Masaaki Suzuki – Bach: Organ Works, Vol. 3 (2019) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Masaaki Suzuki – Bach: Organ Works, Vol. 3 (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:19:07 minutes | 1,40 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © BIS

Born within a couple of years of each other, Gottfried Silbermann and Johann Sebastian Bach were acquainted, and we know that Silbermann in 1736 invited the composer to inaugurate the new organ that he had built in Dresden’s Frauenkirche. That instrument was destroyed during the bombing of Dresden in 1945, but some thirty of Silbermann’s organs are still extant. From robust pedal stops providing a sturdy bass fundament to silvery flute stops, his instruments were famous for their distinctive sound and contemporary sources often made use of a play on the name of their maker as they praised their ‘Silberklang’. Silbermann was based in Freiberg with his workshop only a stone’s throw away from the cathedral, where he built his first great organ in 1714. One of the finest and best preserved examples of his art, this is the instrument which Masaaki Suzuki has chosen for the third installment in his traversal of Bach’s organ music, following acclaimed recitals recorded in Groningen (the Netherlands) and Kobe (Japan). The programme takes us through various forms of organ compositions, including one of Bach’s most imposing preludes (BWV 546) with its intricate fugue, the multi-sectioned Toccata in C major (BWV 546a), examples of chorale preludes and partitas. Suzuki closes his recital with the famous Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, probably composed during the same years that Silbermann was busy building the organ on which it is performed here.

As his long-term project of recording Johann Sebastian Bach’s complete sacred cantatas with the Bach Collegium Japan drew to a close, conductor Masaaki Suzuki returned to his first career as an organist, launching a series of Bach’s organ music on BIS with the first volume in 2015 and a second in 2017. This 2019 installment features performances on the 1714 organ in Freiberg Cathedral by Gottfried Silbermann, an instrument from Bach’s time constructed by one of his associates. Silbermann was noted for his early fortepianos, prompting Bach’s pun that they had a “silvery tone.” The same might be said for the bright registration of this organ, which is most noticeable in such brilliant works as the Prelude and Fugue in C major, BWV 531 and the Toccata in C major, BWV 566, though darker stops are used in the somber Fantasia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 537 and the monumental Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582. Underlying the program is a focus on the pitch C, which helps to unify the contrasting major and minor modes through the parallel tonality. Yet even in the chorale preludes, which are centered in G major or E minor, there is a quiet, reflective mood that is enhanced by Suzuki’s choices of appropriate tone colors to suit their devotional character. This BIS multichannel recording captures the organ with a wide audio range and clear details at all volumes, so this hybrid SACD is well-balanced for home listening.

Tracklist:
1. Masaaki Suzuki – Prelude & Fugue in C Major, BWV 531: Prelude (02:55)
2. Masaaki Suzuki – Prelude & Fugue in C Major, BWV 531: Fugue (04:38)
3. Masaaki Suzuki – Fantasia & Fugue in C Minor, BWV 537: Fantasia (04:45)
4. Masaaki Suzuki – Fantasia & Fugue in C Minor, BWV 537: Fugue (04:10)
5. Masaaki Suzuki – Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr, BWV 717 (03:32)
6. Masaaki Suzuki – Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr, BWV 711 (03:08)
7. Masaaki Suzuki – Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr, BWV 715 (02:15)
8. Masaaki Suzuki – Ach was soll ich Sünder machen?, BWV 770: Partita No. 1 in E Minor (00:59)
9. Masaaki Suzuki – Ach was soll ich Sünder machen?, BWV 770: Partita No. 2 in E Minor (00:51)
10. Masaaki Suzuki – Ach was soll ich Sünder machen?, BWV 770: Partita No. 3 in E Minor (00:37)
11. Masaaki Suzuki – Ach was soll ich Sünder machen?, BWV 770: Partita No. 4 in E Minor (00:59)
12. Masaaki Suzuki – Ach was soll ich Sünder machen?, BWV 770: Partita No. 5 in E Minor (00:36)
13. Masaaki Suzuki – Ach was soll ich Sünder machen?, BWV 770: Partita No. 6 in E Minor (00:37)
14. Masaaki Suzuki – Ach was soll ich Sünder machen?, BWV 770: Partita No. 7 in E Minor (00:43)
15. Masaaki Suzuki – Ach was soll ich Sünder machen?, BWV 770: Partita No. 8 in E Minor (00:41)
16. Masaaki Suzuki – Ach was soll ich Sünder machen?, BWV 770: Partita No. 9 in E Minor (02:24)
17. Masaaki Suzuki – Ach was soll ich Sünder machen?, BWV 770: Partita No. 10 in E Minor (03:47)
18. Masaaki Suzuki – Toccata in C Major, BWV 566a (10:33)
19. Masaaki Suzuki – Prelude & Fugue in C Minor, BWV 546: Prelude (05:36)
20. Masaaki Suzuki – Prelude & Fugue in C Minor, BWV 546: Fugue (05:30)
21. Masaaki Suzuki – Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend, BWV 709 (03:10)
22. Masaaki Suzuki – Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend, BWV 726 (01:22)
23. Masaaki Suzuki – Passacaglia in C Minor, BWV 582 (15:08)

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