Bach, J S: Passacaglia & Fugue in C minor, BWV582

Recorded on the Great Tamburini-Bonato organ of Abano Terme, Padua

The critically-acclaimed 5CD set King of Instruments is now reissued as five individual CDs retaining the original liner notes and recollections of Dame Gillian on the making of these seminal recordings.

Moving from the harpsichord to the clavichord or the organ was probably easy enough for Johann Sebastian Bach. The source of the sound didn’t matter, because for the master of Leipzig, what counted were thought and intellect: the form, tonality and melodic contours ere more important than the instrument itself. And indeed, through this work of musical thought, Bach used different keyboards, prefiguring the instruments to come: the piano as a synthesis of the harpsichord, the organ and the clavichord.

Bach was aware of exchanges between the different European schools, which allowed musicians to copy, transcribe and adapt the work of contemporaries. Bach did this with his own scores, as well as those of his colleagues. Over the centuries, Busoni, Siloti, Kempff and Kurtàg amongst other have transformed the magic of the organ, orchestra and choruses of the cantatas to the piano.

And now, Ensemble Contraste presents its own vision of the Cantor: a school of freedom that never betrays his conception and allows the beauty, rigorous construction and triumphant polyphonies to shine through.

"La Dolce Volta, a new French classical music label whose outstanding production values include big, bold sound and cerebral liner notes laid out in cerebral, hip typography" Strings

The Passacaglia is a musical form based on a repeated bass line over which variations are composed. The form was popular during the 17th century but proved to be a challenge in its structural restrictions for composers of later periods, continuously renewing and extending the form, while keeping to its basic formula.

This original program brings together composers from 4 centuries: from Kerll, Couperin, Buxtehude and the monumental Passacaglia in C minor by J.S. Bach, far into the 20-th century with Reger, Shostakovich and Jan Welmers.

Recorded on the magnificent Martti Pothan organ Kotka Church in Finland, by young virtuoso Matthias Havinga, whose earlier recording on this organ (Brilliant Classics 94203) with Italian Concertos by J.S. Bach received enthusiastic reviews in the press.

New recording, including extensive liner notes and information on the instrument. Consisting of variations framed in a constantly repeated basso ostinato, the passacaglia is a musical form with a long and fruitful history. This release is dedicated to eight such examples which, taken from four countries and all performed on the organ, divide either side of the year 1800 to reveal the form’s extensive and inventive development over time. The passacaglia was particularly popular during the 17th century, when it became known for its limited range of keys, slow triple meter and short, simple theme of two or four.