > > on
> > > > the
> > > > various Arp Schnitger organs in Holland and North Germany. This was a
> > > > lovely
> > > > set, beautifully recorded and presented.
> > > >
> > > Terry
> > >
> > > You can get it here for $20
> > >
> > > http://www.haydnhouse.com/home.htm
> > >
> > > click on organ loft
> > >
> > > Joel
> > >
> >
> > I have visited this site as you suggest, but cannot find the recordings in
> > question. Can you provide more specific information?
> >
> > --
> > Cheers!
> >
> > Terry
jwl...@yahoo.com wrote:
> go to
>
> http://www.haydnhouse.com/home.htm
>
> click on organ loft
>
> scroll down 4 cds to "The Art of the Organ"
>
No, that's not the set to which I (and another correspondent) was referring. The
set we want is "The Golden Age of the Organ". Thanks for the suggestion, though.
--
Cheers!
Terry
A. Pismo Clam
I believe you are thinking of the M2S 697 Columbia issue. I have this set in my E. Power Biggs collection. Complete [stereo lp's only], save the harpisichord albums which I didn't care for too very much.
In The Golden Age of the Organ, there is a 10 page booklet, 12" by 12" that details all the organ specs as well as a page of notes from Biggs and Dr. Gustav Fock, from Hamburg.
Terry Simmons
Exactly. That's the set I want to see on CDs.
--
Cheers!
Terry
Ed Presson
Biggs & Daniel Pinkham's recording of Antonio Soler's "Six Double Concertos
for Two Organs" album (Columbia MS 7174). It's one of my favorite
performances of these delightful works.
Across the top of the album cover is: "Composed for Stereo in the 18th
Century."
Ed Presson