Bach Helmut Walcha

“One of the great interpreters of J. S. Bach,” was the New York Times’ description of the German organist and harpsichordist Helmut Walcha (1907-1991). His “intuitive grasp of the composer’s mind and intentions” was noted by The Guardian, while Gramophone judged that “his coherence and inner logic as a Bach interpreter remain unsurpassed.” Walcha’s recordings of Bach’s major solo keyboard works, performed on the harpsichord, are gathered together in this superb 13-CD collection.

"…Walcha's…carefully calculated interpretations create a genuine sense of organic unity and a deeply musical sense of line and phrase, which gains from felicitous registration using highly suitable organs, splendidly recorded."

– The Penguin Guide

Much of Bach’s organ music was written during the earlier part of his career, culminating in the period he spent as court organist at Weimar. Among many well-known compositions we may single out the Dorian Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 538, the Toccata, Adagio and Fugue, BWV 564, Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, BWV 542, Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582, Prelude and Fugue “St Anne”, BWV 552 (in which the fugue theme resembles the well-known English hymn of that name), Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565, and the Toccata and Fugue in F, BWV 540. Chorale preludes are compositions for organ that consist of short variations on simple hymn tunes for all seasons of the church year.

The first edition to comprise all of Helmut Walcha's recordings on Archiv Produktion, Deutsche Grammophon and Philips. Commemorating the 30th anniversary of Walcha's passing (11 August), it includes both the stereo (1956-1971) and the mono cycles (1947-1952) of Bach's complete works for organ; harpsichord recordings consisting of the Well-Tempered Clavier and the Violin Sonatas BWV 1014-1019 with Henryk Szeryng, the latter originally issued on Philips; plus other organ works from the early North German repertoire, including Bruhns, Scheidt, Buxtehude, and Sweelinck. The mastermind of Walcha's recordings was legendary producer Erich Thienhaus, a prolific recording producer and progenitor of the Tonmeister profession itself.

Perhaps more than any other composer, Bach’s music has the power to affect our lives. The masterpieces featured here include secular and sacred works for ensembles, soloists and choirs and express emotions from joy to sadness and peace. Artists include John Eliot Gardiner, Hélène Grimaud, David Oistrakh and many more.

It’s now time for a release with the famous German organist Helmut Walcha. This is the first of initially 4 releases with Walcha playing J. S. Bach. He recorded the complete works by J. S. Bach twice, from 1947-1950 in mono on the Schnitger organ in Cappel and in St. Jakobi in Lübeck and 1956-1971 on the famous organ in Alkmaar. This release is from the Alkmaar serie and is therefore in stereo. A quite interesting thing is to compare it with the IHORC14 release, where Fernando Germani plays the exact same organ about two years later…

This 55-CD set chronicles the remarkable Archiv label, begun in 1947. Devoted mainly to early and Baroque music, the recordings presented here, in facsimiles of their original sleeves (a nice touch), cover the period from Gregorian chant to Beethoven’s Fifth and Sixth symphonies, played on period instruments. There are stops in between for a great deal of Bach, music of the Gothic era, the French Baroque (Mouret, Delalande, Rameau, etc), Gibbons, Handel (Alcina, La Resurrezione, Messiah, Italian cantatas), Telemann, Zelenka, Gabrieli, Desprez, Haydn, LeJeune, and plenty of the usual, as well as unusual, suspects. There’s also a final CD with selections of new releases (more Handel, Cavalli, Gesualdo, Vivaldi).