Back in the
days of 78s it would have been inconceivable to contemplate
an issue of the complete organ works of J. S. Bach, with
one prelude and fugue occupying one side of a 12” shellac
disc. Come the revolution (331/3)
and the mono long-player – swiftly followed by the introduction
of stereo – it not only became possible, but a goal. As
far as I can tell, it was (appropriately) Deutsche Grammophon
that issued the German master’s first tribute,
played by Helmut Walcha.
While doing a little
research for this article I googled Complete Bach Organworks
and found that these milestone recordings are still available
on the DG Archiv sub-division, 4637122, 12 CDs. Some
of these I heard once about 30 years ago (thanks to the London
Borough of Hounslow Library Service) and, from memory, I found
them a little dry and close-miked, in the then prevalent style
of the 1950s.
The first
of the more modern sets that I came up with were Wolfgang Stockmeier
whose LP recordings of the 1980s, all played on Kreienbrinck
organs, all make an absolutely adorable sound. I reviewed
these in the Organ Club Journal some years back when 20 CDs
cost £60 from my local
record shop. Since then the issuing company has changed and they
are now available from the Document label in two sets of 10
CDs, 223498 and 223490 at £13.99 each – well, that’s what the website
said but I don’t believe it. This was from www.classicalmusicstore.co.uk.
The other set I
own is the second set that Lionel Rogg recorded on
the Silbermann organ in Arlesheim. I bought these three
6LP box sets before I went to college (and subsequently sold
there, poverty being part of student life then, but not crippling
debt as now). These are again still available on Harmonia Mundi
France HMX 290772.83 on 12 CDs. A thoroughly good set and, for
an organ of the period (although not one on which Bach would
have played, however much he might have liked) not in an unequal
temperament.
The result
of the google surprised me, as I had forgotten several
recordings in the 70s: Michel Chapuis (I couldn’t find
any trace that this set is still available, but the sounds
he produced were superb), Marie-Claire Alain (still available
on Erato, 4509-96745-2), Peter Hurford (again, available on
Decca 4444102, 17 CDs), and from later, Kevin Bowyer (18 CDs
on Nimbus) and, of course, David Sanger’s set on Meridian
(eight out of 15 recorded released as of today).
The ones
that surprised me, because I should have remembered them, were
Christopher Herrick’s
(Hyperion, 16 CDs at £80 and, the prime
Bach scholar and keyboard player, Ton Koopman – supposedly
re-released by Teldec last autumn on 16 CDs, although I couldn’t
trace them in the limited time I had available. Again, Hans Fagius
on BIS (who say all their recordings will continue to be available.
These are, but only if you have SACD, upon which I think
they have squeezed all the 18 CDs to five). There were two
I had never heard of, George Ritchie on Raven, 11 CDs played
on American organs, followed by Hans Helmut Tillmans on Danacord
where 13 CDs have been released so far.
~ ~
Not just Bach
organ music. ALL of Bach ~ ~
Where is this all
going, you ask? Well, the other day I
made the fatal mistake of going into about the only independent
classical CD retailer between Brighton and Southampton (in Bognor,
if you please!) and, looking for a copy of Sibelius 5th I found
one and, as I was standing waiting for the staff to find the
CD, a large box-set waved at me from the top shelf behind
the counter. It turned out to be complete Bach. No, not just
complete organ music, complete Bach. 155
CDs. £80. (Brilliant
Classics 93102.) Well, what could I do? It was shrink-wrapped
but had a list of artists on the outside: King’s College,
Cambridge, The Sixteen, Chamber Choir of Europe, Edith Mathis,
Lucia Popp, James Bowman, Peter Schreier, Neue Bachisches Collegium
Musicum, and, waving to me from his lonely position by the notice
that promised a free CD ROM with texts,
Hans Fagius from the BIS label. (By the way, there are over 480
pages of these, requiring a PDF reader.)
But what a line-up!
I have been plugging away at it and have got through the organ
works (18 CDs out of the 155). One of the organs used is tuned
unequally, one is very sharp pitch (about a tone); I
have a CD of complete Purcell organ music (on Harmonia Mundi
again) using three organs all tuned at different
pitches, and the tracks are mixed up. It is un-listenable-to.
Most assuredly, none of the recordings I have mentioned are that.
But Peter Hurford and Hans Fagius have arranged their CDs to
be played as recitals, Hurford more than Fagius; the sheer impact
of Fagius’ 542 Fantasia in g on the 1728 Cahman organ of
Leufsta Bruk, Sweden nearly blew me out of my car after the Eb trio
sonata (yes, I know I should have been listening somewhere a
little better, but my devotion to duty knows no bounds). Stockmeier
got dull after a while, even though the organs are simply gorgeous
and better than any, as his registrations are less varied and
more appropriate to each piece considered on its own. This makes
Stockmeier a work of reference, backed up as it is by superb
scholarship and technique. But the chorale preludes make Fagius’s
recordings a worthy purchase – especially
at the price.
I tend to
use Rogg as a benchmark for judging these recordings, even
though I don’t like
the Arlesheim organ as much as the four used by Fagius. The wind
is unsteady – as, of course, it might have been when
hand-blown. I wish I had heard the Koopman recordings, but
I haven’t,
and I think four complete Bach organ works is enough for one
person.
I should
say that the rest of the recordings of the Cantatas, Ouverturen, ’cello
suites, 48 (on harpsichord tuned to modern equal temperament,
but there is a very odd note in the Prelude of the C#) are all
completely acceptable and sometimes wonderful, from admittedly
random and limited sampling. I thought
there was too much prominence to the horns in the first Brandenburg,
but this is carping. My favourite version of these is Collegium
Aureum, no longer available on Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 05472
77251 2, but some people find these too slow and they don’t
like the original instrumentation (natural horns). So, what
with one thing and another, the Brilliant Classics set has
to be the steal of the year.
But,
I still rather like the original 1960s recordings on the Grossmünster,
Zürich by Lionel
Rogg. I find them clean and full of life, with enough ambience
but not so as to obscure the sound. He did a damn good version
of the Hindemith Sonatas there, as well.
Philip
Bailey - October 2007 – all
Bach-ed out. Bach-ing mad. In need of aspirin – made,
of course, from willow bach...
