FRAUENKIRCHE DRESDEN

Organ music by Bach & Duruflé  

 

JS Bach: Concerto in D minor after Vivaldi BWV596

JS Bach: Partite diverse sopra il Corale “Sei gegrusset, Jesu gutig” BWV768

JS Bach: Organ piece BWV572

Maurice Duruflé: Suite Op. 5

JS Bach: Trio super “Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend” BWV655

 

Samuel Kummer - organ

 

After twelve years of construction, the reconstructed Dresden Frauenkirche will be festively dedicated on 30 October 2005. Few organ building projects have been followed with such interest and excitement as the reconstruction of the new organ at the Frauenkirche Dresden. The organ case, like the structure of the church, was designed by George Bähr, and during the rebuilding of the Frauenkirche it was constructed in every detail in accordance with that of the Gottfried Silbermann organ, which was built in 1736 and destroyed in 1945. However, the internal workings of the organ are not simply a reconstruction of the Silbermann organ. Daniel Kern, the organ builder from Strasbourg, followed the “classical” disposition of the Silbermann organ but he also added an additional manual in the French romantic style. The Kern organ unites the numerous advantages of an historical organ with the technical advances of a modern concert instrument. Through a program on this first CD recording rich in contrasts of style, featuring music by Bach and Duruflè, Samuel Kummer, the organist of the Frauenkirche, demonstrates the astounding sonorous versatility of this organ.

 

On 1 December 1736, shortly after the completion and initial presentation of the Silbermann organ, Johann Sebastian Bach gave an organ recital in the Dresden Frauenkirche to publicly give thanks for the title of Royal Polish and Electoral Saxon Court Composer which had been conferred upon him. Unfortunately we do not know what music Bach played, or whether he improvised on that occasion. For the present recording works were chosen especially suited to the new Kern organ and which would bring to life the sound and acoustics of the Frauenkirche. Maurice Duruflé (1902–1986) derived his musical language from the French tradition; it is carried by a well-polished compositional technique and marked by gentle melancholy. For his Suite op. 5 (1934) Duruflé had in mind for the performance of this work a grand symphonic organ of the Cavaillé-Coll type. His indications for registration point towards the Orgue néoclassique, in which radiant mixtures are heard especially to advantage. This style is also a characteristic for the new organ of the Frauenkirche.

 

Carus CARUS 83188