These three CDs offer
a distillation of Werner Jacobs’ 16-disc Electrola set of
Bach’s organ works, recorded in the 1970s on a variety of
historic organs.
My initial reaction that
this very competitively priced set would prove an ideal first
purchase for anyone wishing to explore Bach’s organ music
was strengthened by the fact that, as I was about to move
from first impressions to a detailed review, a new full-price
recording from Jacques van Oortmerssen (Challenge Classics
CC72175) arrived in the next batch of review discs. As the
EMI 3-CD set sells for less than the one CD from van Oortmerssen,
one might expect any comparison of the one work in common,
the Trio Sonata No.6, to be entirely in favour of the new
recording. Not so. If anything, I derived more pleasure from
Jacobs, both in that work and as a whole, than from van Oortmerssen.
As expected, the more
traditional Jacobs is significantly slower than the younger
van Oortmerssen. I played the Jacobs first and liked what
I heard – no impression that this was a lumbering performance;
in fact, the nimble-fingered and lightly-registered beginning
of the opening Vivace made an excellent impression.
The Lento central movement receives an affective,
light-toned performance, leading seamlessly into a sprightly
account of the final Allegro – not exactly helter-skelter
but lively enough for my liking.
Jacobs performs on a variety
of organs, in this case on the Silbermann organ at Arlesheim.
The EMI notes are sparser than the Challenge Classics, which
contain full details of the registration – hardly a cause
for complaint with a budget-price recording – so I cannot
be sure what registration was employed, but the overall impression
is of a light touch, well captured by the 1970 ADD recording,
with the organ well placed spatially in the middle distance,
as it were.
The opening Vivace sounds
slightly more pedestrian in Van Oortmerssen’s performance
and the registration less bright – perhaps it’s the use of
the 16’ pedal stop that makes the difference. Of course,
different organs sound differently, but I do prefer Jacobs
and/or the brighter sound of the Silbermann organ in this
movement. Van Oortmerssen’s version of the Lento is
just as affective as Jacobs’s – honours are about even here – and
the slightly thicker registration did not worry me so much.
The transition to the final Allegro is a shade less
seamless than Jacobs’s, but van Oortmerssen’s performance
of this Sonata is certainly one that I could live with – if
I’d heard it first, I might even have preferred it; as it
is, Jacobs’s older version just has the edge. Both recordings
do justice to the instruments; the Challenge CD has the advantage
of being limited to one location, whereas the EMI splices
together recordings from a variety of locations with their
differences of ambiance.
The Concerto after Vivaldi,
BWV593, appears on an earlier van Oortmerssen recording,
Volume 8 (CC72153). Here again comparisons favour Jacobs’s
lighter and sprightlier performance, more in keeping with
Vivaldi’s original (Op.3/8) on another Silbermann organ,
this time in Strasbourg. I like the sound of these Silbermann
instruments – not least because I was introduced to Bach’s
organ music mostly by Helmut Walcha on a Silbermann instrument.
Once again, too, the older ADD recording (from 1982 in this
case) is not outclassed by Challenge’s new DDD sound.
Many prospective purchasers
will be particularly interested in the performance which
follows BWV593 on the second CD, the Toccata and Fugue in
d minor, BWV565 – still the best-known of Bach’s organ works,
though now believed by most scholars not to be by him. The
opening strikes just the right note – grandeur without pomposity – and
the Arlesheim Silbermann instrument seems just right in this
respect, bright sounding but with plenty of support from
the bass. There are, of course, many recommendable recordings
which contain BWV565 – Peter Hurford’s Double Decca (443
485 2) would be an obvious choice, though even that 2-CD
set is more expensive than the EMI Triple. Hurford’s 2-CD
recording on Classics for Pleasure also contains BWV565 at
a price commensurate with the Jacobs; that recording seems
recently to have been deleted but some dealers may still
have it (5 85630 2).
The transition from the
Concerto to the Toccata and Fugue and then to the Trio Sonata
which I have already discussed illustrates the variety on
offer here. I might have preferred not to have the five (of
six) Trio Sonatas scattered across the three CDs but I can
understand the logic behind the planning, especially as the
Arlesheim organ is used for both BWV565 and the following
BWV530, thus maintaining the ambiance of the building.
