Bach, J S: Chorale Prelude BWV641 'Wenn wir In höchsten Nöten sein'

An original concept: the Orgelbüchlein BWV 599‐644 performed alternating the organ chorale with the same choral sung by a choir.

Bach wrote the chorales in the Orgelbüchlein as educational material, to teach how to treat a chorale in polyphonic writing, but as in most of his works, the didactic element is far surpassed by the spiritual content of these miniature masterworks. The alternation of the organ and sung chorale provides a fascinating insight into Bach different treatment of the same melody.

New recording with excellent performances by one of Italy’s most famous harpsichordists, Francesco Cera, and the Coro della Radiotelevisione Svizzera conducted by early music specialist Diego Fasolis.

For many, Johann Sebastian Bach is ‘the’ composer of the Baroque period, a master of harmony, counterpoint and genre. During his lifetime he was particularly renowned as a virtuoso organist, and his compositions for the instrument have formed the core repertory of any aspiring organist ever since. The content of the Orgelbüchlein – a selection of chorale preludes composed while Bach held the post of Ducal Organist at Weimar – includes several pieces that are considered to be among Sebastian’s finest works. There is evidence that they were written for ‘teaching the various ways of treating a chorale, and the use of the pedal’, but they also have a definite spirituality – the dedication reads: ‘To God Almighty in praise, to everyman for instruction’. The compositions divide into groups intended for use throughout the liturgical year, from Advent to Pentecost. Italian organist and harpsichordist Francesco Cera is a renowned interpreter of 17thcentury keyboard music. He has performed on historical organs throughout Europe, and has recorded four of J.S. Bach’s concertos for harpsichord as well as Domenico Scarlatti’s keyboard sonatas, which he has also performed at the Flanders Festival. He is joined on the recording by the Coro della Radiotelevisione Svizzera, directed by Diego Fasolis.

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.

This is the first recording of the new Glatter-Götz/Rosales organ in Magdeburg Cathedral, inaugurated in 2011.

It is perfectly designed for perfoming works by the Baroque masters.

The instrument brings great acousitical clarity and a huge range of colour to these works.

This is a collection of 48 choral arrangements which takes us through the ecclesiastical year, although the work was never completed. Bruno Oberhammer plays the Rieger Organ in the Parish Church of St.Johann, Höchst, one of the most prominent neo-baroque churches in the Lake Constance area.

Pierre Bardon performs on the great organ of St. Maximin, giving us a striking interpretation of Bach's musical "Bible".