Karl Richter - Passacaglia & Fugue In C Minor - BWV 582 (1969) 

There were full professors at age 20 back in the days. Adulthood was quicker, as was death sooner.

The Passacaglia in d minor by Buxtehude was without doubt the root of inspiration. Bach spent several months with him in Luebeck.

Michael Juergen Very true indeed!

Michael Juergen We all and every learn from our predecessors

Michael Juergen YES ~ I fully support this comment, this piece has deep Buxtehude impressions / spirit.

I find his interpretations of Bach thoroughly absorbing.

Johann Sebastian Bach Richter is number one, end of discussion.

Kk Ff no one comes close👍

I don't like this much his recordings as a conductor, historical performance practices studies have by now marched on and performances by him and "his" Münchener Bach-Orchester are by now quite dated, but as an organist still is spot on. Probably helps the fact the organs he used still were quite close in construction to 17th- and 18th-Century ones, those Bach would have played on, and he took full advantage of their peculiarities (I really like German organs, and find them to be the best blend between clarity and power). This performance of Bach's Passacaglia in C minor is outstanding.

Johann Sebastian Bach Agree. Just listen, and enjoy this very great art of music.

Excellent playing on words! I still keep an old cassette of 4 organ recitals by K. Richter. 10 of 10

Erlingur Thorsteinsson Karl Richter, always one of my absolute favorites.

Clearly an Earth Shattering performance

If this was recorded in the Church St. Peter's brother, was it a rumbling due to or upon San Andreas fault?

Zowat het mooiste wat ik ken van Bach door Richter !gespeeld

A perfect match of composer, performer and instrument. I'd would have loved to have sat on a back bench and listen to this magnificent performance unfold. The stop choices, the reverberance, the sounding and decay of each note. This would be my heaven on this earth. The instrument is simply extraordinarily beautiful. The playing sheer mastery. Truly, divine. (oh, yeah, old man Bach gave a pedal passage to die for ❤)

​@@JoePalau😅i

​ki9i

One of the best comments on here! Karl Richter has the power to connect people from all over the world.

@@OttobeurenKaiser Every time I listen to this celestial recording, I am feel immensely grateful for your involvement in sharing this divine performance

Watching Bach's passacaglia performed by Reitze Smits might make you reconsider your opinion...

I'm not agree at all

@@daangroeneveld5308 Did it, and I definitely prefer Richter's performance. Bach's music is not about notes, harmony or tempo, it's about God. Playing Bach's pieces is like praying (in church or a mosque). So I prefer how Richter prays God

Forgetting about E. Power Biggs . The best version I have ever heard is without a doubt him on the Harvard Flentrop.

On dirait que Karl Richter et cette Passacaille se sont épousés un jour , et forment un couple indestructible ! Existe-t-il un grand Riep au ciel de nos dieux ?

Extraordinair

We must recognize the dedication of the master craftsmen that faithfully reconditioned the organ at Freiburg Cathedral to perfect tune. The instrument is magnificent.

Paramount sound.

No, he can see God the father saying to Bach : " This is what I had in mind ".

oneginee No i see Bach saying to xenu to goku to God the father to Jesus to Karl Richter. Might've gotten the order wrong. Oh well.

Bach would have agreed with oneginee. Sorry to ruin your fun.

While I probably generally agree with you about how wearing nonstop organo pleno can be, some of the skillful manage to pull it off, like Luc Beauséjour and Ton Koopman, both on yt, especially Luc, a relatively unknown but to me extremely fine performer. He also finely does Böhm's Vater Unser Im Himmelreich, better than any I know, something I usually find not the case for the French, even the late, great Marie-Claire Alain, whom I love and find riveting when playing Alain, where she was obviously THE authority, thankfully much established by numberless recordings, but often avoid when it comes to the Baroque. There seems to be a perennial French-German antagonism few escape that prevents each from playing the other's music properly; there are likely other antagonistic combinations given the limitations of man's sinful condition.

