Bach, J S: Toccata, Adagio & Fugue in C major, BWV564 - CD

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

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.

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.

The Arp Schnitger organ in St. Ludger’s Church in Norden is among the most important baroque instruments of its kind.

The artists perform an appealing programme designed to demonstrate the strengths of the instrument.

This is Luchterhandt and Janssen’s third release on “their instrument”.

Nowadays, the fashion is mainly for historically authentic interpretation: performers play from facsimiles or original scores, with historically accurate orchestration, articulation, etc.This recording of selected works by Bach in organ arrangements by William Thomas Best (1826-1897) gives evidence of an approach to Bach’s compositions that may seem quite capricious today. Alongside his arrangement of Bach’s 'Chaconne' for violin from the Partita No. 2 in D minor, this SACD presents highlights from his comprehensive edition of Bach’s organ works, from chorale preludes to the C minor 'Passacaglia'.In his editions and arrangements Best saw it as his mission, particularly for an English audience which was entirely unfamiliar with Bach’s works, to provide the organist with what amounts to stage directions in matters of choice of tempo, articulation, registration, selection of manuals and, where appropriate, the use of the swell pedal. In this way the great free-standing organ works appear as dramatic scenas or ballads, while the smaller-scale works and chorale preludes come across as poetry.Best achieves a convincing dramatic presentation of Bach’s music: by means of refined, well-placed tricks of the trade the poetic meaning of individual passages is made apparent, and his economy of means and avoidance of all superficial effects enable the grandiose form of each work to come to the fore. The performance indications, or rather suggestions, are presented in such a way that the organist is amply challenged as a musician, interpreter and personality at all times.

Carsten Wiebusch studied church music at the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf. As an organist he achieved success at international organ competitions including the August Gottfried competition in Magdeburg and the Johann Sebastian Bach prize competition in Wiesbaden, both in 1995. He teaches an organ class at the Musikhochschule in Karlsruhe and has been organist at the Christuskirche, Karlsruhe, since 1999.The Klais organ at the Christuskirche was inaugurated in 2010. Its powerful yet poetic tone is heard on this SACD for the first time in any recording.

David Goode performs a grand selection of some of Bach’s best organ works – including the famed Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor – providing modern listeners with a unique chance to hear Bach’s music as congregations of that period may have done.

The Gottfried Silbermann organ of Freiberg cathedral is one of a handful of such 18th-century instruments (built during Bach’s lifetime) to have remained largely unmodified to this day. Bach’s work as an organ inspector shows that he tested and inaugurated a number of Silbermann’s organs in Germany and, although there is no record that he played this instrument, its sound is undoubtedly one that Bach would have recognised and composed for.