Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer: Lorenzo Ghielmi
Number of Discs: 2
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Passacaille
Catalogue: PAS954
Release: 2009
Size: 512 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
CD 01
01. Fantasia super Komm heiliger Geist BWV 651
02. Komm heiliger Geist BWV 652
03. An Wasserflüßen Babylon BWV 653
04. Schmücke dich o liebe Seele BWV 654
05. Trio super Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend BWV 655
06. O Lamm Gottes unschuldig BWV 656
07. Nun danket alle Gott BWV 657
08. Von Gott will ich nicht lassen BWV 658
09. Nun komm der Heyden Heyland BWV 659
10. Trio super Nun komm der Heyden Heyland BWV 660
11. Nun komm der Heyden Heyland BWV 661
CD 02
01. Allein Gott in der Höh sey Ehr BWV 662
02. Allein Gott in der Höh sey Ehr
03. Trio super Allein Gott in der Höh sey Ehr BWV 664
04. Jesus Christus, unser Heyland BWV 665
05. Jesus Christus, unser Heyland BWV 665
06. Komm Gott Schöpfer, heilger Geist BWV 667
07. Vor deinen Thron tret ich BWV 668
08. Toccata, Adagio & Fuga in C Major BWV 564: Toccata
09. Toccata, Adagio & Fuga in C Major BWV 564: Adagio
10. Toccata, Adagio & Fuga in C Major BWV 564: Fuga
There have been many outstanding recordings of Bach’s Leipzig Chorales, his final organ works, but this 2009 recording by Italian scholar and organist Lorenzo Ghielmi is as fine as any and better than most. Combining a superlative technique — there’s nothing here he can’t play, with discerning taste — there’s nothing here that smacks of bombast, and a highly developed feel for the idiom, Ghielmi is as deeply under the skin of these pieces as could be desired. Beyond that, the Italian organist grasps the particular spirit of these Chorales and their special status as the composer’s last works for the instrument with which he was most closely associated, and his interpretations are filled not just with spectacular virtuosity, but with profound feeling. Ghielmi’s moving, almost otherworldly performance of Von deinen Thron tret ich, BWV 668, should inspire listeners to seek out the organist’s many other recordings. Recorded in the Basilica of San Simpliciano in Milan, the digital sound is amazingly vivid and overwhelmingly immediate.