ORGAN IN DOUBRAVNÍK (1760) / M.Poruba organ

18th Century European Organ Music Performed by Martin Poruba on The Organ Crafted by Jan Výmola (1760) in Doubravník

Georg Muffat (1653 - 1704)

Bernardo Pasquini (1637 - 1710)

Domenico Zipoli (1688 - 1726)

Nicolaus Vetter (1666 - 1734)

Gottlieb Muffat (1690 - 1770)

Carlos Seixas (1704 - 1742)

Johann Ernst Eberlin (1702 - 1762)

Josef Ferdinand Norbert Seger (1716 - 1782)

František Xaver Brixi (1732 - 1771)

Johann Georg Albrechtsberger (1736 - 1809)

Martin Poruba was born in the village of Ludgeřovice near Hlučín in 1951. He studied at Ostrava's Conservatoire and Charles University in Prague. In Munich he took courses in musical science at Ludwig Maximilian University, and in sacred music at the Hochschule für Musik. He studied the organ under Friedemann Winklhofer and Franz Lehrndorfer. He also attended organ master classes headed by Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini, Daniel Roth and Harald Vogel. He has lectured in music theory at Munich's Hochschule für Musik since 1990. During the period 1994-1999 he was music director and chief organist at St Vitus' Cathedral in Prague. In 2000 he was appointed choirmaster and organist at St George's church in Freising. The selection of the repertoire on this recording was governed by the technical and acoustic aspects of the organ crafted by Brno organ builder Jan Výmola in 1760 in the Church of the Raising of the Holy Cross in Doubravník. The recording documents the possibilities of interpretation and performance determined by the short octave, meantone tuning and contemporary disposition of the instrument. The chosen works appeared in Central and Southern Europe within the political territory of the Habsburgs roughly between the years 1700 and 1800; these were works written for the purposes of the church. The organ pieces selected here were performed by the composers themselves in the course of their duties during divine service, using organs they had at their disposal in their given regions, that is to say, Rome, Vienna, Melk, Passau, Prague, Salzburg and Lisbon. The requirement for organ compositions for liturgical use, and the high social acceptance of church music and the organ sound in the 18th century, generated a rich reservoire of organs and organ music. At that time, there wasn't a single composer who did not begin his musical career as an organist and harpsichordist. The musical development of the earliest composers on this recording, Bernardo Pasquini and Georg Muffat, is exemplary for the latter half of the 17th century.

(2HP/Arta Records 2014)