In the Town Church of Bückeburg there was an organ built in 1617 by Esaias Compenius the Elder. Over the centuries, the organ has been adapted many times to the wishes and standards of the time. The organ was completely destroyed in a fire in 1962.
In 1965 Emil Hammer made a reconstruction to the original style, making use of the notes that Michael Praetorius had written about this organ. The historical knowledge of the old baroque style was very limited in the sixties of the last century. The organ cabinet could be responsibly recreated, but the baroque sound of the pipes had to be rediscovered.
Thirty years later Rudolf Janke had that knowledge and so he built a new organ in the existing case between 1993 and 1997. It became his opus 114, in the style of the Middle German Baroque, using the successful parts of the organ built by Hammer. The organ is a free interpretation of the concept of Compenius and with this organ Rudolf Janke proves that he masters the baroque style and applies it to the organs that he is now building.
Rudolf Janke's refined voicing was highly valued by experts for its clear sounds and special flute registers. This organ has the most beautiful sounds for the interpretation of Bach's Trio Sonatas. The organ is built with three manuals and pedal, with each division having its own main choir according to the Werkenprizip. In addition, a multitude of beautiful solo registers. In total, the organ has 47 speaking registers.
This organ proves that the organ builders had rediscovered the expertise of the heyday of the Baroque
The organ in Bückeburg has the same baroque sounds as the restored historic baroque organs between 1600 and 1750. In Bückeburg, the Werkenprinzip was chosen, as Schnitger used in his organ in Zwolle. Each manual has a full Plenum, but the volumes differ greatly. In that form, Jiri Zurek stored them in the samples, but in a living room they have to be adapted to the small space.
In the church these differences are in balance with the large acoustic space and the registers are appropriately tuned. A register of the Hauptwerk is never too loud in the church, but the voicing of the Unterwerk also ensures that every register, no matter how weak, can still be heard everywhere. In the living room the advantages of a large space are absent and therefore the difference between loud and weak registers must be reduced.
Voicing cannot be learned in writing, but I make an attempt to explain a tried and tested method
in my book Sounds in the Living room. This book is available free of charge if requested with
full postal address. The method applies to any sample set, but requires some experimentation and critical listening from the organist to learn it. It doesn't go in one go, repeat the actions often.
A few years ago I became acquainted with the Rudolf Janke organ in Bückeburg. Historical research has established that the organs from the Baroque period had reached the pinnacle of musical expressiveness. In the last quarter of the 20th century, organ builders were again able to make pipes that sounded equivalent to the well-preserved organs of the Baroque. Jürgen Ahrend has applied his knowledge in the restoration of historic organs. Rudolf Janke was also one of the craftsmen who could apply the newfound craft by building organs in grand style. His opus 114 was the organ in Bückeburg. Rudolf Janke is a contemporary of Jürgen Ahrend and both learned to make organs from Paul Ott in Göttingen.
New organs are now being built in the Baroque style with pipes that had all the good qualities of the historic organs. The pipes speak smoothly and let you hear relaxed sounds. One of the properties is their stability, once tuned they keep the tuning. Annual retuning is unnecessary. Playing the organ in Bückeburg was a musical pleasure due to the immediate tone on which even the shortest notes of musical embellishments can be heard effortlessly.
Great expectations did I have of the sample set that Jiri Zurek offered for this organ and ordered the set immediately. When I installed the samples I knew I had gold in my hands. Many pipes I have voiced in Baroque style and I recognized this style in these sounds that are perfectly stored in the samples. Obviously I only use the DRY samples, the recordings made close to the pipes. It is therefore absolutely necessary to buy the complete set, otherwise many DRY samples are missing. With an IR recording, the acoustics of the church are transferred realistically to the living room. The reverberation here is 3 seconds and Jiri Zurek has suitable IR recordings for that.
Magisterial sounds make large files necessary
After pressing the key, the pipe immediately responds. The start of the tone is clearly audible and marks smoothly played short tones and embellishments (chiff). With tones that are sustained for a long time, a growing Gravity can be heard. In a long held chord you can hear how the depth increases, it starts to sound deeper and deeper. Not every sample set transfers this to the living room, so choose a reliable sample maker (SonusParadisi, Prospectum, Grabowski). The loudspeakers must also be of good quality, consult the company that builds the Hauptwerk organ (Sonarte supplies that). What I heard in Bückeburg can now be heard in my living room.
To transfer this magisterial richness of sound and Gravität to the living room, the large data file is needed and that simply takes
more time to load. Don't expect it from sets which can be loaded in a few seconds. see: Sonus Paradisi
