01:05 Spring I. (Allegro)
05:30 Spring II. (Largo e pianissimo sempre)
10:01 Spring III. (Pastorale)
16:22 Summer I. (Allegro non molto)
24:41 Summer II. (Adagio e piano - Presto e forte)
28:13 Summer III. (Presto)
32:09 Autumn I. (Allegro)
40:38 Autumn II. (Adagio molto)
44:05 Autumn III. (Allegro)
48:55 Winter I. (Allegro non molto)
55:22 Winter II. (Largo)
58:08 Winter III. (Allegro)
Filmed on the Casavant Organ in the Church of St. George on the Hill in Toronto and on the Jemlich Organ in the Lichtenhagen Parish Church at Germany's Baltic Sea.
The Varnus Organ Hall needs your help. We are asking the community's support to restoring and operating Varnus Hall, Canada's only private organ concert venue owned by Xaver Varnus, to provide a worthy home for organists, famous artists and young talent alike, from around the world to perform, and broadcast their concerts online. We are grateful to you if you can help our work with any donations. ca.gofundme.com/f/fundraising...
"One of the most important open questions in the instrumental transcription of another’s music is this: do we want to copy the original orchestration ideas of a musical piece to another instrument or orchestra, or do we create an entirely new musical dimension? I have always felt that the latter solution presents the real challenge. When Bach transcribed the Vivaldi concertos to organ and harpsichord, he was aware that these works were not the original orchestral pieces. One problem is that if the organ is played as fast as a string orchestra, it sounds grotesque, since the huge organ pipes need time to produce their sounds. On the other hand, the monumentality of the organ is so gripping that a chamber or symphonic orchestra is not able to match its sounds. In the same way we do not hear the original Beethoven symphonies or the Chaconne of Bach when listening to this music transcribed to piano by Liszt and Busoni, or the orchestral transcriptions of Bach’s organ works by Stokowski and Schoenberg. When I visited the great Vladimir Horowitz in his NYC home on Madison Avenue, he started to play one of the choral preludes of Bach in Busoni’s transcription. There is no doubt that Horowitz’s piano playing was certainly very far from the performing style of the Bach-era. On the other hand, we do not know much about the performing style of Bach. However, tears came to my eyes, and I felt, that far away, beyond the clouds an angel was flying over us. The first pages of the transcription of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons were handed to me by the divine Jean Guillou in Toronto, back in 1986. Through thirty long years I kept asking him if he would finish the work. Every time he promised to do so. On the day he passed away I knew that it was my turn to finish the job in his spirit, not forgetting that the pipe organ was the first synthesizer in the history of music. So, I would like to dedicate my humble recording to his loving memory. I’m most grateful to Rev. Michelle Childs-Ward, Dr. Gábor Fésüs, Mrs. Márta Gáncs, Miss Ran Kim, Mr. Balázs Bärnkopf, Mr. Márton Berendi, Thomasorganist Ullrich Böhme, Mr. Adam Gungl, Mr. Andreas Hain, Mr. Balázs Kralovánszky, Mr. Bruce Walker, Mr. Zoltán Osváth, Rev. Zoltán Vass and Mr. Frank Zimpel for their generous support." (Xaver Varnus)
•●The Official Video Site of Concert Organist Xaver Varnus●•
Born in Budapest, his first piano teacher was Emma Németh, one of the last pupils of Claude Debussy. Xaver Varnus has played virtually every important organ in the world, including those in Bach's Thomaskirche in Leipzig (2014), Berliner Dom (2013), Notre-Dame (1981), Saint-Sulpice (2006) and Saint-Eustache (1996) in Paris, National Shrine in Washington, D.C. (1985), and Canterbury Cathedral (2004), as well as the largest existing instrument in the world, the Wanamaker Organ in Philadelphia (1985). His Quadruple Platinum Disc winning album From Ravel to Vangelis, released by Sony BMG in 2007, is the best-selling organ CD ever. As a Canadian citizen, Xaver Varnus resides in Berlin, Germany. "Put simply, Varnus is a monster talent, every bit as stimulating and individual as the late Glenn Gould" (The Globe & Mail, Canada's National Newspaper).
Booking & Enquiries:
xavervarnus@hotmail.com