Bach - the (in)famous g minor organ fugue BWV578

Yesterday I recorded the so called "little" g minor organ fugue (BWV578) from J.S.Bach in "my" local
church.

That fugue is surely so popular because of the lovely fugue theme. It is called "little" in order to distinguish it from the giant big brother, the g minor fugue from BWV542.

Hope you enjoy a bit, comments and critique is very welcome. In order to recognize the deep bass sound of the pedal I recommend to listen with headphone or stereo equipment- with computer loudspeakers unfortunately you will not be able to hear those deep sounds.

Bach - BWV 578 - Fugue in G minor ("Little Fugue")

 

That is really well played, perfectly articulated and almost note perfect. I think I heard one or two tiny smudges but they are almost not worth mentioning :wink: The pedal 16ths (always a feature that separates the men from the boys) done with great authority. I have only one niggle and that's there is one bar where you speed up uncontrollably (it's about 2/3 on the last but one page).

Yes this is a cute little fugue. But is has a rather ridiculous little ending, as if JSB could not be bothered to think of something more fetching. Or perhaps he did not have that experience yet. This kind of uninspired 'token' ending occurs in more early fugues so I guess this is an early one too.

Nice clean sound but a bit too dry and up-close for my taste. I'd have put the mics further away and added some reverb. But that is a matter of personal taste. Good job ! I'll put it up if my lousy Internet connection keeps on going (it's been as good as unusable the last couple of days).

 

For the first time this weekend, my Internet has kept working long enough to actually achieve something. Maybe there is hope yet.

So this one is up the site !

 

fugue

This is one of the few organ pieces I recognize. Even I can see that you did a superb job performing this. Thanks for the headphone suggestion. It sounds really great. Bravo!

 

A most excellent recording Mister E. Power Biggs...errr I mean Herr Olaf :wink: !!!!! Somehow the common Bach pieces never become cliche, like a Moonlight Sonata or Raindrop Prelude.

Lovely organ too. What was the recording equipment? Was it just an edirol?

Please spill the details

-jg

p.s. this makes me want to learn the organ, a quest I so easily stopped. :?

 

Many thanks for listening and the kind comments!

Chris, you are right, that there are some slips - hoped that they are only barely audible (your ears are really sharp) and did not got it managed to play a completely slipfree take in a row, same regarding rhythm.

I also am wondering why this fugue ends so aprupt, it would deserve a more elaborated ending.

Regarding sound and equipment - I took a comment by Chris concerning a former organ recording to heart and put the microphone to the altar side, so just the other end of the church and not up-close. It is drier as in some other churches, but I just like the natural reverb it still has - sounds crisp that way. Many do praise the acoustics in that church. Especially for such polyphonic music I prefer a tighter sound, also regarding registers I drew only a handful registers. More registers and more reverb let it sounds more glourious, however more blurry too. If I go for some romantic organ pieces (what comes next) I probably will try a recording in another church better suited for romantic organ music both from organ and acoustics side.

The recording equipment is always the same in my case: 2 condenser mics -> little mixer -> external sound card (48khz/24bit) -> notebook

Juufa: Yes, I experienced that whenever there were people in the church while I practised this fugue, I got positive reactions, and they liked the music. All Bach organ fugues are something really great, not only this. However I have to say, that I practised this piece more than 100 hours!! in order to completely memorize it as precondition to have the head free for articulation things. This only to tell how much effort is needed (in my case) for only some minutes organ music. However it makes much fun to play on a church organ, so go for it!!

 

This is a wonderful recording Olaf and I can do nothing but to congratulate that your long and hard work pays off so well. I could not hear a single mistake even though it appears to be some (already discussed). The trill is execute very well too.

G minor is a strong and sad key that often is found in famous works as in the Chopin Ballade you have already submitted. Absolutely one of my favorite keys.