Brahms: Prelude and Fugue in G minor, WoO 10

Apprehending Brahms's organ music, which is marginal compared with his orchestral and instrumental catalogue, calls for an intimacy with his successive pianistic aesthetics. Indeed, although the forms and polyphonic writing (the Preludes and Fugues) are rooted in an implicit homage to J. S. Bach and Lutheran liturgical practice (the Chorale Preludes), the highly personal atmosphere emanating from this music induces groupings that send us to the extremes of the Brahmsian chronology.

Edouard Oganessian studied piano with Mikhail Voskressensky and organ with Leonid Roizman at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow. Since then, the two instruments have been inseparable in his life as a musician. He did advanced training with Leo Krämer. Winner of the Franz Liszt Organ Competition in Budapest in 1988, he taught at the National Music Academy in Vilnius until 1990 when he settled in France.

Edouard Oganessian performs throughout Europe. His interpretations of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, Liszt and Mendelssohn have been hailed by audiences and critics in Germany, Netherlands, Russia and France. He devotes a large portion of his work to recording and loves performing, in addition to his vast classical repertoire, rare works.

SFZ MUSIC, the independent label for HIS MAJESTYS SAGBUTTS & CORNETTS, are pleased to announce their latest release, the debut recording of one of Britain’s most exciting young organists. David Pipe is the assistant director of Music of York Minster and is rapidly forging a reputation for exciting, ground-breaking recital programmes.

This recording brings together two of the giants of the 19th Century organ repertoire with the splendour of York Minster’s famous romantic instrument. Two classically inspired pairs of preludes and fugues by Brahms feature alongside Pipe’s own arrangement of the monumental final movement of Brahms’ 4th Symphony. Pipe also provides an arrangement of Liszt’s Il penseroso from Années de Pèlerinage: Nicolas Kynaston’s arrangement of Funérailles and Jean Guillou’s arrangement of the monumental Fantasia and Fugue on the name of BACH complete the programme, alongside two delightful miniatures. All the arrangements are brilliantly idiomatic and translate perfectly to the organ: Pipe’s virtuosic performances and the mighty gothic power of the Minster instrument combine to stunning effect.

This recording was previewed on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune on 8th August and was launched at a recital at York Minster, given by David Pipe, on 11th August 2012

Recorded on the Great Mascioni Organ of Pontevico Abbey

Brahms’ organ works are often overlooked, but represent an important aspect of his overall musical development. They epitomise his lifelong devotion to Bach. This collection includes his 11 Chorale Preludes Op.122, as well as the Prelude and Fugue for Organ Op.16 by Clara Schumann.

Naïve’s prestigious ‘Cité de la Musique’ series presents a new recording of pieces originally written for - and here played on - a rarely performed instrument of the past, the pedal piano. This intriguing CD includes two monumental works by Franz Liszt, Evocation à la Chapelle Sixtine and the Prelude and Fugue on B-A-C-H, as well as music by Boëly, Schumann’s Four Sketches opus 58, two preludes by Alkan, and Brahms’ Prelude and Fugue in G minor Woo 10.

The Cité de la Musique in Paris is a major centre covering all musical genres and repertoires. Along with two concert halls, it includes a museum of early instruments. Naïve and the Cité de la Musique have launched a series in which great performers record on legendary instruments. This new volume is dedicated to an instrument scarcely played, the pedal piano, which belongs to a line of instruments which, like the organ, are equipped with a pedal keyboard. In the middle of the 19th century several major composers wrote pieces for pedal piano, including those featured on this CD.

Olivier Latry is regarded as one of the leading organists of his generation, both in France and on the international scene. After a period as organist of Meaux Cathedral from 1981 to 1985, he was only twenty-three when selected by competitive examination to become principal organist at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.

A look at various biographies reveals two main reasons for such people to occupy them-selves with the organ: firstly, to improve polyphonic composition skills through a close examination of contrapuntal writing and the works of baroque composers (such as Buxtehude, Handel and Bach) and, secondly, to help cope with personal crises in life by working with themes of a religious nature. Both of these reasons apply to the works of Johannes Brahms: His organ compositions appeared in two phases of his life, characterised especially by close contact to Robert and Clara Schumann.

St. Rupert's Catholic Parish Church in Munich is home to one of the few surviving Maerz organs. The recent restoration of this marvellous late-romantic organ to its 1907 operating standards means that it can now be heard in its original splendour of sound.

The young organist Anne Horsch, performs the complete organ works of Brahms. His preludes and fugues and his eleven chorale preludes, which are often regarded as masterpieces in this genre, can be heard to perfection with the SACD quality.