Johann Sebastian Bach: Organ Works

Description

Kare Nordstoga (b. 1954) became Cathedral Organist at Oslo Cathedral in 1984. At the Cathedral, Nordstoga frequently performed a wide musical repertoire, including two popular concert series of Bach's complete organ works. His recordings include the organ music of Bach, Brahms, Franck, Widor, and Liszt, all of Bach's violin sonatas recorded on the cathedral's chancel organ in collaboration with violinist Geir Inge Lotsberg, as well as several recordings of Norwegian organ music. Nordstoga is an active concert organist and in recent years has been soloist with the symphony orchestras of Oslo, Bergen, and Trondheim, and he has been invited to organ festivals abroad. The organ in the Georgenkirche, Rotha, is one of the few surviving Silbermann organs preserved in an almost completely authentic state. When Gottfried Silbermann (1683-1753) built the instrument in 1721, it was examined and approved by, among others, Johannes Kuhnau, who was then Thomaskantor (Cantor of St. Thomas) in Leipzig, before Johann Sebastian Bach took over the position in 1723. The Georgenkirche organ later became famous when Felix Mendelssohn played it in the 1840s and praised its qualities.