STAIRWAY TO BACH
The organ has been regarded as an orchestra from its earliest beginnings, and over
the years many composers have transposed vocal and orchestral works for the instrument.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries we find many interesting examples of organ transcriptions,
such as Max Reger’s organ arrangements of the piano parts in a number of
Hugo Wolff’s songs. Sigfrid Karg-Elert arranged a number of passages from Wagner’s
operas for harmonium, while Charles-Marie Widor gave several Bach movements a
loving organ treatment in the collection “Bach’s Memento”, demonstrating the ability
of composers and other musicians to be inspired by the compositions of other masters
and to “re-compose” them for their own instrument.
These transcriptions and adaptations were all made at a time when music could only
be experienced by hearing it in live performance. In the case of the orchestral pieces,
in particular, very few people would have had the opportunity to hear all these marvellous
works. Orchestral concerts were rare and costly, which is one of the reasons
why orchestral works were transcribed for piano and organ. The piano transcriptions
could be played at home, while the organ transcriptions could be played in churches
and concert halls where organs were available. Several of the great concert hall organs
of the 19th and 20th centuries were thus directly justified by the fact that they could
play the orchestral repertoire when an orchestra could not be afforded.
Today, we can all listen to good recordings of the great classical works, but a real concert
with real musicians is still something special. That is why it still makes sense to
perform selected works in transcription for smaller ensembles, so that many more can
have the opportunity to experience the music in real concerts. The moreintimate and transparent expressionof the transcriptions also emphasises different nuances andelements of the music, by comparison with the original versions.
As part of my work with artistic research at The Royal Danish Academy of Music, I have
had the opportunity to take a closer look at organ transcriptions and the use of the organ
as an orchestral substitute, both from a historical and a practical perspective.
This work has resulted, amongst other things, in an elaborate practical transcription
of Richard Strauss’ Vier letzte Lieder for soprano, violin and organ, as well as Ernest
Chausson’s Poème for violin and organ.
As a further development of this work, I have taken a stylistic leap and worked out a
number of organ transcriptions of symphonic rock classics from the 1960s and 1970s.
The background to this has been a long-standing musical collaboration with my good
friend the violinist Jochen Brusch, with whom I have for a number of years played adaptations
of rock classics on our classical instruments, violin and organ, in recognition of the
fact that we like to play good music that we care about – irrespective of style, as long as
it is good music!
But the organ is such a large and versatile instrument that it can also cope with the task
alone.
The symphonic rock music of the 1960s and 1970s largely drew its inspiration from classical
music, and in particular from the composer Johann Sebastian Bach, sometimes using
direct Bach quotations, at other times simply using musical phrases that are reminiscent
of “old Bach”. It is therefore interesting to examine what happens when you add even
more Bach, and play symphonic rock classics on a classical instrument: the organ.
In these arrangements, the connection between Bach and Rock is underlined by a direct
interweaving of rock music with quotations from Johann Sebastian Bach, with the result
that the music flows together in a patchwork of baroque organ, Bach and symphonic
rock “STAIRWAY to BACH – Rock classics with a hint of Bach”.
The programme will be presented on the large Marcussen organ in the Concert Hall of
The Royal Danish Academy of Music.
