Luogo e data di registrazione		Prämonstratenserstift, Schlägl (1-7) & Augustiner-Chorherrenstift Klosterneuburg (8-15) (Austria) - 15,17/18 September 1995
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Producer / Recording supervisor		Wolf Erichson
	Recording Engineer / Editing		Stephan Schellmann (Tritonus)
	Prima Edizione LP		-
	Prima Edizione CD		Sony / Vivarte - SK 68 262 - (1 CD) - durata 72' 26" - (p) 1997 - DDD
	Cover Art		Ansicht von Klosterneuburg (1823) by Carl Schubert (1795-1855) - Historisches Museum der Stadt Wien
	Note		-

Organ-Building in Austria Starting in the 17th century, the Danube valley, from Passau to Pressburg (Bratislava), developed an organ-building tradition of the first rank. Passau, in particular, was home to some of the most important workshops. Family dynasties such as those of Freundt, Putz and Egedacher produced a wealth of superior organs in upper Austria. While the Passau organ builders tended mainly to the needs of the monasteries and cloisters in this region, examples of their work were found in lower Austria, even as far as Vienna. The organs Gustav Leonhardt plays on this recording, in the Prämonstraten Abbey in Schlägl and in the Augustinian Canon monastery in Klosterneuburg, belong to this tradition. Both instruments have recently been restored according to strict historical organ-building practices. Once again returned to their original sonic glory, they are ideally suited to the interpretation of music dating from the time of their construction. The great organ in the west choir loft of the collegiate church of the Prämonstraten Abbey in Schlägl can be traced back to the Passau master organbuilder Andreas Putz (c.1590-1657). Prior Martin Greysing commissioned Putz to build it in the monastery church during the winter of 1633/34. It was first heard at the initial mass in honor of Matthäus III at the beginning of July 1634. Shortly thereafter prominent organists attended to the organ. Christian Erbach served the monastery from 1633 to 1635 in this capacity. From then until 1637 Georg Kopp, the later organist of the Passau cathedral, took over the responsibility. Fire severely damaged the organ in 1702. When Johann Christoph Egedacher (1664-1747) overhauled the organ in 1708 - probably with help from his brother Johann Ignaz (1675-1744) he made fundamental changes in the instrument. He raised its pitch from a' = 420 to about 447 Hz. The playing mechanism as originally designed separated the Hauptwerk (great organ) into one case and the Rückpositiv into another; Egedacher pushed the Hauptwerk forward into the balustrade with the Rückpositiv coming to form the lower part of the organ. As a result, the console was now behind the instrument. In addition, a Brustpositiv, tuned low, was added; the organ builders Franz Noli, father and son, of Pilsen/Budweis documented this addition in 1805 when they repaired the organ after another fire. Yet another fire in 1853 once again necessitated renovation. The organ builder Josef Breinbauer of Ottensheim performed the repairs, adding three new stops. Court organ builder Johann Lachmayer, who had settled in Urfahr near Linz, enlarged the organ in 1904 according to then current taste, by adding ten more stops, some of which were installed on an adjunct pneumatic wind-chest. Wilhelm Zika removed these in 1948. Growing awareness of the organ`s historical value led to an exemplary renovation (by Austrian standards) in 1960 by the Swiss firm of Theodor Kuhn. Instrument specialist Egon Krauss (at that time also advisor to the Austrian Office of National Monuments) oversaw this undertaking. A leading authority on questions of renovation in central Europe, Krauss recognized that restorations must be carried out with the utmost rigor and attention to the smallest detail. This meant consulting many available documents in order to revive handicraft techniques of organ building before applying them to the work at hand. With this mandate, a complete restoration of the Schlägl west organ was undertaken by the workshop of the brothers Reil in Heerde (the Netherlands). Using the work of Egedacher in 1708 as their guide, they built a new wedge bellows, a new tracker action, and a new wind-chest for the Positiv organ (the Kuhn firm had already removed the old one). The Reil brothers also reordered the pipes, which had been put in disarray in the 19th century; reconstructed the pipes themselves; and tuned them to an unequal temperament, obtainable from older, unaltered pipes. The study of analogous parts of other 17th - and early 18th” -century organs played an important role in the restoration process, as did close interpretation of source documents in the