Luogo e data di registrazione		Zwolle (Olanda) - luglio 1968 (LP 1) & agosto 1968 (LP 2)
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Producer / Engineer		Michael Bernstein
	Prima Edizione LP		- Valois - MB 847 · Vol. 7 - (1 LP) - durata 47' 07" - (p) 1968 - Analogico - Valois - MB 848 · Vol. 8 - (1 LP) - durata 46' 41" - (p) 1968 - Analogico
	"Das Orgelwerke" LP		Telefunken - BC 25101-T/1-2 - (2 LP's) - durata 47' 07" / 46' 41" - (p) 1968 - Analogico
	Note		-

Bach’s artistic development is effected first of all in organ music and in what, initially, was piano music of a style that scarcely differed from it. After passing through the Latin school in Ohrdruf and Lüneburg, and then taking a brief temporary post as violinist in the Weimar court orchestra, he became organist at the new church in Arnstadt in 1703 at the age of 18; he had shortly before inspected and inaugurated the church’s new organ. In 1707 he transferred his organist’s activities to the larger organ at St. Blasius Church in Mühlhausen, and a year later became “Organist and Kammermusicus” at the Court of Weimar. At least until early 1714, when he was appointed leader and regularly had to compose and perform cantatas, he was primarily occupied with his organist’s duties. Thus in the eleven years between 1703 and 1714 most of his organ works were composed which form chorale arrangements “bound” to a hymn tune, as well as the “ free” organ works consisting mainly of the preludes and fugues. We do not know the exact dates of when the individual works were composed; instead, starting from the few works which can be given a precise date, we have to draw conclusions as to the sequence of the remainder. In this respect, source research and analysis of style complement each other. With a certain amount of reservation, the tone volume of the pieces also provides some indications as to time; for the organs which Bach played in Arnstadt, Mühlhausen and Weimar differed with regard to the extent of the pedal and keyboards. However, this type of investigation takes us back only as far as the Arnstadt period. Which works Bach had already taken there with him, to what degree he was already independent as a composer at the age of 18 is something of which we are not aware. Nevertheless, in those works capable of dating we can already observe an astounding development, both in style detail and in the formal arrangement. In the early works the harmonic modulation makes an erratic in inconstant impression, not yet being used in a planned manner for the tension-laden construction of major forms. The basses, at first dependent supports for the melody, are gradually given a more independent role and establish the immediate compositional continuity. Bach arranged thematically and enlivened the sequences, that is to say the frequent repetitions of the same theme-figure in a different tone degree. This process would have been inconceivable without Bach’s disputation with contemporary Italian music. From now on Bach incorporated its song-like quality in his own instrumental music. This already becomes apparent in his fugue themes. They are carried in vocal style and eschew what until then had been the somewhat obstrusive instrumental figuration which he had learned from North German models. He took over from the new Italian solo concerto the generously proportioned and clearly structured formal arrangement, based on the change from pithy ritornello thematic and richly contrasting solo episodes by way of a broadly spread harmonic basic outline. Bach’s fugues are affected by this as much as the preludes. Over and above this he perfected what was probably his inborn gift of combination, his contrapuntal art. The organ works in the present series provide examples from his various stages of development, from the carefree toccata-like pieces which open with a dash from the Arnstadt era, to the grand Leipzig organ works. A fair copy manuscript by Bach of the Prelude and Fugue, B minor, BWV 544, from around the year 1730 has been preserved. The work itself was undoubtedly composed only a short time previously since it bears all the traits of Bach’s mature art. In the concerto-style constructed prelude in 6/8 time, a long, fantasia-type ritornello alternates three times with a fugal episode. The two passages are transformed in the recurrence. The sections of the ritornello are transposed and extended thematically, the episode shortened and contrapuntally more tightly-knit. The fugue contrasts with this complex prelude not only in the theme style, but even more on account of the uniformity of its material and motion form. The theme, which in quaver movement paraphrases the rising triad tones and again leads back to the ground tone, also dominates the intermezzos with the subsequent counterpoint. A long manualiter centre part provides the necessary sound contrast. Prelude and Fugue, C minor, BWV 549 are among the earliest of Bach’s works to be passed on to us. The original version was in D minor, and we do not know whether that generally played at the present time in C minor was not perhaps a posthumous arrangement for an organ the pedal of which extended only as far as c’. As in many other youthful works by Bach, the prelude begins with a pedal solo and in simple intensification by way of organ points leads quickly to the conclusion. The fugue, with its long and somewhat obstrusive descending cadenza theme, links up with the prelude. The pedal entry is reserved for the conclusion of the second development. A long virtuoso coda in particular shows that in this case the old multi-part toccata served as a pattern, in which the virtuoso-figurative sections alternate with fugal parts. Prelude and Fugue, G major BWV 550, like many other G major pieces by Bach, radiate light-hearted joy. Shadows are almost completely absent, and it requires considerable interpretative stamina to prevent this piece, extremely long in relation to its simple construction, having a wearying effect. The fugue theme, with its upbeat repetitive crotchets and its counterbeat broken triads is headed “alla breve e staccato”: for this reason it must not be gracefully played down. With graduated entries starting from the top, the prelude first moves on to a long pedal solo and then in reverse sequence builds up on this an intensified section. A short modulation middle section has the task of once more diverting attention from the principal key already reached in order to prepare for entry of the fugue in the dominant. Judging from its style, the work dates back to the Weimar period. It is scarcely possible to conceive a greater contrast than between this piece and the short Prelude and Fugue, E minor, BWV 533, a youthful work which touches us with the warmth of its feeling. The development thématique of the prelude, a harmonically rich movement, gives prior notice of Bach’s art of consistently further developing a concept. Here it is a case of heightening the syncopes to sharp counterbeats and forming the conclusing with the “below stairs figure” of the bass. Both concepts