Russ, thanks for that, I'll look up those performances you mentioned. It's always wonderful coming across new, previously unknown treasures. As to man's sinful condition, I echo another Bach motif, Jesu Juva.

Many arrangements of this piece are very loud and heavy, and it sounds evil and sinister.

@ Tim. Totally agree. Totally.

This piece has some very powerfull dissonant harmonies, many of which are in the beginning, and I feel they are not put in value enough without the Organo pleno. And I also feel this interpretation is too slow. But It’s true that full Organo pleno can kill the progression that this interpretation has.

Has anyone even come close to Bach in all this time ?

No.- He will stand alone forever and eternity.

Maybe Tony Banks, but he played a different sort of music (although similar in comparison to classical, Genesis writing was more... expressive of English heritage and the strive for the common good).

Little known fact is that Bach's 'day job' was as an organ tester and much of his work was with that use in mind.

Yes. It is simply that way. His music had power, depth, width, emotion, transcendence and an general vibe of something bigger than mankind, and obviously incredible beauty. The only classical composer who's music regulary makes me cry.

Einzigartig!

The best comparable entities I ever heard!!!..

Very common in Bach's music however, especially in transitions in organ music

could i ask you what is your top fivebach masterworks

Simon Preston's is also great

Walcha's interpretation is outstanding too.

Simon Preston's is amazing

It was due to the close relationship he had with his Master, our Creator.

Read his biography. His life was not easy.

thousand of years of experience and even more

thank you for your comment.I had the same thoughts

The same ones we do, just faster and probably more often especially re: tragedy.

Kesinlikle bana da öyle geliyor özellikle bu müziğin 4. Dakikasından sonra

Yes! (Even without fully hearing (and, thus, feeling) the sound of 16 foot pipes!) Hearing it was, again, an absolutely astounding aural experience! (Bach, alone, in excelsis?)

is bach lovecraft? i wonder if he was going for anything that existential, hah.

I would say the Toccata and Fugue in D captures your sentiment but in a more profound way. That piece has a much clearer expansion contour to it that is intrinsic to the music and not merely the result of the orchestration/pulling out of more stops. And add to it the orchestrated version by Leopold Shostakovich and you have a heart wrenching mind-blowing masterpiece on steroids. However, when I think of that other work, Tocatta and Fugue in D, it makes me think of a person's experience when first meeting the creator of the cosmos and the cataclysmic, and catastrophic glory that would overwhelm the senses. A glory that no human eye could behold, nor the human mind could contain or grasp without being utterly dissolved in stupified majesty.

Bach was much more than a master. He was a miracle.

@@jansnauwaert1785 A prodigy among the humankind

I had similiar thoughts.

Luca Ogliari Indeed!! Or as he preferred saying, "With the Heart" 😊

+Fábio Palma Karl Richter has almost always played by heart... or as he liked to call it, "with" the heart. :)

Here's the Buxtehude - certainly sounds like it! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-R3aOgFVybtg.html

Colin Gantiglew yes you are right, this dominates BWV 565

Pyrope Garnet Naite ii tomo!

Me too!!!

That nice. Get over it. Yes, there are things eternal and things temporal. So what are you going to do with about it. To withdraw offers neither hope or excuse. To Try... is the whole of the Law. When you're dead you'll understand it a little bit better... maybe. It's not whether we win or loose. It's whether we tried... or not. And in that spirit we either shine or we... haven't yet... risen to the occasion. Listen... and you will learn. TRY

You're not alone in this cruel world. Bach knows, God knows. Remember it!

why you crying though

+awkwarddude Thank you so very much. Your comment means a lot.

True, this is a passacaglia, not a toccata. It's supposed to be slow than fast

This is the reason why I prefer this version over most of over organist's.

Keter_2438 passacaglia means variation on a basso ostinato. It is the name of a musical form, not a tempo marking.

Touching the depths of our souls.

Maumoleseul levrai hh😂😃

ROFL....

From Mars...

He is Karl Ritcher, nothing is Impossible for him!

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

Dan McMullan Yes, I completely agree!!

