Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer: Olivier Latry
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: La Dolce Volta
Catalogue: LDV70
Release: 2024
Size: 1.25 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Musikalisches Opfer, BWV 1079
01. Ricercare a 6
02. Fugue in G Minor, BWV 578
03. Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565
04. Erbarm’ dich mein, o Herre Gott, BWV 721
Fantasia and Fugue in G Minor, BWV 542
05. No. 1, Fantasia
06. No. 2, Fugue
07. In dir ist Freude, BWV 615
08. Herzlich tut mich verlangen, BWV 727
09. Fantasia in G Major, BWV 572
10. Passacaglia in C Minor, BWV 582
For his first CD with La Dolce Volta, Olivier Latry has chosen a programme devoted to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. This recording, made on the massive Cavaille-Coll organ of Notre-Dame de Paris, of which he is titular organist, raises a number of fascinating questions.
‘My approach highlights several paradoxes: the notion of performing these key works of Protestantism in one of the most emblematic centres of Catholicism, first of all, but also of playing them on an instrument that is, to say the least, far removed from the Baroque and Classical style of organ building. It’s quite true, all of this raises questions.
‘However, the most important question remains, in my opinion, that of authenticity in music. I must confess that this concept often seems to me to be a decoy . . . Playing Bach in this context therefore implies finding a new balance in order to preserve the spirit and letter of music. One cannot be divorced from the other.
‘Every performer plays with the instruments of his or her time, and the instrument I have here at Notre-Dame is an outstanding one. One cannot and must not fight against the past, but on the contrary assimilate it, the better to derive inspiration from it and then find one’s personal path. We shouldn’t really be talking about authenticity at all, but, more soberly, about sincerity.’