Bach: Organ Works, Vol. 3 Masaaki Suzuki

• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750): Prelude & Fugue in C Major, BWV 531:
• 1 Prelude & Fugue in C Major, BWV 531: Prelude 02:55
• 2 Prelude & Fugue in C Major, BWV 531: Fugue 04:34
• Fantasia & Fugue in C Minor, BWV 537:
• 3 Fantasia & Fugue in C Minor, BWV 537: Fantasia 04:45
• 4 Fantasia & Fugue in C Minor, BWV 537: Fugue 04:03
• Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr:
• 5 Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr, BWV 717 03:32
• 6 Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr, BWV 711 03:08
• 7 Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr, BWV 715 02:08
• Ach was soll ich Sünder machen?, BWV 770:
• 8 Ach was soll ich Sünder machen?, BWV 770: Partita No. 1 in E Minor 00:59
• 9 Ach was soll ich Sünder machen?, BWV 770: Partita No. 2 in E Minor 00:51
• 10 Ach was soll ich Sünder machen?, BWV 770: Partita No. 3 in E Minor 00:37
• 11 Ach was soll ich Sünder machen?, BWV 770: Partita No. 4 in E Minor 00:59
• 12 Ach was soll ich Sünder machen?, BWV 770: Partita No. 5 in E Minor 00:36
• 13 Ach was soll ich Sünder machen?, BWV 770: Partita No. 6 in E Minor 00:37
• 14 Ach was soll ich Sünder machen?, BWV 770: Partita No. 7 in E Minor 00:43
• 15 Ach was soll ich Sünder machen?, BWV 770: Partita No. 8 in E Minor 00:42
• 16 Ach was soll ich Sünder machen?, BWV 770: Partita No. 9 in E Minor 02:24
• 17 Ach was soll ich Sünder machen?, BWV 770: Partita No. 10 in E Minor 03:39
• Toccata in C Major:
• 18 Toccata in C Major, BWV 566a 10:24
• Prelude & Fugue in C Minor, BWV 546:
• 19 Prelude & Fugue in C Minor, BWV 546: Prelude 05:36
• 20 Prelude & Fugue in C Minor, BWV 546: Fugue 05:22
• Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend:
• 21 Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend, BWV 709 03:10
• 22 Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend, BWV 726 01:14
• Passacaglia in C Minor:
• 23 Passacaglia in C Minor, BWV 582 14:36
• Total Runtime 01:17:34

Info for Bach: Organ Works, Vol. 3

Born within a couple of years of each other, Gottfried Silbermann and Johann Sebastian Bach were acquainted, and we know that Silbermann in 1736 invited the composer to inaugurate the new organ that he had built in Dresden’s Frauenkirche. That instrument was destroyed during the bombing of Dresden in 1945, but some thirty of Silbermann’s organs are still extant. From robust pedal stops providing a sturdy bass fundament to silvery flute stops, his instruments were famous for their distinctive sound and contemporary sources often made use of a play on the name of their maker as they praised their ‘Silberklang’. Silbermann was based in Freiberg with his workshop only a stone’s throw away from the cathedral, where he built his first great organ in 1714. One of the finest and best preserved examples of his art, this is the instrument which Masaaki Suzuki has chosen for the third installment in his traversal of Bach’s organ music, following acclaimed recitals recorded in Groningen (the Netherlands) and Kobe (Japan). The programme takes us through various forms of organ compositions, including one of Bach’s most imposing preludes (BWV 546) with its intricate fugue, the multi-sectioned Toccata in C major (BWV 546a), examples of chorale preludes and partitas. Suzuki closes his recital with the famous Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, probably composed during the same years that Silbermann was busy building the organ on which it is performed here.

Masaaki Suzuki, organ

Masaaki Suzuki
Since founding Bach Collegium Japan in 1990, Masaaki Suzuki has established himself as a leading authority on the works of Bach. He has remained the music director of the BCJ ever since, taking it regularly to major venues and festivals in Europe and the USA. In addition to working with renowned period ensembles, including the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Philharmonia Baroque, he conducts orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in repertoire ranging from Mendelssohn to Stravinsky. Suzuki’s impressive

discography on the BIS label, featuring Bach’s choral works as well as harpsichord and organ recitals, has brought him many critical plaudits – The Times (UK) has written: ‘it would take an iron bar not to be moved by his crispness, sobriety and spiritual vigour’. With the BCJ he is now extending the ensemble’s repertoire with recordings of Mozart’s Requiem and Mass in C minor and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis.

Born in Kobe, Masaaki Suzuki graduated from the Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music and went on to study harpsichord and organ at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam under Ton Koopman and Piet Kee. Founder and professor emeritus of the early music department at the Tokyo University of the Arts, he was on the faculty at the Yale School of Music and Yale Institute of Sacred Music from 2009 until 2013, and remains affiliated as the principal guest conductor of Yale Schola Cantorum.

Booklet for Bach: Organ Works, Vol. 3