Pure madness & clear sanity at the same moment.

There's definitely a lot of method in that madness...

I call it a "Variations on a Theme by Bach!"Ben, all that you said is so true!! WOW!! Can you imagine watching him in person?!?!, As Bethovab once said, " He's not a bach, he's an ocean!!" Well said!!

Dear Dan, regarding the bwv 582, particullary Karl's version of the 582, there is no best part. The whole piece from start to end is the best part.

This recording was made on one of Germany's finest organs: Silberman organ in Freiberg Cathdral. The video was recorded in Ottobeuren Monastery. Check out photos of the places. Mindblowing

For sure - from Argentina

annam cancarini Well, if the Maestro said so, I guess that Busoni, Richter, Horowitz, Argerich, and every other great pianists who gave romantic renditions of Bach can hang themselves. Bach wrote no indications on his sheets. Which by itself is an indication : « play it as you wish ! »

@@trineor no, every tipe of music needs to be played in the filological way!!!

F Paina What if not ? The « philological » interpretations disappear ? Puppies die ? Planet Earth explodes ? Having romantic interpretations of Bach in addition to baroque interpretations do not remove a single thing from the surface of the Earth : it adds more music, more beauty, more contentment. Why in heaven would it be « needed » not to have that ?

I do not agree. To play "philological"( period practice, period instruments) is pedantic and leads to mannerism or boring performances. Fortunately this fashion is fading. There is nothing worse in music than a period practice baroque ensemble born in the Eighties with its scratching, out of tune old instruments. Awful!@@cromorno8749

@@annamcancarini6953 have you ever really study music? I think you are American. I've never heard an american musician playing classical music (baroque, classical, romantic, symphonyc) in the right way!!!!! In USA they don't teach the "πράξις" that you need to play well!!!! Yes, I've just use a Greek word, but in USA you're generally ignorants!!! So, come in Europe and study!

No he wasn't a great interpreter of Bach's organ music. He came from the romantic tradition, they didn't care about how to restore the style.

What do you think of E Power Biggs' rendition (also on youtube)? Are you an organist by the way?

My opinion of E Power Biggs rendition? The organ version is not interesting, but the way he play this piece on the pedal harpsichord - yes! That is what I'm asking for! Lot of improvisations, inegalite etc, it sounds great! Im studying church music back in the 1970' and work some years as a chuch musican. But I had to give up due to my emotional dysfunction.

You are quite right ! Some people say he is the greater interpreter. An organist that has seen him in tour,many years ago,said he played for 3 hours continuously and that his performance was so marvellous. Many people that listened to him had the perception to hear the real Bach through him. At the beginning I believed that them exaggerated,but after having listened to him,I believe them,and that he brought the real Bach's Tradition.

The laws of Physics can be expressed mathematically, Math is the universal language of the Cosmos to quote Carl Sagan. Intelligent consciousness is the Cosmos attempting to know itself. The genius of Bach is that he could open a window into this order & beauty.

​@@trespirereligion

Dios mío " que maravilloso todo " gloria a Dios !

+Brian D Steel Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to this masterpiece by Bach interpreted by the legendary Karl Richter! Spread this video around social media so that the youth of our generation shall know both of their talents. :)

Hear, hear.

I have heard a version by Edgard Power Biggs, I find it far better, both in terms of registration and in terms of playing But this is purely subjective... ;)

General Ackbar biggs doesn't compare to k. richter

Why not?

É exactamente isso... não há ninguém que melhor interprete esta genial obra de Bach do que KRicther. A sua sensibilidade e inteligência parece transfigurar as notas que compõem esta obra em verdadeiras palavras que as emoções são aqui escapelizadas e distinguidas de um modo insuperável. Poesia absoluta, é o que é...

+Ronald Robinson Thank you so much!

Karl Richter actually died in february 1981,

God bless Notre Dame good luck with the restoring also of the organ

Your skill in making this presentation...OUTSTANDING...indeed, live long and prosper.

