Rather than bundle all of Bach’s organ music together in one general package, the Hänssler Bachakademie Edition offers individual volumes programmed according to specific contexts. Volume 90, for instance, focuses on Bach’s Weimar years, when the 32-year-old composer’s growing mastery had reached flowering proportions. What most impresses about the present recital is the music’s expressive variety. It’s fascinating, for instance, to juxtapose the mighty, extroverted A minor Prelude & Fugue (BWV 543) with chorale preludes such as the first of Bach’s three settings of the poignant An Wasserflussen Babylon. The spirit of the dance permeates Bach’s sunny A major Prelude & Fugue (BWV 536), while the brilliant, yet somewhat rambling Piéce d’Orgue in G major suggests the composer’s highly esteemed improvisational powers. Spirited tempos, crystalline registration, and non-ostentatious virtuosity sum up Andrea Marcon’s confident mastery of all things technical and musical here. The vibrant, transparent engineering shows the attractive organ of Klosterkirche Muri to full advantage. A jewel of a disc, warmly recommended.
