BACH
Organ Music Volume 12
(Preludes & Fugues BWV 545 & 550; Trio Sonatas 3 & 4; Fantasias
BWV 571/2; Toccata BWV 910 (and including some organ works of doubtful
authenticity).
Kevin
Bowyer
Nimbus NI 5647/8
[62.49+60.38]
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This is the latest of a comprehensive series of Bach organ music recorded
in Odense, Denmark, on a fine, modern 3-manual Marcussen instrument, which
has proved highly suitable, equally for the monumental masterpieces and for
more intimate pieces. The items are carefully arranged in sequences which
make for two satisfying concert programmes. Kevin Bowyer's interpretations
of Bach are renowned, and he is also an important champion of the work of
contemporary composers, with recommendable recordings including the complete
organ works of Jehan Alain and Mandelion, a collection of British
organ music of the 20th Century, each on a Nimbus twosome. In an overcrowded
field, with a plethora of Bach CDs released month by month, Bowyer's ongoing
collection holds its own in a highly competitive market.
A particular interest of this release is the inclusion, and discussion, of
a number of works of dubious authenticity, but none the less worth hearing
for that. Now that all the established canons of 'great music' and the relatively
small number of composers admitted to the arbitrary pantheon, determined
by sales promoters, it is disconcerting to have to face scholarly discoveries
which disturb cherished beliefs, such as that Bach's most popular organ work,
the Toccata & Fugue in D minor, was actually composed by someone else.
Framed by two G major Fantasias, the first of these two CDs has a number
of works of doubtful authorship. The chromatic fugue (BWV Anh. 44) is probably
by one Kellner and the extraordinary Little Harmonic Labyrinth (BWV 591)
may have been by Sorge or Kirnberger. It loses its way in a maze of keys
before reaching 'a rather panicky cadenza'. Walther is suggested for the
Fantasia BWV 571. The second CD has an interesting Partita BWV 771, consisting
in seventeen chorale variations, and it too might have been written by a
forgotten minor composer, Vetter; as Kevin Bowyer writes 'this does not detract
from the easy relaxed charm' of the music.
This is a worth-while addition to any collection, and no Bach lover should
be without some of Kevin Bowyer's recordings of this perennially fascinating
music.
Peter Grahame Woolf
