Robert Bates Recordings

Yesterday we told you about Robert Bates, so today we wanted to tell you about his recordings which are currently 30% off with the promo code "Bates"!

...In Dialogue, Volume 1
Fisk-Nanney organ (mean tone and well tempered)
Fritts organ (mean tone)
Stanford Memorial Church
Robert Bates and David Yearsley, organists

Two extraordinary organists playing two extraordinary organs in dialogue might seem an over-abundance of riches. Yet it is possible that the great organists of earlier times enjoyed responding to each other across vast spaces. This new recording, which includes compositions by six masters of the North German School, recreates this sound and ambience using two mean-tone organs in Stanford's Memorial Church.

Buxtehude: Toccata in D Minor, BuxWV 155
Scheidt: Bergamasca
Scheidemann: Galliarda ex D
Reincken: Toccata in G Major
Sweelinck: More Palatino
Tunder: Fantasia super "Christ lag in Todesbanden"
Schildt: Gleich wie das Feuer
Schildt Paduana Lachrymae (after John Dowland)
Scheidt: Toccata super "In te, Domine, speravi"

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Recital at Lagerquist Hall
2000 American Guild of Organists national convention
Pacific Lutheran University
Tacoma, WA
Robert Bates, organ

Robert Bates' recital took place on July 4 during the AGO 2000 Convention on the monumental organ built by Paul Fritts and Company for Lagerquist Hall at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington. Works from the German Baroque and the late 20th century are featured, including works by Buxtehude, Scheidt, Bach, Pärt, and Bates' own compositions.

Annum per Annum/ Arvo Pärt
Toccata in d minor/ Dietrich Buxtehude
Bergamasca/ Samuel Scheidt
Paduana Lachrymae/ John Dowland
Prelude and Fugue in C Major (BWV 547)/ J. S. Bach
Time Machine (1989; rev. 1999)/ Robert Bates
Saga No. 6 ("Ikarus") / Jean Guillou

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Brahms Complete Organ Works
With chorale preludes introduced by soprano Ruth Escher
Bond Organ, Holy Rosary Catholic Church
Portland, Oregon
Robert Bates, organ

About two-thirds of the pipework on this organ comes from 1880 (John Bergstrom), providing a wonderfully appropriate tonal pallette for Brahms.

Prelude and Fugue in A minor
Chorale Prelude and Fugue on "O Traurigkeit, o Herzeleid"
Eleven Chorale Preludes
Fugue in A-flat minor
Prelude and Fugue in G minor

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Viaticum: A Journey of the Mind, Body and Soul
Robert Bates, organist & composer
Organs of Stanford Memorial Church

This unusual CD documents a tri-part program of 20th-century music, organized and composed by Robert Bates. It includes many world premier recordings (in red). With interspersed spoken texts and imaginative programming, Bates explores the nature of the world and ourselves, through verbal themes and non-verbal sound paintings. This is the most unusual organ recording in our collection, and it is a masterpiece of invention, symbolism and imagination.

Includes 24-page book on the music and organs used, plus a 16-page graphical audience score.

CD 1 - The Universe Within: A Journey of the Mind

Prelude 1: Trivium (part 1)/ Arvo Pärt
Pythagoras: Annum per annum ("Year by Year")/ Arvo Pärt
Heraclitus: Orpheus and the Winged Creatures


(for organ and synthesized harp with audience score)/ Robert Bates
The Philosophers of Miletus: Les feux du silence


("The Fires of Silence" from Hyperion or The Rhetoric of Fire)/ Jean Guillou
Democritus: Ricercare/ György Ligeti
Plato: Le jardin suspendu ("The Suspended Garden")/ Jehan Alain
Plotinus: Birthday Tribute


(for organ and synthesizer, constructed on the name B-A-C-H)/ Bates

CD 2 - A Journey of the Body

Prelude II: Trivium (part 2)/ Arvo Pärt
Beginning of the Universe: Coulée ("Flow" from Zwei Etüden für Orgel)/ Ligeti
The Stars: Lumière


("Light" from Sept méditations sur le Saint-Esprit)/ Jeanne Demessieux
Emergence of Life: Coalescence (for organ and pre-recorded organ)/ Bates
The Cambrian Explosion: Gavotte Primitive (for organ and synthesizer)/ Bates
Creatures of Land and Air: Les oiseaux et les sources


("The Birds and the Springs" from Messe de la Pentecôte)/ Messiaen
Fool, Fool: Ikarus (Saga No. 6)/ Guillou
Worlds Beyond: Time Machine


(for organ and pre-recorded organ)/ Bates
Harmony of the Universe: Harmonies (from Zwei Etüden für Orgel)/ Ligeti

CD 3 - Life after Life: A Journey of the Soul

Prelude III: Trivium (part 3)/ Arvo Pärt
Cortege and Descent: Danse funèbre ("Funeral Dance" from Trois danses)/ Alain
Journey to the Other Side: Charon's Oar (with audience score)/ Bates
Entry: Hades' Realm (with audience score)/ Bates
Trial: Last Judgment (for organ and synthesizer)/ Bates
Ascent to the Light: Ascent/ Joan Tower
Release: In Paradisum (from Three Pieces for Organ)/ Calvin Hampton
Journey's End: Trivium (complete)/ Pärt

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