Search - Johann Sebastian Bach, Christopher Herrick :: Johann Sebastian Bach: Toccatas and Fugues - Christopher Herrick, Organ

"Toccata" comes from the Italian word meaning "to play an instrument," and the form itself is nothing more than a written-out improvisation of what an organist would be expected to do when called upon to test a new instrument. First, you try out the action of the keyboard with rapid scales and runs, then you see how loud, sustained chords sound, and finally you settle down to a more formal fugue, which lets you construct a large musical form and employ different mixtures of pipes. Bach was, in his day, the world's foremost organ tester and authority on organ building, so this kind of music was his meat and potatoes. Nobody did it better, which is about the same that can be said for Christopher Herrick's brilliantly virtuosic performances of this perennially popular music. --David Hurwitz