Bach: The Work for Organ & Harpsichord, Chapter II - 1. Sopra un tema di Albinoni

Album review

Organist and harpsichordist Benjamin Alard has put his mind to producing a complete recording of J.S. Bach's works for keyboard instruments. At this point we should note that the title for the English release, "The Work for Organ & Harpsichord" may cause confusion. It should in fact read "The Work for Organ & for Harpsichord"... Bach, after all, never wrote anything for organ and harpsichord playing together... But we digress. This sprawling work, covering thirty hours of music, will tell the story of the Cantor of Leipzig in fourteen chapters; and it seems that it is the first complete recording for all the works for a solo keyboard - i.e. all the music for organ and all the music for solo harpsichord - that Bach wrote, executed by one single musician. Alard attempts to bring out these albums in an order that respects the chronology of his life, following his influences, his journeys, his professional choices. The fourteen chapters, in an oblique numerological jest, represent the fourteen letters of his name. The recording was started on the André Silbermann organ (1718) in the church of Sainte-Aurélie in Strasbourg, and on a harpsichord made by Émile Jobin, inspired by a Ruckers of 1612 and a Dulcken from 1747. The first volume of this collected works will bring together the works composed between 1695 and 1705. It should come as no surprise that the works from Bach's youth should carry such high BWV numbers - the numbering system of the Bach Werke Verzeichnis is not chronological, and the organ works run from BWV 525 to 771, and those for harpsichord from 772 to 994. © SM/Qobuz