Bach Organ Works, Vol. 5
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Johann Sebastian Bach
Label: Teldec (Warner Classics)
Magazine Review Date: 10/1997
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 125
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 4509-98464-2
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Preludes and Fugues, Movement: Prelude and Fugue in E flat, BWV552 (from Clavier-I) |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Ton Koopman, Organ |
| Clavier-Übung III |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Ton Koopman, Organ |
| (4) Duets |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Ton Koopman, Organ |
| Chorale Variations, Movement: Canonic variations on Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her, BWV769 |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Ton Koopman, Organ |
Author: Marc Rochester
Three great joys await prospective listeners to this pair of discs. First there is the sublime collection of chorale preludes, framed by one of the most majestic of all Bach’s Preludes and Fugues, which forms the Clavier-Ubung III. Then there is the glorious Silbermann organ in Freiburg Cathedral, its unspeakably beautiful flutes, its delicate and subtle reeds, its invigorating full organ all captured magnificently in this vivid Teldec recording. And third there is the playing of Ton Koopman, who brings to his Bach a wealth of authority and perception flavoured with an unflagging enthusiasm for the music.
He soothes those jagged double-dotted rhythms of the E flat Prelude without losing one iota of the work’s great stature. He imbues the 21 chorale preludes with an almost prayerful atmosphere, and to the four Duets he brings a lighter, more openly joyful nature, as if gently to relax the mood before the final, supremely celebratory Fugue. The overall effect is to re-create in purely musical terms the celebration of the Mass itself. He compares rather than contrasts the preludes with pedals with those for manuals alone, and thus achieves an unusually coherent sense of progress through the work. Certainly Bach would not have expected theClavier-Ubung to be played all in one go nor indeed on one organ, but in this age of completeness it has become common practice to lump it all together on disc, resulting in a kind of schizophrenic progress through the preludes – the ones for manuals alone running along in parallel to those for manuals and pedals. How refreshingly and convincingly unified Koopman’s recording is.
It comes as a surprise after the extravagant ornamentation which has characterized Koopman’s earlier issues in this series to find that here it is not so much discreet as downright rare. Perhaps in a mood of deep prayerfulness he feels ostentatious decoration has no place. Indeed, only “Dies sind die heil’gen zehn Gebot” (BWV678) is seriously ravished by ornaments; I doubt there’s another organist nor organ in Christendom which could sustain so effortlessly the incredibly slow speed which Koopman selects for this particular prelude. His unusual reticence over ornamentation carries through into a magnificent account of theCanonic variations on “Vom Himmel hoch” where, enhanced by the magical purity of the organ tone, the clarity of the canonic lines is remarkably vivid. An immensely worthwhile issue.'
He soothes those jagged double-dotted rhythms of the E flat Prelude without losing one iota of the work’s great stature. He imbues the 21 chorale preludes with an almost prayerful atmosphere, and to the four Duets he brings a lighter, more openly joyful nature, as if gently to relax the mood before the final, supremely celebratory Fugue. The overall effect is to re-create in purely musical terms the celebration of the Mass itself. He compares rather than contrasts the preludes with pedals with those for manuals alone, and thus achieves an unusually coherent sense of progress through the work. Certainly Bach would not have expected the
It comes as a surprise after the extravagant ornamentation which has characterized Koopman’s earlier issues in this series to find that here it is not so much discreet as downright rare. Perhaps in a mood of deep prayerfulness he feels ostentatious decoration has no place. Indeed, only “Dies sind die heil’gen zehn Gebot” (BWV678) is seriously ravished by ornaments; I doubt there’s another organist nor organ in Christendom which could sustain so effortlessly the incredibly slow speed which Koopman selects for this particular prelude. His unusual reticence over ornamentation carries through into a magnificent account of the
Bach Organ Works, Vol. 5
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