Luogo e data di registrazione		Roskilde Domkerke (Denmark) & Ludgerkirche, Norden (Germany) - 2-6 Novembre 1992
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Producer / Recording Supervisor		Wolf Erichson
	Recording Engineer		Stephan Schellmann (Tritonus)
	Prima Edizione LP		Nessuna
	Edizione CD		Sony "Vivarte" | LC 6868 | SK 53 371 | 1 CD - durata 63' 13" | (c) 1993 | DDD
	Original Cover		"Sanctuary of a Church" by Emanuel de Witte (1617-1692).
	Note		-

The Raphaëlis Organ in Roskilde Cathedral (Denmark) A mere glance at the case of the Raphaëlis organ in Roskilde Cathedral, with its stylistic blend of Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque elements, is sufficient to suggest the instrument’s chequered history. The beautiful Gothic canopy beneath the organ dates from around 1450. That an organ already stood here even at this early period may be inferred from the fact that instruments are attested in the cathedral’s archives for the years 1464 and 1484. In 1554 Herman Raphaëlis, a Dutch builder from Bolsward in Friesland, built a new organ on this canopy. All that remains of this instrument are the gallery balustrade, the Rückpositiv case and four stops. The Renaissance carvings were the work of Per Jensoen from Leeuwarden. Exactly one hundred years later - in 1654/55 - Gregor Mülisch, a journeyman with the late ]ohann Lorentz (ob. 1650), began a thorough overhaul of the instrument, including a replacement of the entire case. Although the Renaissance Rückpositiv and gallery balustrade were retained, both were “modernized” with Baroque elements carved by the Roskilde woodcarver, Caspar Lubbecke. Mülisch succumbed to the plague in 1654 and his work was completed in 1655 by “Peter Orgelbygger" - probably the builder Peter Karstensen Botz of Viborg. The instrument now had three manuals (Rückpositiv, Manualwerk and Brustpositiv), a Pedal and 29 stops. It appears from a repair estimate of 1761 that few changes were made to the organ during the next 180 years, since the builder Hartvig Jochum Müller writes here that “the organ has never been repaired in more than 100 years”. Müller's quote is extremely detailed and contains valuable technical information concerning the instrument. His tender turned out to be beyond the means of the Roskilde authorities, with the result that a local clock-maker was entrusted with the task of repairing the instrument. An important development in the instrument’s fortunes occurred in 1833, when fundamental changes were made to its design: in order to enlarge the organ, it proved necessary to saw away the whole of the rear wall of the main case. The pedal pipes were now installed in the vault behind the organ, a move that later turned out to be extremely disadvantageous from both an acoustic and technical point of view. Furthermore, the Brustpositiv was removed and replaced by a small “Präludierwerk" with swell. Finally, the instrument was enlarged to 37 stops. This work was undertaken by the young organ builders, Jürgen Marcussen and A. P. W. Reuter, who had recently made a name for themselves with a large new organ for the Castle Chapel in Copenhagen. From the earlier instruments of 1554 and 1654, Marcussen and Reuter took over only the old Rückpositiv windchest, the case pipes (all of  which date from 1654) and a fairly large number of intemal pipes. In the process of rebuilding the instrument, the two builders made extensive notes that proved extremely useful at the time of its most recent restoration in 1988-91. The organ was twice rebuilt in the twentieth century. In 1926 the stop list was increased to no fewer than 56 stops - almost twice as many as in 1654. Because of the confined space, the whole technical operation was extremely complicated, with the result that by the 1950s further restoration work had again become necessary. The 1926 action - part pneumatic, part mechanical - was now made entirely mechanical, and the stop list and voicing were retouched in a “Neo-Baroque” spirit. By the early 1980s it had become clear that the organ needed to be restored once again: it could no longer be relied on to function technically; the old windchests had dried out, making it difficult to maintain the same pitch; and the sound was far from homogeneous. As a result, the organ was examined by the Dutch organ specialist, Cor H. Edskes, between 1985 and 1987 and, on the basis of his findings, it was decided to restore the instrument to its 1654/55 state. It was realized that there was no future to the course adopted since 1833 - constantly enlarging the instrument. The principal aim of the reconstruction was to allow the valuable old pipework of 1554 and 1654 to be heard once again in its historical context. The work was carried out between 1988 and 1991 by the firm of Marcussen & Son, following the plans and acting on the advice of Cor H. Edskes. The voicing of the instrument was undertaken by Olav Qussoren. Music flourished as never before in Denmark during the seventeenth century, especially during the reign of Christian IV (1588-1648), when eminent musicians such as John Dowland, Heinrich Schütz, Melchior Schildt and Matthias Weckmann held appointments at court. The Raphaëlis organ in Roskilde Cathedral is the only instrument of any size in Denmark that still contains substantial material from this great past. With its gentle, graceful sounds it adds a significant facet to the Northern European organ landscape. Kristian Olesen The Arp Schnitger organ in the Ludgeri Church at Norden / East Friesland (Germany) Arp Schnitger’s organ at Norden had two predecessors, of which eight ranks of pipes have survived. The oldest organ dated from 1566/67 and was the work of the Groningen organ builder Andreas de Mare. Within only fifty