Given excellent performances, you can’t ask much more from an organ recording than full, detailed sound and a sense of presence–that is, you get a realistic “feel” for the environment in which the organ is played. After all, the space where the organ resides is as much a part of the organ’s personality as are its stops, pipes, and their specific voicings. This two-disc set of Bach works, played on two different organs by conductor/organist/harpsichordist Ton Koopman in 1986 and ’87, grants us about as much presence as a recording can offer (turning up the volume really makes the sound bloom), and accomplishes the difficult engineering feat of letting the instruments’ whole range of timbres speak with realistic clarity. The program is quite a mix, from the great masterpiece Fantasie & fugue in G minor BWV 542 and the chorale-preludes “Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland” and “Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme”, to the most famous Bach organ work that’s probably not by Bach, the mighty D minor Toccata & fugue BWV 565. I generally like Koopman’s direct, unmannered Bach style (except for me, his “Wachet auf” is just too jumpy and jerky), and he’s not afraid to let these instruments express themselves. Of the two organs, the Christian Müller at Amsterdam’s Waalse-Kerk is the brighter and livelier; the Gabler organ at the Weingarten Basilica just eats up its environment with big, bold, consuming gulps (just listen to the C minor Prelude BWV 549), and Koopman really relishes and exploits this power to the fullest. [12/3/2000]
