Recital: James Welch James Welch & Robert Hubbard

• 1Partita for English Horn and Organ, Op. 41, No. 109:05
• 218 Chorales, BWV 651-668, Leipziger Chorale Nun komm der Heiden Heiland, BWV 65904:09
• 3Sonne der Gerechtigkeit01:00
• 4Nun freut euch lieben Christen gmein01:05
• 5Freuet euch, ihr Christen alle01:57
• 6Organ Concerto in G major, BWV 592 (arr. of concerto by Prince Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar)07:47
• 7Herzlich tut mich verlangen, BWV 72702:14
• 8Fugue in G minor, BWV 57803:53
• 9Organ Sonata in D major07:15
• Total Runtime38:25

Info zu Recital: James Welch

Dutch composer Jan Koetsier was born in Amsterdam in 1911 and commenced his studies in Berlin. He was active as an opera conductor in Germany and made his first appearance as a composer and conductor with the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1937. From 1942 until 1948 he was the orchestra's second conductor.

In 1950 he accepted Eugen Jochum’s invitation to become the first conductor of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. He has also conducted the Munich Philharmonic and the Bamberg Symphony. In 1966 Koetsier was appointed professor for the conducting class at the Munich Conservatory. His compositions include three symphonies. chamber music, an opera, an oratorio, and various other compositions The Partila for English Horn and Organ was commissioned in 1954 by a friend of Koetsier's in Munich who specified the English horn as the solo instrument as well as the chorale melody “Wie sch'on leuchtet der Morgenstern“ (“How Lovely Shines the Morningstar“) which is heard in the final movement.

'Here is a prime example of a 'little guy' showing the so-called giants of the industry how to do it. Working with modest-but optimized-recording gear and infinite attention to the niceties of microphone placement, Dave Wilson has captured an amazingly good likeness of a baroque-style tracker Flentrop organ. The instrument itself, I think, is one of the reasons why this recording works so well. I do not buy organ records with any great regularity, because they so seldom sound as real organs do. Organ recordings as a category expose all the shortcomings of the phonograph record as a music storage medium. Most organs, I would say, are unrecordable, so the key to making an organ recording which might work is to find a recordable organ.

The Flentrop at All Saint's Church in Palo Alto, California, is, from this evidence, recordable. Its sounds, and the acoustic in which they are placed, are modest enough in scope and free enough of geographical awkwardness to allow a successful recording to be made. The interest it holds lies in the variety and complexity of the medium-to-small sounds it makes, and in antiphonal front·to-back layering effects. All that should be needed with such an organ in such a space is a good pair of microphones and some com- mon sense, which is exactly what has been provided.

An English horn has also been provided for a Partita by Jan Koetsier (b. 1911), a real find of a piece. I do wonder at the wisdom of placing the English horn so close to the left microphone-it would make a better musical effect closer to the center and a bit farther away. The same goes for the set of pipes in the 'front and center' chest: Why so close? They're in our very face. But these are personal preferences, not shared by most people who have grown up with close-miked recordings.

Musically, I am happy to report, this record is well out of the category of 'Good recording, but so what?'. James Welch is a young, bright-eyed and energetic performer, one whose likes are too seldom found on organ benches. His program holds interest better than most grab-bag collections by including tasty items like the above-mentioned duet partita and a sprightly, chirpy group of pieces by Ernst Pepping, along with the more usual Bach clutch. All this music sounds well on the Flentrop. One does not once lust for a bigger, grander instrument.

Processing of the finished tape was done with great care. Mastering was at half speed by Stan Ricker, and pressings, which are quite surprisingly good, are by KM Records of Burbank, California.

Welch and Wilson have collaborated on one previous album, called Concert, made partially on this same organ and partially on the Holtkamp/Moller organ at the U.S. Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs. The latter organ was miked more distantly, and has enough weight in the pedal registers to satisfy any bass-hungry sub- woofer. Concert is available at the same price from the same address.

