Ernst Friedrich Richter, Präludium und Fuge, Es Dur
Richter’s Prelude and Fuge in E flat major is again a great work. Richter’s idiom is thouroughly rooted in Baroque idiom and rhetoric , as is for example evident from the ‘Seufzer'(sigh) figure in the prelude. The prelude and fugue fit very well together. In the fugue Richter follows the overal layout of the prelude with long passages on Manual I alternated with short passages on manual II. And to emphasize the relationship even further Richter writes 8 bars of paralel thirds, the building block of the preludes, halfway the fugue. The more I play from Richter, the more strange it seems his music is not played far more often.
The prelude has one spot (bars 23 and 24) where I’m not exactly sure how the musical text should read. The scribe is not consistent in his alterations and naturals across voices. In thos two bars I’m not sure whether a natural is meant or a flat. So. I played it twice, once with the a (Tholen) and one with the a flat (Groningen). For the score I decided on a flat. But you’re welcome to play a yourself.
The first recording was done with the Hauptwerk software and the sample set, made by Voxus, of the Van Dam organ (1832) in Tholen (https://www.voxusorgans.com/en/product/tholen).
The second recording was done with the sampleset, made by Sonus Paradisi, of the Schittger organ in the St. Martini-kerk, Groningen.
Performance
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Bravo!
Grazie
Daniele Calorio
Have fun with it!