Bach: Toccatas, Preludes and Fugues

I am a huge fan of well played organ music, particularly organ music of the Baroque played on the classic North European organs, and if you can make that a tracker organ then all the better. Recently I've been listening to the series of organ recordings on Lawo performed by the cathedral organist at Oslo Cathedral, Kåre Nordstoga, as he performs Bach on the beautiful (and wonderous sounding) organs at St. Johannis, Luneburg, and St. Bavo, Haarlem. These are not tracker organs, but their sound is just gorgeous in these recordings from Lawo.

Nordstoga is an extraordinarily skilled organist, with excellent technique. On the Christian Müller Organ (1735 - 1738) in St. Bavo Church, Haarlem, Nordstoga performs Bach's Orgelbüchlein, released by Lawo in two volumes. And this recording is full, resonant, well detailed, and gorgeous.

On the St. Johannes church organ in Luneburg, Germany, Nordstoga performs toccatas, preludes and fugues by Bach. He begins with the mighty Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565, which is always a joy for me to hear. And here the recording captures a performance with great clarity. The reverberation never muddies the notes, but adds immensely to the grandeur and power. Nordstoga, thankfully, does not play this piece reverentially—he moves briskly right along with dynamic drive and commitment maintaining immensely clean articulation throughout. I credit this both to his own sensibilities and to the organ on which he performs.

If you at all care for organ music and the compositions of Bach, these three albums are highly recommended.