4 ms·

I’m strangely interested in pipe organs, largely because to my ear Toccatta and Fugue in D Minor(BWV 565) is one of the most thrilling pieces of music, like som

I’m strangely interested in pipe organs, largely because to my ear Toccatta and Fugue in D Minor(BWV 565) is one of the most thrilling pieces of music, like something sent from heaven. It saddens me that people just think of it as a tune to play at Halloween and in vampire movies.

jacquesm 3y ago
It's amazing. There are also some piano renderings that are quite impressive but on an organ it really comes into its own. It's also probably the only organ piece that many people know. As for it being sent from heaven: Bach is absolutely un-earthly both in the quality and the quantity of his output. Given the state of the art at the time he gave it such a huge move forward you have to wonder where we'd be today musically if not for him.
- defrost 3y ago
  And that 1970s prog rock cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgbgUrp1a70 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgbgUrp1a70 That said, it shines on a real auditorium sized pipe organ. > you have to wonder where we'd be today musically if not for him. Err, probably using lute music[1] transposed for organ[2] and adapted[3] as film soundtracks[4] I guess. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM6hd8EPFl0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM6hd8EPFl0 [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Nf3eU-Y6Ew https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Nf3eU-Y6Ew [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ9_6W6bVoQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ9_6W6bVoQ [4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Adv9gYQWqb8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Adv9gYQWqb8
  - jacquesm 3y ago
    Too late at night here to play this on the speakers but I'll certainly get to it tomorrow morning. Thank you!
  - jacquesm 3y ago
    Wow! I never saw this before and I don't know how I missed it. Also, that video is decades ahead of its time.
    - defrost 3y ago
      It's a great cover | interpretation, with some serious drum attack from Tristan Fry. I bought a guitar amp in 1982 via the local paper (Perth, Western Australia) and went out to pick it up - turned out to be in Kevin Peek's back woods recording studio and had an afternoon of noodling about. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Peek https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Peek
      - jacquesm 3y ago
        That's one very colorful character, to put it mildly. I've had some fun restoring DX-7's and sometimes they (or the wreckage) come with stories and previous owners attached.
- ordu 3y ago
  > There are also some piano renderings that are quite impressive but on an organ it really comes into its own. I'd say an electric guitar orchestra beats an organ on this piece: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqgQ7IYhvRg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqgQ7IYhvRg
dhosek 3y ago
I’m a big fan of Messiaen’s organ compositions. Back 20 years ago, I sang in the cathedral choir with an amazing organist who would occasionally play Messiaen as a postlude. Watching him play organ was watching Keith Moon play the drums—all four limbs were moving in what appeared to be chaos¹ and amazing sounds resulted. My own limited attempts at organ playing have shown me that I’m not an organist. Among other things, the fact that the console and pipes are frequently separated by enough distance that the speed of sound plays a role in aural feedback while playing can make playing a pipe organ a challenge, and that’s before the role of stops, foot pedals and the lack of a sustain pedal² come into play ⸻ 1. The piece that I’m remembering required frequent changes of the stops on the organ. 2. AKA, the sloppy keyboardists’ savior.
- chrismorgan 3y ago
  I acquired a Kawai DX1900 drawbar organ (three manuals, two octaves of pedal board, 144kg+26kg+16kg—not a dinky little thing) in December 2022 and have greatly enjoyed playing and learning about that type of instrument (though I’ve been away from home since July 2023, and am really looking forward to getting back to it). My pianos were neglected! But I’ve found it has helped my piano playing a lot too, and most notably I depend on the sustain pedal much less than I did, in a few short months. I’ve never had the opportunity to play a pipe organ, and other sorts don’t tend to lean into stop banks that you can rapidly swap between so much, and this drawbar organ doesn’t have that kind of thing at all—changing mid-piece is much more impractical, and so done much less. All up, I’m confident it’s an easier instrument to play than a pipe organ, but still with a lot of the same qualities. (But it’s not just an inferior pipe organ—it’s its own thing.) I’ve found it fascinating what works and what doesn’t: I played a wide variety of things, my expectation of how well a piece will transfer has not always been correct, in one direction or the other. Anyway, pianos and organs are definitely quite different instruments, but there’s also a lot of overlap in the techniques and skills, and playing one will improve significant aspects of your playing of the other. (Nice three-em dash, BTW. I settled on —⁂— as a divider, but seriously contemplated two-em and three-em dash, which I do still use in other situations.)
  - jacquesm 3y ago
swannodette 3y ago
Some scholars believe it to be an early work - possibly Bach was 19 years old. No copy in Bach's hand has ever been discovered, so there's no certainty. It is a wonderful, memorable piece of music but Bach was pretty good at that and not just at the keyboard.
- tgv 3y ago
  Some believe(d) it to be written by someone else! No candidate was found, though. It's definitely an earlier work. It's much more in the style of (e.g.) Buxtehude than Bach's later works. If you like BWV 565, the Toccata and Fugue, you could check out e.g. BuxWv (a numbering like BWV) 149 and 156.

