Search - Olivier Vernet :: Bach Organ Works

Spirited interpretations presented in spectacular sound

F. HOU | Chicago, IL USA | 08/01/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Olivier Vernet's complete Bach organ works have to be among the most recent recordings devoted to the repertoire (1995-99). The set contains more than seventeen hours of music in fifteen (15) discs, arranged (roughly) in chronical order but excludes all doubtful items and works of unspecified instrumentation (such as the Art of Fugue). A glorious array of twelve instruments, both original (Silberman's)and period-inspired ones, in France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy were used for this project. Olivier Vernet (born 1964) displays impeccably secure techniques in these interpretations, even at the faster tempi that he chooses over most of his competition. Ornamentation is moderate, and the overall effect therefore tends less to the dramatic as it does sometimes in the case of Ton Koopman. The timbral beauty that constantly characterizes Vernet's playing comes through to a great extent due to Ligia's superb recording: despite the varied venues, the organs never sound too far or too close (to my taste anyway) and colors derived from various registrations are pleasantly captured and represented with amazing clarity.The slim box (the same thickness as Herreweghe's recent St. Matthew Passion) holds the discs each in their own see-through mylar sleeves and three booklets for track index, literature on the music (in French and English) and stoplists/pictures of all instruments used. Production and artistic values are both very high, and this set certainly merits consdieration from those who have not yet had too many sets of this most glorious music."