Luogo e data di registrazione		Altenbruch (Germania) - agosto 1969 (LP 1) Kopenhagen (Danimarca) - dicembre 1969 (LP 2)
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Producer / Engineer		Michael Bernstein
	Prima Edizione LP		- Valois - MB 857 · Vol. 17 - (1 LP) - durata 46' 13" - (p) 1970 - Analogico - Valois - MB 858 · Vol. 18 - (1 LP) - durata 40' 23" - (p) 1970 - Analogico
	"Das Orgelwerke" LP		Telefunken - BC 25103-T/1-2 - (2 LP's) - durata 46' 13" / 40' 23" - (p) 1970 - Analogico
	Note		-

Numerous “isolated” works from the rich repertoire of chorale arrangements make up the present recordings: they are pieces which do not belong to any of the major collections. For the greater part they originate from Bach’s Weimar and pre-Weimar period. Decidedly youthful compositions, containing very little that is still recognizable as “typical Bach”, rub shoulders with masterly pieces which could well take their place in the Orgelbüchlein or in one of the two other main collections. In addition there are the “chorale scores” by way of which Bach linked up with the richly traditional form of the “song variation”. With two unimportant exceptions, all of these pieces have come down to us not in the autograph manuscript but only as copies. Most of them come from sources close to Bach, and with regard to a series of the works we can assume that they are part of a since lost collection which Bach carefully guarded until his last years. The tasks which chorale arrangements of this kind had to fulfill in the Lutheran church service have been described in the accompanying notes to the second series of Bach’s organ works, as have the various forms which Bach and his contemporaries used in the process. In the present album also we have arranged the various pieces according to such formal criteria, since they are not classified under any particular liturgical standpoints. 1. Minor organ chorales When the chorale lines immediately follow upon one another in the arrangement we refer to “minor” organ chorales. Where the chorale lines are separated from each other by intervening variations, the organ chorales are referred to as “major”. Thus this differentiation is initially only a formal, and often very external, characteristic. It has nothing to do with the greater or lesser value of a work, but frequently with its strength of expression and harmonious wealth. The minor form compels concentration, the filling in of detail, above all by means of harmonisation and figuration. The starting point is the simple four-part chordal movement with which we are acquainted from the chorales of the cantatas and passions, and which to the present day is still used in this manner by organists to accompany the congregation’s singing. In connection with the smaller and larger Bach chorale arrangements, many of this type of simple “accompanying movement” have been handed down, for instance as regards the organ chorales BWV 706, 734, 735 and 690 contained in this album. In this recording they have been placed before or after the appropriate arrangements to which they belong. In the case of the first three Bach made do with only a thorough bass-type sketch of the accompanying movements, noting only the two outer parts with the requisite numbering. Among the more strongly figured “accompanying movements” are also the so-called “Arnstadt congregation chorales”, where virtuoso solo passages are inserted among the chordally set chorale lines, as here in the arrangement of the introductory hymn “Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend” (BWV 726). The sole example of an accompanying movement “per omnes versus” (“through all verses”) is the five-part arrangement of “Herr Gott, dich loben wir” (BWV 725), to be performed with alternating chorus, Luther’s German version of the “Ambrosian Hymn of Praise”. The principles according to which Bach arranged the individual chorales vary from piece to piece. Where one melody was frequently arranged he also as a rule changed the style. One can distinguish here between tho basic trends: the more figurative and the more contrapuntal-imitative arrangement. The confessional hymn "Ach Gott und Herr, wie gross und schwer sind mein begangne Sünden” (BWV 714) is a text book example of the second. The chorale melody is performed in the discant and tenor in the canon of the octave. Alto and bass counterpoint to this with motif material also taken from the chorale melody. Thus the result is a movement of emphatic thematic concentration. The other procedure is more usual: figuration of the individual parts, and especially the melody line. The ornamentation, which in turn can be rendered thematically and imitatively, serves to underline and interpret the text which has to be borne in mind together with the chorale melody, so that the accompanying parts sometimes become spokesmen and then recede into the background again. The four-part movement to the funeral chorale “Herzlich tut mich verlangen nach einem selgen End” (BWV 727) displays this art in a most impressive manner. The album contains three arrangements of the introductory hymn “Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier”. The first, four-part (BWV 706) is in a particularly simple style. The two others are five-part and also resemble each other in movement arrangement. Evidently the more intensively figured arrangement BWV 731 originated from the more simple BWV 730. In the four-part movement above the introductory hymn "Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend” (BWV 709), both the lower parts and the figuration of the chorale melody are dominated by pithy counterpoint. The arrangements of the two songs of consolation “Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten” (BWV 691) and “Jesus meine Zuversicht” (BWV 728) are conceived less for the church than for sacred music in the home. They are to be played “manualiter”, and are suitable for both the piano and organ. Bach entered BWV 691 in the Klavierbüchlein of his eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann, and Anna Magdalena Bach took over this movement in her Klavierbüchlein. BWV 728 appears in Bach’s handwriting in Anna Magdalena’s first Klavierbüchlein dated 1722. The suite-type, tightly-knit arrangement BWV 690, no doubt composed very much earlier, is also closely related to piano music, judging by the style. 