Bach: Toccata & Fugue

• Booklet languages: English, French
• Time: 71:10
• Release Date: 2007

Review

Almost everybody who's ever been through a Halloween funhouse knows Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565, but good, budget-priced collections of Bach's greatest hits for the organ have not been overly common. This one, by French organist Michel Chapuis, will fill the bill; Chapuis is a pedagogue and investigator of a sterling reputation who has traversed all of Bach's organ music over 14 CDs (if you find that this one really rings your bell). These recordings were made in the 1970s and 1980s. The issues of "historical performance" are slightly different for the organ than for stringed instruments and ensembles, but Chapuis' interpretations have the strengths of the movement that was beginning to take shape during those years. In line with the fact that Bach himself, and surely the other organists who played his music, used an instrument smaller than the behemoths that have come down to us from the centuries between Bach's time and our own, Chapuis cultivates a lighter tone. (There is no information as to where the individual recordings were made, and very little explication of the music of any kind in the packaging, but that's just as well -- commuters will be part of the market for this disc, and they have enough distractions.) If you are looking for an organ CD that you can put on a powerful stereo and make your building shake, this one won't do the trick. But sample the mighty toccata and fugue at the beginning. Chapuis, without sacrificing any of the work's power, breaks the little answering flourishes out into little cells and treats them freely; he makes the listener understand how it might have felt to hear Bach improvise at the keyboard. The various chorale settings chisel out the small details of the harmonies accompanying the main chorale tune in a very pleasing way, and the program is nicely balanced between chorales and pairs consisting of a quasi-improvisatory piece and a fugue. The original recordings were apparently of high quality sonically and have survived the transfer to CD without degradation. ~ James Manheim, Rovi

Performances

Composer	Title	Time
Johann Sebastian Bach	Toccata and Fugue, for organ in D minor, BWV 565 (BC J37)	7:56
Johann Sebastian Bach	Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, chorale prelude for organ (Schübler Chorale No. 1), BWV 645 (BC K22)	4:32
Johann Sebastian Bach	Prelude and Fugue, for organ in A minor "The Great," BWV 543 (BC J42)	9:10
Johann Sebastian Bach	Duetto, for keyboard No. 1 in E minor (Clavier-Übung III No. 23), BWV 802 (BC J74)	2:20
Johann Sebastian Bach	Nun komm der Heiden Heiland (II), chorale prelude for organ (Achtzehn Choräle No. 8), BWV 659 (BC K82)	3:42
Ferruccio Busoni	Toccatas, transcriptions (2) for piano in D minor & C major (BWV 564/565; BBGA 7/3), KiV B29	13:04
Johann Sebastian Bach	Nun freut euch, lieben Christen gmein (I), chorale prelude for organ, BWV 734 (BC K125)	2:47
Johann Sebastian Bach	Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott, chorale prelude for organ (by Johann Michael Bach, not JSB), BWV 720 (BC K103)	3:09
Johann Sebastian Bach	Fantasia and Fugue, for organ in G minor ("Great"), BWV 542 (BC J42, 57, 67)	11:20
Johann Sebastian Bach	Herzlich tut mich verlangen, chorale prelude for organ, BWV 727 (BC K109)	2:02
Johann Sebastian Bach	Christ, unser Herr, zum Jordan kam (I), chorale prelude for organ (Clavier-Übung III/16), BWV 684 (BC K16)	3:56
Johann Sebastian Bach	Prelude and Fugue, for organ in G minor, BWV 535 (BC J23)	7:12

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