In 1985, Bach’s tercentenary year, two independent scholars investigated a manuscript held by the Yale University Library copied by one Johann Gottfried Neumeister and containing 82 organ chorales. Of the 38 ascribed to J.S. Bach, 31 were previously unknown compositions. Naturally this discovery was quickly addressed by the record industry, and Hänssler Classic assigned organist Franz Haselböck to do the honors for its label. Haselböck’s 1985 recording, reissued at budget price, includes the 31 unknown chorale preludes, as opposed to Kay Johannsen’s Hänssler recording for the label’s Bachacademie Edition that encompasses all the Neumeister Bach material.
Haselböck’s robust but never overpowering registrations, generally fleet tempos, and straightforward musicianship serve the music well, albeit quite differently from Johannsen. The latter’s slower tempos and more intimately-scaled registrations convey more of the music’s harmonic tension and release and show a more vocally oriented approach to phrasing the chorale melodies. By the same token Johannsen requires two discs, and Haselböck just one. Pressed to choose, I hide behind a cloak of indecision, and leave the final verdict to Classictoday.com’s faithful readers.