2. Major organ chorales and chorale fantasias The major form, in which more or less detailed episodes separate and bind the individual chorale lines, tends towards concerto-style extension. This applies both to the length of the whole and to construction of those parts which counterpoint the cantus firmus, mainly rendered in long note values and which introduce the preludes and interludes: they endeavour to unite soloist mobility with ritornello-type significance. Usually its thematic, shortened and rhythmically concentrated, is taken from the first chorale line or that line which it precedes. In this connection the cantus firmus is also arranged note for note, only usually in smaller values in imitative form (“pre-imitation”). Particularly in Bach’s early works this additionally features formal and stylistic elements of the “chorale fantasia”. This is the old genre according to which the chorale is not constructed according to a unified principle, but in strongly contrasting sections, resulting in pieces of extreme length. With this in mind, Bach occasionally described particularly comprehensive arrangements as “fantasias”, even if they are no longer built up from contrasting segments. Of the pieces in this album, the old principle of the fantasia is most enduring in the setting to “Ein’ feste Burg ist unser Gott” (BWV 720). The chorale melody is distributed among the various parts in sections; as from section b of the “Bar form” it appears in double note values. The original direction for playing “a 3 claviers et pédale”, and the more detailed instructions in the annotated text: Bassoon 16'-swell-organ, Sesquialtera (chest register) and Rüdspositiv strongly indicate that the work was composed for the Mühlhäuser organ, restored according to Bach’s plans in 1709, the possibilities of which were used to the full by these register directions. There are two arrangements here for the funeral chorale “Valet will ich dir geben, du arge falsche Welt”. The older (BWV 735), described by Bach as a “fantasia”, brings to the pedal cantus firmus in each of the three upper parts exceptionally long preimitations of the individual chorale lines, in unchanged note values, so that - in accordance with the old fantasia style - every melody line occurs several times. A somewhat shorter version of this work (BWV 735 a) was probably already composed in Arnstadt. The second arrangement (BWV 736), also four-part with the cantus firmus in the pedal, bears all the signs of mastery. The trio-manner, animated opening upper parts indicate dying as being victory over death. - The chorale trio “Nun freut euch, lieben Christen g’mein, und lasst uns fröhlich springen” (BWV 734), indicates joyful, dancing mobility which is to be performed manualiter. The three parts differ from each other also rhythmically: continuous semi-quavers in the discant, quavers in the bass, as against the cantus firmus in tenor running in minims and crotchets. - The four-part “Vater unser im Himmelreich” (BWV 737), similarly “manualiter”, is a tightly-woven, almost ricercare-type movement with pre-imitation and short, unthematic interludes. - The arrangement of “Erbarm dich mein, o Herre Gott” (BWV 721) is, with its accompaniment of repeated chords, a singular work. For a long time a “tremulous” lower part movement of this kind was regarded as un-Bach-like, which is why the piece is missing from most editions. It is, however, well authenticated and certainly genuine, even though it has remained something of an experiment. 3. Chorale partitas The principle of forming long series of variations on folk songs or other well-known themes was not applied to German hymns until comparatively late. This form of variation flourished briefly in North Germany around 1700, particularly under Georg Böhm. Bach took up the idea in his youth and composed four variation cycles of this kind, probably already in Arnstadt, or at an even earlier period, three of which are contained in our album. It was only towards the end of his life that he returned to this form with his “Canonic Variations on Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her”. Partita initially describes the single section of a variation series, and since the 18th century also stands for the entire, mainly suite-type constructed movement sequence. In his youth Bach used the term in its old sense, as the titles “Partite diverse sopra...” (“various partitas on...”) show. Accordingly he also described the individual sections of his early chorale variations as “Partita 1”, “Partita 2” etc. Wherever the number of the variations corresponds with the number of the chorale verses, it can be assumed that the individual variation is to be understood as the interpretation of the particular chorale verse. As regards the first two works of this kind, BWV 767 and 766, this procedure is convincing. It fails, however, in the case of the third (BWV 768): this was composed according to different principles. The nine partitas on “O Gott, du frommer Gott” (BWV 767) refer to the eight verses of the hymn by Johann Heermann, while partita 1, which provides merely a chordal accompanying movement should not be included in the total. This text reference becomes especially apparent in the chromatic penultimate piece expressing the yearning for death in the seventh verse. Similarlv in the final movement: the fanfare motif announces the awakening of the dead, an andante their transfiguration, the concluding presto their acceptance in the multitude of the chosen - all being parallel with the text of the last chorale verse. The seven partitas on “Christ, der du bist der helle Tag” (BWV 766) also correspond with the seven verses of the hymn by Erasmus Alber, a germanized form of the old church hymn “Christe, qui lux es et dies”. (In this case the chordal partita 1 has to be included in the count.) The fact that this is not a coincidental agreement between verse and variation number is again shown by very obvious text interpretations, especially in the last verse. Nevertheless, it appears that as regards this arrangement, and also the previous one, the principle of text interpretation extends mainly to the last variations, while the first are more inclined to accord with the construction of a definite variation schema. The eleven variations on “Sei gegrüsset, Jesu gütig” (BWV 768) break out from the simple, youthful carefree style of the early chorale partitas and show how Bach further developed his organ art. In this case he evidently subsequently re-wrote a short existing version comprising five partitas (corresponding with the five verses of the hymn by Martin Jan) and added five movements with obbligato pedal. The result is a particularly rich work, featuring both youthful and mature movement styles. by Georg von Dadelsen English translation by Frederick A. Bishop This critical and complete stylistic survey of Bach's organ works is the sixth part and will be continued by further releases.
Johann Sebastian Bach - DAS ORGELWERK