Bach, J S: Toccata & Fugue in D minor, BWV538 'Dorian'

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

Hyperion’s Bach Piano Transcriptions series reaches volume 8, and continues to surprise and delight with a disc containing many first recordings. The controversial figure of Eugen d’Albert was one of the greatest pianists of his day and, although largely forgotten now, a composer of genuinely international renown. A sometime student at the Royal College of Music, d’Albert rejected his British upbringing and nailed his colours to the mast of German music. Bach was an important part of his performing career—and like other great nineteeth-century pianists, d’Albert saw in the monumental scale of the organ works an opportunity to synthesize the works of the Master with the expanded capabilities of the modern piano.

Any collection of recordings by 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 fine alternative to travel 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 performances). Lionel Rogg, in this first of several planned sets, brings together many of the more extended works which are set as either a Fantasia, Prelude or Toccata followed by a Fugue and include many favourites including the ever popular Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565.

This CD features works by JS Bach, Johan Ludwig Krebs, Vierne, Franck and Reger, all of which are performed on the neo-baroque Euler Organ which was built during 1966/69.

The programme on this recording includes some of J.S. Bach's most famous organ works, as well as a number of chorale fantasias, including one discovered quite recently. Indeed, the opening bars of “Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält” were all that we knew of the score of that piece until March 2008, when a fair copy turned up at a public auction...