THE AWARD WINNING RE-RELEASE OF THIS FAMOUS RECORDING
NICOLAS KYNASTON’S AWARD WINNING CD
‘BACH AT AMORBACH’ JUST RE-RELEASED
ON LCS HI RES!
LCSCD006
BACH ORGAN WORKS AT AMORBACH. Nicolas Kynaston, organ. [DDD]; 77:09. Produced by Jonathan R. Wearn. (BACH: Concerto in D Minor after Vivaldi, BWV 596. Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 639. Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor, BWV 582. Nun freut euch, lieben Christen g’mein. Prelude and Fugue in Eb, BWV 552. Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier, BWV 731. Fantasy and Fugue in C Minor, BWV 537. Herzlich tut mich verlangen, BWV 727. Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 903.) Those fortunate listeners who know the remarkable musicianship and technique of Nicolas Kynaston know how these gifts lead to versatility and gratifying creativity. While his good reputation has been claimed at the firm pith of Romantic repertoire – both British, French, and German – Kynaston has always luxuriated in Bach performances far from the convention of other performers. While one might term such personalized conviction Romantic, the wide-flung articulations and colors of these interpretations suggest much more. In that Kynaston observes rhythm scrupulously and unerringly, that he respects the dynamic terraces and sectional offsets of the music, he is to be termed a Classicist. But, he is equally willing to articulate in such ways as to suggest orchestral treatments – the sudden legato group of the subject the finale of the Vivaldi transcription, or the vocally arched cantus firmus of the simple Ich ruf zu dir.
The Amorbach Abbey organ sustains this hybrid view of Bach for it too blends Romantic and Classic origins. The Stumm brothers built the original instrument in the 1780’s with subsequent additions and rebuilding by the Steinmeyer firm. Restoration came in 1981, a joint effort by Steinmeyer and the firm of Klais. In many respects this instrument embodies the twentieth-century ideals (for good or bad) of mingled tonal aesthetics. Yet it handily does Kynaston’s bidding from the cool flutes at the opening of the Concerto to the weighty ensembles of the free preludes and fugues to the complex offsetting colors of the Max Reger transcription of the Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue.
- Haig Mardirosian reprinted with kind permission from ‘The American Organist’
Legendary violinist Frances Mason leads the Tagore Trio, viola Brian Schiele and cellist James Halsey in memorable performances of Hummel, Schubert, Kodály and Dohnányi in the magnificent Music Room of NorthCourt, Shorewell, I.O.W.
LCSCD004/5
