J. S. Bach: Dritter Theil der Clavier Übung (Third Part of the Clavier Exercise ) [Double Album]

According to his first biographer Johann Nikolaus Forkel, Bach possessed an extraordinary ability to combine organ stops in a wholly unusual manner, astonishing the organists and organ builders of his time. However, very few accounts survive of how he actually made these timbral choices. A valuable source of information is the Harmonische Seelenlust by Georg Friedrich Kauffmann (1733–36), a large collection of chorale preludes that displays striking points of contact with the third part of the Clavier-Übung (1739) — to the point of appearing almost as a model for it — and includes registrations so original and bold as to recall the style described by Forkel.

Having already distinguished himself with the award-winning Bach Mirrored (Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik), organist Maurizio Croci draws on the timbral resources of the historic Treutmann organ at Grauhof (1737) to offer us a fresh reading of Bach’s masterpiece Dritter Theil der Clavier Übung (Third Part of the Clavier Exercise) , which, taking inspiration from Kauffmann’s registrations, places registration at the center of expressive interpretation and proposes a renewed listening perspective.

Maurizio Croci, Organ