Today re-recorded two Orgelbuchlein items to replace previous wonky recordings. Sheesh, almost 3 hours to record 2 minutes of music ... and still there's a smudge in the bwv 602 which I seem to have missed while playing Anyway, let no-one accuse me of being a fast recorder

Bach - BWV 602 - Orgelbüchlein - Lob sei dem allmächtigen Gott
Bach - BWV 604 - Orgelbüchlein - Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ

It took me 3 weeks to get the last invention down which is over in 1:05 and about 2 hour for the actual recording so I know how it feels.

Anyway, I enjoyed listening and they are about perfect from what I can hear!

Both are very well played, and the "Gelobet seist du" you played faster than your previous take if I remember correctly (the melody line comes out better this way). It is one of the rare pieces which are still today in usedin normal Xmas church services in Germany as a normal vocal song. In Netherlands as well?
Cannot remind your previous "Lob sei dem" take, but I heard also no smudge in "Lob sei dem" - you are simply too honestly.

Although those little Orgelbüchlein beasts are short, they are for sure not easy. Especially because of the pedal part which often has equal rights compared to the manual parts, and because they are often pretty dense composed, I think.

Yeah I knocked the 'Gelobet' down from 1:47 to 1:01. Hate to be a slouch

If you listen well, there is a tiny smudge in the 'Lob' at 0:17 in the pedal part. It irritates me as I am trying a zero-tolerance approach. Ah well it could be worse

Surely, there is often more trickyness in one page here than in many of the large pieces, which tend to be a bit more linear. It really is the most amazing collection, fully on a par with the Well-Tempered Clavier, as I feel it.

Yes, but there is an important difference to most other works, including WTC: Bach really reinforced here the (German) song lyrics down in music. In German this is called "Klangrede", don't know how to translate that. Even though these Orgelbüchlein pieces sound great without reference to the lyrics the connection is VERY strong to the lyrics. This aspect is maybe underestimated because of translation problems from German to English or other languages.

Even although very off topic, one funny thing what shows how many other aspects Bach put in his works:
In the St. Matthew passion there are passages with words about the crucifixion. One has to know that in German, "Crucifix" has a double meaning as "flat" in the music. Bach not only put lots of flats in the music while the words about crucifix appear, he also used notes for that which could be interpreted as the 4 poles of a Crucifix.
And that is combined with great timeless music. That is the real genius - to combine all that to a masterwork. Sorry for beeing off topic, but I sing in a choir the St. Matthew passion on Eastern and looking forward that great event already...