Search - Marco Facoli, Elizabeth Rogers, August Normiger :: Court and Dance Music from the Renaissance and Early Baroque

An interesting record of historic organ before restoration

04/10/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Having read the two customer reviews, I find myself in between the extremes. While Lena Jacobson does show a penchant for the more astringent and reedy stops, I cannot agree that the sound is shrill and aggravating. I found it quite interesting, and she displayed every facet of the potential sound. The Fredriksborg organ was rebuilt in the 1980s and there is a disc illustrating its mellower side on Marco Polo records. Nevertheless, I would be loth to surrender this recording. I find the clacking of the mechanical action and the occasionally asthmatic sound rather charming. The selections made by Jacobson are winning and the performances are never dull."

Glorious organ playing

08/11/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is early keyboard playing at its best! I especially admire the artist's remarkably keen sense of rhythm and expression. These little pieces which can often sound dull in the hands of other players acquire a new life, no doubt due to Ms. Jacobson's vivid musicianship and insights into Baroque musical rhetoric, as mentioned in the cover-text. To my mind, her performance of this music sounds more like powerful speech and drama than music-as-such. I just love the fantastic sounds of this unique chamber organ, even though one or two tracks present us with sounds that are unfamiliar to our ears and perhaps best characterized as "rich", to employ Michael Palin's apt description of the smell of the durian fruit! Ms. Jacobson has very successfully pulled the right stops - we get to hear lots of tantalizing combinations of early organ sounds, especially the typical Renaissance reed stops! In fact, the whole thing sounds more like a small Renaissance band than the hands and feet of one single musician. I discovered Lena Jacobson only recently - I bought her recording of a selection of Buxtehude's organ works released by deutsche harmonia mundi-BMG. I think this must be the best Buxtehude organ CD to date. Very, very powerful and colorful organ playing! I have to say that compared to these dramatic and virtuoso interpretations of preludes and chorales, most of the competition (such as Vogel) sounds dull and run-of-the-mill. I strongly recommend the Court and Dance Music CD as well as the Buxtehude!"

Great organ, hideous organist

Jeffrey Quick | 10/22/2008

(1 out of 5 stars)

"The Compenius organ has a unique sound, and is my favorite organ. You can think of it as being an orchestral organ for the orchestra of the 16th century. It's like having all the major Renaissance consorts at your fingertips. The packaging has great detail about the instrument, including all the stops, and which stops are used on which tracks -- something I wish more organ recordings would have.



Unfortunately, the performances are almost unlistenable. The notes speak of "a manner of playing...independent of modern performance practices...'speaking' delivery ... 'breathing' execution...'jeu inegal'. What this means is that Jacobson plays everything staccato and does not play in time. This goes far beyond agogic accent for expresson. These are supposed to be dance pieces, but a transcription of the rhythms would resemble Boulez. There is no sense of line, and this was an age dominated by vocal music. I'm a specialist in early music performance practice, and believe me, nobody else in the world plays this way. Also, the organ is rather closely miked, and rattles like it's 400 years old. It's hard to concentrate on the repertoire (well-chosen for the instrument) when you're wonder which random beat fragment the next note will fall on. There are other recordings of this organ that must be better."