Wolfgang Rübsam — J.S. Bach: Organ Chorales, Preludes and Fugues, Naxos (Audio CD)

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Product Details

• UPC: 730099462921
• Label: Naxos
• Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
• Performer: Wolfgang Rübsam, organ
• Catalogue Number: 8.553629
• Release Year: 1996
• Genre: Classical — Organ (Baroque)
• Country of Producing: Germany

Product Features

• Format: Audio CD, factory sealed
• Recording: DDD (fully digital)
• Playing Time: 79'06"
• Recorded on the John Brombaugh Organ, Lawrence University Chapel, Wisconsin, U.S.A., August 1995
• Cover Photo: The John Brombaugh Organ at Lawrence University Chapel

Overview

Bach's organ chorales get recorded constantly, but the instrument on this disc is the real draw. Wolfgang Rübsam plays the John Brombaugh organ at Lawrence University Chapel in Wisconsin — a modern instrument built specifically in the North German Baroque tradition Bach himself wrote for, rather than a generic concert-hall organ pressed into service. That distinction shows up in the sound: the reeds, mixtures, and voicing here are built to match the registrational logic Bach's music assumes, not adapted to it after the fact.

The program itself moves between two very different modes of Bach's organ writing. The chorale preludes — Christ lag in Todesbanden, Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott, Vom Himmel hoch — are compact, text-driven miniatures, each one built around a single hymn tune worked through in a few minutes. Set against those are the full preludes and fugues (BWV 551, 533, 569, 575) and the free-standing Fantasia BWV 563, where Bach has room to build and develop material at length rather than compress it around a chorale melody.

Rübsam's reputation rests substantially on this kind of historically grounded organ playing, and this disc is a clean entry point for anyone who wants Bach's organ output played on an instrument built to actually suit it.

Interesting Facts

• The organ used here, built by American organbuilder John Brombaugh, follows North German Baroque construction principles — the same tonal tradition that shaped the instruments Bach knew and composed for.
• Christ lag in Todesbanden, BWV 718, is Bach's setting of a chorale melody originally by Martin Luther, one of the foundational hymns of the Reformation.
• The Fuga sopra il Magnificat, BWV 733, builds an entire fugue out of the plainchant melody associated with the Magnificat canticle — a technique that fuses liturgical chant with strict contrapuntal writing.
• Wolfgang Rübsam recorded extensively for Naxos's Bach organ series through the 1990s, becoming one of the label's most prolific interpreters of this repertoire.
• The Fantasia con imitatione, BWV 563, is one of Bach's lesser-performed free organ works, without a chorale basis, giving a glimpse of his purely instrumental, non-liturgical organ writing.

Track Listing

1. Prelude and Fugue in A Minor, BWV 551 — 6:19
2. Christ lag in Todesbanden, BWV 718 — 5:26
3. Ach Gott und Herr, BWV 714 — 1:15
4. Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh' darein, BWV 741 — 5:57
5. Prelude and Fugue in E Minor, BWV 533 — 5:37
6. Allein Gott in der Höh' sei Ehr', BWV 717 — 3:28
7. Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott, BWV 720 — 3:36
8. Prelude in A Minor, BWV 569 — 5:39
9. Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ, BWV 722 — 1:27
10. Nun freut euch, lieben Christen g'mein, BWV 734 — 2:39
11. Vom Himmel hoch, da komm' ich her, BWV 738 — 1:24
12. Gottes Sohn ist kommen, BWV 724 — 1:38
13. Vater unser im Himmelreich, BWV 737 — 2:46
14. Fugue in C Minor, BWV 575 — 5:13
15. Herr Gott, dich loben wir, BWV 725 — 11:36
16. Fantasia con imitatione in B Minor, BWV 563 — 4:24
17. Fantasia super: Valet will ich dir geben, BWV 735 — 4:13
18. Fuga sopra il Magnificat, BWV 733 — 6:29

Publishers

Released by Naxos, catalogue 8.553629, © 1996 HNH International Ltd. Produced, recorded, and edited by RMC Classical Music, U.S.A., August 1995. Music notes by Keith Anderson.

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