With his “Bach Organ Landscapes” project, Jörg Halubek is aiming for nothing less than a complete recording of Bach’s organ works. In doing so, he is unfolding an impressive panorama of organ landscapes and organ building traditions. Since 2020, he has portrayed twelve different locations and their unique organs on seven double albums to date. With a careful eye for the unique cultural heritage of the instruments of the Bach regions, he is in search of the original Bach sound. A rich collection of digital material accompanies the publication: www.organ-landscapes.com/
The eighth album “Steinberg ∙ Geising” will be released on September 13.
Bach’s music library was gigantic. He was particularly interested in the Italian composers of his time, whom he studied intensively. His admiration for the Italian masters was reflected in his organ transcriptions of Antonio Vivaldi’s concerti. Jörg Halubek now devotes himself to these arrangements from Bach’s pen as well as his trio sonatas on “Bach Organ Landscapes” Vol. 8: “The organs need cantability and many colors in order to be able to register the trio sonatas in a varied manner. The virtuosity and filigree of the trio sonatas doesn’t seem to me to be intended for a large, gravitational organ; it’s about chamber music,” says Jörg Halubek. This is why he chose the organ in the village church in Rothenkirchen (Steinberg) by the Trampeli brothers from 1796 and the organ in the town church in Geising by Johann Daniel Ranft, which was built between 1755 and 1757. “I have selected more remote organ builders who are directly connected to the Silbermann school, but who develop it further or contrast with it: The organ by the Silbermann pupil Trampeli in Rothenkirchen and also the organ by Ranft in Geising have numerous 8′ colors, already going into a cantabile, rounder voicing. I was very touched by these two instruments. In Rothenkirchen, every stop sings. The organ has sound and personality.”
Harpsichordist, conductor and organist Jörg Halubek is one of the most versatile artists on the music scene. In recent years, he has performed primarily as a “maestro al harpsichord”, including with his orchestra il Gusto Barocco and at international guest appearances. His expertise in dealing with early music is demonstrated by numerous recordings, including Georg Friedrich Händels/Georg Philipp Telemann’s “Cleofida” (2022) or Johann David Heinichen’s “Flavio” as well as Bach’s violin sonatas with Leila Schayegh. A recording of the first performance of Sigismund Kusser’s unknown baroque opera “Adonis” was released by cpo with il Gusto Barocco on January 30, 2024.