Wilson is reported to have been seen stringing microphones in the cavernous reaches of Grace Cathedral, San Francisco. We wish him well. If there was ever an organ that can't be recorded, that has to be it.

Postscript: After having written this review, I went out of curiosity to hear a performance by another organist on the Flentrop. I was amazed to find that the church itself is not nearly so large as it sounds on the recording, and, more importantly, that all the pipes are contained in one moderate-sized chest. The 'front and center' rank refer· red to above is directly over the organist's head but in the same plane as the other pipes.

So what we have on the recording is a somewhat idealized sonic picture, a bit more glamorous in acoustic and certainly more interesting in dimensionality than the real thing. This is by no means a put- down. Regarding recording procedures, I have become a reformed purist: it has never been possible, it is not possible now, and it is unlikely to be possible in the future for the essence of live music to be recorded and reproduced in the home. Let us then deal with the disc medium as another kind of reality, one which is capable of some rather bewitching illusions.' J. Tamblyn Henderson, The Absolute Sound)

James Welch, organ

Recorded on the Flentrop Organ of All Saints' Episcopal Church, Palo Alto, California

Digitally remastered

James Welch is the University Organist and lecturer in music at California's Santa Clara University, where he joined the music faculty in January 1993. He also serves as organist at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Palo Alto.

Awarded the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in organ performance at Stanford University, James Welch studied with Herbert Nanney and served as Assistant University Organist. He has also studied organ with Grace Brown; Parley Belnap, Brigham Young University; Dr. Alexander Schreiner, former Mormon Tabernacle Organist; Dr. Josef Doppelbauer, Mozarteum Akademie, Salzburg, Austria; Jean Langlais, Ste. Clotilde, Paris, France; and Dr. John Walker. Piano studies were with Elsa Burland and Earle Voorhies in Pasadena, California. From 1977 to 1994 he served as University Organist at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The recipient of a Fulbright award to pursue research on historical Cavaille-Coll organs in Brazil, presenting lectures and recitals on this subject at conventions of the American Guild of Organists. He has concertized in Latin America, performing in Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico. He has edited and published three volumes of organ works by Mexican composers.

His world-wide appearances include the following recitals at Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris; St. Stefans Cathedral, Vienna; Wellington Cathedral, New Zealand; National Theater, Taipei; Beijing Concert Hall; University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Harvard, Yale, and Duke Universities; National Cathedral, Washington, D.C.; The Mormon Tabernacle, Salt Lake City; Grace Cathedral, San Francisco; Stanford University Memorial Church; and on carillons in Holland, Belgium, and Israel.

James Welch is an Associate member of the American Guild of Organists. He has served on both the local and regional levels as an officer of the Guild and has performed several times at Guild conventions. He has written articles on a wide variety of topics for The American Organist and The Diapason. His recordings include Magnum Opus, recorded on the Flentrop organ of St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, Seattle; Music for Christmas, Stanford University Memorial Church; Recital, All Saints' Episcopal Church, Palo Alto, California; Discovery, St. Mark's-in-the-Valley Episcopal Church, Los Olivos, California; Instrument of Peace, Church of Saints Peter and Paul in San Francisco; Instrument of Wonder, Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Oakland, California; and A Treasury of Wood Works, recently recorded at the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in San Francisco. Many of his recorded performances have been aired on Public Radio International's Pipedreams program.

His travels, studies, and performances on historical and modern instruments throughout the world have given him a sure command of many styles of music. Critics in this country and abroad have praised him for his technical facility, solid musicianship, and creative programming.

As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he has been very active in the Church's music program. He is the composer of a hymn in the Church's hymnal ("Bless Our Fast, We Pray," No. 138). He is a frequent guest recitalist at the Tabernacle on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, and he has taught as a guest professor at the Church Music Workshop held at Brigham Young University. He served a mission in Brazil 1970-72 and has returned several times for recitals and lectures. He and his wife, Deanne Everson, are the parents of two sons, Nicholas and Jameson.

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