Bach, J S: Pastorale in F major, BWV590

Ivan Ronda plays the Silbermann Organ of Arlesheim Cathedral (Switzerland)

Recorded on the Francesco Dacci organ of the Chiesa parrocchiale di S. Martino

Jingle Bells! With René Saorgin at the historic organs of Tende and Chambéry, discover the delightful noëls of Balbastre and a whole collection of pastoral pieces for organ - not to mention the chimes of Chambéry.

Any collection of recordings of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) must include a good proportion of his compositions for the organ on which he must have been a master-performer and for which he provided a treasure trove of works. With organs requiring large acoustics they are usually to be found in churches, but such is the expense of maintaining them and the buildings in which they are housed that some are falling in to a state of disrepair or are being removed to be replaced by modern electrical or electronic instruments which, for all their good workmanship, completely fail to match the majesty of the original. Recordings, therefore, on a fine Hi-fi system are a superb alternative to travelling long distances to sit on often uncomfortable pews in cold churches (however that is not to say that they should completely replace the chance of hearing an original in real life, like other forms of music a live performance has added dimensions, it is just that it is becoming harder to attend such occasions). Lionel Rogg, in this second of several planned sets, brings together the remainder of the more extended works which are either a Fantasia, Prelude or Toccata followed by a Fugue, together with works which are Fantasias and Preludes without Fugues and some Fugues on their own.

On 6 August 1840, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy gave his legendary concert with works by Johann Sebastian Bach at the organ of St Thomas Leipzig. Mendelssohn Bartholdy concluded the evening with an improvisation which acted as a window onto the past: herein, he relates the musical expressivity of his own time to Bach’s compositions.

Mendelssohn’s concert programme is the basis for this new CD: 171 years later, the composer Hans-Joachim Hespos reopens this window, and performs his piece Luftschattengelichte at the very same moment in the programme at which Mendelssohn Bartholdy had begun to improvise. While Mendelssohn had tried hard to highlight the connections with the musical past, to present Bach’s music as living heritage, the composer Hespos instead chooses to emphasise the ‘non-connections.’ Luftschattengelichte is constructed from sounding events, from islands of sound, the order and inner design of which by and large can and have to be determined by the performer. On the present recording, Oliver Kluge performs at the Marcussen organ at the Pauluskirche Hanover.

Award-winning pianist Luiza Borac champions the compositions of fellow-Romanian Dinu Lipatti in a 2-CD set that includes a number of world-premiere recordings.

Pianist Luiza Borac is the most dedicated champion of music from her native Romania. She was recognised with a BBC Music Magazine Award for her artistry and advocacy of the piano canon of Georges Enescu. She now turns to another compatriot best known as one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century who was also during his short lifetime a celebrated composer: Dinu Lipatti. With influences that range from the counterpoint of Bach to the lyricism of Chopin and the folk-tinged soundscapes of Enescu (Lipatti's godfather), as well as his teachers Paul Dukas and Nadia Boulanger, Lipatti forged an individual voice over the 18 years of his compositional career.

The rarities that Luiza has unearthed for this 2-disc set include a number of world premiere recordings including Lipatti's first Piano Sonata, an arrangement of Albeniz's Navarra, and the complex Fantasie. For the Concertino in Classical Style, Lipatti's first published composition, Luiza is joined by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields conducted by Jaime Martin. Aiming to recreate Lipatti's sound world as faithfully as possible, Luiza performs on a Bechstein piano, Lipatti's instrument of choice.

This collection of works from the baroque, classical and early romantic periods, demonstrates the enormous range of the large Holzhey organ at the former Abbey church in Rot an der Rot. Played by organ expert Franz Raml, we can hear the instrument in all its glory.

Here is a CD that places imagination and instrumental mastery at the service of superb music.

We have the pleasure to present a Bach programme performed on the exclusive little baroque organ from 1730 in the chapel of the Drottningholm palace near Stockholm. It was built by the most outstanding Swedish organ-maker of its time, Johan Niclas Cahman. Considering that it is a small instrument (only 1 manual, 6 registers), the great variation in sound is amazing, as tastefully revealed by the organist Bengt Tribukait.