Organ Chorale Preludes
Discussions

Organ Chorale Preludes

Thomas Shepherd wrote (December 4, 2004):
The organ Choral Preludes, like the cantatas, are the stock in trade of a composer employed especially to supply liturgically focussed music week by week. They display the full variety, subtley and inventiveness of Bach's art.

Does anyone know of a systematic discussion on the web about them: either about individual preludes or as they relate to the seasons of the Christian year, or in relation to the cantatas? Is there an assessment of the present recordings? - I was brought up with Helmut Walcha and the Archiv recordings of the 1960s.

I often have recourse to the great cycles of the preludes especially at times when the world's busyness and stresses are overly present. Of all the cycles the incomparable BWV651-667 (the "18" Leipzig chorale preludes) is IMHO the high point of all JSB's organ works. Scmücke dich, o liebe Seele (BWV 657) and O lamm Gottes, unschuldig (BWV656) are two of my very favourite Bach compositions. And what could be more appropriate at this season of the year than the three entirely different treatments of Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland (BWV659,660,661) in this cycle?

Matthew Neugebauer wrote (December 4, 2004):
Thomas Shepherd wrote:
> Does anyone know of a systematic discussion on the web about them <
sounds like a good topic for the Bachrecordings list.

Aryeh Oron wrote (December 4, 2004):
[To Thomas Shepherd] You can find some illuminating reviews of recordings of the Organ Chorale Preludes by Donald Satz at: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/NonVocal/IndexNonVocal1.htm#OrganChorales

Schweitzer's book on Bach includes some chapters about the chorales and the chorale preludes and their history.

Chorale-Preludes

Santu de Silva wrote (December 4, 2009):
Can anyone recommend a recording of the chorale-preludes, at least the best-known ones? I know that chorale-preludes are featured in all the variety organ CDs by the big names, Lionell Rogg, Ton Koopman, etc, but are there recordings devoted to them?

Bradley Lehman wrote (December 4, 2009):
[To Santu de Silva] I am enjoying the set of Orgelbüchlein arranged for ensemble by Andrea De Carlo, with Ensemble Mare Nostrum. They have several viols, archlute, portative organ, and on some of the chorales have the melody sung by female soprano or boy soprano. Amazon.com

Santu de Silva wrote (December 4, 2009):
[To Bradley Lehman] That was lovely!

But I'm looking for organ performances, primarily, containing S. 659 and 622, and other popular ones like Wachet auf, and Jesu bleibet meine Freude ... I guess they're considered too ---intense--- to put all on one CD.

Barbara wrote (December 5, 2009):
[To Santu de Silva, in response to his message above] Greetings everyone. I can't remember whether I have introduced myself: an uneducated but long-time lover of JSB. I turned to a dear organ-lover friend for his thoughts on the question below. I don't know if his answer (intended for me, and passed on with his permission) is helpful or not, but here it is:

"I have enjoyed the Raven recordings by George Ritchie, and refer to them here.

I'm no expert, but as I understand it, most of the Chorale Preludes (if not all of them) come in neat groups:

599-644 are in the Orgelbuchlein. All of these are included on the Ritchie box OAR 580, 2 CDs.
645-650 are the Schubler Chorales, included on OAR 400, 2 CDs.
651-668 are the Great Eighteen, on OAR 300, 2 CDs.
669-689 are in the Clavierubung Part III, with the Schublers on OAR 400.

Should you want to buy all three CD boxes I mention, at about $15 each, you might as well go just a little farther and get Ritchie's 11 CDs in a box, OAR 875, which is Bach's complete organ works, for about $50. It also contains a useful index where the Chorale Preludes are listed by title, not number. What a buy! available from the Organ Historical Society, http://www.organsociety.org/

Barbara wrote (December 5, 2009):
Oops. I just meant I've always loved Bach. Oh dear.

Russ Sackowitz wrote (December 5, 2009):
[To Santu de Silva, in response to his message above] There are 2 CDs by Wolfgang Rubsam that have 46 of the Chorale Preludes - Naxos 8.553031 and 8-553032. There are also complete recordings of Bach's Organ oeuvre by Kevin Bowyer, Christopher Herrick, Ton Koopman and Karl Richter. Individual CDs are usually available.

Bradley Lehman wrote (December 5, 2009):
[To Santu de Silva, in response to his message above] Well, there's always my own set, where disc 1 is full of chorale preludes by Bach, Brahms, et al! Disc 2 is the rarely-recorded "Ariadne musica" by Fischer, complete. Disc 3 has some tidbits including more Bach, Mozart's "Ave verum corpus", and Elgar's "Nimrod".
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl/larips/cd1002.html

Ed Myskowski wrote (December 5, 2009):
[To Bradley Lehman] Fortuitously, I ordered Brads set about the same time I became friends with some local (Salem MA area) church musicians. My suggestion is to get the CDs, then find your way to a live performance of some of the music, if that is an option.

I have become an organ addict, donations accepted.

Aryeh Oron wrote (December 5, 2009):
uss Sackowitz wrote:
"There are also complete recordings of Bach's Organ oeuvre by Kevin Bowyer, Christopher Herrick, Ton Koopman and Karl Richter. Individual CDs are usually available."
There are almost 60 recorded sets of Bach's complete (or near complete) organ works. Many of them are available either as Box Sets and/or individual albums.|
See: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/NVD/Organ-Complete.htm
The links in the right column of this page will take you to the performer pages, where you can see the content of each set and each album in the set. vSome of the recorded sets are cheap enough to justify buying the complete set, and not only the Chorale Preludes. If you want to read member opinions of the sets, the page above includes also links to three discussion pages.

Barbara wrote (December 6, 2009):
Possibly I've erred and owe everyone an apology. In another group I belong to, an established member objected to a new member (not me!) who "plopped herself down in their living room," so to speak, without demonstrating her right to be there. Maybe I have done the same, and I'm sorry.

So here is a better introduction: My name is Barbara. I am 42 years old. At age 5 I was sat down at the piano for lessons and while it was apparent after a few years that mediocrity was the best I could hope for, it introduced me to J.S. Bach and the wonders of his works. I joined this group for the value of recommended recordings and hoping for some practical education along the way. Thanks for providing such resources.