monastery archives of Schlägl. The builders also carefully examined the construction of the instrument as they dismantled it, making an inventory of all of the pipes according to their inscriptions. Thanks to the unflagging dedication of the organ builders working on this project, the Schlägl instrument was successfully restored to its “expanded” 1708 form - with two qualifications. There was not enough information about the size and specification of the low-pitched Brustwerk - dating to Egedacher's time and probably used for continuo purposes - to reconstruct it. Reconstruction of the folding doors, which were known to be extant on the 1708 organ, was abandoned for the same reason. The restoration was supervised by Rudi van Straten (Zutphen, the Netherlands) and Dr. Rupert Gottfried Frieberger (Schlägl). Ingemar Melcherson (Translation: Annelies McVoy and David Feurzeig) The alterations made to the Romanesque church of the Augustinian Canon monastery in Klosterneuburg in 1634 conformed to the new Baroque style. Naturally, this flurry of building prompted the desire for a new organ, even though the church's two organs had been overhauled and refurbished scarcely five years earlier. The commission for this new instrument in 1636 also went to Passau - in this case to the organ-building family Freundt. It is unclear, however, whether Johann Georg Freundt (c.1590-1667) or his son Johannes (before 1615-1678) built the organ. The contract for this job is lost; but as all surviving receipts are signed Johannes Freundt, it appears most likely that it was the son, Johannes (despite his youth), and not his father, who built the Klosterneuburg organ. Freundt began in 1636 by demolishing the two older organs. The new instrument, completed in 1642, incorporated parts of the old ones, as was customary at that time. Freundt's work contains no wooden pipes, only metal ones of the highest quality. The quality is evident in the alloy and the thickness of the pipe walls - almost twice as thick as those made today. The specification favors the 8' and 4' stops: both occur four times in the Hauprwerk, and the 4' stop appears three times in the Rückpositív. The pedal specifications, unlike those of most organs in this region, are fully developed; hence there are no pedal couplers. Ensuing generations limited themselves principally to changing the wind supply and action. There was little disruption of the pipes and the specification; today, only the Regal (which embodies the organ's reed pipes) and about two-thirds of the flue pipes are original. The organ was worked on in 1748 by J. Hencke, in 1770 by an unknown builder, in 1820/21 and 1832 by J. G. Fischer, in 1870 by another unknown builder and in 1905 by J. Ullmann. A complete restoration of the organ was planned for 1942, on the occasion of its 300th anniversary; but World War II intervened. The Organ pipes remained in Klosterneuburg, while the action was sent to the workshop of the Vienna Kunsthistorisches Museum for repair, where it was completely destroyed in a bombing attack. Construction of a new action was hardly possible in postwar Austria. Hostage to unfavorable circumstances (military occupation and the division of Austria and Vienna into four parts), the Freundt organ remained in unsatisfactory condition for many years. Not until 1983 was it possible to begin work on the restoration - now with the advantage of practical experience gleaned from the recent decades. The Klosterneuburg project was entrusted to the same Swiss firm, Kuhn, that had rebuilt the Schlägl organ. From 1983 to 1985 they reconstructed the action and wind chests, and re-established a slightly modified meantone temperament. By 1990 the five reed stops and the bellows structure were finished. The sturdy pipes required only minor repairs. The modified mean-tone renders the tuning somewhat smoother but has not altered its basic character. The absolute pitch, just over a half-step higher than a' = 440, was kept the same. All the divisions of the organ are once again at the same wind pressure, sufficient to displace 62 mm of water. A device was built into the bellows structure so that a valve separates the electric blower from the bellows once it is fully inflated. Thus, only the descent of the bellows delivers wind to the organ - mimicking the action of a mechanical bellows. Today, its restoration completed, the Freundt organ in Klosterneuburg is once again reckoned among the consummate achievements of Austrian organ-building. It is also known as a “ceremonial organ” (Festorgel) - "to play in festi Praeposit," as a specification from 1831/33 declared. Helmut Lerperger (Translation: Annelies McVoy and David Feurzeig)