Bach: Complete Organ Works - Gesamte Orgelwerke / Integrale de l'oeuvre d'orgue

Bach is always wonderful and this series was great with a diverse group of old organs of an appropriate size for Bach.The album was "like new" and arrived well packaged, on time with my best regards to the seller.

I'm familiar with all of Bach's organ works, but this organist's rendering of them made me hear things I had never noticed before, especially in the chorale preludes. I highly recommend it.

Said in one word - perfect. According to my experience somebody very clever decided that BWV 565 is the best so almost every CD contains this opus. It's fantastic, of course, but I don't need 30 different CDs always with this one. With "Complete Organ Works" you can have "all in one" in a nice box, for a favorable price.

wow, if you like organ music and Bach you should not miss this one, even though it is not cheap. i bought it as a present for my partner (who loves Bach) and we both enjoyed a whole weekend with this soothing music.

Somehow I've managed to accumulate six Bach organ boxes over the years (Walcha I, Chapuis, Rübsam I, Isoir, Koopman, and Foccroulle) that I've liked enough to keep, and this one may well be my overall favorite of the lot. It certainly has all the things I look for: a wide variety of instruments, baroque organs with lots of personality, virtuosity in the fugues, gravitas in the chorals, clarity of counterpoint that does not depend on metronomic rhythms or labored tempos, interesting registrations, excellent sound production, and an overall energy and personality that keeps one from becoming bored. There are other organists with slightly more verve and personality (e.g., Chapuis and Koopman), but clarity and logic sometimes suffer as a result. Similarly, Walcha and Rübsam (on Philips, avoid the dreadful Naxos re-makes) are more rigorous, but the music sometimes becomes ponderous and mental fatigue sets in. Isoir is probably the most virtuosic and (at his best) the most poetic, but sometimes he chooses less than ideal organs, and the set as a whole is slightly inconsistent (ranging from the brilliant to the merely good). Foccroulle charts a sort of middle way that makes his a very solid reference set, with all the good qualities one looks for but without some of the excesses and shortcomings-- in sum, an ideal first (or even only) set. For the record, sets I do not recommend include: Walcha II, Preston, Hurford, Murray, and Rübsam II. I am ambivalent about Herrick and Bowyer (much to admire, but, in my view, nothing special), and I would recommend Walcha I only as a supplement. I haven't heard enough of any other sets to have an opinion. A word of caution: if you're thinking about getting this (or any other set aside from Walcha II-- which seems never to go out of print), do not hesitate. Bach organ boxes are definitely a niche product, and they tend to move in and out of print (mostly out). Some of the older, highly regarded sets (e.g., Chapuis and Rübsam I) are rarer than hen's teeth with secondhand prices to match their scarcity.

This is my favourite set of Bach's complete organ works. Besides the many beautiful historical organs used for the recording, the main strength is the playing itself: the imaginative and tasteful use of stops, the varied and subtle articulation, transparency of the voices and the clarity and simplicity of expression. The set is recorded with repeated listening in mind - it avoids certain "risks" and excesses in expression and tempos that would perhaps be appropriate in concert but would appear mannered after years of listening. In short, Bernard Foccroulle's recording is a monumental achievement and will likely outlast many other similar sets in quality and relevance.

The outstanding feature of this set is the wonderful old organs. However, the playing is to my taste too stodgy. Olivier Vernet presents us with far more brio. I'd recommend trying to hear a little of both before deciding to buy one -or perhaps both. There's no such thing as too much Bach...

This review is one I dreaded writing, simply because I wanted so, so much to love this box set! I could hardly wait for it to arrive and start feeding CDs to my system, then simply enjoy the music. It didn't quite work out that way.The box is small, compared to other collections of Bach organ works; the CDs inside are in non-descript paper jackets with simply a number on them: no track listing, nothing. To find out what's where, you have to look in the accompanying booklet, which I personally found really annoying when trying to find favorite tracks. With 16 CD track listings to wade through finding, say, BWV565 took a few minutes. The organization of the music on CDs left something to be desired, too, especially when I compared them with other box sets of Bach organ works.The recordings are good, but the instruments are more historic than dramatic, meaning there's no real "thunder" to the instruments, no deep, deep bass, and some audible noise. Sure, period instruments lend an air of authenticity (hearing what Bach would have intended) but we're so used to modern, powerful instruments performing these works that I found the recordings here a little lackluster.As for the performances by Bernard Foccroulle, and despite some glowing reviews I've read, I found overall his playing to be solid technically, but very much middle-of-the-road as far as interpretation and dramatic flair go. There's nothing here that made me sit up and pay attention, relistening to items that were different than others. Don't get me wrong: Foccroulle's playing is technically excellent, and there's not a bad track here, but there's not a great track anywhere on these 16 CDs, either. Not a single track I'd want to pull out for a visitor and say "listen to this!". Frankly, this is good playing, with nothing good or bad, but I find I would not recommend this box set over several others available. Since I have close to a dozen complete box sets of Bach organ works, I'm glad I heard this set but it simply won't get played that much in my house. Too bad...such promise!