emerge voluntarily from the preludes, gain firm shape by repetition and show in the process how improvisation fuses into composition. The fugue dispels any thought of strictly observed theme technique. As in a long drawn out aria, the counterpoints incorporate the theme - clearly jointed, but nevertheless avoiding any clear break. Prelude and Fugue, C major, BWV 531 is certainly one of the very earliest works. We recognize this not only from various stylistic deficiencis, which probably disturb the eye more than the ear, but even more clearly from the disproportion between the boldly forward-moving impulse of the themes, and the still little developed shaping strength. Thus, great arcs of tension are built up but do not follow through. In the final analysis it is the player, who with his momentum, has to join the pieces together into a whole, and not the music of itself compelling the unity of the whole. Young Bach will have fascinated his listeners with these pieces, but he himself was the first to recognize their shortcomings. His studies of foreign examples, particularly of the Italian masters, but also his own formal experiments spread over many years, appear to have been directed towards developing the possibilities which accorded with his inventive powers in order to construct larger, more compelling forms. Among the very few youthful Works of Bach which have come down to us in autograph form are the Prelude and Fuge, G minor, BWV 535. According to Bach’s written characters in the famous “Möller Manuscripts”, the main source of information for Bach’s early works, this effective piece must have been composed in the middle Arnstadt years, certainly not later than 1706. At that time, however, the prelude was of a much more modest shape and was scarcely half as long. Above all the 14-bar long chromatic sequence was missing, leading from F-sharp in semitone steps by way of a tenth down to D. Similarly Bach did not compose until later the accord at the head of the fugue theme in the pedal part, bars 10 to 11 of the prelude: It is only this tension-laden anticipation that motivates the long sequence. The fugue on the other hand required only little alteration. It is a text book example of how a significant theme also dictates the appropriate arrangement. We are also able to trace the origins of the Fantasia C minor, BWV 562 and its fragmentary Fugue on the basis of the autograph. The Fantasia originates from the beginning or the middle of the 1730’s. It was not until much later, in the 1740’s, that Bach composed the Fugue to go with it, but apparently did not complete it. The present recording ends with the dominant cadence after the first exposition. In the manuscript, which breaks off five bars later, the beginning of a stretto follows, and it can be assumed that further contrapuntal combinations, perhaps also the introduction of a second theme, were planned. Compensation for this torso is provided in the shape of the Fantasia, which in its own right is an incomparable work: devoid of all external outbursts. the tightlywoven but always vocal imitative movement has the effect of music which requires no intermediary, but which appeals directly to the senses. Toccata and Fugue, F major, BWV 540 have been handed down separately in various manuscripts, and it is quite possible that Bach compiled these two inordinately long movements only subsequently to this monumental pair of movements. The toccata originates from the middle Weimar period. It combines the grand lucid concerto-type arrangement with long toccata-style developments by way of the organ point and with extensive pedal solos. The exposition is repeated on the dominant. From the cadence chords which concludes them Bach gains a sequence motif which is now carried on in alternation with a new theme and the thematic material of the exposition. The fugue was probably composed later. Its chromatically introduced ricercare theme is confronted in a centre section manualiter with a second, more playful theme, which in the final part is brought together with the principal theme. The Prelude and the Fugue, D major, BWV 532 were probably originally composed independently of each other. The sources say nothing about the time of their composition, but judging from the style they are early works, going back to the Arnstadt era. The fugue is the virtuoso brilliant work among the youthful pieces. With the obtrusive caesura of the long figurative theme Bach carries out a practical joke and plays with a blustering counterpoint into the pause between the fore movement and continuation of the theme. An earlier version of the fugue was considerabyl shorter. In the final version Bach better disposes of the individual voices and extends the second part. The prelude accords with the formal model of a threepart toccata. A chordal-figurative introduction is followed by a concertante “alla breve”, in the Italian style, which unconcernedly makes use of sequence chains. An adagio forms the coda. Prelude and Fugue, C major, BWV 547 originate from the middle Leipzig period. Hardly any other organ work of this extent is so tightly-knit and so consistently renounces figurative episodes, despite the concerto-type arrangement. Nevertheless the listener scarcely notices this combinative effort: everything is lucidly structured. The prelude with its double exposition is arranged in similar fashion to the grand F major Toccata, BWV 540, only that it is very much more concentrated. The fugue reserves pedal use until the last exposition and processes the theme first in similar motion, then in the reversion. The fourth exposition brings similar and reverse form in stretto, the fifth repeated stretti via the augmented theme in the pedal. Incidentally one has the impression that in this work Bach for a definite reason consciously kept the pedal part easier than in others: both in the Prelude and in the Fugue he waives rapid passages. Prelude and Fugue, E minor, BWV 548 are, in addition to the large-scale movement pair in E-flat major from the III. part of the “Klavierübung”, the most powerful of Bach’s late organ works. According to a part autograph, it will also have been composed towards the end of the 1730’s. The prelude combines the old figurative-chordal mode of play of the toccata, its development by way of organ points, with clearly structured concerto-style construction. The fugue, which from time immemorial has been regarded as the boldest and technically most difficult of the Bach fugues, is what is known as a “da capo fugue”: after a clearly contrasting centre section the opening part is repeated note for note. From the tension-packed theme, which is based on the principle of interval expansion, one can already gain a picture of Bach’s artistic development: it has evolved entirely from the idiom of the instrument, already non-vocal on account of the pendulum motion,but at the same time possessing the unity of his fugue themes formed on the Italian style. by Georg von Dadelsen English translation by Frederick A. Bishop
Johann Sebastian Bach - DAS ORGELWERK