Bach was a central figure in the musical education of the prodigious young Mendelssohn, and he continued to expand the family's collection of the Leipzig master's organ music. However, he was also gifted at the art of improvisation, which is central to the organist's training, and he later wrote out several of his best improvisations as compositions for posterity. His organ music abounds in the elegance and impetuous vitality which characterize his music in general, while his lifelong immersion in the music of Bach is evident in both the counterpoint and the chorale movements to be found throughout his organ sonatas. Matthias Havinga plays three of the best-known of those sonatas on this album: Op.65 Nos 3, 4 and 6. No.3 concludes in a lovely song without words, a style which he revisited for the Andante tranquillo of No.4. No.6, by contrast, opens with a magnificent set of variations upon the 'Our Father' chorale theme Vater unser in Himmelreich, elaborated with such mastery by Bach in the ClavierÃ¼bung III. Three standalone movements include an energetic E minor fugue and a much more introverted, even melancholic F minor fugue (a cousin to the despairing F minor string quartet which became his last major composition). The Allegro in D minor begins in brilliant and pianistic fashion (perhaps also owing something to Bach's D major Prelude and Fugue BWV532) before seguing into a chorale and fugue. The arrangements are of the overture to his oratorio St Paul (transcribed by the English organist W.T. Best) and the Scherzo from his incidental music to A Midsummer Night's Dream, which translates surprisingly well to the organ. It is played here on the 1830 BÃ¤tz organ in the Koepelkerk in Amsterdam by Matthias Havinga.

Tracklist:

Organ Sonata No. 3 In A Major, Op. 65: I. Con Moto Maestoso
Organ Sonata No. 3 In A Major, Op. 65: II. Andante Tranquillo
Ein Sommernachtstraum, Op. 61: I. Scherzo
Andante Sostenuto In F Minor
Organ Sonata No. 4 In B-Flat Major, Op. 65: I. Allegro Con Brio
Organ Sonata No. 4 In B-Flat Major, Op. 65: II. Andante Religioso
Organ Sonata No. 4 In B-Flat Major, Op. 65: III. Allegretto
Organ Sonata No. 4 In B-Flat Major, Op. 65: IV. Allegro Maestoso E Vivace
Organ Sonata No. 6 In D Minor, Op. 65: I. Choral Mit Variationen
Organ Sonata No. 6 In D Minor, Op. 65: II. Fuga
Organ Sonata No. 6 In D Minor, Op. 65: III. Finale - Andante
Fuga In E Minor
Allegro In D Minor
Paulus, Op. 36: I. Ouverture

UPC: 5028421956589
Label: Brilliant Classics
Release Date: 6.22.18
Format: CD

Matthias Havinga - Organ Music (CD)