JS BACH Organ Works Vol 3 (Suzuki)
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Johann Sebastian Bach
Genre:
Instrumental
Label: BIS
Magazine Review Date: 10/2019
Media Format: Super Audio CD
Media Runtime: 79
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: BIS2421

Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Preludes and Fugues, Movement: Prelude and Fugue in C, BWV531 |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Masaaki Suzuki, Organ |
Preludes and Fugues, Movement: Prelude (Fantasia) and Fugue in C minor, BWV537 |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Masaaki Suzuki, Organ |
Chorale Preludes, Movement: Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr, BWV717 |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer |
Choral Preludes from the Kirnberger Collection, Movement: Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr, BWV711 |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Masaaki Suzuki, Organ |
Chorale Preludes, Movement: Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr, BWV715 |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Masaaki Suzuki, Organ |
Chorale Variations, Movement: Partite diverse sopra Ach, was soll ich Sünder m770 (doubtful) |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Masaaki Suzuki, Organ |
Toccata and Fugue |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer |
Preludes and Fugues, Movement: Prelude and Fugue in C minor, BWV546 |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Masaaki Suzuki, Organ |
Choral Preludes from the Kirnberger Collection, Movement: Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend, BWV709 |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer |
Chorale Preludes, Movement: Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend, BWV726 |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Masaaki Suzuki, Organ |
Passacaglia and Fugue |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Masaaki Suzuki, Organ |
Author: Jonathan Freeman-Attwood
In this regard, Suzuki is a class act in every component of his planning. All roads lead to the great Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor but we reach this peak through both a subtle manipulation of the magnetic tonal worlds of C major and C minor, and striking contrasts of quasi-juvenilia (for example, the freewheeling and surging peels of the early Böhm-inspired Prelude and Fugue in C) and mature masterpieces – of which the equivalent work in C minor allows us the first gaze towards the promised land of the Passacaglia.
Yet Suzuki’s greatest challenge lies in taming the remarkably evergreen and resourceful Silbermann organ in Freiberg Cathedral. He draws on all its inherent glories: the dazzling couplers, the earthy French reeds, luminous flutes and those specifically German concentrated chests of projected sound and hearty, marauding bass lines. Suzuki’s skill in imaginative registration is heard to beautiful effect in the chorale partita (a genre of variation for which Bach wrote three distinguished examples) Ach was soll ich Sünder machen. That the work’s authenticity is questionable matters not a jot.
Likewise, Suzuki brings wonderful emollience to the first chorale on ‘Herr Jesu Christ’ (BWV709) but it’s the big C minor works that bring aspirational zeal to this volume. The Prelude and Fugue is fully charged with nervous energy and inexorable purpose, while the Passacaglia is a masterclass in keeping powder dry, knowing when to light the various fuses and being infectiously consequential. For all Bach lovers, not just organists!
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