Dritter Theil der Clavier Übung

Description

According to his first biographer Johann Nikolaus Forkel, Bach had an extraordinary ability to combine organ sounds in a completely unusual way, surprising the organists and organ builders of his time. However, very few accounts have survived regarding how he concretely made these sound choices. A valuable source of information is the Harmonische Seelenlust by Georg Friedrich Kauffmann (1733–36), a vast collection of chorale preludes that presents striking points of convergence with the third part of the Clavier-Übung (1739) — to the point of almost appearing as a model — and which includes registrations so original and bold that they recall the style described by Forkel. Already distinguished by the highly acclaimed Bach Mirrored (Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik), organist Maurizio Croci draws on the sound resources of the historic Treutmann organ in Grauhof (1737) to offer a unique interpretation of Bach's masterpiece that, inspired by Kauffmann's registrations, places registration at the heart of the performance and proposes a renewed listening perspective.