I can’t ever remember hearing a finer Bach organ recital than this one, and certainly none better recorded. John Butt’s playing combines virtuoso flair with tasteful ornamentation and a feeling for the music’s atmosphere. For example, his brisk attack on the famous opening of the Toccata and Fugue in D minor restores its improvisatory feel without making the music unrecognizable or destroying its Gothic grandeur. He finds some marvelous reed stops for the plaintive middle movement of the Toccata, Adagio, and Fugue, and they reappear to excellent effect in the Schübler Chorales as well. In the huge F major Toccata, Butt builds the music up phrase by phrase in a magnificently shaped tonal arch, while the stunningly clear, natural recording ideally serves the contrapuntal complexities of the various fugues. Although Bach reputedly preferred organs with 32′ bass stops and the organ of Trinity College, Cambridge, only includes a 16′ pedal, the richness and clarity of the sound allows every musical strand, especially those critical bass lines, to register in perfect balance. This disc has become my reference for a single disc collection of Bach’s favorite organ works, and it’s the one to have if you’re having only one. A brilliant, magnificent achievement by all concerned.
