The International Historical Organ Recording Collection

I am proud to be able to present three very unique organ recordings. Thanks to a generous contribution from Claudia Zachariassen, the owner of the Marcussen organ building firm, I can present two live recordings with Helmut Walcha and Günter Ramin. They were recorded on two Marcussen organs: at the concert hall at the Danish "Statsradiofonien" (Danish Broadcasting Corporation, on its former location in Copenhagen) May 8th 1953 with Helmut Walcha playing, and the other during the inauguration concert of the organ in Göteborg concert hall April 28th 1937 with Günther Ramin. They were cut on acetate discs most likely from a radio transmission and presented to the former owner of Marcussen Sybrand Zachariassen (1900-1960), so they most likely only exist in this exact copy. The third recording is a contribution from David C. Kelzenberg (Iowa, USA). It is Helmut Walcha playing the “Ricercar á 6” from “Das Musichalishes Opfer” by J. S. Bach. This recording was done privately...

We continue with the third part with Helmut Walcha playing J. S. Bach from Sct. Jacobi Kirche, Lübeck and Cappel. Again, like IHORC-16, it’s from his first cycle of the complete J. S. Bach from 1947-52. The Toccata, Adagio and fugue in C major, BWV564 and Toccata and fugue in d minor are recorded in Sct. Jacobi, BWV565 while the Fantasia and fugue in g minor, BWV542 and the Pastorale, BWV590 are from Cappel. The real gem in this release is the Pastorale, where he shapes the pieces with much grace, and we really get to hear the beautiful flute stops of the organ. A bit unlike other his interpretations he fires up the drama in the BWV565. Thanks again to Claus Byrith for this release. The picture is Helmut Walcha playing the organ in Alkmaar. Download detailed playlist Download link: http://www.ihorc.com/ihorc/IHORC-17/IHORC-17_-_Helmut_Walcha_3.rar

This is the second release with Helmut Walcha. This time it's from his first cycle of the complete J. S. Bach recordings from 1947-1952. The “Sei gegrüsset” and the “Schübler chorales” are recorded at the Stellwagen organ Sct. Jacobi in Lübeck in 1947 and the Preludes and Fugues from 1952 at one of the most important Schnitger organs situated in Cappel. This release is also interesting due the historic importans of two instruments used. This link provides a good insight on the organ of Cappel, and the author of this blog even quotes some text from the original Walcha release. http://mypipeorganhobby.blogspot.com/2009/10/cappel-st-peter-und-paul-1680-schnitger.html I’ve found som info about the Stellwagen organ in Sct. Jacobi Kirche, Lübeck: Die kleine Orgel (Stellwagenorgel, Nordorgel) ist deshalb kulturgeschichtlich von allergrößtem Wert. Das gotische Blockwerk von 1467 baute Friedrich Stellwagen 1636/37 zum Hauptwerk mit Schleif-Windladen um und fügte Rückpositiv, Brustwerk und...

Helmuth Walcha (1907-1991) It’s now time for a release with the famous German organist Helmut Walcha. This is the first of initially 4 releases with Walcha playing J. S. Bach. He recorded the complete works by J. S. Bach twice, from 1947-1950 in mono on the Schnitger organ in Cappel and in St. Jakobi in Lübeck and 1956-1971 on the famous organ in Alkmaar. This release is from the Alkmaar serie and is therefore in stereo. A quite interesting thing is to compare it with the IHORC14 release, where Fernando Germani plays the exact same organ about two years later. The next part is from Wikipedia: Helmut Walcha (October 27, 1907 in Leipzig, Germany – August 11, 1991 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany) was a blind German organist who specialized in the works of the Dutch and German baroque masters and is known for his recordings of the complete organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach. And whom, despite being blinded at 19 by smallpox, is considered one of the great teachers and performers of the or...