1 minute read
REVIEW ESSAY
This DVD-CD boxset includes a 7-part documentary film lasting approximately 3.5 hours along with further demonstrations of the organs Bach played in Rötha, Sangerhausen and Waltershausen. You will also find 2 CDs of selected performances of Bach’s organ music -over six hours of film and audio content.
Expectations
Advertisement
When starting the review process, I had no fixed expectations. Perhaps there would be an intricately woven narrative with sympathetic performances? Or perhaps this would be a documentary offering a stoic glimpse into a time gone by where Bach’s organ music acts as a sumptuous cashmere blanket enveloping previous understandings of Bach and Expression in the safe hands of Moult and Schmeding. Either way a documentary evidencing the richness of Bach’s organs, music and sound world appeared realistic.
Who’s who?
Daniel Moult is Head of Organ studies at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, concert organist, recording artist, and presenter.. Martin Schmeding is a German based concert organist an educator. Christine Blanken is a musicologist at the Leipzig Bach Archive and manages the Research Section II ‘The Bach Family’. In this role, she oversees issues connected to the documents and musical editions as well as the ‘Bach digital’ portal.
7-part documentary
The film opens with a single question: ‘What is
expression?’
The narrative quickly progresses to Moult and Schmeding playing excerpts of Bach, demonstrating stylistic interpretations through the centuries with a healthy variety of registrations and articulations.
