Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
Organ Works - Volume 2
Peter Kofler (organ)
rec. 2019/21, Jesuit Church of St. Michael, Munich
FARAO CLASSICS B108113 [5 CDs: 366:00]
Back in November 2019 I reviewed Volume 1, a 5 CD set, of Peter Kofler’s “OpusBach” project, his endeavour to set down the complete solo organ works of J. S. Bach. I ended my review lauding the release as an auspicious start to what promises to be a compelling cycle. Volume 2 is similarly comprised of 5 CDs, and once again harnesses the beauty and power of the Rieger organ of the Jesuit church St. Michael in Munich.
The plan has been to create two separate concert programmes on CDs 1 and 2. These discs are dedicated to Clavier-Übung III. Also called the German Organ Mass, it was begun in 1735–36 and published in 1739. Not only is it Bach’s most significant and extensive work for the instrument, but it’s also renowned for its musical and technical complexity. Rather than opting for the usual sequence of the “great” mass followed by the “small” mass, Kofler begins with the “small" mass, bookending it with the dark C minor Prelude and Fugue, BWV 549 at the start, and the bright C major, BWV 547 to conclude. The "great" mass on CD 2 opens and closes with the Prelude and "St Anne" Fugue in E♭ major, BWV 552. Kofler’s dotted French overture rhythms in the Prelude are crisp and incisive.
A manuscript of choral preludes, compiled by Johann Gottfried Neumeister in the last decade of the 18th century, were discovered at Yale in the early 1980s. Thirty-eight of the eighty-two are attributed to Bach. These Neumeister chorales date from the composer’s early years. Kofler selects nine of them, and his pacing and imaginative registration choices showcase these short pieces for the gems they are. He also performs a group of them in Volume 1.
I’m pleased the set includes my favorite prelude and fugue, the one in F major, BWV 540. Kofler transports the listener through many harmonic changes in the expansive bravura prelude, where both hands and feet are each apportioned the persistent, Italianate figure. I read somewhere that it resembles “a perpetual-motion etude with endless and even exhausting 16th-note activity”. Kofler rises to the challenge admirably, and is equally persuasive in the double-fugue that follows. Very often Kofler comes up with some magical sonorities, and the registration he chooses for the Adagio of the Trio Sonata in E flat exudes a luminous glow. The slow movement of the D minor Trio sonata is similarly ravishing.
The power and magnificence of the Rieger Organ can be witnessed in Kofler’s magisterial account of the Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C major, BWV 564. It certainly rivals the very best on record. The Prelude and Fugue in C major, BWV 531 also has sufficient muscle and brawn. There’s some exquisite pointing and delineation of polyphonic lines in the Fantasie in G major, BWV 571.
Kofler hasn't taken the traditional path of recording on instruments the composer was familiar with (Trost, Silbermann, Trautmann or Hildebrandt). Rather, his choice has been a modern organ, the imposing instrument in the Jesuit Church of St. Michael in Munich. A marvelous instrument, it has the good fortune to be housed in a sonorous acoustic which adds a welcome sense of space. Bach was an innovator, eager to embrace the latest developments, especially in instrument building. So, the choice of a modern organ for this project seems justified. The accompanying booklet consists of an interview between the organist and Mattias Keller. Here Kofler sets out the reasoning behind his artistic decisions. Organ specifications are provided.
Volume 2 has certainly lived up to my expectations.
Stephen Greenbank
Contents
CD 1 [72:58]
Präludien und Fugen BWV 549, 547
Clavier-Übung Teil III BWV 672-675, 677, 679, 681, 683, 685, 687, 689
Choralpartita BWV 758
Trio BWV 585, 586
Pedal-Exercitium BWV 598
Partita BWV Anh. 77
CD 2 [74:12]
Präludium und Fuge BWV 552
Clavier-Übung Teil III BWV 669-671, 676, 678, 680, 682, 684, 686, 688, 802-805
CD 3 [78:38]
Präludium und Fuge BWV 531
Neumeister Choräle BWV 719, 1090-1093
Triosonate BWV 527
Kirnberger Choräle BWV 718, 695, 696, 720
Fantasie BWV 571
Orgelbüchlein BWV 625-630
Concerto BWV 592
CD 4 [74:40]
Achtzehn Leipziger Choräle BWV 651, 652, 667
Fuge BWV Anh. 42
Neumeister Choräle BWV 1094-1097
Kleines harmonisches Labyrinth BWV 591
Fantasie BWV 563
Orgelbüchlein BWV 631-633, 635-638
Präludium BWV 568
Choralvorspiele 739, 764
Toccata, Adagio und Fuge BWV 564
CD 5 [66:01]
Präludium und Fuge BWV 535
Orgelbüchlein BWV 599-612
Concerto BWV 595
Fuge BWV Anh. 90
Triosonate BWV 525
Toccata und Fuge BWV 540
