An A-Z of the Organ : O is for Ornamentation
John Scott Whiteley discusses the playing of ornaments in Bach, with a performance of Erbarm dich mein, O Herr Gott, BWV 721, on the organ of the Wenzelskirche, Naumburg.
An A-Z of the Organ: Bach
Anna Lapwood discusses three very different but engaging pieces by Bach, which will enrich your repertoire and stretch your technique.
CRCO Bach Chorale webinars with Frederick Stocken
A series of webinars, presented by Frederick Stocken, covering the Bach chorale question from the CRCO Diploma examination written paper.
A new assessment of the evidence pertaining to the registration of the six Orgeltriosonaten (BWV525-530)
Writing in 1784–5 in his Ideen zu einer Ästhetik der Tonkunst, Carl Friedrich Daniel Schubart(1739–91) stated, with reference to the Sechs Trio für die Orgel mit dem obligaten Pedale: ‘Playing these [sonatas] … is the preserve of great masters; they are so difficult that there are scarcely two or three people living in Germany who […]
Hermeneutics surrounding the Orgelbüchlein
In this article from the RCO Journal of 2017, John Scott Whiteley examines Bach’s selection of traditional hymns for the Orgelbuchlein, and the tensions between Pietism, a Protestant renewal movement, and Lutheran Orthodoxy, in his sources.
Musical influences on the young J S Bach
Tom Wilkinson considers the surviving early keyboard works of J S Bach, and suggests that his codification of tonal harmony, and his ability to employ it at the service of structure, began back in his teenage years.
Peter Williams – a personal recollection
Professor Peter Williams, Bach Scholar and a Vice President of the RCO, has passed away, appropriately around midnight just before Bach’s birthday, the 21st March. Official tributes will of course be paid elsewhere, but I would like to remember a study day which I attended as a very newbie organist, in which his sharp, questioning intelligence, combined with great authority, were powerfully in evidence.
Margaret’s Marathons – preparing for the ultimate recital series
Margaret Phillips describes how she approached a truly unique recital challenge – performing the complete organ works of Bach in recital, not once but twice, and on two instruments of very different size and style.