Celebratory Organ Preludes for Christmas Time, Op. 189

In this upload I included three of the ten organ preludes in Josef Gruber's Op. 189: 3, 5, and 1. (These are all original compositions not based on chorales or other pieces from what I can surmise.) Recording times: No. 3 begins the recording, No. 5 begins at 2:08, and No. 1 begins at 4:59.

Gruber composed in the late Romantic era, but I chose a South German Baroque organ, the Pusztaszabolcs sample set, for these pieces because of the double pedal octaves. With the beefed up pedal part in this music, it compensates for an inadequate pedal division, as is often found on South German Baroque instruments. This is certainly something that organists and church musicians in Gruber's time in Austria would have had to contend with, so I think the Romantic pieces here work just fine on this organ.

Each prelude is meant to be played individually, and all of them are marked as requiring full organ (I would certainly categorize this as Gebrauchsmusik). But instead of performing three of them as individuals as marked, I wanted to make things a bit more musical for the listener of the three together as a set. Thus, I've taken liberties as described below.

First, I used Hauptwerk's extended couplers and the modern set-up of the Pusztaszabolcs organ. I also placed the organ in Hauptwerk's #7 church IR for a more reverberent experience than comes with the original organ.

Second, Nos. 3 and 1 are marked maestoso. I feel this in 2, not in 4 (they are marked common time). Also, with the more flexible set-up, I was able to achieve multiple full organ sounds to use for these two preludes.

Third, for No. 5, I used mainly flutes and the 2' principal instead of full organ. As the piece progresses, I also pull back the stops and let it end with only 8' flutes (16' in the pedal) for even more contrast.

Hopefully these performance liberties and choices showcase the organ itself a bit more than otherwise, and I hope they are enjoyable changes for your ears most of all.