Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Pachelbel
Performer: Markus Becker
Number of Discs: 2
Format: FLAC (tracks+cue)
Label: Hyperion
Catalogue: CDA67683
Release: 2009
Size: 325 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
CD 01
Bach: Prelude & Fugue in D major, BWV532
01. I. Prelude
02. II. Fugue
03. Bach: Chorale Prelude BWV622 ‘O Mensch, bewein’ dein’ Sünde groß’
04. Bach: Chorale Prelude BWV637 ‘Durch Adam’s Fall ist ganz verderbt’
05. Bach: Chorale Prelude BWV644 ‘Ach wie nichtig, ach wie flüchtig’
06. Bach: Chorale Prelude BWV657 ‘Nun danket alle Gott’
07. Bach: Chorale Prelude BWV727 ‘Herzlich tut mich verlangen’
08. Bach: Wenn wir in höchsten Nöten sein, BWV668a
09. Bach: Chorale Prelude BWV736 ‘Valet will ich dir geben’
10. Bach: Chorale Prelude BWV638 ‘Es ist das Heil uns kommen her’
11. Bach: Chorale Prelude BWV730 ‘Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier’
12. Bach: Chorale Prelude BWV606 ‘Von Himmel hoch, da komm’ ich her’
Bach: Prelude & Fugue in E flat major, BWV552 ‘St Anne’
13. I. Prelude
14. II. Fugue
CD 02
Bach: Prelude & Fugue in E minor, BWV548 ‘Wedge’
01. I. Prelude
02. II. Fugue
03. Pachelbel: Christ lag in Todesbanden
04. Bach: Chorale Prelude BWV639 ‘Ich ruf’ zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ’
05. Bach: Chorale Prelude BWV653b ‘An Wasserflüssen Babylon’
06. Bach: Fantasia super ‘Komm, heiliger Geist, Herre Gott’, BWV651
07. Bach: Chorale Prelude BWV654 ‘Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele’
08. Bach: Chorale Prelude BWV614 ‘Das alte Jahr vergangen ist’
09. Bach: Toccata & Fugue in D minor, BWV565
Hyperion’s Bach piano transcription series, which has done so much to illustrate the unique effect of Bach on the nineteenth-century mind, has reached volume 7 with the complete transcriptions by Max Reger.
Reger was described by his contemporaries as ‘the modern-day Bach’, partly because of his frequent use of fugue and other characteristic forms. His skills as a pianist were matched by his abilities as an organist—a situation that influenced his a profound understanding of Bach’s counterpoint. Therefore it is fascinating to see the composer’s direct response to his predecessor.
In the young German virtuoso Markus Becker we have the ideal performer: he has already recorded the complete original piano works of Reger. As Francis Pott writes in his comprehensive booklet notes: ‘In adopting a balance of linear and polyphonic clarity with the full expressive resources of the piano and of virtuoso technique, Markus Becker respects the historic significance both of Bach’s original inspirations and of Reger’s transcriptions as documents of their own time’.