Two tiny chorale preludes from the book with 80 such pieces I have. Johann Gottfried Walther and Andreas Nikolaus Vetter were contemporaries of Bach (Walther actually a cousin) and lived and worked in the same area. Of course nobody touches Bach, but these guys are good. I just wish these chorales were a bit longer.

Walther - Chorale Preludes - Herr Christ, der einig Gottes Sohn (1:24)
Vetter - Chorale Preludes - Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland (Fughette) (1:15)

Hi Chris,

I listened to both preludes. They're both tuneful and pleasant to hear. In the Walther at .45 or .46 there is an odd sound there that doesn't seem part of the musical line, but I could be wrong. I listened to it a few times and couldn't decide whether it was actually a note, a spurious quirk of the organ, or a car horn beep out in the church parking lot. Did you notice it? I especially liked the Vetter piece--more substantial sound, complex counterpoint and generous use of harmonies and counter melodies. Would he be the more accomplished composer of the two in your opinion? Very good playing.

David

Thanks for the comment David.

I heard that noise too when listening back, though not while playing. Must have been something outside - traffic can be very audible in this church which is too near the road for comfort. In fact I had to redo one of these because some brat with a power exhaust roared all over my closing bar and the silence after it

Walther was a very accomplished composer, as witness the half dozen pieces I have recorded. I know only two tiny chorales by Vetter so I can't really compare the two. But I'd say he too was a good composer with a strong voice. I'll try to find more of him. This little piece. not even one page long, took me surprisingly long to get right.

Hi Chris,

OK, so I'm dying to know: Which was worse, the pigeon cooing on the last note of a piece, or the power exhaust roaring in the last bar of the other. It would seem that the latter did more damage actually, but then again the extraordinary irony of the last note being besmirched in the other could well raise blood pressure disproportionately to the crime.

David

Haha, you remember the pigeon case That was worse because that recording took me so much sweat that I could not just redo it like this one.
A noise while playing is not even that bad (certainly not in a plenum piece) but a noise just after the last note is lethal and spoils it all.

Hi Chris,

I listened to these, they sound nice. I have never heard of these composers. Unfortunate that we study Bach in my music history class and though we study his family it is only his sons and not his cousin who also composed!

I do not have the score but I sounded like all correct notes.

~Riley

Thanks Riley, yes I think all the right notes are there.