Brian Linnell 2006-07-26
7 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
What to say about these extraordinary works?
First of all, that this is a double-album full of titanic masterworks, intelligently and skillfully performed. These discs belong amongst the first four or five albums in every Bach collection. The famous Toccata and Fugue in D minor is here, together with another, lesser-known but equally awe-inspiring "Dorian" Toccata and Fugue in D minor. There are quite a few other familiar war-horses---the Prelude and Fugue in A minor, the St. Anne Prelude and Fugue, and the Tocatta, Adagio, and Fugue in C (which I first encountered in a piano transcription performed by Evgeny Kissin, on his album with the Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition... well worth hearing next to the original organ writing here), among others---and some more obscure pieces as well to keep us out of "greatest hits" territory (almost always a drawback in recital albums). Like the Mozart piano concerti and the Beethoven symphonies, Bach's compositions for organ are amongst the towering summits of Western music; there is nothing else like them.
Since I'm playing critic here, I suppose I ought to offer at least a bit of actual criticism, rather than only effusive praise. While many would beg to differ, three composers (whose careers, interestingly, were almost exactly chronologically contiguous) are, by a long-standing historical consensus, recognized to occupy the highest tier of artistic achievement in "common practice," tonal music: Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven. Of those three masters, Mozart alone is recognized as having achieved a perfect or near-perfect balance between subject and object, style and substance: Bach tipped the balance just a bit in favor of objectivity and substance, and Beethoven in favor of subjectivity and style. And so, just as I find that Beethoven's music does not hold up quite as well as Mozart's to repeated listenings because his stylistic and emotive devices are less effective once you've heard them before, so that they no longer take you by surprise, so too do I find that Bach's music, especially in the long contrapuntal sections, is not always as worthwhile for listening as it is for theoretical analysis... it is perhaps not quite as valuable in practice as it is in theory, in other words. The organ pieces on these discs are sublime masterpieces, but if they do fall short of absolute perfection it is for being somewhat dry and academic.
In addition, the different organs Herford plays here so often produce, as good organs will, such a staggering, chest-rumbling roar that you have trouble discerning the pitches in these compositions. It's a similar problem to listening to harpsichord music, where at times you hear just a lot of clanging and can't tell what note or chord is being played. It's not a big problem on these recordings, but it is a little distracting at times.
Nevertheless, it's said that what makes a work of art a masterpiece is not its being perfect or flawless, but rather that its virtues are so meaningful and effective that they compensate for the piece's flaws and imperfections. In fact, in sublime pieces such as these, it's precisely that imbalance, or aesthetic asymmetry, you might say, that makes the music dynamic and exciting: it creates an inner tension, a sort of yearning or striving that, in the hands of the greatest of masters (of which Bach is uncontestably one), makes for a transcendent artistic statement and an invaluable testament to the human experience.
In short, buy this album and listen to it often!
