Also available: Also Available: Pachelbel: Complete Organ Works, Vol. 1 and Pachelbel: Complete Organ Works, Vol. 3

Being the most important composer of the Southern German organ tradition, Johann Pachelbell's works are featured on this release in an all new recording. These discs are based on a new collection and edition of the extant musical materials. The order of the pieces on the recording initially adheres to the sequence of the chorale settings in the musicological edition.

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REVIEW:

Johann Pachelbel played an important role in the history of keyboard music in Germany in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. As teacher of Johann Sebastian Bach's eldest brother Johann Christoph he has substantially contributed to the development of the younger Bach as a composer of keyboard music. His chorale arrangements and partitas are regularly played by organists, but until recently there was no really good complete recording of his keyboard music. That has changed with the CPO project of which the present set is the second instalment. The first volume included five discs, and after these two there are three more to come.

Johann Pachelbel was born and died in Nürnberg in Bavaria. One of his first teachers was Georg Caspar Wecker. At the age of 16 he entered the university of Altdorf, but was forced to leave it within a year as his father couldn't afford to support him. However, because of his exceptional academic qualifications he was accepted as a scholarship student at the Gymnasium Poeticum in Regensburg. Here he also studied music under Kaspar Prentz, a protégé of Johann Caspar Kerll. Pachelbel was clearly influenced by Kerll, and through him by the Italian style. He worked for some time as deputy organist of the St Stephansdom in Vienna. After this he went to Eisenach - where he established contacts with members of the Bach family - and then to Erfurt to act as organist. Between 1690 and 1695 he worked in the same capacity in Stuttgart and Gotha. In 1695 he was invited to become organist of St Sebaldus in Nürnberg, an offer he gladly accepted. It is a token of his high reputation that no examination took place nor the organists of other churches in Nürnberg were invited to apply for the position. Also the fact that he had many pupils attests to his importance as organist and composer of organ music. It was in Nürnberg that Pachelbel also composed many vocal works, which are hardly known today.

The first disc of this set includes music for Christmastide: here we find arrangements of some of the best-known hymns, which are still sung, such as Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her and Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ. In contrast, Lob sei Gott in des Himmels Thron is hardly known; it is from the pen of Michael Altenburg and was sung only in Thuringia. Vom Himmel hoch is played in two separate arrangements which show in what different ways a composer like Pachelbel could treat the same material. The second has an intimate character; it is the best-known of the two, but is has come down to us anonymously. For reasons of style it is attributed to Pachelbel, but there is no absolute certainty about the authorship. That is the case with quite a number of pieces; copies not always mention the name of the composer, and stylistically a teacher and his pupil could be so close that it is not always possible to attribute a piece to one of them. Christe, der du bist Tag und Licht is often included in recordings of the organ oeuvre of Johann Sebastian Bach as BWV 1096. It is included in the Neumeister Sammlung, an important source of chorale arrangements by Johann Sebastian and Johann Michael Bach. Michael Belotti, in his liner-notes, suggests that Johann Sebastian may have become acquainted with a fragment of this piece from the hand of Pachelbel and decided to finish it.

Both discs include a number of Magnificat-fugues. Pachelbel wrote around 90 of such pieces which date from his time as organist of St Sebaldus in Nürnberg. The Magnificat was part of the Vespers, and it is often suggested that these fugues were used as intonations to establish the pitch for the singers. However, Belotti comes up with a different explanation: they may have been used as part of the alternatim performances of the Magnificat. "The 12 verses in this canticle were presented in Latin by the choir and organ in alternation, with the organ playing the odd-numbered verses (1, 3, 5 etc) and the choir singing the even-numbered ones. In other words, each agent had six verses to perform. (...) Usually four fugues form a Magnificat cycle in a particular ecclesiastical mode." This means that two verses are missing. Belotti suggests that Pachelbel may have expected organists to improvise short toccatas on the first and last verses.

Fugues take an important place in Pachelbel's oeuvre, as the track-list shows. In contrast to common practice for most of the 17th century, in his oeuvre preludes and toccatas on the one hand and fugues on the other are formally separated. That was also to be the case later in Bach's oeuvre. However, whereas in the latter's output those are mostly connected, in Pachelbel's oeuvre we find quite a number of independent fugues. In this recording they are mostly connected by the performers to a prelude or a toccata.

The first disc also includes a first recording: the Ciaccona in G. It has the same ground bass as the first eight bars of the aria from Bach's Goldberg variations. It has been preserved in fragmentary form and is played here in a reconstruction of the missing parts by Michael Belotti.

The second disc is devoted to hymns based on psalms: Nun lob mein Seel den Herren (Psalm 103), Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält (Psalm 124), Wo Gott zum Haus nicht gibt sein Gunst (Psalm 127) and An Wasserflüssen Babylon (Psalm 137). Some of them are explicitly meant for an organ with two manuals. They are played here at the organ in Bedheim, which is a quite peculiar instrument. In 1711 Caspar Schippel built a single-manual instrument with pedals in the organ loft. A second organ, connected with the console of the main instrument by trackers running along the church loft, was added by Nicolaus Seeber above the entrance to the choir in 1721. Owing to its high location beneath the ceiling, this instrument became known as the 'swallows' nest organ'.

The bicinium Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält (CD 2, track 6) was discovered recently, although its authenticity is not established. The cantus firmus is first played in the upper voice and then in the lower voice. Pachelbel treats the hymn melodies in different ways. Sometimes they are played unchanged, but in other cases they are highly ornamented, in the style of diminutions. Nun lob mein Seel den Herren (CD 2, track 4) is notable for the cantus firmus being in the tenor, which is rather unusual. Another recent discovery is the Aria in G. It is of the kind we know from the collection Hexachordum Apollinis. The present piece includes five variations, one of them - as was common in Pachelbel's arias and chorale partitas - dominated by chromaticism.

This disc again includes some pieces of doubtful authenticity. Above I already mentioned one, and another one is the last item of the second disc, the fugue on An Wasserflüssen Babylon. Belotti suggest that it may be an arrangement of a piece by Pachelbel, made by one of his pupils. Like the first volume this disc includes a piece by Pachelbel's teacher Georg Caspar Wecker, the Fugue in B flat, added to Pachelbel's toccata in the same key (CD 2, track 9).

This is a worthy sequel to the first volume. The fact that several pieces are recorded here for the first time only adds to its value. It shows how important it is that these recordings are based on a new critical edition of Pachelbel's keyboard oeuvre, edited by Michael Belotti. The use of historical organs which are suitable for this repertoire is a precondition for a convincing interpretation. The three organists involved in this recording are all specialists in early music and know how to explore these organs for an optimal performance of Pachelbel's organ music. Thanks to the excellent articulation the musical discourse comes off to the full. The recording team deserves praise for handling the different acoustical circumstances in the two churches.

Organ lovers should definitely not miss this set, and I am eagerly awaiting the last volume which is already in the pipeline.

– MusicWeb International (Johan van Veen)

A precious sound document by the late maestro Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini – also in some Tactus' historic early recordings (see TB460090) – in a live recording on the Giuseppe Serassi 1764 organ of the Cathedral of Guastalla, on 2 October 2011. The event took place as part of the "Musica intorno al fiume" organ festival, set up by the cultural association "Giuseppe Serassi" from Guastalla (RE). For the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the unification of Italy (1861-2011) Tagliavini elaborated a very interesting program aimed at celebrating the anniversary: from the Renaissance to the Risorgimento, crossing the main Italian music schools and their influences in Europe, the collection depicts a passionate and emblematic fresco of the evolution of the Italian organ school.

The threads that weave through this entire music program, and indeed that inspired it, are 15 fugues taken from the 95 such works covering the eight church modes written by Pachelbel as preludes to settings of the Marian Magnificat canticle sung at vespers at St. Sebaldus. As scholar Ewald V. Nolte observes, these fugues – most transcribed and arranged here by director Amanda Keesmaat for various combinations of cellos, archlute, and organ – show Pachelbel as a keen, pragmatic, yet sensitive contrapuntist.

Montréal’s Baroque bass band, Space Time Continuo, held its first concert in 2019 in the series of La Nef at Salle Bourgie. The group’s ever-changing personnel brings bass instruments into the spotlight by emphasizing the various textures and functions of Baroque continuo instruments. The musicians are members of Montréal’s ‑ flourishing Early Music scene (Arion, SMAM, Infusion Baroque, Ensemble Caprice, Pallade Musica, Les Idees Heureuses).

Johann Pachelbel is remembered today for his Canon in D major, but he was an outstandingly successful organist and composer whose musical legacy is in fact quite broad and varied. Of his keyboard pieces the Hexachordum Apollinis is regarded as the pinnacle of his oeuvre and was a work to which Pachelbel himself attached great importance. Consisting of six arias with variations, the collection brings together the influence of several schools of music, all filtered through the composer’s refined tastes and superlative technical skill. The splendid Chaconne anticipates Bach and is one of Pachelbel’s best-known keyboard pieces.

REVIEW:

The title work on this disc is a fascinating composition. A set of 6 arias with variations written for either harpsichord or organ. Mathematically complex with symbolism relating to numerology and the Kabbalah the booklet notes point out some interesting features and point to a work that should perhaps be more widely known and appreciated. The Chaconne is a more known work.

