Hello,

I would like to submit my organ recording of Bach's popular masterpiece - Toccata & Fugue in D-minor. I hope you will enjoy it!

With best regards,
Bruno

Where was this recorded? The organ sounds very nice. I give you a good applause.

Thank you, I am glad you like it. It was recorded on 30-stop organ built by Slovenian organ-builder "Jenko" in "Maria Auxilium" Parish Church ("Crkva Marije Pomocnice") in Zagreb where I serve as an organist.

You're as good on the organ as on the piano ! A virtuoso performance this one. I have not much feeling for this particular piece so I will not comment on your interpretation (I guess it suits the piece). Nice echo effects. I guess you have at least 3 manuals ?

Indeed a great sounding organ, and well recorded.

If you want it up the site, I'll put it up - as people have been clamouring fore this piece here ! It seems to be the one Bach organ work that everybody wants to hear.

Thank you very much for good comments! I would be polited to have it put up on the site!
Regarding organ, it really is a three-manual instrument. I agree about popularity of that piece, I believe even people who are not specially related to classical music have heard and could recognize the opening bar

A very nice performance of this popular masterpiece. Was such a long time since I last heard it and many memories came back to me. The most important is perhaps the TV series about how the world onces started. In Sweden (think it is a French production) is the name "Det var en gång..." which translated is "Once upon a time...".

We are proud to host the recording on the site!

Nice to hear that, Robert. Thank you!

I have to say again though, this piece is terribly overrated. Very effective, especially in documentaries and horror movies , and probably great fun to play, but musically it pales into insignificance next to what I call Bach's "real" organ works (the chorale-based works, the Clavier-Ubung, and the Trio Sonates). In fact several Bach scholars doubt, with good arguments, that this piece is by Bach at all.

Nonetheless, a good recording and a welcome edition to the site. I'm in the process of putting it up.

I somewhat agree with your Mr.Techno ( ) that this piece is somewhat too popular that it dwarfs all other Bach's organ works. But I believe that the Fugue is one of his best. Come to think about it, this piece is like Chopin and the Fantasy Impromptu. On the surface thats what he is only known for, especially to the untrained nonclassical listener.

Hold on to your beliefs

A very good performance, congratulations!

I especially like your fugue interpretation. The beginning of the toccata is (for me) unusual slow, but it works well with the heavy reverb in the church. Due to that reverb, the faster parts of the toccata like the difficultier 2-hand last run of the toccata, the notes cannot be differentiated anymore, it is more or less a sound pulp (I don't blame you for that, since you cannot change the acoustic (maybe you could articulate more staccato here and there however)). In the beginning presto part of the toccata it sounds like small uneveness to me, but overall your playing is very profound, and I am glad we have it here at PianoSociety.



After all, the main purpose of music is to enjoy the (mostly untrained) listeners, and this impressive piece does the job perfectly. I agree that it is not the most intellectual piece what reveals to someone only after listening the 100th time. Do you enjoy a 4-voice fugue the same amount already after the 1st listening or playing, Chris? Me not, it develops with time and repetitions for me. So it's good to have pieces like that a listener is able to enjoy right during the first listening.



I like your comparision with Chopin - FI!
But no, the fugue is maybe one of the most impressive ones, but one of the best? I am asking whether it is really a fugue at all. Master Bach is regarding fugues normally very serious concerning taking the theme for every voice and working the voices through the fugue. It is no typical fugue regarding the voices, and that is what makes me doubt the most that it comes from Mister Bach himself. But impressive, indeed...

Wow, I love this. Another mystery.

I agree with what Minden said about the opening being slow. Not that the tempo is slow, but the pauses are long. But that must be your style. And the heavy reverb does blur the fast passages, although it sounds good on the opening. If only there was a way to change accoustics in a room to match the fast and slow parts of the piece we're playing. Overall, an impressive performance.

It's up the site now. At last, a good organ recording

...yeah, me!