Composer: Johann Pachelbel
Performer: Wolfgang Rübsam
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Naxos
Catalogue: 8554380
Release: 2000
Size: 301 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Prelude in D minor
02. Komm, Gott Schopfer, heiliger Geist
03. Fantasia in G minor
04. Toccata in C major
05. Gott der Vater wohn uns bei
06. Toccata in G minor
07. Ricercar in C minor
08. Toccata in E minor
09. Ricercare in F sharp minor
10. Toccata in C minor
11. Fugue in C major
12. Toccata in C Major
13. Fugue in D minor
14. Canon: Ciacona in F minor
15. Fugue in D major
16. Ciacona in D minor
Der Tag, der ist so freudenreich
17. Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ
18. Der Tag, der ist so Freudenreich
19. Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her
Naxos’s Organ Encyclopedia series marches gloriously on with this first volume devoted to Johann Pachelbel’s works for the instrument. Pachelbel was no one-tune composer; nor was his work merely a dry run for Bach. Here, Wolfgang Rubsam plays a well-varied selection of fantasias, toccatas, ricercares, chorale preludes and ciaconas. The choral preludes-five examples-are remarkably highly developed pieces; the toccatas imposing, florid declamations over resounding pedal notes. But for me the highlights are the two ciaconas, both in D minor, real gems that bring out the best of this composer’s fertile imagination. Rubsam plays beautifully, varying his registrations carefully, giving the music the space it demands. Buffs will like to know that the organ is that at Weissenan, built by Johann Nepomuk Holzhey between 1785 and 1787. It sounds magnificent.