Bach: Organ Works, Vol. 3 Masaaki Suzuki

• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750): Prelude & Fugue in C Major, BWV 531:
• 1Prelude & Fugue in C Major, BWV 531: Prelude02:55
• 2Prelude & Fugue in C Major, BWV 531: Fugue04:34
• Fantasia & Fugue in C Minor, BWV 537:
• 3Fantasia & Fugue in C Minor, BWV 537: Fantasia04:45
• 4Fantasia & Fugue in C Minor, BWV 537: Fugue04:03
• Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr:
• 5Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr, BWV 71703:32
• 6Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr, BWV 71103:08
• 7Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr, BWV 71502:08
• Ach was soll ich Sünder machen?, BWV 770:
• 8Ach was soll ich Sünder machen?, BWV 770: Partita No. 1 in E Minor00:59
• 9Ach was soll ich Sünder machen?, BWV 770: Partita No. 2 in E Minor00:51
• 10Ach was soll ich Sünder machen?, BWV 770: Partita No. 3 in E Minor00:37
• 11Ach was soll ich Sünder machen?, BWV 770: Partita No. 4 in E Minor00:59
• 12Ach was soll ich Sünder machen?, BWV 770: Partita No. 5 in E Minor00:36
• 13Ach was soll ich Sünder machen?, BWV 770: Partita No. 6 in E Minor00:37
• 14Ach was soll ich Sünder machen?, BWV 770: Partita No. 7 in E Minor00:43
• 15Ach was soll ich Sünder machen?, BWV 770: Partita No. 8 in E Minor00:42
• 16Ach was soll ich Sünder machen?, BWV 770: Partita No. 9 in E Minor02:24
• 17Ach was soll ich Sünder machen?, BWV 770: Partita No. 10 in E Minor03:39
• Toccata in C Major:
• 18Toccata in C Major, BWV 566a10:24
• Prelude & Fugue in C Minor, BWV 546:
• 19Prelude & Fugue in C Minor, BWV 546: Prelude05:36
• 20Prelude & Fugue in C Minor, BWV 546: Fugue05:22
• Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend:
• 21Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend, BWV 70903:10
• 22Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend, BWV 72601:14
• Passacaglia in C Minor:
• 23Passacaglia in C Minor, BWV 58214:36
• Total Runtime01:17:34

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