This is my entry for the Secrets of Organ Playing contest, week 60. I play Saxer's Prelude and Fugue in e minor. The prelude was my first in the contest, 10 months ago (well second, actually, the first didn't count) and I played the fugue in one of the later weeks. The sample set of the Schnitger organ in the Martini-kerk in Groningen is a good reason to play the complete work again as one entry.
So, here it is.
The nice thing of my publication efforts is that I get to know many compositions and composers that were previously unknown to me. Saxer is one of those composers I had never heard before. Yet the few works by his hands that survive are great works to play. The e minor Prelude is a very nice example of the Stylus Fantasticus. I play it very free in tempo, because I think that is what this piece asks for. Also, the acoustics of the church influenced my performance as well. Some of the pauzes I take, are meant to let the sound roll through the room, before I play the next chord or passage. It's not only playing ín the church room, it's also playing wíth the church room.
The recording was done with the Hauptwerk software and the sampleset, made by Sonus Paradisi, of the Schittger organ in the St. Martini-kerk, Groningen (http://www.sonusparadisi.cz/en/organs/netherlands/groningen-st-martini.html).
Score: http://partitura.org/index.php/georg-wilhelm-saxer-praeludium-und-fuge-e-moll/