Hot off the press comes the latest of Tillmanns’ Bach
recordings. This pupil of Helmut Walcha fuses solid address, high musical
values and superior technique. He brings to these works – none described
in the booklet by the way – a patrician reserve always at the service
of the music. The programme begins with two Preludes and Fugues, continues
with a Partita, the remarkable O Gott, du frommer Gott, and includes
the twelve-minute Pastorale BWV 590.
Tillmanns' fugal voicings are adept and crisp, the
registrations employed are perceptively chosen – listen, for example
to the reedy Choralvorspiel – and where necessary he builds in amplitude
to considerable effect. The Weimbs organ dates from 1994 and has been
splendidly recorded by Danacord who are making something of a speciality
of sympathetic organ acoustics. Questions of programming apart this
is a disc that can be recommended – whether one would necessarily want
a recital of this kind is another matter.
The booklet devotes a reasonable half page to the organ
builders.
Jonathan Woolf
Hans Helmut Tillmanns (organ)