Toccata voor Orgel, Op. 115

I know VERY little about the composer, Jacobus Bonset, of this VERY RARE work. I thought that he was Belgian (guess), but apparently he was Dutch, so, perhaps some of our Dutch friends can give us more info on him. His dates are (1880-1959), and I have never heard anyone else play this piece. There are, as I recently discovered, two "hard to get" Dutch recordings.

I believe that his most "well-known" work is "Variaties en fuga "Over een thema van Purcell". I see that you can also hear his "Carillon" IF you can get one the recordings.

The music I have is an edition by Robert Leech Bedell, and comes from his "Edition 'Le Grand Orgue'" series, probably dating from the 1950's.

It is a very brilliant work, although perhaps a little thin in "musical substance." It is written in a typical French toccata style, After a brief introduction comes the appearance in Aminor of the Allegro vivace with 16th note, 3-note chords played an octave apart in the hands.

A calm central section, features a chorale-like them in A major, which alternates with the 16th note chords. A return to the opening section, leads to an extended Pedal Solo, followed by a long pedal point on the dominant. The 2nd theme now appears Largo in A major and played on the full organ. The piece concludes with a final toccata-like passage marked Presto, before the final ending in the major with added 6th in the chord.

I think it sounds great on the Marcussen, although some adjustments in the registrational approach had to be made. All the registration changes COULD be made on the real organ, with the help of registrants on both sides of the console.

I haven't posted much lately, as I've had horrific hearing issues. It's MUCH better now, but it changes so frequently, that the good periods (which has laster a week now) can change at any moment. THIS is the real torture of the problem... :-(

Anyway, I hope to post some other things over the weekend, and I hope you enjoy this piece!