DSM: Stefan Nusser gave a fascinating performance of pieces by Bach, Rinck, and Mendelssohn at the Grassi Museum für Musikinstrumente der Universität Leipzig Zimeliensaal tonight. This was a part of the ,,Mendelssohn und Italien’’ Mendelssohn Festtage in Leipzig.
CMT: From 1990 to 1995 Nusser studied sacred music at the Weimar University for Music under Johannes Schäfer and Rainer Böhme. From 1995 to 2001 he was church musician at Magdeburg and participated in master courses with Jean Ferrard, Daniel Roth, and Harald Vogel. Since 2001 he has been on faculty at the Kirchenmusikalischen Institut der Hochschule für Musik und Theater ,,Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” in Leipzig.
DSM: Tonight’s performance was exceptionally fine. Literally ,,Der Tag, der is so freudenreich” (The Day, the Empire of Joy). It is remarkable to see and hear such enthusiasm. I would say that early organ compositions often involve subtle groupings of notes—more so than modern organ literature—and the emotional cues are therefore also more subtle.
CMT: And the pedal lines are played primarily by the toes, with the feet frequently moving in front of and behind each other. So it’s usually best to have the bench slightly higher and closer to the manual keys than it is when using the modern heel-toe technique. I went into the orgel bower after Nusser’s warm-up and before the concert began and noticed his positioning of the bench—the geometry up there.
DSM: The relationship of the upper body to the feet is similar to the position when riding a bicycle. The feet should dangle,the heels should be elevated.
CMT: Just as the legato touch is the core of modern technique, the Baroque ‘touch’ is the heart of early technique. Ordinary touch is the sound that results from connecting two adjacent white notes as smoothly as possible with one finger or one toe. In early music, this type of articulated link was also used when two notes were played by adjacent fingers.
DSM: The actual finger motion in ordinary touch—the way in which the key is depressed—is more or less the same as in modern technique. The finger rests lightly on the key and remains in contact with it as it is depressed and released. But the lateral movement of the fingers up and down the keys is very different in Baroque technique from what it is in modern technique. It involves active shifting of the hand and arm from position to position, and calculated skipping of the finger from note to note. Facing the organ as we were, the music stand aperture between the audience in the Grassi museum Zimeliensaal and Nusser’s body enabled us to observe his movements quite well. The only thing better would’ve been to have televised it from above.
CMT: Modern articulations enable an organist to perform with ease the diatonic and chromatic scale patterns, the chordal textures, and the extended melodic phrases found in most music written after 1750.
DSM: Legato touch and finger independence are basic to modern organ technique. On the organ, of course, there isn’t a damper pedal like the piano has, so the sustaining of tone must be accomplished by the fingers alone. Nusser does this beautifully and yet in a manner that honors the Baroque compositions he is performing. It’s not unusual for one hand to play two parts at the same time, one slow and sustained and the other moving and detached. So in organ playing, the fingers must be able not only to produce a smooth legato but also to maintain good independence and control. It’s especially difficult to maintain this on a period instrument like the one Nusser was playing tonight.
CMT: Finger crossing is a versatile of legato technique. It can be used to avoid finger substitutions and glissandos and to play fast passages smoothly. It’s essential for a legato execution of parallel thirds. There’s one rule in finger crossing, though: A longer finger crosses over a shorter one, and a shorter finger crosses under a longer one. We heard this in Nusser’s account of the Bach Duetto and Fughetta, and in the Rinck, I think.
- Bach: Duetto II in F major (BWV 803)
- Mendelssohn: Fughette in A major
- Mendelssohn: Andante in D major (1823)
- Mendelssohn: Fuga in G minor (1820)
- Rinck: Choralvorspiel zu ,,Der Tag, der is so freudenreich”
- Rinck: Grave in F minor
- Bach: Fughetta super ,,Dies sind die heiligen zehen Gebot” BWV 679
DSM: German organ-music doesn't require an especialy pianistic technique, I’ve heard.
CMT: In playing contrapuntal music, the techniques of finger-substitution tend to assist in achieving the accuracy required by German Baroque music, and it’s for this reason that skilled modern pianists often can’t easily play Baroque pieces on the piano.
DSM: In fact, the techniques required in playing the piano and the harpsichord are dramatically different—the harpsichord is much nearer to the technique required of organ playing.
CMT: But Nusser undoubtedly excels at both, based on what we experienced this evening!
- Mendelssohn Festtage, Leipzig
- Stefan Nusser website
- Nusser S. Die Hartmann-Orgel. (Ambiente, 2004.)
- Nusser S. Theophil Forchhammer: Orgelwerke. (Ambiente, 2006.)
- Owen B. The Registration of Baroque Organ Music. Indiana Univ, 1997.
- Williams P. The Organ Music of J.S. Bach. Cambridge Univ, 2004.
- Museum für Musikinstrumente Leipzig
- PipeDreams program, NPR
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