ƒ ɛɔ ɛ​
completa  dan
We are here today not as pilgrims per se or tourists for sure, but we are here for musical reasons as we continue the Nordic journey and this is the seventh edition of the Nordic journey music series, a series devoted to organ music by Nordic composers.
I think we've hit the jackpot here because the Nero's Cathedral is not only a place of religion and of culture, but houses three unique distinct pipe organs and this is the draw that's brought us here this week.
We are here today for musical reasons as we continue the Nordic journey music series, a series dedicated to organ music by Nordic composers.
We are here today for musical reasons as we continue the Nordic journey music series, a series dedicated to organ music by Nordic composers.
We are here today for musical reasons as we continue the Nordic journey music series, a series dedicated to organ music by Nordic composers.
We are here today for musical reasons as we continue the Nordic journey music series, a series dedicated to organ music by Nordic composers.
We are here today for musical reasons as we continue the Nordic journey music series, a series dedicated to organ music by Nordic composers.
We are here today for musical reasons as we continue the Nordic journey music series, a series dedicated to organ music by Nordic composers.
So we've just heard a rare example of authentic Nordic organ music from the middle of the 18th century by Ferdinand Zellbell and that takes us here to this wonderful Wagner organ, the oldest organ on site here at the Nero's Cathedral.
This is an instrument completed in 1741 by Joachim Wagner, who is a Prussian organ builder, and this indeed is the only example of his work outside of Berlin, Germany.
And it's a magnificent link, I think, to the time of Johann Sebastian Bach and many organists come here specifically to play and to record the great organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach.
Now you see, per example, for all organs of this time, it's a mechanical action, everything is done by hand.
We don't have someone actually pumping the bellows, but everything else is as it was in the 18th century.
So if I want to have a sound, I need to pull out some of these stops myself.
And you'll notice a short compass keyboard, a flat pedal board only goes up to a high D.
And so if you want to change sounds, you're going to need some help.
And so when I performed the various compositions for Nordic Journey of Volume 7, I had to have an assistant help me change the various stops.
Now when conceiving a program of this organ, I opted not to go for the usual Bach and Buchstuhl as magnificent as those works are, but to go after more unusual fare within the Nordic discipline.
I chose a couple of examples from the 18th century, the Zell Bell piece, which I've just alluded to.
A rare example of music for a mechanical clock, very much written in a Viennese classical style by Peter Oskgren, a composer living in the time of Mozart in the late 18th century, in very much writing in a classic form.
And then the rest of the repertoire by more recent composers, 20th and 21st century Nordic composers, who were inspired by the forms and the organs of earlier times, such as the Spogner organ.
So we have a prelude and fugue by Patrick Wrettblad, who was a Stockholm-based musician early in the 20th century, who was a musicologist and an early music aficionado.
We have a commissioned work, just recently in 2016, by the Danish composer Sven Ingveit Mickelson, a variations of fugue on a Danish folk tune, which was conceived for the companeus organ built a century before this at the Fredericksburg Castle in Denmark.
But it really works beautiful within this modified Wehrkmeister temperament and a brand-new organ piece, which has its roots and antiquity.
We've moved from the northern part of the cathedral in the Wagner organ, eastward here, to where the brand-new Torquilson choir organ is located.
The console is right here on the floor, but all the pipes are located way up toward the ceiling, just underneath the stained glass windows.
This instrument was built for ensemble situations, primarily in accompanying the liturgy, so I thought it would be appropriate to use this particular instrument in an accompanimental role.
And so I chose two brand-new pieces, two commissioned works by Norwegian composer Schell Mickelson. So one piece was composed for violin, oboe and organ, and is based upon a chant tune from the Liturgy of St. Olaf.
And is inspired in its instrumentation by some of the church music of the 20th century composer Hugo Diesler.
The other piece is another commissioned work, same composer Schell Mickelson, just written last year.
And it goes with this 2016 instrument, a new manifestation of the Nordic spirit.
And a piece, a partida brevis, for recorder and organ, and not just one recorder, but four different recorders, beginning with the tenor recorder,
going up to treble sopranino, going from the low to high registers, a very ingenious piece of music based upon a Norwegian folk tune.
This is a rather small, two-manual instrument built in modern style, but has some interesting features with it.
It has a very state-of-the-art computer here that allows me to program registrations not only for this instrument,
but also for the Steinmeier organ located all the way west in part of the cathedral.
And I can play, actually, the Steinmeier organ, the choir organ, all at the same time, and use the two instruments both in dialogue.
And I can play, actually, the Steinmeier organ, the choir organ, all at the same time,
and use the two instruments both in dialogue.
And I can play, actually, the Steinmeier organ, the choir organ, all at the same time,
and use the two instruments both in dialogue.
And I can play, actually, the Steinmeier organ, the choir organ, all at the same time,
and use the two instruments both in dialogue.
And I can play, actually, the Steinmeier organ, the choir organ, all at the same time,
and use the two instruments both in dialogue.
And I can play, actually, the Steinmeier organ, the choir organ, all at the same time,
and use the two instruments both in dialogue.
And I can play, actually, the Steinmeier organ, the choir organ, all at the same time,
and use the two instruments both in dialogue.
And I can play, actually, the Steinmeier organ, the choir organ, all at the same time,
and use the two instruments both in dialogue.
Well, we've come from the east, where the choir organ is located,
and we've all gone to the opposite end of the cathedral on the west side
of this magnificent Steinmeier organ, an organ very much in this symphonic tradition.
It was originally built in 1930, which was the 900th anniversary of the death of St. Olaf.
It almost looks like I'm in the cockpit of an airplane, such complexity,
almost 150 different stops here, over four keyboards and four pedal board,
and a brand-new computer system over here provided by the Kuhn organ company in Switzerland.
The installation of this, of course, was from 1930, but it went through several iterations and rebuilds,
but the most recent and then really the successful version of the Steinmeier occurred four years ago
when they put all the various components back together and created this magnificent instrument.
Most of the instrument is located in the west, but there are other divisions scattered throughout the cathedral,
especially the Fernwerk is way up in the ceiling.
It almost sounds like it's coming from another building.
It's a very ethereal, mystical sound, and sometimes you have to even strain to hear it,
and that's the beauty of this particular instrument that goes from the tiniest whisper up to a roar
that can really completely fill this space.
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