Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
Organ Works – Volume 3
Prelude & Fugue in C, BWV531 [7:30]
Fantasia & Fugue in C minor, BWV537 [8:48]
Chorale Preludes on “Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr‘“, BWV 717, 711 and 715 [8:48]
Chorale Partita on “Ach was soll ich Sünder machen?“, BWV770 [12:11]
Toccata in C, BWV566a [10:24]
Prelude & Fugue in C minor, BWV546 [10:58]
Chorale Preludes on “Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend“, BWV 709, 726 [4:24]
Passacaglia & Fugue in C minor, BWV582 [14:36]
Masaaki Suzuki (organ)
rec. 2018, Great Silbermann Organ, Freiberg Cathedral, Germany
BIS BIS-2421 [79:07]
Denied the obvious choice of presenting Bach’s organ
works in any kind of chronological order – although booklet-note
writer Albert Clement tries his best to date the works on this disc
– Masaaki Suzuki has tried a few tricks to present single disc
compilations which are both attractive and coherent in his complete
cycle for BIS. For disc 3 he adopts, as he had for the two previous
issues in the series, a mix of chorale-based pieces framed by larger
works incorporating fugues. But he has done something different here;
he has fixed the programme tonally on C. To maintain the C tonality
Suzuki includes a C major version of the Toccata in E BWV566 (Clement
argues that the two versions are “equally authoritative”,
but I have my doubts). Another programming innovation is the inclusion
of multiple chorale preludes based on a single chorale.
A less welcome innovation comes from BIS, who have elected to issue
the disc not in a traditional plastic jewel case but in what they trendily
describe as a “BIS ecopak”; basically a flimsy cardboard
cover held together by an adhesive label of such strength that to get
to the disc you have to tear the cover. A minor irritation, no doubt,
but enough to sour the experience of an otherwise thoroughly enjoyable
disc.
Since Suzuki is not recording his Bach series in close proximity of
both place and time - by my reckoning he (and the BIS team) have already
built up a carbon footprint of some 18,000 kms flying between Groningen
in The Netherlands (Vol.1), Kobe in Japan (Vol.2) and now on to Freiberg
in Germany, and the recordings span some five years – each recording
offers something very different in terms of sound and interpretation.
Here, on the magnificent Silbermann organ at Freiberg, Suzuki has such
an opulent stoplist and sumptuous acoustic to play with, that he eschews
the somewhat flamboyant ornamentation and extravagant tempi of the previous
issues. All of this wonderful sound is superbly caught in this BIS SACD
recording.
As for the playing, Suzuki combines stylistic authority and musical
insight with a fabulous technical mastery – there are some wonderfully
florid flourishes in the third of the Allein Gott Chorale Preludes
and some truly dazzling footwork in the youthfully exuberant, if musically
meagre, BWV531 Prelude – and while he employs the full resources
of this superb 1714 instrument, there is never any hint that registrations
are dictated by the sound they produce rather than their musical suitability.
The climax of the disc is certainly the Passacaglia & Fugue,
which is perhaps the work which might most attract the casual listener:
the organ aficionado will need no enticement for this release other
than the knowledge that a masterly Bach interpreter is presiding over
a fabulous Bach-era instrument. Suzuki’s is a vividly imaginative
and wonderfully coherent interpretation, which flows easily through
a glorious panoply of vivid organ colours. He combines majesty and wit,
strength and subtlety in a performance which is utterly compelling;
the icing on the cake of what is a very fine release indeed.
Marc Rochester
Comment from Robert von Bahr, CEO, BIS records
Dear Mr. Rochester,
while you are obviously entitled to your thoughts, however ill-informed,
I would be very grateful, if you checked your facts before going in
print with them.
Then about BIS ecopak. Here I need to take issue with you, since what
you write doesn't amount to any logical reasoning; rather the contrary
as I will show.
- Yes, we have spent a long time on flights to be able to record the
organs, Masaaki Suzuki wants to record. In the end, it is easier to
transport us to the organ than the organ to us.
Does this fact, which is quite true, absolve us from the goal of making
as little environmental damage as possible? I find this a most illogical
and - frankly - unpleasant way of reasoning, especially in this day
and age. So just because we are necessarily wasteful in one area absolves
us from trying our best in another? Oh dear!!!
- And, then, since you open the box and are talking about flight kilometers:
We produce the entire BIS catalogue new releases in ecopaks now. We're
talking a good 100'000 discs/year now, gradually going up to c. 300'000
in a couple of years, saving c. 42% weight. Most of our shipments go
overseas in either direction, to the same places as our recording personnel,
so our numbers are entirely comparable. We are saving c. 45 grammes
per SACD. This means now c. 4'500 kilos in less weight, going up to
way past 10'000 kilos/year in the near future. That is rather more than
one person's c. 75 kilo, going the same way, even if you multiply that
with our c. 60 recordings/year. So your reasoning is actually to our
favour!
So, Mr. Rochester, if you want to dazzle people with your mathematical
reasoning, do think it through to the logical conclusion! That's what
I would call intellectual honesty rather than your snide remark.
- OK, you don't like the ecopak. Your privilege. But don't call them
flimsy, because they are NOT. And, if you don't believe me, take an
ordinary jewel case and an ecopak and drop them on the floor. I'd bet
I know which will withstand it and protect the SACD, and which will
not. Add the lesser place on the shelf and the much more beautiful surface,
and the fact that the ecopak is made entirely from renewable and ecological
sources, whereas the jewel case is made from plastic, and there we are.
If you cannot remove the detachable paper sticker with your nail, something
that takes me all of 3 seconds, then why not cut it open with something
sharp, rather than ripping it up? You could also have mentioned that
the BIS ecopak is a gatefold LP sleeve in SACD format in certified ecological
cardboard, with a normal booklet inside, rather than implying a single
sleeve of the sort that you get as a freebie together with a newspaper,
but why bother with facts?
It is one thing to instinctively dislike something new, and quite another
to invent unfair reasons for doing so.
I am sorry to be so upset, but, in the end, it is initiatives like
the BIS ecopak, in all kinds of walks of life, that will do something
tangible to save this planet. Your review is doing nothing to further
that cause.