So nice working!!!!!!! Thanks(^0^)

SkullKid1222 Well - whatever your crazy name, you did the work of angels!

+SkullKid1222 Magnificent. Utterly quiet Richter brings, playing by heart, pure extasy in the Fuga. You made me happy, SkullKid!

The sound of the Silbermann Organ at Freiberg is utterly amazing. It is so rich & complex.

Finde ich auch ;-)

Schade, dass es heute so wenige romantische Interpretationen gibt. Das Stück hört man heute meist durchgehend mit lauten Mixturen, schlimmstenfalls auf Neo-Barock Orgeln.

Son P. T. Eben als "alte Musik" interpretiert, einfach schön, nach innen, nicht nur hinaus posaunt! ...

Gefällt mir auch viel besser als das Durchhauen im Organo pleno. Ich spare mir aber das stufenweise Crescendo wesentlich länger auf - Mixturen erst beim Thema fugatum. Noch romantischer ...

Einfach großartig.

It requires passion, and an organ with the right 'guts', and this monster just SINGS!!!!!!

TheApostleofRock, I am sorry for my inadequate English. Quote: "The power and variety of color....." You touch the problem, which performance sounds best, "romantic" or "authentic?" Organists who don't play like Karl Richter make attempts to restore this old music after studying old sources. Karl Richter did not cared about the question, so he played the way he liked. I understand that many people who's unfamiliar to the music prefer Richters performances. But for me, all the changes of stops sounds like interuptions, I need the "boring" "authentic" way of playing.

@@geiryvindeskeland7208 Bach was an organist, he would use all the potential of his pipe organ. Play on one combinason is just idiot, you just use 5% of the organ. Richter use all his knowledge and the power of this organ to make the piece sing. It's just a shame to not want to make the piece sing because pedantic musicologist say that you need to play that way and not this way.

William Fossardo, quote: "Play on one combinason is just idiot..." william, be careful by using the word "idiot." Are you sure that you got the knowlegde to jugde? I am not so sure. This music was composed for about 300 years ago. It is important to keep in mind - neither Bach or his contemporaries was able to listening to music after their own lifetime. But what about you and me? Wow! All the different kind of music we are familiar with, but was created after Bach's lifetime. You step in the same trap as many other people: You can not mix the 1800-style to the baroque periode. There are a lot of old written sources that gives us many details of how they perform their music in the 1700'. Some sources say that a Passacaglia often was performed with a pleno. William, I don't like to be arrogant, but how to tell you this in another way? I am able to catch the qualities of the composition itself. I don't need any changes, and I don't want any changes, because every changes of stops sounds like annoying interruptions to me. I disagree by the way Karl Richter begins. The registration is very light, therefore it is difficult to catch all those wonderful dissonanses in the beginning variations. Dissonances is an important part of the music! With a pleno the dissonanses is more easy to catch. William, there are to mainstreams in this case: Those who are not interesting in restoring, and people like me who think it's important to make attempts to bring this old music closer to the original style. Karl Richter was influenced of his contemporaries, a musical style unknown to Bach. But the problem is solved! In our days we can choose. You prefer Richter, and I prefer "authentic" performances.

@@geiryvindeskeland7208 The problem is that people like you, say that Richter play Bach's orchestral too monotonous but the aim of pipe organ is to sound like an orchestra. So why when Richter play with contrast of color and power of sound you are saying it's not authentic ? I don't understand. And if you don't like change of stops, stop listening to pipe organ. And i keep my words play a piece with one combinason is idiot.

litosvaca7 I imagine they would do sound and video at the same time?

kingjosh1876 Accordingly to the description above, video & audion come from different events.

litosvaca7 Mind-boggling! I'm an organist and simply do not see anything that gives away SkullKids substitution. It certainly illuminates Richter's being a legendary player!

+BearAZ I slowed down some parts in the original video with a video-editing software so that the audio would be in-sync. Though that does not undermine Karl Richter being a legendary player! :)

It did, actually, because the original audio was very poor, and I remastered it with the audio from a 1978 recording.stephen dwyer