Bach: The Four Great Toccatas and Fugues [SACD]
![Bach: The Four Great Toccatas and Fugues [SACD]](/images/Bach-The-Four-Great-Toccatas-and-Fugues-SACD-B00008PX99-L.jpg)
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Composer: Johann Sebastian BachPerformer: E. Power Biggs
Edition: Music CD
Format: Super Audio CD - DSD
CD Release Date: 2003-04-01
Music Label: Sony
Music reviews of Bach: The Four Great Toccatas and Fugues [SACD]
Music Review: BACH & POWER BIGGS: A dialog between masters.
Rating: 5 Stars
The first time I've heard E. Power Biggs (EPB) playing these Johann Sebastian Bach (JSB) four great toccatas and fugues was on my old quad system back in the 70's on a 33 rpm LP. Now we can hear again the same on a superbly mastered Sony SACD as a reissue. Have to say that old memories come to fore about what real music-making should be. I'd always had the feeling that EPB at some point in his life asked the grandest of all questions in music: Music, what do you want from me? I think JSB's answer might have been "...I composed this music to be played with joy to celebrate life..."
No doubt EPB fully understood that and as a consequence proceeded to consecrate his life to a series of playful musical journeys into the world of sounds mostly with pipe organs, although in a few occasions visited very convincincly and with great success the pedal harpsichord. And it was a world of sounds that had never been heard before in such sobriety, scale, beauty and magnitude. As in this SACD he departed on a musical journey which JSB, had he had comparable resources (4 organs in the same location) in his own time would have done it himself. He would likely performed them in an antiphonal manner; much of JSB music is antiphonal in one way or another. Here, EPB, with four organs played from a single console just obliged.
I think we should also be reminded that this musical form, the toccata, is a secular (non-religious) counterpoint fantasy based more often than not in popular dances of the time. We have to recognize no matter what that they are dances with their tempi altered to fulfill polyphonic as well as harmonic and chromatic musical canons - JSB own canons. What can we say about JSB's organ music? I think the obvious answer would be "it's everything." And in EPB's hands (and feet) became a wonderful improvised "ad libitum" antiphonal everything playing the four organs of the Freiburg Cathedral (Freiburg im Briesgau - Badden Wuttenberg - Germany).
EPB arranged "ad libitum" these four toccatas to be performed, where it was artistically plausible, in an antiphonal manner. This type of antiphonal playing can not possibly be described as capricious at all, it defines the compositions in a new light. It's not only a question about four organs, but also about an appropriate instrumental and psycho-acoustical balance and timbre. The question of sound (great sound) is decisive, because the tones, organ voices, choices of ranks and stops/registers to be used, and in this case, which organ to choose to "fight" against the others stimulate and inspire the music-making; the potential is there to profoundly affect the us the listeners.
This is, in my humble opinion, the best SACD mastered and produced to this date (ca. 2006). It should be noted that this is not a Hybrid SACD, it can only be played on a dedicated SACD player. For this recording (analog in it's original format)EPB had available to him four organs which in this SACD can be heard as follows: LF speaker (Rieger), RF speaker (Rieger), LR speaker (Marcussen) and RR speaker (Spath).
These four organs were built and installed in this Cathedral between 1962 and 1965. The four organs are played from a single central electric console accessing 136 stops/registers in total. EPB could count with a grand total of 102 ranks in all the intervining "Hauptwerk" and "Positif" organ divisions, and in the pedal divisions he had available a total of 35 ranks.Although the console has (actually) four keyboard manuals in reality it has the potential to become a 10 (ten) manual keyboard when used in different combinations.
This, as such, results in an awesome polyphonic instrument specially in the tuttis, crescendos and fortissimos with an incredible sound delivery. Final words: this is a BEST BUY not to be missed whether you like classical music, pipe organs or not.
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