It isn't every day that one receives an open invitation to spend a few days at the home of an international organ superstar, and a most attractive female one at that. It was an offer my wife and I could not refuse and so, leaving the glorious August weather behind, we flew out from Newquay Airport, and via Gatwick arrived at Dusseldorf Airport some three hours later. Waiting to greet us, easily recognisable by his six foot three inch high frame was husband Andreas Mautner who, in his own right, is also heavily connected with the organ scene as editor and producer of 'OKEY!', the only German commercial organ world magazine. Together, this couple undoubtably hold the success of the whole German organ scene in the palms of their hands. Neither one is complacent, for compared with the UK organ scene, there is much to do in order to keep the interest in organ music alive. Only a handful of organ clubs exist, and there are nowhere as many artists as England.

We arrived at their home in Ense, a small Town not a million miles from the famous Möhnesse Dam, the scene of the historic Dam Busters raid on Sunday May 16th 1943, by the RAF 617 Squadron. It was place we were to later visit. We turned into a quiet street on the outskirts of Ense only to hear the sounds of a police siren. It turned out to be coming from a very large fully equipped battery operated car, with forward and reverse gear change, flashing lights and seat belts, being maneuvered around the driveway of their house by five year old son Felix, watched over by Claudia with her ever present welcoming smile. The luxurious, well appointed architecturally designed three level home is testimony to the hard work and business world contacts this young couple have steadily built up over the years since they first met. A forceful determination since Claudia's childhood has part contributed to their life style which is possibly unequalled by few other organists in the world today. So when and how did it all start?...

'At the age of seven my Grandparents gave me a Christmas gift of a small chord organ, much like a Bontempi. It was a complete surprise to me as I had never indicated that I wanted one. I soon began to play little German tunes and every day when I returned from school I threw my school things to one side and played the instrument to relax. Several years later, at the home of my school girlfriend I saw another instrument but one which had a rhythm unit, and so I wanted to have one too, although at the time it sounded like a heart and lung machine! So I asked my parents if I could have a better instrument, to which they agreed, and so they bought me a Yamaha C-35 when I was twelve years of age. I played this instrument for the next three years, never losing the fun and enjoyment. When I reached the age of fifteen I first saw Franz Lambert when he played a concert in a nearby village and it was at this point in my young life that I also wanted to be a professional organist. Until that time I had thoughts on perhaps becoming an Air Stewardess or an English teacher!

By this time I had a Wersi Saturn organ, which my mother and father had built for me from a kit of parts, and I decided to record a small tape and send it to the Wersi factory in Halsenbach. I did not expect a reply but within two days they had contacted me expressing their happiness that as a young girl I had shown interest in the instrument, which up to that time was only being played by men and boys. Wersi then invited me to play demonstration concerts of their organs in the whole of Germany, Netherlands, Belgium & France at music festivals and I was always lucky to have the very latest instruments'.

'I must explain to you that I have never had a music lesson in my whole life. I am completely self taught and in the beginning I made many mistakes by only hearing the music, as I did not have an 'educated' ear, nor perfect pitch, although it is now more accurate. When I first commenced playing I did not hear the small differences, but there were some organists who told me to listen to it again. They gave me a lot of help in this and so it became a challenge to me to practice more and more difficult pieces... even classical numbers.

'At that time I liked the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim. I made my first recording when I was eighteen and when I play it now I think of it as my youth sin! But everyone must start somewhere, it is their development on which to improve'.

'In 1988 whilst I was playing at the Frankfurt Music Fair I first met Andreas who was exhibiting there together with his former business partner. At that time they started producing an organ magazine called 'Manual', and I liked both these young men because they were serious looking and they wore ties and good clothes. If you have ever been to a music fair you will see a lot of people with long hair, tattoos, rings in their ears and also in many other parts of the body too! This was the first time I had seen Andreas but then a day before my 20th birthday in March 1988 I had a concert with some other Wersi artists, Hady Wolff, Mark Whale, Curt Prina and two American players, in which we played for the first time the new Spectra model. There was no time to do any sound checks or test anything. So as I was the newcomer I played first, but then the organ broke down... it suffered a computer crash, but it was then repaired so that the concert could continue. I noticed that Andreas and his partner were in the audience and that they were writing an article which would appear in their magazine. Andreas later told me that his partner wanted to write bad things about my playing, but he told him you cannot do that because it was the organ that was not right... not my playing. I think this was the first time when we had a little affection for each other! I did not see the article until much later when a friend told me that it was in the first edition of their magazine, and I thought I would read only bad things. But this was not so. The following year when he came to a nearby town to write some articles he asked if we could meet and I showed him around the area for two or three days. After he returned to Austria we began to write and telephone each other and the calls became very long and expensive because there was a distance of 1000 km between us. In 1991 we became engaged and we married in 1993'.

'Back in the 70's and early 80's there was an organ boom, helped by the recordings of Klaus Wunderlich and Franz Lambert. But then came the single keyboards and the organ popularity dropped until the mid-90's when there were hardly any organ sales.

Andreas was an organ player too and he wanted to revive the interest in the instrument and in 1994 he started a new organ magazine, called 'OKEY!', but people pointed fingers at him and said that he was crazy to do so when sales and interest in organs had died. Nevertheless he said he would do it and now people give thanks to him because it is the only commercial magazine of its kind in this country and it has helped many new organists. In this country we do not have many organ clubs, I do not want to lie but I think there are only about five and when they meet it is not to hear organists but to play bowls and cards! In 1991 I played a concert locally and I thought with the publicity I had been given from the newspapers about myself and my new recording that I would be sure to get many people. But I was dissapointed to learn that there were only about 300-400 people in this large hall. It is very hard to find any organ recordings in German shops and if you want them you have to look for the smallest boxed section with the title 'Easy Listening' or 'Instrumental'. You will find recordings of Klaus Wunderlich and maybe Franz Lambert but no-one else. That is why we call England the organ Mecca and I always enjoy going to England where there are so many enthusiasts.

It was in 1991 I think when I first came to play in England at Gunton Hall, and I was announced on stage by Roy Neal, Father of Grant Neal who now runs the Keyboard Cavalcade Festivals'.

'Since May 2001 I have been playing the very latest Wersi organ, the big three-manual Louvre model - in my opinion the best organ on the market right now. The technology of these new instruments is called OAS (Open Art System) and is based on the Windows computer system. You can nearly do everything with these new organs. Thus I am able to record directly to the built in CD burner, and can load in my own sounds and effects even from other companies. So there is no limit and I am convinced this system will be the best for the next 10-15 years. If you consider that other companies release at least one instrument each year, the people who buy the latest one feel cheated when a new model comes out almost immediately. This will never happen with Wersi instruments and so you can always upgrade by loading the latest Wersi software which will give you all the latest sounds and developments'.

On our last evening with Claudia she switched on the Louvre organ and proceeded to entertain us with a mini concert, featuring some of the concert pieces. The sounds, effects and capabilities of this organ are mind blowing in the extreme.

Finally my wife and I would like to thank Claudia, Andreas and not forgetting Felix, for their genuine and warm hospitality during our visit to their lovely country.

(Article originally published in issue 13 of the ORGAN1st magazine) 

Website: www.claudiahirschfeld.com

Recordings Available at www.ORGANS.co.uk - Link to CDs 

Brindisi from the opera 'La Traviata' from: Claudia Hirschfeld - Classicals [Full Details]