-- Lark Reviews (Stephen Page)

Wolfgang Rübsam, one of the finest, busiest, and most prolifically recorded organists on Planet Earth, launches the first volume of a cycle devoted to the complete organ works of Pachelbel. The first impression you'll get from placing this disc in your trusty CD changer will be the pungency of the bright, reedy stops characterizing the organ by Johann Nepomuk Holzhey at Wiessnau (built in the 1780s). Naxos' transparent, up-close engineering further underscores the instrument's timbral distinctions. Listen, for example, to the registral clarity in the three Christmas Chorale Preludes, the brooding G minor Fantasia (what heartbreakingly gorgeous low-register harmonies!), or the flowing, reflective Komm, Gott Schöpfer, heiliger Geist. The two Toccatas in C major boast snarling pedal-points from which vivid, trumpet-like lines proudly take wing. Rübsam's slight ritards and breath marks throughout the D minor Chaconne, together with his strikingly varied couplings, add welcome drama and color to the score. Some listeners might prefer the steadier rhythm and restrained registration of Joseph Payne's more conservative reading on Centaur, but I lean toward Rübsam.


Payne's Pachelbel cycle, nearly complete at 10 volumes, employs a different organ for each installment. Will Rübsam do the same? That is, if he's been designated to record the whole Naxos Pachelbel cycle himself (remember, the label's Dupré organ music cycle is given over to different players). Artistically speaking, Rübsam and Payne complement rather than compete with each other. Even if you've acquired all or many or some of the Payne volumes, give Rübsam's Pachelbel a fair shot. What can you lose at Naxos' rock bottom price? Stay tuned for Volume 2.
--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

Classical Music

Includes chorale(s) for org by Johann Pachelbel. Soloist: Joseph Payne.
Includes work(s) for org by Johann Pachelbel. Soloist: Joseph Payne.

Includes work(s) for org by Johann Pachelbel. Soloist: Joseph Payne.

Includes work(s) by Johann Pachelbel. Ensembles: Namur Chamber Choir, Les Agrémens. Conductor: Jean Tubéry.

A close contemporary of Buxtehude, Johann Pachelbel was, by all accounts, an outstanding keyboard player himself, and his compositions provide a fascinating stylistic bridge between early-Baroque composers such as Frescobaldi and Froberger (both of whom influenced him) and the later music of J.S. Bach and his contemporaries. Organist Matthew Owens continues his major exploration of the many extant organ works of Pachelbel with this second volume, recorded on a recent instrument by the renowned French organ builder, Bernard Aubertin. The recital includes Pachelbel’s largest set of Magnificat Fugues – 23 in total – alongside free works and chorale-based works.

A close contemporary of Buxtehude, Johann Pachelbel was by all accounts an outstanding keyboard player himself, and his compositions provide a fascinating stylistic bridge between early-Baroque composers such as Frescobaldi and Froberger (both of whom influenced him) and the later music of Bach and his contemporaries. Organist Matthew Owens embarks on a major exploration of the many extant organ works of Pachelbel beginning with this first volume recorded on the iconic 1965 Frobenius Organ of The Queen’s College Chapel in Oxford, considered a vital instrument in the classical organ revival in Britain. Demonstrating the huge range of his abilities as a composer, the diverse forms and styles Pachelbel used are revealed in this compelling recital.

During his lifetime, Johann Pachelbel (1653–1706) was best known as an organ composer. He wrote more than two hundred pieces for the instrument, both liturgical and secular, and explored most of the genres that existed at the time. He is considered to be the apex of the 17th century’s south German organ school and generally one of the most important composers of the middle Baroque. His sphere of activity included central and southern Germany (modern Bavaria, Thuringia and Stuttgart), as well as important formative years in Vienna in his early 20s, during which he absorbed the Habsburg Empire’s dominant Italian and south German influences. The southern organ-builders’ emphasis on manual divisions is also apparent in much of Pachelbel’s liturgical organ music, which is relatively simple and written for manuals only. With this 13-disc set covering Pachelbel’s pivotal contributions to the chorale prelude, fugue and variation forms, internationally acclaimed organist Simone Stella adds another milestone to his already prolific discography of baroque keyboard music surveys on Brilliant Classics.

REVIEW:

The organ used here has much greater possibilities in variety of tonal colors, and Stella uses it to fine effect in the many fugues and chorale variations – and, it must be said, the music is in need of it. Pachelbel’s technique for toccatas is also consistent; based on pedal notes, the keyboard figurations of parallel 3rds, 6ths and 10ths predominate. Although not difficult to improvise, Pachelbel is always surprising in his modulatory shifts and textural changes.

-- Choir & Organ