Pachelbel Complete Organ

Our new complete recording of the organ works of Johann Pachelbel, the most important composer of the Southern German organ tradition, concludes with a total of three albums – all of them once again in SS and with first-class organists performing on selected organs. Our three protagonists, Michael Belotti, Christian Schmitt, and James David Christie, have produced enthralling recordings on which they demonstrate their expertise in performances on various outstanding historical instruments. This final volume of our complete edition adheres to the same policy as Vols. 1 and 2: it too is based on the new collection and edition of the composer’s extant oeuvre.

Johann Pachelbel (baptised 1 September 1653 – buried 9 March 1706) was a German composer, organist, and teacher who brought the south German organ schools to their peak. He composed a large body of sacred and secular music, and his contributions to the development of the chorale prelude and fugue have earned him a place among the most important composers of the middle Baroque era.

The recording offers a new look at Pachelbel's keyboard oeuvre and corrects the prevailing view of him as a composer of liturgical music for practical use without higher artistic aspirations. This audio edition presents his complete extant works for keyboard instruments, including various historical organs and on the harpsichord.

The two CDs forming Vol. 2 are also based on a new collection and edition of the extant musical materials. The order of the pieces on the recording initially adheres to the sequence of the chorale settings in the musicological edition. The result includes programs with special thematic Christmas, Passiontide, Easter, Psalm settings, and catechism songs. This new recording is an invitation to listeners everywhere to rediscover Pachelbel's versatility as a keyboard composer.

During his lifetime, Johann Pachelbel (1653–1706) was best known as an organ composer. He wrote more than two hundred pieces for the instrument, both liturgical and secular, and explored most of the genres that existed at the time. He is considered to be the apex of the 17th century’s south German organ school and generally one of the most important composers of the middle Baroque.

In this second instalment of complete keyboard works, Benjamin Alard demonstrates with splendid eloquence how invaluable the young Bach’s north German experience proved to be; his attentive examination of the works of the great organ masters and his craving for all kinds of music significantly broadened the stylistic foundations of his keyboard writing. The wide range of works presented here, complemented by pieces by Buxtehude, Reinken and Pachelbel, illustrates in exemplary fashion the power of a master in the making.