Hyperion Records

On 8 May 1747 Bach gave a recital on the Wagner organ in the Heiligegeistkirche, Potsdam. The Prelude and Fugue in C major, BWV547, dating from around 1744, is the last of his works in the genre and may well have been performed on that occasion. The lilting prelude, over an ostinato bass figure, has melodic connections with Cantata 65 (1724), while the fugue is one of the most concentrated he wrote, replete with contrapuntal devices all stemming from the material of the first bar. A supreme climax is engendered by the very late entry of the pedals in augmentation, a series of declamatory chords (looking back to those in the prelude), and a notably long tonic pedal coda.

from notes by Robin Langley © 1993