Luogo e data di registrazione		Kopenhagen (Danimarca) - agosto 1966
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Producer / Engineer		Michael Bernstein
	Prima Edizione LP		- Valois - MB 853 · Vol. 13 - (1 LP) - durata 42' 28" - (p) 1966 - Analogico - Valois - MB 854 · Vol. 14 - (1 LP) - durata 36' 57" - (p) 1966 - Analogico
	"Das Orgelwerke" LP		Telefunken - BC 25105-T/1-2 - (2 LP's) - durata 42' 28" / 36' 57" - (p) 1966 - Analogico
	Note		-

The eighteen chorale arrangements combined here owe their fame initially to the fact that in the last years of his life Bach collated them in a calligraphically ordered volume in the still vacant section of his manuscript where, towards the end of the 1720’s he had already entered his six organ sonatas. This distinction was even intensified by hypotheses verging on the biographical built up around the pieces at the end of this collection, and in particular the last one. With very little imagination the style of the entries can easily be connected with Bach’s illness, his brief recovery and final blindness: towards the conclusion the entries were evidently often interrupted for long periods. The 16th and 17th pieces were not written by Bach himself, but by his son-in-law Altnickol. Following these, once more in Bach’s own hand, are the “Kanonische Veranderungen über das Weihnachts-Lied: Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her” (Canonic Variations on the Christmas Carol: Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her). As a five-part work, also published in printed form, this breaks with the character of the collection and thus is not included as far as the “Eighteen Chorales” are concerned. The conclusion, written in another’s handwriting, is formed by the funeral chorale. “Vor deinen Thron tret ich hiermit”, which, under the older title “Wenn wir in höchsten Nöten sein”, is the final piece in the “Art of the Fugue” printed after Bach’s death. It takes the place there of the unfinished quadruple fugue. The appropriate “report” on this says that Bach “in his blindness dictated it to the pen of one of his friends”. Johann Nikolaus Forkel, the Bach biographer, is even more precise: “In his blindness, a few days before his end, Bach dictated it to the pen of his son-in-law Altnickol”. It is not surprising that as a result of this report the idea arose that the last entry in our collected manuscripts was his deathbed statement. Even though we are now aware that the writer of this piece was not Altnickol but an unknown helper from Bach’s very last years, speculations about the biographical significance of this piece have not ceased. More about this later. As the last musical testimony of somebody preparing for death, this chorale finally left its mark on the entire collection: it is more and more considered on the whole as a testamentary legacy, comparable with the Art of the Fugue, with the first printing of which it is connected by way of the last chorale. The pieces themselves perhaps justify such parallels from the artistic point of view, but not as regards stylistic considerations. All of them go back as far as Bach’s Weimar period and were therefore composed fairly early. They also display varying degrees of ability. For the fair copy Bach corrected them in parts, completely rearranged a few of them, but in many cases also used them practically unchanged. When he began the entries the whole undertaking was also probably envisaged as more a loosely arranged collection. The impetus for this might initially have been of an external nature; for instance, perhaps the old manuscripts had become unuseable from frequent reference and countless corrections, and were now to be replaced, for which the empty pages of the sonata manuscript paper were available. No definite principle can be discerned in selection and sequences, such as from a liturgical, formal or stylistic point of view. There is no common title which might provide further details. It also seems as if the contents were not laid down from the outset, and that at least inclusion of the two last pieces, the “Canonic Variations” and the funeral chorale, was due more to a snap decision than to a preconceived plan. But how ever the collection might have been compiled, it provides a survey of the various forms of Bach’s chorale arrangements which could hardly have had a more penetrating and significant effect. All that are missing are examples of the “minor” organ chorales. Two, however, Nos. 17 and 18, originated from such chorales without episodes in the Orgelbüchlein. The canonic technique is also missing - except of course for the “Canonic Variations”, which have been raised to the status of a principle. Six pieces (3, 4, 9, 10, 12, 13) expose the chorale melody in coloured form in the discant and in the tenor. Three (2, 7, 18) precede each chorale line with detailed preimitations and thus adhere to the oldest and most common type of the “great” organ chorales. Nos. 1 and 11 are extended fantasies with the chorale in the bass. In addition there are two trio movements (5 and 14) which resolve the chorale melody in brilliant figuration and are equal to the fiery style of the concertante allegro movements of the organ sonatas. Five pieces are in singular form. As regards two chorale melodies, there are two different arrangements for each, and for two further, particularly well-known, melodies, even three for each. Most of the settings, but not all of them, are intended for performance on two pianos and pedal. With its forms linked to the melody, the collection at any rate provides an important counterpart to the free trio movements which make up the first part of the overall volume. Fantasia super “Komm, heiliger Geist”, BWV 651. The imitative upper part setting organo pleno starts with toccata-style emphasis above the pedal point and does not permit the powerful semi-quaver movement to settle down. It is determined by a single figuration subject and it appears as if it is purely by coincidence bound to the chorale foundation, rendered line by line in the pedal. In the Weimar version the piece was limited to the first four of the total of eight chorale lines, and the alleluia conclusion is also missing. Because of the identical chorale lines, Bach was able to take over for the second section the upper voice part of the first, and needed to compose only a fresh episode and the alleluia conclusion. This extension by more than double, with retention of the same motif, makes heavy demands upon the performer, who has to intensify the impact of this movement right to the end. Komm, heiliger Geist, alio modo, BWV 652. In this case the same chorale melody is set in saraband rhythm in regular sequence (tenor-alto-pedal-bass-discant) and imitatively in the same mensuration. A change comes only with the alleluia conclusion. Bach leaves the early composition substantially unchanged, but merely for reasons of modulation inserts a measure in each of the individual line expositions. An Wasserflüssen Babylon, BWV 653. While still in Weimar Bach changed the five-part original version (BWV 653 b), which uses the double pedal, to four-part form. This was recorded in Series V of the Organ Works. He attached for the Leipzig fair copy the ascending finale. The superior art of this famous movement is apparent from the contrapuntal interlinking of the individual line melodies in the preimitations. The cantus firmus is in the tenor. Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele, BWV 654 brings the ornamented chorale melody in the soprano, but otherwise is arranged similarly to the previous setting, which it equals in fame. Bach needed to change hardly anything subsequently in the Weimar setting. In the trio on “Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend’ ”, BWV 655, the chorale is reserved for the conclusion. It begins like the allegro of a trio sonata with a concerto-style theme, found in similar form in the Triple Concerto A minor (BWV 1044). The final entry of the chorale is coupled with the reappearance of the first theme in the upper part, and by way of this reprise effect emphasizes the concerto-type construction of the movement. Here too the Weimar version is for the greater part unchanged. O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig, BWV 656. In the three verses, composed as an entity, the cantus firmus descends from the soprano via the alto into the pedal, which does not join in until the third verse. At the same time the movement structure tightens and achieves graphic expression with the chorale lines “All Sünd hast du getragen, sonst müssten wir verzagen”. The Leipzig rearrangement initially affects the second verse. Nun danket alle Gott, BWV 657. The chorale lines in the discant are preceded in the other parts by detailed preimitations in shortened mensuration which, together with the firmly moving principal subject in crotchets, dominate the solid expression of the movement. The piece was taken over unchanged in the Leipzig collection. Von Gott will ich nicht lassen, BWV 658 surpasses the other pieces in its manifest gestures: the upper part section, which rises above the cantus firmus in the pedal, is dominated by a scalar motif striving into the higher pitches. In the ostinato repetitions of the final measures it takes on absolutely entreating force. In the Weimar version, which varies from the Leipzig only due to some minor ornamentation, the piece is described as a “Fantasy”. Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 659. The entire expression here is placed in the figuration of the upper parts which bears the cantus firmus. The middle parts, which begin imitatively, provide the light and shadow, the striding bass, tranquility and security. The Weimar version, like that of the previous piece, entitled “Fantasy”, deviates from the Leipzig version only to a minor degree. In the Trio super “Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland”, BWV 660 the ornamented chorale part rises freely above the duet of the two imitative bass voices, which in part are also carried in strictly canonic style and which, with their descending staircase effect, seem to indicate the concept of “coming down”. Here, too, very little has been changed in the Leipzig version. Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 661. This third arrangement of the advent hymn, for organo pleno, emphasizes the festive character of the advent period. The upper parts form from the figuration of the chorale theme a three-part fugue, which is joined in the various parts by the cantus firmus in the pedal. It is not clear why Bach scored precisely this concertante setting in the Leipzig manuscript vis-a-vis the Weimar version in double note values. Allein Gott in der Höh’ sei Ehr’, BWV 662. The movement entitled “adagio” intensifies the principle of ornamentation. The cantus firmus part, which lies in the soprano, takes up the melodic impulse of the two middle voices which enter earlier and also relate to the chorale melody. At the beginning of the bar section the supporting bass for a short while goes into the unornamented chorale line. - Very little was amended for the Leipzig fair copy. Allein Gott in der Höh’ sei Ehr’, BWV 663 with the cantus firmus in the tenor, as expressly stated. With the two preimitated upper parts this forms a unified trio movement in that it adapts the chorale melody by way of ornamentation to the continuous quaver movement. The bass in turn takes part with long note values in the preimitation, so that one might at first take this to be the cantus firmus part. - Once again the Weimar version has been used almost unchanged in the fair copy. The Trio super “Allein Gott in der Höh’ sei Ehr”’, BWV 664, the third setting of this hymn of glory, is related to the other concertante trio movement, the fifth piece in this collection, but is more freely arranged than the former. It also saves the chorale cantus firmus to the end, and then even contents itself with the first two lines. Here also the Weimar versions, of which there are two, are only little different from the Leipzig pieces. Jesus Christus, unser Heiland, BWV 665, is at first set in an allemande rhythm. The chorale melody is in the pedal. The other parts provide pre- and post-imitations, combined with figurative counterpoint. With their assistance, according to the principle of harmonic condensation and stimulated intensification, four characteristically varying sections are formed from the four chorale lines. - The Weimar versions are practically unchanged. The setting of “Jesus Christus, unser Heiland” alio modo, BWV 666, in the rhythm of the gigue and with the cantus firmus in the discant, is arranged in two parts. After the second chorale line the figuration of the counterpointing parts moves from quavers to semi-quavers, and this mobility is maintained until the end. - Only little had to be changed in this case for the Leipzig fair copy which, like that of the following piece, was written by Altnickol. Komm, Gott Schöpfer, Heiliger Geist, BWV 667. The small chorale from the “Orgelbüchlein”, with the chorale in the soprano, was extended by Bach in Weimar by a second verse containing episodes. The chorale melody here is in the bass. The counterpointing upper voices take up the semi-quaver movement of the original concluding passage and form a toccata-type superstructure. - After the Canonic Variations on “Vom Himmel hoch” (BWV 769), already included in Series II of this sequence of recordings, the last piece, written by an unknown assistant, from Bach’s final period, is the chorale “Vor deinen Thron tret ich hiermit”, BWV 668. The manuscript has come down to us in only fragmentary form - the last page containing the conclusion has been lost. It is complete only in the printed copy of the “Art of the Fugue", where it appears under the older title: “Wenn wir in höchsten Nöten sein”, BWV 668 a. This last piece is also based on a chorale from the Orgelbüchlein. However, as opposed to the 17th piece, Bach has here more widely separated the individual lines of the original setting by artistic preludes and episodes, with imitations in even and counter movement, in shortened and unabbreviated mensuration. He simplified the hitherto strongly ornamented chorale melody in the upper voice. Friedrich Smend pointed out that in this form the chorale accounts for 14 notes for the first line and 41 for the entire setting. According to the numerical alphabet (A = 1, B = 2 etc.), this means “Bach” and “J. S. Bach”, who was now preparing for the last journey. by Georg von Dadelsen English translation by Frederick A. Bishop This critical and complete stylistic survey of Bach's organ works is the eighth part and will be continued by further releases.
Johann Sebastian Bach - DAS ORGELWERK