Con questo cofanetto di 16 cd della monolitica opera per organo completa di Bach, il belga Bernard Foccroulle si afferma come il più importante organista del nostro tempo, esponente di una tradizione germanica che affonda le sue radici interpretative (e discografiche) in musicisti della levatura di Helmut Walcha e Gustav Leonhardt. Registrata fra il 1982 e il 1997, quest'integrale delle opere per organo del Kantor è stata realizzata su dei sontuosi strumenti storici che illustrano il percorso strumentale di Bach, bilanciando perfettamente e mirabilmente sensibilità interpretativa e informazione storica. Foccroulle ha scelto ben quattordici organi diversi, sparsi in chiese di tutta la Germania e non solo, tutti dal suono magnifico, spettacolare e pienamente valorizzato dalla naturale ripresa sonora: Schnitger Orgel der Jacobi Kirche in Hamburg, Doering Orchel zum Heiligen Kreuz in Bettenhausen, Rommel Orgel der Blasii Kirche in Zella Mehlis, Schnitger Orgel van der Martinkerk te Groningen, Silbermann Orgel der Dorfkirche in Pfaffroda, Dreifaltigskeits Orgel der Abtei Ottobeuren, Silbermann Orgel der Petrikirche in Freiberg, Schott Orgel der Klosterkirche in Muri, Schnitger Orgel der Ludgerikirche in Norden, Biefeldt Orgel der Wilhadikirche in Stade, Orgue Thomas de l'abbaye de Leffe, Silbermann Orgel des Doms in Freiberg, Silbermann Orgel in Ponitz, Holzay Orgel der Abtei Neresheim.Si avvicendano tutte le splendide opere organistiche, le fughe, le toccate, le triosonate e le belle trascrizioni dalle corali delle cantate. E' presente anche la Fantasia per organo dalla corale "Wo Gott der Herr", recentemente scoperta nel 2008. La ripresa sonora della Ricercar è improntata ad una resa il più possibile naturale e fedele ai diversi organi utilizzati, ed il risultato finale è stupefacente. Accompagna questa mole di musica immortale un corposo ed esauriente libretto in inglese, francese e tedesco, che analizza pressoché ciascuna incisione contenuta nei 16 cd. Un acquisto necessario per gli appassionati del genere e non solo, da accostare alle già mitiche incisioni integrali bachiane di Helmut Walcha e alla spettacolare integrale organistica di Buxtehude (grande mentore del genio di Eisenach) incisa dallo stesso Foccroulle sempre per Ricercar.

C'est tout simplement grandiose. Mais il faut aussi avoir un rapport fort à l'orgue. On appréciera les instruments différents choisis par l'interprète, et la promenade culturelle qu'il nous propose en nous balladant vers Hambourg, Leipzig, Weimar, en passant par les Pays-Bas: Groningen, la Belgique: Leffe, etc. un vrai périple à travers ces pays de culture plutôt protestante, dans le souci de nous rapprocher au plus près des instruments que sélectionnait Bach lui-même, comme cet instrument de Muri, en Suisse, où l'on trouve trois orgues anciennes, dont l'un est très proche de celui qu'utilisait Bach à Weimar.Ce coffret est à la fois une source de plaisir et un moyen d'accroître ses connaissances sur un compositeur "infini" comme JS BACH, le livret est instructif (dates, factures des instruments, lieux et périodes du compositeur). Sur l'interprète, Bernard Foccroulle, que je ne connaissais pas, je n'ai rien à dire d'autre que j'admire ce qu'il me donne à écouter. Voilà un coffret à double effet: le plaisir de la musique d'une part et une promenade dans des régions et des églises peuplées d'orgues dont les accents sont à peu de choses près ceux que Bach devait, en son temps, projeter au travers des voûtes des contrées visitées.

Ottime esecuzioni del belga Foccroulle su organi antichi dell'epoca di Bach: esecuzioni limpide, tempi rapidi, virtuosismi calibrati. Ottimo il suond e la confezione a mò di libro antico. Bellissimo prodotto!

Éminente intégrale parmi les plus réussies sur le marché actuellement. Présentation éditoriale soignée comme toujours chez Ricercar. Recommandée...