Muffat, G.: Apparatus Musico-Organisticus (Suddeutsche Orgelmeister, Vol. 2)

Album review

Georg Muffat, an organist of French-Scottish background, was active in Bavaria at the end of the seventeenth century. His imposingly titled Apparatus musico-organisticus of 1690 was a set of 12 toccatas, one in each of the old church modes, plus three large variation-type pieces. This super audio two-CD set isn't necessarily a great choice for the general listener interested in Baroque organ music, but it will appeal to several distinct special audiences. The toccatas, according to the rather specialized booklet notes, display French, German, and Italian characteristics, but for the most part these are subtle matters of ornamentation, not the sharp national style distinctions found in Bach. A program of organ music played for a church service or ceremonial event of the time would have contained a variety of genres rather than a sequential presentation of this single collection, and listening to these discs from beginning to end requires quite an effort of concentration. Organist Joseph Keleman is never a dry player, and he gives the toccatas a sense of drama, but taken as a whole this is not variegated music.
For organists and audiophiles, however, the disc offers plenty of action. Oehms is a small German label specializing in top-flight engineering, and in the quieter registrations of the two organs heard here they achieve unearthly worshipful effects. Sample track 4 for an example of what engineers can accomplish with centuries-old instruments like these. The notes go into detail as to why two organs (one Austrian, one French) were used -- it has to do with how the mean-tone temperament of one organ works for most of the pieces but not all of them. That tuning is a bit hard to get used to, and the organs are also tuned to different pitches. The recording switches between them, creating an experience the notes liken to walking from one church into another. It's actually somewhat disorienting if you're listening closely -- like getting hit over the head during a religious riot and dragged from one church into another, perhaps. In any event, this disc belongs in the collections of libraries, organ enthusiasts, and those whose stereos cost more than their computers.

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