We are most grateful to the Member for his rapid response to our query about keys; as it is the sort of knowledge that is very difficult to find on the Inter-Net or even in books we have saved it and filed it away for future reference.

To-day we present "Kyrie, Gott heiliger Geist," B.W.V. 671, the third of Bach's grand chorale fantasias upon the three forms of the Kyrie hymn. - These will be followed over the course of the coming three days by the three corresponding and shorter chorale fugues.

The work is written in four parts, plus a fifth for the chorale melody on the pedals, and even a sixth which enters at the final cadence. Here is a weak wishy-washy and witless version from an anonymous crackpot (rapid-share / send-space).

In contrast let us listen to Helmut plying his tremendous instrument. "Strong! Strong!" we involuntarily cry in a kind of ecstasy as he enters the final stretto.

But it has to be said, also, that there is something deficient in the recording; there is that is to say as is the case all too often with organs simply too much reverberation. This may be heard most clearly and in its purest form in the first bar, where the second note, an E flat, is sounded against the echo of the first note, a D, giving the - not merely momentary - impression of a minor second suspension. Blurs of this kind continue throughout the piece and we really do not care for them. Surely such a reverberant recording cannot be an accurate representation of the "real thing on the spot," and we are therefore still always active in our "look-out" for Dame Gillian and her relatively anechoic trans-oceanic equipment.

Once more we thank the member for the music, the words, and the fascinating original engraving.

We do not know what was the matter with his download; we just now tried it here with Opera and it was complete.

Curious members without much German may wish to avail themselves of the following rough translation:

    Lord,
    God and numinous Spirit (i.e. Holy Ghost),
    Solace and strengthen us most of all in our faith,
    So that we at the end
    Gladly leave this wretchedness:
    Have Mercy!

Actually these people seem to have shared with the jolly old Bhooddha a view of life as "misery". But we have always considered them in taking that attitude to have themselves fallen into grave error.

Mr Sudden is correct I think - although a more modern translation might equally use 'mercy' there, as indeed I believe does the RSV, although I'm not currently at home and don't have mine to hand.

Now we come to the group of three short chorale fugues which follow and correspond with the three long and weighty chorale fantasias we have heard over the past three days. To-day's contribution is thus the "Kyrie, Gott Vater in Ewigkeit (alio modo)."

This scheme of larger and smaller chorale preludes is said by Ernest Newman to correspond to Luther's greater and smaller catechisms. And as Schweitzer tells us, "In the former, Luther demonstrates the essence of the faith; in the latter he addresses himself to the children. The larger chorale preludes," he goes on to say, "are dominated by a sublime musical mysticism, aiming simply at illustrating the central idea of the dogma contained in the words; the smaller ones [such as to-day's] are of bewitching simplicity." Well we do not know about "bewitching" but "a sublime musical mysticism" sounds good does it not? Indeed it puts us in mind of the sublime musical mysticism of Alexander Scryabine.

Also it is not often remembered that Bach was a pioneer of musique concrète. For this work he cut up a telephone and used it for the alto part of a small ensemble, together with an oboe, an ordinary clarinet, and a bass clarinet (rapid-share / send-space).

As contrast here is Matteo playing a 1746 Johann Scheibe organ at Zschortau. As always, he takes his own time!

Here (rapid-share or send-space) is B.W.V. 673, Bach's "light" version of "Christe, aller Welt Trost" ("Christ, the consolation of the whole world") of which three days ago we heard a longer setting.

There is no record of Bach's ever having visited Mexico, and indeed he displayed no particular interest in either the Mayans or the Aztecs. Although he was indeed twice married he never called upon his executants to recite erotic poetry; nor did he even ever require them to take their shoes and socks off during a performance.

As comparison we had better turn again to Helmut, and in view of his unfavourable reception among the membership dump at least for a few days Matteo the only other contender! We had had no inkling of how controversial Matteo could be! But despite that he will have to make one or two short reappearances eventually.

Matteo appears to us to be another Mr. Varyspeed!

Mr. Baziron's commentaries illustrations and explanations relating to each piece have been so valuable and educational for the membership that we too have decided to take a little rest and continue the series next week. We hope a nice time will be had by all!

Well we have to say this: having returned from our holiday we purposefully groomed our hair with the greatest care before listening to either example. We paid particular attention to the attitude and demeanour of those short hairs along the back of our neck in order to maximise the impact upon them of Bach's final chromatic phrase (being particularly careful not to have appraised them in advance of what they were about to experience). But neither Wolfgang nor André seemed to have the slightest effect upon their senses. Indeed at that monumental 'singularity' when the Gb arrived, all our hairs had already fallen asleep! We were puzzled!

But after some examination we feel we have arrived at the explanation. Neither player seems content (as would have been natural in the normal course of events we feel) to allow the final chromatic phrase to speak its own language in its own time! Herr Rübsam, who plays the entire piece too quickly anyway, feels compelled through decency to make a great rall before launching into the final phrase (in order then to play it at the correct tempo that the rest of the movement should have attained but miserably failed to do so), and even then has to play it very much more slowly than the rest of the piece. In comparison Monsieur Isoir, despite having adopted a much more sensible (and slower!) Alla breve throughout, is also compelled to signal well in advance the impending "unexpectedness" of the final phrase and its insane chromatics - thereby completely destroying any illusion and surprise that its composer had attempted to create. But we should not be too surprised should we?...

Herr Rübsam studied initially with the legendary Helmut Walcha, and evidently learnt in his early years all about German Baroque music from one of its recent masters. But then, alas, he decided to reject all that and study subsequently in France with Marie-Claire Alain. We can sympathise with the dilemma this must have created - a) the French always play Bach too quickly anyway (a fact that must have troubled him from the outset), and b) that is the only way French organs can cope with Bach because the sound they make is too raucous, reedy and out-of-tune to permit any player to "hang around" for too long! Gone therefore must have been those glorious and in-tune Werckmeister-style sounds, or Silbermann-tuned crystal-clear harmonies needed to sustain even the long-held D-minor chord of the infamous Toccata BWV 565. It all had to be short and sharp in the interests of sanity (even though the French were probably quite proud of their notorious out-of-tune reeds).

Things do not get much better with Monsieur Isoir either! Not only did he actually study his Bach playing in France, but he actually WAS French by nationality! To his credit, however, we note that he respects the German Baroque sense of Alla breve and paces the movement appropriately. But then what happens?............! At the moment when he is to mark his greatest triumph he snatches defeat from the jaws of victory! That final plainsong strain in the pedals is delivered at about HALF the speed of the rest of the movement, and the chromatic harmonies that accompany it turn into something resembling a nightmare of César Franckian proportions! "During which century was this piece composed?" we cry!

There is nothing in the original engraving to suggest that the tempo should be anything other than Alla breve, and certainly nothing that in any way indicates a wish upon Bach's part for the last phrase to be in any way played more slowly than what precedes it. Why neither player seems pathologically capable of uttering this music in the way Bach intended it to be uttered remains a total mystery to us. But perhaps both are treating their respective audiences with a certain amount of condescension, and assuming that unless we are given sufficient advance warning of what is to come, and it is socked to us hard enough we might just believe that they are playing all the right notes but in the wrong order. Who knows?

Baz