St. Albans International Organ Festival

Meet the Recitalist: Bernard Winsemius

Please tell us a little about your concert programme

It consists of music by J S Bach, but is a little bit different from a regular Bach recital. The Benjamin Cooke arrangement for example, consists of Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in C-major transposed down a tone joined together with the Finale (trio)

from his Sonata for Gamba and Harpsichord, the various parts connected by transitional music of unknown origin. It is an intriguing combination...

The Capriccio is a programmatic piece (originally written for the harpsichord) depicting in music the various emotions felt when taking leave of a ‘beloved brother’. The titles of the various movements are by Bach himself and are presumably meant to be spoken by the performing player.

The Harpsichord Concerto BWV1055 is an arrangement of an arrangement by Bach himself of a lost Oboe d’Amore concerto.

For the two cantus-firmus chorales I followed the same procedure as Bach did himself in his so-called Schübler-chorales in arranging them for organ.

The recital ends with 4 parts from the Art of the Fugue which are not very often (not often enough, maybe...!) performed on the organ. In Contrapunctus 11 (a triple fugue) Bach appends his own signature by introducing the countersubject b.a.c.h.: b flat – a – c – b, reaching an unbelievable harmonic complexity (Max Reger, match that if you can!).

What first attracted you to your instruments and how old were you when you started playing?

I got familiar with the organ, like most Dutch organists, during the countless church services I attended from with my father and mother when I was growing up. I started playing when I was 7 and acted as church organist from when I was 15.

Who (or what) has had the greatest influence on you as a players?

As a player I was, of course, very much influenced by my teacher Albert de Klerk. At a later stage, my study of vocal music has, I think, had a deciding impact on the way I regard music in general and organ music in particular (phrasing, articulation, rhetoric).

What would be a typical day in your life?

A few years ago, before I retired as an organ and carillon professor and from regular job as city carillonneur of Haarlem and Amsterdam, a typical day would have consisted of teaching, practising, writing, arranging and preparing recitals. Looking back it was a rather busy and sometimes stressful schedule. Nowadays things can be a bit more relaxed. A typical day consists of practising, preparing, reading and writing, depending on what I have coming up in my schedule.

 

What have been the highlights of your recent schedules?

Each recital brings you to another instrument, different in quality of sound and character, at one time in a dry room, at another time in an echo-ey cathedral. One has to adapt the repertoire choice to the instrument and the room. It is one of the most interesting things about playing the organ, I think. However, one thing is for certain: the return to ‘my own’ instruments in the Nieuwe Kerk of Amsterdam after a period elsewhere means always being surprised afresh by the stupendous sound qualities of those organs.

Which piece of music most recently made a big impression on you?

In December I was once again very much impressed by the musical expressiveness of two works written for the time around Christmas: Schütz’ Christmas Historia and Bach’s Magnificat. These pieces are about words being clarified, getting an extra dimension, music being inspired by words, words being ignited by music.

 

Which book would you recommend all musicians and music lovers to read and why?

A difficult question to answer. There are so many worthwhile publications. Maybe I will choose two publications on J S Bach which I read in the last few months. Bach, wie schnell? (Bach, how fast?) by Von Gleich/Sonnleitner, a concise book full of examples which gives valuable information on the tempo of Bach’s compositions. Very commendable! And I enjoyed very much Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s Music in the Castle of Heaven, in which one feels very directly the inspiration given to the writer by Bach’s music itself.