Evidence suggests that J.S. Bach completed and revised the Fantasia and Fugue in G minor for organ, BWV 542 (the "Great" G minor, as opposed to BWV 578, the "Little" G minor), as an audition for an organist position in Hamburg in 1720. Bach didn't get the job, but, happily enough, posterity did get the piece; generations of organists since then have considered it one of their repertoire's crown jewels. The two parts of BWV 542 (the fantasia -- sometimes titled Prelude instead -- and the fugue) are thought to have been composed separately: the fugue is assigned Bach's Weimar years (1708-1717) and the fantasia to his time in Cöthen (1717-1723, but, if the audition theory is correct, not later than 1720).
The fantasia opens spaciously and in recitative-like style, but as it unfolds Bach finds room for dense passages in upper-voice imitation. There are five more or less balanced sections to this fantasy; intensely dramatic sections are interwoven with quieter, more even passages. The wide tonal scope of the fantasia has been a subject of fascination for two centuries of musicians: just when some kind of harmonic stability seems to arrive, Bach shoots off on a mock-improvised cadenza that jolts the music into a whole new pitch realm. Thus the fantasia both lives up to its name and contains quite a bit of contrapuntal rigor, and then, on top of that, more than one worthy mind has deemed the fugue to be Bach's ultimate accomplishment in the field of organ counterpoint. The task of selecting a king from that noble crowd, however, is not an enviable one. Though it provides the sense of a stable answer to the fantasia in its predominantly even sixteenth note rhythms, it is similarly ambitious harmonically: Bach makes two revolutions through the entire circle of fifths. The fugue makes a fine contrast with the later music of the fantasia while nevertheless seeming of a piece with it ~ Blair Johnston, Rovi
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1994 |
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2000 |
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1993 |
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2002 |
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1993 |
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1992 |
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1988 |
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1999 |
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1986 |
| Bach: Organ Works |
1986 |
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1986 |
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| Bach: Organ Works [Box Set] |
1988 |
| Bach: Organ Works on Siberman Organs, Vol. IV |
1998 |
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2001 |
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1986 |
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1995 |
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1989 |
| Bach: Organ Works, Vol. 1 |
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| Bach: Organ Works, Vol. 1 |
1986 |
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1994 |
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2007 |
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1998 |
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2006 |
| Bach: Preludes & Fugues |
1992 |
| Bach: Preludes & Fugues |
1992 |
| Bach: Preludes (24) and Fugues, Vol. 1 |
1990 |
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2009 |
| Bach: Preludium & Fuge, BWV 551-535; Fantasie & Fuge, BWV 542; Trio Sonata, BWV 525 |
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| Bach: Präludium und Fuge BWV 552; Partite BWV 767; Fantasie und Fuge BWV 542; Etc. |
1986 |
| Bach: Schübler Chorales, BWV 542; Passacaglia & Fugue, BWV 582 |
1992 |
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2004 |
| Bach: The Great Fantasias, Preludes and Fugues |
1993 |
| Bach: The Great Organ Works |
2000 |
| Bach: The Great Preludes & Fugues, Vol. 2 |
1988 |
| Bach: The Masterworks |
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2008 |
| Bach: The Organ Works |
1999 |
| Bach: The Organ Works |
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2000 |
| Bach: The Organ Works (Box Set) |
2001 |
| Bach: The Organ Works [Box Set] |
1995 |
| Bach: The Organ Works, Disc 5 |
2000 |
| Bach: The Organ Works, Vol. 1 |
1989 |
| Bach: The Organ Works, Vol. 1 |
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| Bach: The Works for Organ Vol. One |
1992 |
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| Bach: Toccata & Fugue |
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2007 |
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1991 |
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2002 |
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| Bach: Toccata, Adagio & Fugue in C-dur; Präludien & Fugen; Fantasie & Fuge |
1991 |
| Bach: Weimar Preludes & Fugues |
2008 |
| Bach: Works for Organ [Digital] |
2011 |
| By Request |
1997 |
| Béla Bartók: Sonata for Solo Violin; Johann Sebastian Bach: Fantaisie & Fugue BWV 524; Suite, BWV 822 |
2011 |
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2002 |
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| Dimitri Mitropoulos: Conductor |
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1997 |
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1995 |
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1986 |
| Inspitrations From England |
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| J. S. Bach: Organ Works Complete [Box Set] |
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| J. S. Bach: Organ Works Complete, Vol. 1 |
1993 |
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| J.S. Bach: Complete Works for Organ, Vol. 12 |
1994 |
| J.S. Bach: Fantasies & Fugues |
1992 |
| J.S. Bach: Organ Works |
1995 |
| J.S. Bach: Organ Works |
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| J.S. Bach: Orgelwerke aus der Thomaskirche |
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| J.S. Bach: The Complete Organ Works |
2000 |
| J.S. Bach: The Great Fantasias, Preludes & Fugues |
1993 |
| Johann Sebastian Bach Premium Edition |
2006 |
| Johann Sebastian Bach Premium Edition, Vol. 4 |
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| Johann Sebastian Bach: Complete Works for Organ [Analog] |
2007 |
| Johann Sebastian Bach: Das Orgelwerk [Box Set] |
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| Johann Sebastian Bach: The Complete Organ Music, Vol. 2 |
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| Knud Vad Spiller Bach På Sorø Kirkes Orgel |
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| La Tradition de Saint-Sulpice, Paris |
2004 |
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1998 |
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| Michael Murray Plays Bach on the Great Organ at Methuen |
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2003 |
| Mitropoulos: Maestro Spiritoso, Disc 1 |
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2003 |
| Paul Jacobs plays Bach |
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| Portraits, Vol. 4 |
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| Robert Sharpe Plays Organ Music from Truro |
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| Samuil Feinberg in Sound and Thought |
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| Schwebender Klang |
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| St. Ignatius Loyola, New York City |
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| Stokowski's Symphonic Bach, Vol. 2 |
2005 |
| The Bach Family |
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| The Bach Gamut: Historic Concert Recording, Vol. 1 [CD + DVD Video] |
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| The Best of Johann Sebastian Bach |
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1992 |
| The Best of Johann Sebastian Bach [Madacy] |
1992 |
| The Best of Johann Sebastian Bach, Vol. 1 |
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| The Best of Johann Sebastian Bach, Vol. 4 |
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| The Complete Organ Music of Johann Sebastian Bach |
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| The Ladegast-Orgel der Scholßkirche zu Wittenberg (1864) |
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| The Marcussen Organ In Tonbridge School Chapel |
1998 |
| The Organ Works of J.S. Bach, Vol. 1 |
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2003 |
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1994 |
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1997 |
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| Wayne Marshall Plays Bach, Liszt, Brahms |
1998 |
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| Zwischen Barock und Romantik |
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