A great moment: my new book is now available in stores!

„…das Gewaltigste, was ich je auf der Orgel gehört habe“

Franz Liszts Ad Nos als Tor zur Wiederentdeckung einer verborgenen Aufführungspraxis des 19. Jahrhunderts

“…the most powerful thing I have ever heard on the organ”. Franz Liszt’s Ad Nos as a gateway to the rediscovery of a hidden 19th century performance practice.

This book tells the eventful story surrounding Franz Liszt’s Fantasy and Fugue on “Ad Nos, ad salutarem undam” for organ. The exceptional work and its famous performance at Merseburg Cathedral in 1855 are not only a dazzling piece of music history, but also open up a unique view into Liszt’s interpretation and performance practice – and into his understanding of tempo. The key point is the surviving duration of the work under Liszt’s direction: 45 minutes. This duration differs from today’s habits by more than 15 minutes…

With numerous previously unpublished sources.

With a guide to listening score study.

Editor: Königshausen & Neumann

ISBN 978-3-8260-7242-0

Reviews:

Diane Kolin (for www.liszt-franz.com)
Musik und Liturgie
Franz Lüthi (for the Bulletin of OFSG)
Dieter David Scholz
Ars Organi
Musik und Gottesdienst
Het Orgel
Tijdschrft van de Franz Liszt Kring
Die Tonkunst

Order in Switzerland
Order in Germany & International

The fourth part of my “A Tempo Project” is published: Frédéric Chopin’s 12 Etudes Opus 10. The masterpiece is part of the repertoire of many pianists. Likewise, the question of tempi for the 12 enchanting pieces has been the subject of long debates: the metronome markings given by Chopin himself are sometimes so fast that they were already questioned in the second half of the 19th century. Words like “music box effects” were coined to characterize the furious speed. And: pianists like Theodor Kullak and Hans von Bülow recommended to moderate the tempo. 

My approach of halving Chopin’s metronome numbers may seem radical. But the option to do so shows in the historical context, and above all, it brings to light an interpretation that “works” and that, behind the bravura, suddenly reveals an unheard-of intimacy, depth, and an immense power. 

The recording venue is the Herkulessaal at the Munich Residenz – coincidentally, the same hall where Maurizio Pollini made his famous recording of the Etudes in 1972. 

In addition to the music, “Chopin A Tempo” includes German and English introductions and a three-part series on historical metronome numbers and tempo. The album is published on YouTube as well as CD/DVD.

Youtube Playlist
Historische Metronomzahlen und Tempo – eine Einführung
Historical Metronome Markings – A Short Introduction
CD/DVD

Throughout all the virtuoso cascades, a slower approach suddenly brings to light many nuanced colors and spaces. Instead of scurrying, there is suddenly fine dabbing. Accompaniment figures and arcs of suspension become clearer, and no detail is simply swept over. Bernhard Ruchti’s never academic sounding philosophy places these etudes rather in the realm of poetic character pieces. Thinking instead of racing with the gain of an enormous richness of articulation. An exciting, thrilling, new Chopin listening experience.

Martin Preisser (St. Galler Tagblatt)

My recording of Robert Schumann’s visionary Fantasy in C major Opus 17 is now available! It’s the third part of my “A Tempo Project”. The recording is the famous KKL concert hall in Luzern – in other words: perfect acoustics as well as extraordinary video quality. In my rendition, Schumann’s masterpiece lasts just under 50 minutes. This long duration brings about a grandeur and intimacy that sheds a whole new light on the entire work. A previously unheard Schumann and a magnificent masterpiece of music history.

As a bonus, the famous Reverie is also part of this recording – “a tempo”, of course – as well as a short piece from my own composition.

As always, the recording is accompanied by German and English introductory videos. All videos are published on Youtube. In addition, the recording is available as CD/DVD.

Youtube Playlist 
The A Tempo Project
CD/DVD

The American-born Swiss pianist, Bernhard Ruchti, offers us a rather unusual and breathtaking rendition of Robert Schumann’s masterpiece, the Fantasie in C major, Op. 17. […] The liveliness of Ruchti’s version is mixed with a sense of artistic merit and musical splendor, for which it could be easily called a first-class performance. During the transitional pauses, greatly magnified by the pianist, one can feel a sense of suspense, anticipation, and unearthliness that is hard to come by these days.

Bohdan Syroyid Syroyid for musicweb-international

Possibly the most authoritative part of the A Tempo project has now been released: the recording of the monumental Fantasy and Fugue on “Ad nos, ad salutarem undam” for organ by Franz Liszt. The work has a unique tradition in terms of interpretation, reception, and tempo. It forms the basis for an enthralling quest into the field of interpretation and an exploration of Liszt’s aesthetics that is particularly new in its directness. We discover an original musical dramaturgy of gigantic dimensions. I recorded the Fantasy on the same organ on which Liszt rehearsed the work with one of his master students in 1855: the famous Ladegast organ at Merseburg Cathedral. Moreover the recording is combined with an appealing film footage from the over 1000-year-old church interior in Merseburg.

CD / DVD
“Ad Nos”-Film on Youtube
English Introduction 
Interview in Organists’ Review, September 2020 (PDF)

A fascinating and enlightening project.

Donald MacKenzie for Organists’ Review

An interview with harpsichordist, fortepiano player, pedagogue and composer Johann Sonnleitner. The long-time companion of Nikolaus Harnoncourt talks about his musical career and, above all, about his main field of research: historical tempi.

An encounter with an extraordinary musician, researcher and human being.

Recorded in Zurich on March 15, 2019.

Playlist on Youtube

Photos: Andi Dietrich

The first “child” of the A Tempo project has seen the light of day as a CD/DVD: Beethoven A Tempo. The presentation concert at St. Laurenzen Church in St. Gallen was well attended. I gave a general introduction to the A Tempo Project and introduced the subject of tempo in a playful way. I then played – not Beethoven, but the work that forms the third part of the A Tempo project: Robert Schumann’s wonderful and passionate Fantasy in C major, Opus 17.

The audience was enchanted by Schumann’s poetry and listened to these unique sounds with great focus. – And afterwards there were many nice conversations at the crowdfunding table as well as at the CD table.

A Tempo Project

Murnau’s last film is one of the strongest and at the same time most fragile testimonies of the silent film era. Filmed in 1929 and 1930 in the South Seas, the tragic fairy tale impresses with its almost magical visual language and enormously sensitive and tender narrative style. The film opened the 5th St. Gallen Silent Film Festival on January 18, 2019, shown in the restored 35mm print. I accompanied the masterpiece on the Wurlitzer organ. The audience let themselves be drawn into the magic of the film….

www.stummfilmkonzerte.ch
www.wurlitzerorgel.ch

One goal of this fine festival is to present a wide range of different styles to the audience. My program included “Ouessant” and “Echoes from Chrysospilia” from my new album as well as the enchanting “Recueillement” by Franz Liszt from “Liszt & The Black Hills”. A great evening with a great audience!

Photos: Klaus-Reiner Blümel / Ottobrunner Konzerte.

www.ottobrunner-konzerte.com

Music is an artform that creates a different experience of time. Different ways of timing and different uses of tempo bring out the character of a work in very different ways. A still new research explores tempo in classical music and asks what the understanding of tempo was when a work was composed. Surprising insights come to light.

Beethoven’s Cello Sonata in G minor is the focus of this lunchtime concert. Esther Saladin and I will interpret it inspired by sources from Beethoven’s time. Today’s listening habits are challenged, and it is astonishing how Beethoven’s masterpiece gains in drama and expression…

St. Laurenzen Church, Wednesday, May 3, 2017.

Photo: Heidy Lang