Bach and Friends for Violin and Organ - 1723

• Performer(s): Nadja Zwiener, baroque violin; Johannes Lang, organ
• Recording, editing & mastering Rainer Arndt
• Recorded: Kreuzkirche, Störmthal, Germany; Late Summer 2022
• Label: Ramée

This video by Ton Koopman and the All of Bach Project) brings him to the Hildebrandt organ that is connected to Bach insofar as Zacharias Hildebrandt was purportedly Bach’s favorite organ builder. It’s a good video and introduced me to an instrument that Koopman remarks he never recorded upon.

The organ featured in this album entitled "1723" is a different one created by Hildebrandt, much closer to Leipzig. It name of the album speaks to the organ’s year of production, the year of the violin used by Nadja Zwiener. Ms. Zwiener has been concertmaster of the English Concert; her companion on this disc, Johannes Lang, most recently has become an organist at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig.

The concept of the album is to bring together some famous violin works using a full-sized organ as the continuo and keyboard partner. If you are a fan like me of baroque violin, these pieces will already be familiar, but the sound these musicians bring is something unexpected.

I’ve never heard Ms. Zwiener perform as a soloist in this capacity but I was so pleased to have had the opportunity to spend with this recording. The sound quality of this recording is ideal in capturing a vivid picture of her instrument against the organ. This is a match that may be atypical or ahistorical, given the potential volume of the organ, but somehow this works. To be fair, the booklet picture of the organ depicts a smaller organ with a single keyboard. Both the organ and violin in their own right come off as exquisite instruments; together, their richness is palpable.

The album starts with Bach’s G-major sonata, BWV 1021 which is tastefully performed. Next is one of my favorite works by Biber outside his Mystery Sonatas, the E-minor Sonata C. 142. Here I think this stylus fantasticus work has well-judged tempo changes and appropriate pauses, where needed, to signal changes in affect. The double stopping with dotted rhythms is technically as tight as performances come in the violin part. When Lang uses the pedal we’re treated to an especially rewarding bass that is often missing in performances on smaller chest organs or a harpsichord with a bass stringed instrument.

The duo includes no. 6 from Corelli’s opus 5, in addition to Bach’s E minor BWV 1023 sonata (how I would have killed to hear the fugue, BWV 1026!). The group makes a new Bach piece by combining the prelude and fugue from the organ work, BWV 545 with the largo from the slow movement of BWV 529, one of Bach’s trio sonatas for organ for including the violin. It’s an odd coupling, maybe, but hearing the tremolo from this historic instrument was a treat.

The album finishes with the E minor sonata by Pisendel (JunP IV.1) and the C major chaconne by Bertali, which by now is gaining popularity nearly akin to Pachelbel’s Kanon. Lang gets some interesting harmonies out of his portion of the piece. It’s toe tapping stuff with some strange but interesting colors. Love it.

Keen historians of music will know these pieces don’t all come from 1723, but having two instruments from the same year is an extraordinary pairing and here two very sensitive musicians have worked together to bring us something very interesting with some easy listening. You’ll likely hear these pieces in some new ways, given the dynamics of the organ and the use, when used, of pedal.

The novelty of the approach here, I should add, isn’t the main draw of this album. The style of both musicians seems well-matched, and even given more a more traditional instrumentarium, I’d be singing the praises of this effort. Warmly recommended.