Jaroslav Tůma: organ – The instrument in the church of St Petr and Paul was built by J.G.I. Schmidt from Loket (1758), restaured by Dlabal-Mettler (2023)

Some may perceive the word portrait in the title of this CD as an expression of admiration for the appearance of the Březno organ, whose visual grandeur—like that of the church itself—is truly impressive when compared to the small size of the town. The church stands on a small hill in the center of the small town and can be seen from afar; in a landscape scarred by open-pit brown coal mining, it appears almost as an apparition. The organ, with its richly decorated façade and conceptually striking casework, shares in this sense of revelation. Yet, in my view, the word portrait refers less to the instrument’s external form than to its sonic richness—the wide palette of tonal colors and the majestic plenum (full organ) that sounds full and dense, yet never deafening, remaining smooth and pleasant even in its loudest dynamics. Just as a painter seeks to capture the personality of a subject through the many shades of a palette, the organist strives to reveal the character of the instrument in all its tonal nuances and combinations. My palette consists of the individual stops, their typical and less typical combinations, and finally the various partial plena—the term denoting combinations of stops that produce the loudest and fullest sounds the instrument is capable of.

The program of this recording has been designed with the intent to let the organ sound in music that suits it well—music that could have been played at the time of its creation, and which simultaneously presents its expressive and coloristic possibilities in the greatest diversity. The selection of compositions is conceived as a concert program, not merely an overview of works by selected composers.

The plenum combinations are presented as follows: complete and variant setups of the principal chorus of the main manual are heard, for example, in the third movement of Benda’s Sonata and Černohorský’s Toccata; the plenum of the Positive division in an anonymous Fugue in F major; and, with the manual couple—thus combining the plena of both main and Positive manuals—in the Prelude in D major, particularly in its passages that travel across tonalities and in chordal textures that also draw attention to the unique qualities of the organ’s wind system. The restored wedge bellows of Schmidt’s instrument, operating at low air pressure, supply a highly flexible wind that slightly “breathes” during sudden textural changes. This gentle, perceptible undulation in pitch is today regarded as a distinctly positive quality—typical of Baroque organs. Of course, this “wheezing” must not be excessive; the organist’s control of touch and articulation, especially in the pedal, must remain guided by good taste.

The other works on the program showcase a wide array of combinations: the Quintadena 8’ as a solo voice in the slow movement of a Vivaldi concerto transcribed for keyboard by J. S. Bach; the blend of Principal 8’ and Quinta 3’ in a chorale setting by Tobias Krebs; the Principal 8’ alone, both in solo and polyphonic texture, in a chorale prelude from the Neumeister Collection (though some dispute Bach’s authorship). The flute stops, both individually and in groups, are likewise given ample attention. In Seger’s Prelude, we hear Copula 8’ + 4’ from the Positive; the Flauta 8’ of the main manual sounds both solo and in chords in the slow movement of Benda’s Sonata; and the Fuga de tempore natalis features the Copula 4’ of the Positive as a solo voice. The two string stops of the main manual—Salicional 8’ and Fugara 4’—are presented together and separately in the slow movement of C. P. E. Bach’s Sonata. Seger’s Fugue in C major fills the space with the sound of all 8’ stops of the main manual except the Principal 8’.

Although Schmidt’s instrument has survived without catastrophic alterations, it would be naïve to claim that we hear exactly what the parishioners of 1758 heard. Every organ builder entrusted with repairs or adjustments over the centuries has left some trace in the sound. One particularly skilled craftsman was Karel Schiffner, who repaired the organ in 1898. Yet, the most significant intervention has been the recent complete restoration—executed with top-level expertise in current conservation methods—carried out by the restoration firm Dlabal & Mettler of Bílsko near Olomouc, completed in spring 2023.

The organ’s condition prior to restoration was far from satisfactory. After World War II, the instrument had become unplayable. Wood-boring insects had done some damage, and bird droppings—especially from owls—had caused more. But the greatest destruction was caused by humans. To quote the restoration report: “In 1999, when a construction company carelessly left the access door to the loft open during roof repairs, a local homeless man removed a large number of tin pipes from the main organ’s pipework and piled them up to sell as scrap metal. He was caught by the construction workers, and the police were called; however, despite an expert report by court appraiser Ing. Poláček, no charges were pressed against him.”

The organ regions of Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia are blessed with many historically significant instruments. Encouragingly, many have been preserved in accordance with the principles of heritage conservation now recognized throughout Europe—and, simply, with common sense. Let us hope that projects that ignore or mock these principles finally come to an end, for there are still too many of them. Often, they harm organs more than mere vandalism. An organ builder who knows his craft can bring even “twisted” and broken pipes back to life. One who does not know may discard them as scrap to make new ones—or revoice them so drastically that no one will ever recover the original sound. Such a builder does more harm than a common vandal. I believe another essential definition of heritage protection lies precisely in safeguarding the sound of the organ. While this is shaped by material and condition, it is also defined by our taste and listening experience.

Jaroslav Tůma

JAROSLAV TŮMA was born in 1956. He is a concert organist and professor at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. He also performs on harpsichord, clavichord, pianoforte and other keyboard instruments. He is also engaged in music composition and publishing. He studied at the Prague Conservatory with Prof. Jaroslav Vodrážka and at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague with Prof. Milan Šlechta (organ) and Prof. Zuzana Růžičková (harpsichord). He has won first prizes in organ improvisation competitions in Nuremberg in 1980 and in Haarlem in the Netherlands in 1986; he is a laureate of a number of organ performance competitions, e.g. in Linz in 1978, in the Prague Spring Competition in 1979, in the Johann Sebastian Bach Competition in Leipzig in 1980 and many others. As part of his extensive concert history, he has visited almost all European countries, as well as the USA, Canada, Cuba, Japan, Mongolia, South Africa, Singapore, etc. He is also active as a chairman or jury member of international music competitions, he passes on his performance experience at many international organ courses and seminars, and since 2016 he has also been involved in the Mecca of Organists courses for aspiring organ professionals. Tůma's repertoire contains major works by Czech and world composers in a wide range of styles from the Renaissance to the 21st century. His discography includes 66 solo recordings released by Supraphon (until 2002) and later mostly by Arta Records (from 1991 to the present). In 2010, Jaroslav Tůma was appointed titular organist at Svatá Hora in Příbram, where in 2020 he recorded a complete organ work by Johann Sebastian Bach on the organ of Vladimír Šlajch from 2018 as part of an audiovisual project in collaboration with producer and director Alexandr Vojta. He is currently working on the post-production of this project. He is also involved in the dramaturgy of the Organ Half Hours, held at the Basilica of the Assumption of St. Mary since 2017. The tajemstvitonu.cz website gradually publishes audiovisual recordings of Jaroslav Tůma's concerts from recent years, supplemented by comments and interviews.