years, the effects of war had already made extensive rebuilding a matter of urgent necessity, a task undertaken by Edo Evers (Jever and Emden) in 1616-18. The instrument now had eighteen stops distributed among Hauptwerk, Rückpositiv and Brustwerk, together with a non-independent Pedal. But even this instrument did not last long. In December 1685 the church authorities turned for help to the famous Hamburg builder Arp Schnitger and on February 26, 1686 signed a contract with him providing for a 29-stop organ: 12 stops on the Oberwerk (= Hauptwerk), 10 on the Rückpositiv and 7 on the Pedal. The contract further specified that ten ranks of still usable pipes, together with the four bellows, should be taken over from the old organ. It appears from the delivery note of January 1688 that Schnitger also added a Brustpositiv with 6 new stops, and in 1691/92 he went on to add an 8-stop Oberpositiv coupled to the Brustpositiv. The final stop list comprised 46 speaking stops, making the instrument the largest in East Friesland. A striking feature of the Norden instrument - and it is also an exception among Schnitger's organs - is its position within the church. Taking as his starting-point the existing site on the southern wall of the choir, where the instrument’s predecessors had both been located and where they had functioned as choir organs, he proceeded to build a new gallery, somewhat lower than the previous one and projecting into the central axis of the choir. It extended so far round the south-eastern pillar of the crossing that the pedal-tower was forced into the transept. Necessarily limited to a single pedaltower, Schnitger none the less followed an old North German custom found in many other laterally situated organs. The manuals speak diagonally into the northern transept, with the result that the organ, which is mainly located in the choir, can also be heard in the transept and nave. The instrument continues to perform what at the time of its inauguration was still a novel function, namely, accompanying the singing of the congregation there. The instrument survived the next one and a half centuries largely intact, maintained by mostly East Frisian builders. But from the middle of the nineteenth century onwards, changing musical tastes demanded “alterations to the entire outmoded stop list in keeping with the times". Between 1847 and 1917 no fewer than 20 original stops fell victim to these alterations. Further changes and losses were incurred in 1917 when the metal from the case pipes was melted down for use in armaments, and again in 1929/30, 1948 and 1957-59, when additional restoration work was carried out. Increasing damage was also caused by the wood drzing out and cracking. Between 1981 and 1985 the firm of Jürgen Ahrend (Leer-Loga) undertook a through restoration programme based on strict historical principles. Those of the original parts of the organ that were damaged were repaired, altered sections were restored, and the parts that were no longer original were reconstructed: into this last category fell the entire bellows mechanism, including the wind conductors, valves and tremulants, part of the action, the entire console, 25 stops and the case pipes. All the evidence that could be gleaned from the instrument itself, together with archive material and old photographs, was taken into account, and several other Schnitger organs were examined by way of comparison or as possible models. The whole operation was planned by the present incumbent, Reinhard Ruge, in collaboration not only with consultants appointed by the regional church, namely, the late Helmut Winter (until the end of 1982) and Uwe Droszella (since 1984) but also with the builder hlmself, Jürgen Ahrend. In tuning the organ, we opted for an irregular mean-tone temperament suggested by documentary evidence concerning the tuning practice adopted by Schnitger and his contempo raries (evidence collated bz Harald Vogel), bz the 1688 deliverz note mentioned above and bz surviving case pipes from the Joachim Kazser organ in Hohenkirchen (1694/99). This is a transitional form o temperament between regular mean-tone and equal temperamemt. The scales used in the seventeenth century still contain mean-tone intervals, although remote keys with several sharps or flats can also be used in certain conditions. There is no longer a “wolf fifth”, and the purity of the major thirds in the simpler keys contributes considerably to the beauty and clarity of the organ’s tone and, hence, to a recreation of its original characteristics. A decisive role in the success of this restoration was played by Jürgen Ahrend, whose experience of restoring important historical organs dates back over thirty years. His building method rests on “classical” principles and has matured through practical experience. When combined with his artistic skill at voicing organs, this method made him seem the obvious choice for the present undertaking. The Norden organ had already been the subject of considerable interest in the musical world following the rediscovery of the art of North German organ music in the 1920s. As a result of its latest restoration, it is now a particular attraction for organists, organ scholars, organ builders and organ enthusiasts from all over the world. The tonal variety of this second largest of all Arp Schnitger's surviving organs in Germanz, the spatial arrangement of its five departments and the virtually original acoustics of the church's medieval interior, with its wooden furnishings from the Renaissance and Baroque, conspire together in felicitous fashion to provide almost ideal conditions for definitive performances of seventeenth-century North German organ music. Reinhard Ruge (Translation: © 1993 Stewart Spencer)