De aanleiding.
One of the special places where I have worked is the Maartenskerk in Zaltbommel. When I was an organist there I tried out all kinds of music on the organ by Wolferts and Heinemann. A beautiful instrument in a space with a large reverberation and very specific in use: round and mild fundamental voices, small and low mixtures, on the other hand fiery reeds and cornets, a classical layout of the registers and certainly difficult to play with coupled keyboards. Too unclear for polyphony, not easy to register and make dynamic transitions for later music. After a build-up from a beautifully singing 'jeux de fonds', after a mezzoforte there is only a sudden transition to a forte, which also sounds unclear when played quickly in that space. Larger Romantic works that require flowing dynamic transitions seem somewhat clumsy, you wish that music for another organ and this organ for other music.
On such a late 18th century organ, with its tendency towards sensitive sounds as opposed to brutal reeds, it is not easy to find repertoire that sounds good. With some searching, a piece can be found with some composers that surprisingly does have an effect, but a general guideline cannot really be given.
Then the music of Mendelssohn, who also played on older organs, seems an obvious choice. Indeed, that certainly applies to many works by that composer, but in comparison with his brilliant piano and orchestral music the organ works are less interesting. If that were the only repertoire that coincides with the possibilities of the organ, the harvest would be meagre.
That was the reason to search further, outside of organ music, to make arrangements of it that would be playable in Zaltbommel. That is how the Variations Sérieuses by Mendelssohn came on the music stand, a work that I had previously played on the piano. The beginning can be played on the organ without too much adaptation, but further on there are variations that initially did not seem suitable for the organ. After many attempts and comparisons with the organ works of Mendelssohn and contemporaries, suitable textures emerged, playable in Zaltbommel, and sounding like organ music without essentially changing Mendelssohn's work, but rather adapting it in a way that he could also have thought of.
De uitgaven
As this method also proved applicable to other works by Mendelssohn, a CD was released that was received positively everywhere. Not long after, the first edition of the Variations Sérieuses was released. Several pieces from the Preludes and Fugues for piano also proved suitable for playing on the organ. The Prelude and Fugue in E minor (opus 35 no.1) actually begs for it: the Prelude has a texture that is comparable to the last variation on the ‘Vater Unser’ from the sixth Sonata, the fugue culminates in a chorale, which sounds much more impressive on the organ than on the piano.
During my period in Zaltbommel, the arrangement of the Hollandse Rhapsodie by Peter van Anrooy, originally from Zaltbommel and a well-known conductor in his time, was created in the context of an anniversary year. Schubert's Sonata in A minor also proved to be an interesting addition to the repertoire, especially for smaller 19th century organs, for which larger works are sometimes difficult to find. I remember how this work ideally coincided with the registrations of the limited two-manual Mooser organ at a concert in the monastery church of Montorge near Fribourg (Switzerland), as evidenced by the reactions, also to the satisfaction of the audience.
Later, mainly as a result of the search for music that could offer the organ a more versatile repertoire, arrangements were created such as Brahms' Passacaglia (the last movement from his fourth symphony, transposed to C minor, as a counterpart to Bach's Passacaglia), music by Poulenc, Satie and Milhaud (which can be heard on a CD from the Orgelpark; unfortunately the music has not been published due to copyright), but also arrangements of sinfonias from Bach's cantatas composed into organ concertos with strings, following the example of Bach's own arrangements into harpsichord concertos, which we have performed as the ensemble Concerto Strumentale at various festivals.
For the organ duo 422play I made several arrangements of orchestral works that require more hands and feet to let all layers of the music be heard. The result of this can be heard mainly on the CD from Brussels (see the item 422play on home) and in the publication of Cumuli and the early tenth symphony for strings by Mendelssohn, besides other compositions that will appear in print.
New arrangements are still being created to broaden the organ repertoire. Boeijengamusic is publishing a series of music by William Byrd, designed for performance on an organ with two manuals and pedal. And for my concerts I regularly make an arrangement to supplement a program. I will occasionally offer some pdfs of these for download via this site.