Jean Sibelius · Featured cycle01 / 05
Symphonies &
symphonic poems
- Symphonies Nos. 1, 2 and 5
- En Saga, Op. 9 · Luonnotar, Op. 70
- Now developed into a complete seven-volume organ cycle
The art of organ transcription
Orchestral music.
One organ.
Gottfried Thore Drywa brings the scale, colour and architecture of orchestral works into the distinctive voice of the organ.
A musical translation
Transcription is more than reduction: it is a meeting of musical architecture, the organ’s many colours, and the acoustics of the space in which it sounds.
The repertoire
Selected organ transcriptions
From symphonic poems and concert works to the intricate textures of twentieth-century music.
Symphonies &
Franz Liszt02 / 05
Mephisto Waltz
No. 1
- Transcribed for organ
- Recorded at the Ladegast organ, Wittenberg
Felix Mendelssohn03 / 05
Symphony No. 4
“Italian”
- Op. 90
- A symphonic world recast for the organ
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart04 / 05
Symphony No. 41
“Jupiter”
- K. 551
- Clarity, counterpoint and orchestral scale
Sergei Prokofiev05 / 05
Toccata
- Op. 11
- Driving rhythm and brilliant virtuosity
A selection from Gottfried Thore Drywa’s organ-transcription repertoire.
The art of transcription
A score becomes a new instrument.
Every transcription starts with the original score: its form, instrumental lines and balance. The task is to preserve the work’s identity while finding an idiomatic language for manuals, pedals, stops and the acoustic life of each organ.
Read the whole score
Follow the musical architecture, the interplay of voices and the colours created by the original orchestration.
Think idiomatically
Redistribute lines across hands and pedals so that texture, clarity and momentum remain alive at the organ.
Listen to the instrument
Shape registration and balance for the instrument and room, letting the organ’s own character meet the music.
Audio & video
Hear the transformation.
Listen to Franz Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz No. 1 in Gottfried Thore Drywa’s organ transcription, recorded at the historic Ladegast organ of the Castle Church in Wittenberg.
More recordings on YouTubeFranz Liszt · Mephisto Waltz No. 1Open on YouTube ↗
Activities
Scores, concerts & recordings
Explore the work on the page, in the concert hall and through recordings.
Organ concerts
Concert programmes place original transcriptions alongside the broader organ repertoire.
Current concert information ↗Transcription scores
For information about scores and the repertoire, get in touch directly.
Score enquiries ↗Audio & video
Selected performances and project recordings bring the transcriptions to life.
Visit the YouTube channel ↗The artist
Gottfried Thore Drywa
Dr. Gottfried Thore Drywa is an organist, pianist, composer and musicologist. He studied organ and piano in Rotterdam, Paris and Zürich with Ben van Oosten, Marie-Claire Alain and Susan Landale; his studies in composition and musicology included work with Frank Michael Beyer and Isabel Mundry.
His repertoire ranges from Renaissance music to the present day. Alongside concert performance and improvisation, a central focus of his work is the transcription of orchestral music for the organ, including works by Sibelius, Liszt, Mozart, Mendelssohn and Prokofiev. He is titular organist of the Wolf organ at Lutherkirche Plauen.
Contact