For those who are interested and may not have noticed it, four television programmes in this series are to be transmitted this week : BBC2 tonight, 11.20 p.m.;tomorrow,11.20 p.m.; Wednesday and Thursday, 11.25 p.m.
This series features John Scott Whiteley playing Bach's organ music in authoritative interpretations on historic instruments. I commend it to all who seek to improve their Bach playing.

Thanks for that. Do you know if these are 'new' ones or repeats of others done a couple of years ago, as I have the old ones on DVD.
In any case, for those who missed them they are worth watching.

Hi fsharpminor,
The ones being transmitted this week are not included in the DVD sets I have which are of Series 1 and Series 2. However, I am a bit puzzled because in 'Radio Times' they are marked as repeats. I can only infer from that that I missed them when first broadcast.
I agree with you that they're worth watching. Repeated viewings and listenings continue to reveal and teach something new.
Bws.
rk

I see they are in the graveyard slot as per usual.

Thank goodness for iPlayer!

Thanks for that. He's an excellent performer, and I'll certainly look forward to the programmes, as long as I remember to put the TV on!

Yes, mel2, they are a bit late for those who go early to bed, but there are ways around it ; as you write - 'Thank goodness for iPlayer' !
When the earlier series were first broadcast they appeared at a more civilised hour, 7p.m. on BBC4, and then repeated at the late evening slot on BBC2.

Thanks for the heads up. The wife forgot to get a Radio Times this week, so if you hadn't mentioned it I would have missed these programmes for sure. Now if I can just find a couple of matchsticks to prop my eyelids open...

Thank you for bumping up the thread, Vox. Thanks to my sieve-like memory, I had already forgotten about tonight's programme!

I love that stop(s) he's got in the pedals

There was a nice 16' reed as the main basis for it. It sometimes spoke a little slowly, though....

Gorgeous playing, and I loved the ornamentation of the fugue subject.

I've got a feeling that I've seen that ornamentation printed somewhere, but can't trace it - it's not NBA or Novello, nor yet the alternative, B flat version of the piece with the trio movement between the prelude and the fugue.

If I'm not mistaken he added the 32' reed in the fugue (along with at least one of the Hauptwerk 16's). I agree it was nice playing.

It was very good. Personally I would not have had the mixture? stops in the manuals like he did though.
but I enjoyed it very much, can't wait till tomorrow

and the console was beautiful

Now that you come to mention it, it's ringing bells. I think you might well be right, Vox.

Yes, or somebody else added it....

I was having an online conversation with a friend at that point and remember saying something along the lines of "Oh, he's just added the big pedal reed now. Lovely!"

Darn it. I forgot and went to bed. What did he play ?
As its BBC2 I should be able to get it in my hotel tonight.

Sorry to hear that, FSM.

It was the Prelude and Fugue in C, BWV 545. Hope you enjoy it this evening!

cant you get it on iplyer?

Yes.

Is it just me or is he wearing rather dark glasses?
he's not blind is he?

I'm 100% certain he isn't. It would make his job as an examiner rather difficult if he was.

why the dark glasses then? or is it just that I'm seeing things... it would not be the first time if I was

The way it's been told (on good authority), apparently when they were filming the pilot programme for the series on the Klais in Bath Abbey, the lighting was so strong and bright that JSW complained he couldn't see properly. One of the producers happened to have a pair of sun glasses and lent them to him. From then on they stuck.

oh right
well tonights performance was not as good as yesterdays (in my opinion) but I did like the soft stops, much better then those mixtures.
but I think there should have been a change in registration somewhere.

Yes, I think that correct. John doesn't wear them for organ playing in "real life"!

Yes I thought it a bit disappointing last night, Id have liked more prominence to the Chorale melody.

(Edit half an hour later.) Have now listened to BWV545 on iPlayer. Brings back memories of my Grade 8 (1964). Enjoyed it more than 'Allein Gott'

What is going on with the title sequences?

I see they are by Damien Hirst - is it meant to be JS Bee, by any chance?

They have used the bees for some years for classical music, I think it started when BBC4 came into being.
The earlier (two) series of 21st C. Bach were on BBC4

BeeBeeC?

Interesting - the C+ was well played, though I didn't particularly warm to the sound of the instrument! although the pedal reed was a nice bit of welly.

Thanks for the link - I don't always follow what's on tv.

Dont forget there's another one tonight.

And they continue on Monday night (27th April) !

Bother! I was out - again! Thank goodness for iPlayer.

I just wondered why JSW is performing on these particular instruments - do they have some connection with the works being played or is it because they are remarkable in some special way (other than the amount of carving and gilding on them)

Or are we just on a tour? (and why not )

I think the aim is to record the works on organs that are contemporary with Bach (apart from the pilot programme mentioned above).

In the first series the links with Bach were quite close, the organs played being the reconstructed Wender at Bach's church in Arnstadt, the Gottfried Silbermann at Freiburg Cathedral (Bach knew Silbermann well) and the Hildebrandt at St Wenceslas, Naumburg (which Bach examined and may possibly have helped to design).

In the second series we heard the Johanneskirche in Lüneburg (on which the teenage Bach probably studied with Georg Böhm) and the Schnitger at Neuenfelde (no specific link with Bach here).

As for the current series, I do not know of any between Bach and Amorbach. There is a link of sorts with Waltershausen, though it is very tenuous. The organ there was built by Heinrich Trost, who also built the organ at Altenburg Castle which Bach examined and which his pupil Johann Ludwig Krebs played (and loved) for so many years. Krebs's organ still exists and to my mind sounds nicer than Waltershausen; I hope JSW gets round to it at some point.

I'm sure you are right, Vox Humana. It has always been my understanding that the aim was to perform/record the works on historic organs of Bach's time. I'm enjoying hearing organs I've never heard before, although the Freiburg Cathedral Silbermann and the Naumburg Hildebrandt organs have now been recorded many times played by various organists. Both organs are used(as well as others) in Gerhard Weinberger's complete Bach series.
I share your hope that we may get to hear the Altenburg Castle Trost organ some time during the '21st Century Bach' series.

Thank you, Vox. Why don't they tell us that at the beginning of the programme?

Also, did Bach direct the use of the little windmill in the final Partita or is it just there to cool the fevered brow after working through them all?

Very impressive playing, of course.

Although I haven't yet seen the recent programmes (thank goodness for iPlayer!), you don't happen to be thinking of a Cymbelstern, do you, Mel?

I very well may be; whatever it is, I haven't got one! Are they standard?

Have a look at these three links, Mel. The first one will tell you a bit about it, the second will let you hear what it sounds like, along with the opening of the 'Little' F major attrib. J.S.B., and the third will show one in action - although the latter sounds pretty awful to my ears.

http://www.organstops.org/c/Cymbelstern.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpipLI83MKQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLZJmJgGPZg...feature=related

Yes that's the one.

Where can I get one.......?

Speak to a nice, friendly organ builder, and offer him a good wodge of money!

i really like this series.... hopefully i will be as good as john scott whiteley one day (that's a tall order).

talking about him, he does play with his ring on. the ickle first year organist wannabe said that one would develop bad techniques by doing that (he saw me watching the programme in uni department), i nearly went mad and started shouting at him. lol.

It doesn't seem to have done JSW much harm!

That's one h*ck of a tall order, LK! But he'd make a fine role model.

For what it's worth, I actually think his live performances even finer than his recorded ones.

I think the highest compliment one can pay JSW is he is a worthy successor to Francis.

And you could pick up a decent cymbelstern for about £500 i'm told...

... and an indecent one ???

Trust you!

I think £500 very cheap, and would be surprised if this were to be the case. Haven't some organs been fitted with electronic Cymbelsterns to avoid the expense of a genuine one?

I had piano lessons many years ago with a pianist who always removed rings from her fingers when playing, and recommended/required pupils to do so. At that time I did not wear a ring but have done so since my marriage over thirty years ago, and wearing it for playing makes no difference to my finger technique either on the piano or the organ.

Greetings all (this is my first posting on this forum.......)

On the subject of Cymbelsterns, I have first-hand experience of ordering one - a set of six untuned bells.

The price in 2002 was a shade over £1,700........

Greetings, ses12.17. Good to have another contributor.

If what you say is correct then I think I would have difficulty sliding that past the committees. Even £500 would have been more than I am worth for a year.
It's a lot of money to tinkle.

Welcome, Sesquialtera!

Did your Cymbelstern come with all the mechanism for that price?