• Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
• Package Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 18.03 x 13.76 x 1.48 cm; 83.16 Grams
• Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ Fugue State Films
• Studio ‏ : ‎ Fugue State Films
• Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 2
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 83.2 g

In Ex Tempore Ronny Krippner sheds light on how English Organists improvised. In an 85-minute documentary and accompanying CD recording he blows open the 'illusionists art' of improvisation and shows us how it is done. He discusses the main English organ composers between 1500 and the present day - Tallis, Byrd, Purcell, Handel, Stanford, Howells, Mathias and Leighton. For each composer, he sketches their musical background and analyses their compositional techniques before performing a full improvisation in their style. The organs he plays are carefully chosen to present the different musical styles at their best. They include big cathedral organs in Bristol and Liverpool to smaller historical instruments at Little Stanmore and Adlington Hall. Ex Tempore includes interviews with internationally distinguished improvisers David Briggs and Martin Baker, organ builder Dominic Gwynn, and early music scholar and Handel expert Donald Burrows.

Ronny Krippner studied organ and improvisation at the Hochschule für Musik in Regensburg and at Exeter University. He is Specialist Lecturer in Organ Improvisation at Birmingham Conservatoire and Assistant Director of Music at St George’s, Hanover Square. In 2009 he was both a finalist in the prestigious Organ Improvisation Competition in St Albans and a prize-winner in the International Organ Improvisation Competition in Biarritz. The DVD ‘Ex Tempore – The Art of Organ Improvisation in England’, featuring improvisations by Ronny Krippner, has received high critical acclaim.

Since launching in 2007, Fugue State Films has acquired a reputation for producing imaginative and well-made recitals and documentaries. Its latest release is its most ambitious offering yet, as Ronny Krippner takes a tour through 500 years of organ improvisation in England from the early sixteenth century to the present day. Bavarian-born, London-based, and schooled in both the German and British choral traditions, Krippner has held several organist posts in the UK and proves an articulate guide in a considered and admirably concise analysis of shifts in compositional and improvisational style and what amounts to a potted history of the mechanical and musical developments of organs during the wide timespan under discussion. Recently appointed Specialist Lecturer in Organ Improvisation at the Birmingham Conservatoire, at each historical milestone Krippner illustrates theoretical development by extemporising on a well-chosen selection of instruments that range from a copy of a mid-sixteenth century hand-bellows operated Wetheringsett organ to the imposing modern array of the organ at Liverpool s Metropolitan Cathedral. At less than 90 minutes, it s something of a whistle stop tour, but one that never seems rushed or superficial. With contributions from organ builder Dominic Gwynn, and organists David Briggs, Martin Baker and Donald Burrows, Krippner describes the long arc of improvisational styles from the age of Tallis and Byrd, through the turmoil and tumult of the Civil War, Protectorate and Restoration, into the age of Handel and the remarkable renaissance of English organ music in the 19th and 20th centuries (wonderfully represented here by Howells, Leighton, Mathias and others). Despite Krippner s slightly disconcerting off-camera gaze throughout, this is a fascinating, informative, enjoyable and well-made documentary. A bonus CD of all the music featured is also provided. -- Michael Quinn -- Choir and Organ Magazine, September 2011

Tracklist: