Bach, J S: Prelude & Fugue in C minor, BWV549

Any collection of recordings of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) must include a good proportion of his compositions for the organ on which he must have been a master-performer and for which he provided a treasure trove of works. With organs requiring large acoustics they are usually to be found in churches, but such is the expense of maintaining them and the buildings in which they are housed that some are falling in to a state of disrepair or are being removed to be replaced by modern electrical or electronic instruments which, for all their good workmanship, completely fail to match the majesty of the original. Recordings, therefore, on a fine Hi-fi system are a superb alternative to travelling long distances to sit on often uncomfortable pews in cold churches (however that is not to say that they should completely replace the chance of hearing an original in real life, like other forms of music a live performance has added dimensions, it is just that it is becoming harder to attend such occasions). Lionel Rogg, in this second of several planned sets, brings together the remainder of the more extended works which are either a Fantasia, Prelude or Toccata followed by a Fugue, together with works which are Fantasias and Preludes without Fugues and some Fugues on their own.

Bach’s glittering reputation as a virtuoso organist was based primarily on his extraordinary abilities as an improviser, echoes of which we can hear in the Passacaglia in C minor: its 20 virtuoso variations over a repeating bass carefully overlap one with another and lead ultimately to an imposing double fugue that brings a satisfying textural and harmonic catharsis. BWV549 and 561 both follow the prelude– fugue–postlude form. In BWV549 the centre of gravity lies in the fugue, whose delightfully quirky subject is treated with an almost reckless playfulness. In BWV561 it is the postlude that captures the imagination: the composer (possibly not Bach) waits until then to introduce the pedals, above which he develops brilliantly figuration. The coda of the Fugue in C minor BWV574 is even more striking, and has the rhetorical drama of a semi improvised toccata.

The chorales BWV639–41 are taken from the Orgel-Büchlein (‘Little organ book’), which collects 46 chorale arrangements Bach wrote while he was organist at the court of Weimar in 1708–17. Herzlich tut mich verlangen, the so-called Passion Chorale, is harmonised no fewer than four times, each time differently, in the St Matthew Passion; here Bach treats it to delicate melodic embellishment.

The true identity of the organ featured here was not discovered until 2007. It was originally built in 1913/14 for the “Britannic” ocean liner, sister of the “Titanic”. Because the vessel was used as a hospital ship during World War I, it was probably never installed on the ship’s passenger deck. It has been renovated and called the “Britannic Organ” and is in outstanding condition. Here we have performances by Rumsey, as well as Welte rolls and some of the oldest recordings of historic organists.