From the early Partite
Diverse, BWV768, at the opening of the first CD to
the late ‘Schübler’ Chorales which end the third, Jacobs
traverses a very wide range of Bachian styles. Clearly,
with such a large programme I cannot focus on every work
in detail, but suffice it to say that there is not one
dud performance among them. If Jacobs rather than Walcha
had been my original guide to this repertoire I do not
think that I could have gone amiss – and the EMI recordings
are far superior to the DGG mono sound on those Walcha
LPs.
One more comparison with
a recent review: that of Trio Sonata No.3, BWV527, which
ends the first CD, with the performance on a D E Versluis
recording entitled Inventio, where Eric Quist performs
this Sonata in a programme of works by Buxtehude and his
contemporaries and successors (DEV-EQ 1016 – see review).
I liked the Quist recital as a whole and the Trio Sonata
in particular but I should be hard pressed to choose between
his performance and that of Jacobs – if anything, I prefer
Jacobs’s marginally faster timing.
Whilst I thought the Versluis
recording ideal, as with the other works here I have no complaints
about the EMI sound throughout the three CDs. The cover,
like all these EMI Triples, is somewhat off-putting and the
notes brief though informative but, all in all, this is very
good value.
Unless you must have all
six Trio Sonatas (five only here, all well performed) in
which case you will need to turn to Christopher Herrick (Hyperion
CDA66390 or in the boxed set on CDS44121-36 – see TB’s review)
or all the Vivaldi-based Concertos, these CDs offer an attractive
proposition, not just to the beginner – even seasoned collectors
may not have all the music contained here. What does the
odd duplication matter anyway in such wonderful music? (Bach
is the one exception to my self-imposed rule of not having
two recordings of the same work.) In any case, the scholarly-minded
will welcome the opportunity of hearing all three pieces
based on the Advent Chorale Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland,
BWV659-61, played in succession here.
Brian Wilson
Track details
CD1
Partite diverse (Chorale Partita) BWV768 Sei gegrüßet,
Jesu gütig (? c,1700)[16:39]
Trio Sonata No. 4 in e minor, BWV528 (c.17127) [9:57]
Toccata, Adagio & Fugue in C major, BWV564 (1708-17) [14:01]
Prelude & Fugue in b minor, BWV544 91727-31) [10:41]
Trio Sonata No. 3 in d minor, BWV527 (c.1727) [16:11]
CD2
Organ Concerto in a minor (after Vivaldi), BWV593 (? 1713-14) [11:29]
Toccata & Fugue in d minor, BWV565 (? before 1708) [9:25]
Trio Sonata No. 6 in G major, BWV530 (c.1727) [15:58]
Fantasia in G major, BWV572 (before 1708) [8:50]
Toccata & Fugue in d minor, BWV538 ‘Dorian’ (1708-17) [12:54]
Prelude & Fugue in D major, BWV532 (? 1708-17) [10:41]
CD3
Trio Sonata No. 5 in C major, BWV529 (c.1727) [14:32]
Chorale Prelude BWV659 Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland; Trio super Nun
komm der Heiden Heiland, BWV660; Chorale Prelude BWV661 Nun komm, der
Heiden Heiland (1708-17, revised c.1739-41 and later) [10:23]
Trio Sonata No. 1 in E flat major, BWV525 (c.1727) [15:54]
Passacaglia & Fugue in C minor, BWV582 (date ?) [14:40]
Chorale Preludes II, BWV645-650 (‘Schübler Chorales’) (1747 or 1748) [19:56]
Recording details
Arp Schnitger Organ, Steinkirchen, 15-19 August 1983;
Stellwagen Organ, Marienkirche, Stralsund, 1-5 September
1975; Silbermann Organ, Ponitz, 23-27 August 1979; Silbermann
Organ, Kirche St Thomas, Strasbourg, 30 August-4 September
1982; Silbermann Organ, Arlesheim, 26-28 October 1970; Silbermann
Organ, Abteikirche, Ebersmünster, 21-22 October 1970; Schnitger
Organ, St Michelskerk, Zwolle, 2-3 August, 1973; Müller Organ,
St Bavo Kerk, Haarlem, 22-25 October 1973; Moreau Organ,
Gouda, 3-7 June 1974; Wagner Organ, Brandenburg Cathedral,
24-29 August 1977; Hildebrandt Organ, Wenzelskirche, Naumburg,
23-27 August 1976.
see end of review
for details
