The flourishing of period instrument performance may have accustomed the world's ears to the sound of mean tuning, but institutional instruments such as the pipe organ have yet to catch up. There are very few organs in the world capable of playing in mean temperament, so period-style recordings are necessarily limited; thus the fortunate necessity of this CD of Georg Muffat's 'Apparatus musico-organisticus' being recorded on the Klosterneuberg Abbey organ in Austria. Beyond its authentic tuning, it has an amazing variety of tone colors, which Muffat's score takes full advantage of.
Muffat, a student of Jean-Baptiste Lully, lived and composed at the cusp of a new era in European history. He stepped beyond the limitations of national character, and sought to incorporate elements of Italian and German music in his own French compositions. He was also aware of the new tonality put forth in the 'Well-Tempered Clavier' by his contemporary, J. S. Bach. Though Part I of the 'Apparatus' uses mean tuning, he was eager to experiment with the newer even temperament, which he did in Part II, so it could not be recorded on this instrument. Given the choice, however, Part I is much more interesting listening.