Search - Johann Sebastian Bach, Lionel Rogg :: Bach: The Art of Fugue; Organ Concertos

Organ exploration of Bach's greatest fugues

Alan Montgomery | Oberlin, Oh USA | 04/21/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"My problem with this recording is not that it is on organ or that Lionel Rogg can't play them, because he manages to play the entire set quite well. It is more than a daunting task! The fugues explore each and every type of fugal writing there is.



And that is where the trouble starts. To me, the ideal interpretation would allow the majestic moments to come through clearly, but it would also allow the strands of the fugues to intertwine clearly. I want to hear the music unfold with the logic in which it was written clearly outlined. Mr. Rogg uses a registration for the fugues that is too frequently full organ, with lots of reeds and overtones that make even the simpler threads difficult to hear. The joy, of course, is that he completes the final fugue with his own version (after playing the fugue as written first). That is fascinating, but again it isn't that clear. The order of the works used is that found in the Bach Gesellschaft and not that of the Neue Bach Ausgabe, which came out after this was recorded. Recorded sound is excellent."