Organ Music 1

Bach (Artist), Kraft (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 4, 1992)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Vox (Classical)
• ASIN: B000001K37
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #221,882 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #76 in Music > Classical > Forms & Genres > Variations > Passacaglias

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Toccata and Fugue, for organ in F major, BWV 540 (BC J39, 55, 73)

2. Jesus Christus, unser Heiland (I), chorale prelude for organ (Orgel-Büchlein No. 28), BWV 626 (BC K56)

3. Heut triumphieret Gottes Sohn (I), chorale prelude for organ (Orgel-Büchlein No. 32), BWV 630 (BC K60)

4. Prelude and Fugue, for organ in G major, BWV 550 (BC J21)

5. Concerto for solo organ No. 1 in G major (after Duke Johann Ernst), BWV 592 (BC J88): First Movement

6. Concerto for solo organ No. 1 in G major (after Duke Johann Ernst), BWV 592 (BC J88): Grave

7. Concerto for solo organ No. 1 in G major (after Duke Johann Ernst), BWV 592 (BC J88): Presto

8. Concerto for solo organ No. 2 in A minor (after Vivaldi Op. 3/8, RV 522), BWV 593 (BC J86): First Movement

9. Concerto for solo organ No. 2 in A minor (after Vivaldi Op. 3/8, RV 522), BWV 593 (BC J86): Adagio

10. Concerto for solo organ No. 2 in A minor (after Vivaldi Op. 3/8, RV 522), BWV 593 (BC J86): Allegro

See all 17 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Fugue on the Magnificat: 'Meine Seele erhebet den Herren', for organ (formerly BWV 733)

2. Wir glauben all an einen Gott (II), chorale prelude for organ, BWV 765 (BC K105)

3. Prelude and Fugue, for organ in D minor ('Fiddle;' doubtful), BWV 539 (BC J15, 71)

4. Fantasia and Fugue, for organ in C minor (fugue incomplete), BWV 562 (BC J41, 56)

5. Fugue on a theme by Legrenzi, for organ in C minor, BWV 574 (BC J63)

6. Toccata, Adagio and Fugue, for organ in C major, BWV 564 (BC J36)

7. Toccata and Fugue, for organ in D minor ('Dorian'), BWV 538 (BC J38)

8. Passacaglia and Fugue, for organ in C minor, BWV 582 (BC J79)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Wooden Delivery of Celestial Music, November 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Organ Music 1 (Audio CD)

I found the veteran Kraft's playing to be clumsy and wooden, not to mention devoid of a concept to make these pieces soar (and, to handcuff JS Bach, is a negative miracle in itself!). This is definitely not the "celestial Bach", but a paint-by-numbers portrait -- everything is an approximation.

On the Passacaglia, for instance, there is a lack of smoothness and flow in the various counter-melodies which undermine the dramatic climax. Nearly every bar demonstrates how a performer's limitations handicap a composer's ambitions.

At this price, the set is probably an adequate start for a new collector on a fixed budget wanting to hear Bach (as I was), but you'll definitely want to keep searching. In the bargain bin, I'd take the giddy enthusiasms of Virgil Fox, the driving percolations of E. Power Biggs or, best of all, the taste-of-Heaven poetry of Anton Heiller over the underwhelming Kraft. (Incidentally, the finest version I've ever heard of my favorite piece, Passacaglia in C Minor, is by the mysterious Carl Weinrich from a 1964 RCA LP that I found a used-copy of several years ago. Lamentably, Mr. Weinrich -- "one of the greatest living interpreters of Bach's organ music" according to the liner notes -- has not joined the digital age as I cannot find a single CD reference of his work.)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars An uninspired performance, February 13, 2000

By 

"organaut" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Organ Music 1 (Audio CD)

Walter Kraft's playing is technically advanced but unimaginative. Most pieces are just played along either too fast or too slowly, with virtually no climaxes. I was especially upset by his rendition of the Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C (BWV 564). Adagio was ok, but Toccata sounded like a race just to get it over with. In the Fugue, whose very music commands it to be crystal-sharp and dance-like, the pedal registration was so heavy and muddy that it pulled the manuals down with it.

I wouldn't recommend this CD to a serious music lover. However, it presents a good lesson in how to keep a steady tempo throughout a piece and could be useful as an educational tool.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bach Organ Music, Volume 1 (Walter Kraft, Org), April 24, 2006

By 

Arthur Reis "RadioArt" (Chicago Suburbs) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Organ Music 1 (Audio CD)

This is the CD re-issue of the famous 'Vox Box' 18 LP set issued sometime in the mid-1960's. The tragedy to this point is that the remaining five volumes of the set have yet to be re-issued.

This version of the complete Bach Organ works compares very favorably to the better-known set with Helmut Walcha on DG, in that the Kraft set is TRULY complete. (A number of minor but delightful Bach works are omitted in the Walcha compilation.) Additionally, unlike Walcha, who recorded his Bach compilation on just a couple of organs, most notably the Frans Casper Schnitger organ at the St. Laurenskerk in Alkmaar, Holland, Kraft and the producers at Vox literally 'hit the road', recording their Bach collection on a number of organs around Germany. This makes for a more interesting overall sound, in my view, and especially for the Orgelbuchlein (Volume 5) matches the organ to the material better.

The only knock to the entire project is, in a few cases,the sound. I only have the LP issues to go by for much of this review, but I have to say that there was some problems in a few of the disks back then, maybe in the pressings. I hope that it's not in the recording. When the CD set eventually comes out in its entirety, which can't happen too soon, I trust that we will find out. In the case of Volume 1, which is currently available, the sound transfer from the analog to the digital is hardly a problem. I've had this CD set for over a year and I find the playing to be a delight, maybe, but barely, second to the best I've heard from Biggs in his heydey. However, Biggs never recorded EVERYTHING in the Bach literature. At least we have that from Walter Kraft and the folks at Vox. Now, when can we all expect the remainder of this project to be available?

--Art Reis/Chicago