Prelude and Fugue in G major, BWV541 (Bach) - from SIGCD261 - Hyperion Records

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Reviews

'Turbo-charged with immediacy and penetrating lucidity. Goode and Silbermann make a formidable team' (BBC Music Magazine)» More

'Very fine performances of some of Bach’s greatest organ works, the focus of the recording is as much on the instruments on which they are played as on David Goode’s interpretations themselves. The Silbermann organ in Freiberg cathedral was completed in 1714, and has remained virtually untouched ever since' (The Guardian)» More

'One of Britain's finest organists puts the 1714 organ in Freiberg Cathedral through its paces in an all-Bach programme. Bach played Silbermann's instruments, so this world of sound—with its silvery mixtures, blazing reeds and characterful flutes—is authentic as well as utterly compelling in a cavernous acoustic. Goode is perky in the Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C, delightfully serene in Schmücke dich, and thunderously inexorable in the Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor. An exemplary introduction to some of Bach's greatest organ works' (The Times)

Dating from the Leipzig years (1724/5) is the Vivaldian G major Prelude and Fugue, BWV541, and like that in B minor it seems clear that both movements were written at the same time and for each other. Here the pulsing chords of the prelude presage the repeated note and gruppetto of the fugue’s subject, which is turned to good account in stretto both before and after the dramatic pause that announces the coda.

Le Vivaldien Prélude et Fugue en sol majeur, BWV541 date des années de Leipzig (1724/5) et comme pour celui en la mineur, il semble évident que les deux mouvements ont été écrits en même temps et l’un pour l’autre. Ici les accords palpitants du prélude présagent la note répétée et le grupetto du sujet de la fugue, qui est très bien mis à profit en «strette» à la fois avant et après la pause dramatique qui annonce la coda.

extrait des notes rédigées par Robin Langley © 1993
Français: Alain Midoux

Ein wenig früher, aber um die Leipziger Zeit (1724/25) enstanden Präludium und Fuge in G-Dur, BWV541, die Vivaldi nachempfunden sind. Wie bei dem Werk in h-Moll ergibt sich der Eindruck, daß beide Sätze gleichzeitig und füreinander geschrieben wurden. Schon die pulsierenden Akkorde des Präludiums lassen im vorliegenden Fall die wiederholten Noten und Doppelschläge des Fugensubjekts erahnen, das sowohl vor als auch nach der dramatischen Pause zur Ankündigung der Coda in bester Engführung abgerundet wird.

aus dem Begleittext von Robin Langley © 1993
Deutsch: Anne Steeb/Bernd Müller

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Recording details: July 2010
Freiberg Cathedral, Germany
Produced by John H West
Engineered by Mike Hatch
Release date: December 2011
Total duration: 7 minutes 59 seconds

Cover artwork: Cover by Oliver Condy.