The six Trio Sonatas could normally be comfortably accommodated on a single CD. The fact that Naxos spread them over two is not entirely accounted for by the inclusion on each disc of a Prelude and Fugue. From the outset it is painfully obvious that Rubsam is prepared to spend a great deal of time pondering the intricacies and inner depths of these works. Used as I am to hearing the E flat's first movement treated as an effervescent romp (Simon Preston-see above-takes just 2'48'', Herrick 2'56''), I'm pulled up sharply by Rubsam's heaving rubato and generous underpinning of structural joins stretching the movement out to a seemingly eternal 3'42''. Perhaps the first movement of BWV525 is not a good example to take; after all it is the only sonata movement for which Bach didn't provide a written tempo indication. But in almost every other movement Rubsam takes a full minute longer (an average increase of 33 per cent) than both Preston and Herrick. I admit that a mere listing of playing times gives no indication of the quality or character of a musical performance, but clearly you'll have to like your Bach very slow indeed before you can come to terms with these performances.
The sonatas are essentially intimate works-only Herrick has successfully presented recordings which can attract and sustain the interest of a casual listener: for the player and the score-reader they yield some of the most satisfying moments in the whole of organ music. In attempting to translate such moments of deep personal satisfaction into performance terms Rubsam exaggerates every tiny nuance. Opportunities for varied registration effects are non-existent so he resorts to pulling and pushing the tempo around. Few movements escape tortuous contortions of pulse; pained pauses disturb the flow of slow ones (the Adagio of BWV529), while the faster ones (the Vivace of BWV526) have all the fluency of someone climbing an icy slope with the aid of unevenly matched crutches. Clearly Rubsam is playing from the heart, but he will need a very tolerant listener to appreciate the intensity of his vision.
What does yield great rewards is this splendid recording. The Gronigen Schnitger is a gem and certainly proves the ideal vehicle for sonatas-Rubsam the sonatas-Rubsam finds a wonderful array of varied yet perfectly balanced sounds (a real classic is the contrasting reed-flue combination for the first movement of BWV528). It also gives a splendid magnificence to the two preludes and fugues, with BWV547 sounding gloriously magisterial in this opulent setting.'