Here is a real treat for true organ buffs. This wonderful instrument, the oldest example of Silbermann's craft still in existence and certainly one of the best preserved, has not previously been heard on CD. Through the four chorale preludes by Krebs and the movements of Clerambault's Suite we are introduced to some mouth-watering sounds; stops of unparalleled beauty and an overall sound as magnificent and sumptuous to the ear as the Crown Jewels are to the eye—and captured with remarkable vividness in a splendid recording.
I wish I could wax so enthusiastic over Dietrich Wagler's performances. He certainly produces the goods on occasions; there is a vital and compelling account of the Buxtehude Praeludium and the pieces by Krebs and Scheidt are attractively played. But the performing conventions of the French classical repertoire sit rather uneasily under his hands—he doesn't seem quite sure when to employ notes inegales, for instance. When it comes to Bach, Wagler seems even more out of sorts. The fundamental difference between tres vitement and grave in the Fantasia has passed him by while the usually ebullient Prelude and Fugue in C lumbers along laboriously. It hurts to say, too, that such prolonged exposure to Freiburg's pleno does begin to cause offence.
Most inexcusable of all are the clumsy insert-notes. I suppose they could have lost something in translation (Wagler's original German is not printed) but they not only read awkwardly, they also persist in several errors. Both Bach works are proclaimed as being in minor keys, while, as if to redress the balance, Buxtehude's work is merely described as ''Prelude in G''.'