jacquesm 3y ago

It's amazing. There are also some piano renderings that are quite impressive but on an organ it really comes into its own. It's also probably the only organ piece that many people know. As for it being sent from heaven: Bach is absolutely un-earthly both in the quality and the quantity of his output. Given the state of the art at the time he gave it such a huge move forward you have to wonder where we'd be today musically if not for him.

defrost 3y ago
And that 1970s prog rock cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgbgUrp1a70 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgbgUrp1a70 That said, it shines on a real auditorium sized pipe organ. > you have to wonder where we'd be today musically if not for him. Err, probably using lute music[1] transposed for organ[2] and adapted[3] as film soundtracks[4] I guess. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM6hd8EPFl0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM6hd8EPFl0 [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Nf3eU-Y6Ew https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Nf3eU-Y6Ew [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ9_6W6bVoQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ9_6W6bVoQ [4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Adv9gYQWqb8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Adv9gYQWqb8
- jacquesm 3y ago
  Too late at night here to play this on the speakers but I'll certainly get to it tomorrow morning. Thank you!
- jacquesm 3y ago
  Wow! I never saw this before and I don't know how I missed it. Also, that video is decades ahead of its time.
  - defrost 3y ago
    It's a great cover | interpretation, with some serious drum attack from Tristan Fry. I bought a guitar amp in 1982 via the local paper (Perth, Western Australia) and went out to pick it up - turned out to be in Kevin Peek's back woods recording studio and had an afternoon of noodling about. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Peek https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Peek
    - jacquesm 3y ago
      That's one very colorful character, to put it mildly. I've had some fun restoring DX-7's and sometimes they (or the wreckage) come with stories and previous owners attached.
ordu 3y ago
> There are also some piano renderings that are quite impressive but on an organ it really comes into its own. I'd say an electric guitar orchestra beats an organ on this piece: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqgQ7IYhvRg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqgQ7IYhvRg

dhosek 3y ago

I’m a big fan of Messiaen’s organ compositions. Back 20 years ago, I sang in the cathedral choir with an amazing organist who would occasionally play Messiaen as a postlude. Watching him play organ was watching Keith Moon play the drums—all four limbs were moving in what appeared to be chaos¹ and amazing sounds resulted. My own limited attempts at organ playing have shown me that I’m not an organist. Among other things, the fact that the console and pipes are frequently separated by enough distance that the speed of sound plays a role in aural feedback while playing can make playing a pipe organ a challenge, and that’s before the role of stops, foot pedals and the lack of a sustain pedal² come into play ⸻ 1. The piece that I’m remembering required frequent changes of the stops on the organ. 2. AKA, the sloppy keyboardists’ savior.

chrismorgan 3y ago
I acquired a Kawai DX1900 drawbar organ (three manuals, two octaves of pedal board, 144kg+26kg+16kg—not a dinky little thing) in December 2022 and have greatly enjoyed playing and learning about that type of instrument (though I’ve been away from home since July 2023, and am really looking forward to getting back to it). My pianos were neglected! But I’ve found it has helped my piano playing a lot too, and most notably I depend on the sustain pedal much less than I did, in a few short months. I’ve never had the opportunity to play a pipe organ, and other sorts don’t tend to lean into stop banks that you can rapidly swap between so much, and this drawbar organ doesn’t have that kind of thing at all—changing mid-piece is much more impractical, and so done much less. All up, I’m confident it’s an easier instrument to play than a pipe organ, but still with a lot of the same qualities. (But it’s not just an inferior pipe organ—it’s its own thing.) I’ve found it fascinating what works and what doesn’t: I played a wide variety of things, my expectation of how well a piece will transfer has not always been correct, in one direction or the other. Anyway, pianos and organs are definitely quite different instruments, but there’s also a lot of overlap in the techniques and skills, and playing one will improve significant aspects of your playing of the other. (Nice three-em dash, BTW. I settled on —⁂— as a divider, but seriously contemplated two-em and three-em dash, which I do still use in other situations.)
- jacquesm 3y ago

swannodette 3y ago

Some scholars believe it to be an early work - possibly Bach was 19 years old. No copy in Bach's hand has ever been discovered, so there's no certainty. It is a wonderful, memorable piece of music but Bach was pretty good at that and not just at the keyboard.

tgv 3y ago
Some believe(d) it to be written by someone else! No candidate was found, though. It's definitely an earlier work. It's much more in the style of (e.g.) Buxtehude than Bach's later works. If you like BWV 565, the Toccata and Fugue, you could check out e.g. BuxWv (a numbering like BWV) 149 and 156.