In the current issue

The August issue opens with an article by Frans Jespers on the remarkable phenomenon of several nineteenth-century Brabant organ builders who were also organists. He examines the social, ecclesiastical and musical circumstances that encouraged this combination, and how their playing practice left its mark on the instruments they built.

In his column, Jos van der Kooy discusses the state of the Dutch art of improvisation.

Drawing in part on the success of Anna Lapwood, Peter Ouwerkerk reflects on the importance of stories in the presentation and experience of organ music.

Two recently completed organ projects receive extensive coverage. James L. Wallmann describes the reconstruction of the 1696 Schnitger organ in Harkstede. The original Schnitger pipes have been preserved in the Eertman organ of 1908, while accurate copies were made for the reconstruction. Auke H. Vlagsma begins a series on French organ façades from the period 1691–1750 with a discussion of the richly ornamented organ case in Auch Cathedral.

Gerrit Hoving discusses the new organ in the Koepelkerk in Renswoude, the first opus of Mense Ruiter & Van Rossum Orgelmakers. Research into the reused pipework yielded new insights into the church’s organ history and led to a revision of the tonal concept. Sietze de Vries talks to organ builder and organist Sander Booij about his training and career, the merger of Mense Ruiter & Van Rossum, and his views on restoration and new organ building.

Bert den Hertog talks to Jean-Pierre Leguay, Zuzana Ferjenčíková and Geerten Liefting about the relationship between performance, improvisation and composition. Among the subjects discussed are the creative need to make music oneself, improvisation as a possible source for a composition, and the interaction between musical inspiration and compositional technique.

In the organ building news section, Wietse Ouwejan describes work carried out on the organs in Goënga and Hornhuizen.

René Verwer reviews Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, Organ Builder of Paris: The British Connections by Gerald Sumner and the CD and DVD release Marcel Dupré à Saint-Louis-des-Invalides. Victor Timmer reviews Smits-orgels. De bouwstijl van de Brabantse familie Smits weerspiegeld in hun orgels by Frans Jespers and others. Bert den Hertog reviews Orgeln der Zukunft. Die Orgeln von St. Reinoldi in Dortmund, edited by Jan Boecker and others. Jan Hage reviews Frits Zwart’s Jan Zwart. Biografie van een gedreven organist en toonkunstenaar.

The back cover features the second part of Frits Zwart’s contribution on the Delft organist Pieter Kersbergen and his successor Johan Kethel.