Hard on the heels of the first commercial recording of these recently discovered organ chorales by Bach on Harmonia Mundi, comes another, this time from HMV. I explained something of their background in my review of the earlier record in October. Briefly, then, these chorales are contained in a volume of 82 such works belonging to the Lowell Mason Collection which Yale University acquired in 1873. This particular volume (LM4708) was brought by Mason to America in 1852 and was consequently over-looked by the editors of the Bach Gesellschaft. The layout of the chorales in this volume is similar to that of the Orgelbuchlein and includes 38 chorales attributed to Bach. Five of these—BWV601, 639, 719, 737 and 742—were previously known whilst two others—BWV714 and 957—contain hitherto unknown sections. Thus the total of unknown pieces by Bach amounts to 33.
Joseph Payne, the organist in the Harmonia Mundi version, plays only the unknown Bach pieces and is therefore able, but only just, to accommodate the music on to a single record. Werner Jacob, the organ ist of the present album, includes the previously known pieces listed above as well, and that, of course, takes him on to a second record which he completes with the Eight Short Preludes and Fugues, BWV553-60, attributed to Bach. Bach lovers in general and organists in particular will want to hear both versions and they will be well rewarded for their industry since the two approaches and the two instruments offer strong contrasts. Payne, if you recall, uses an instrument built by Bozeman-Gibson in 1983 for St Paul's Church, Brookline, Massachusetts. It satisfies many baroque music requirements and its specifications are given on the sleeve. Jacob plays a Silbermann organ in the Catholic Cathedral of Arlesheim in Switzerland. It was built in 1759-60 which sounds about right, but during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries it underwent all the usual structural alterations many of which were based on the tastes and beliefs of the times. It was further restored in the 1960s when a reconstruction was attempted which aimed at recapturing the original character of the instrument.
There is certainly more evidence of grandeur and fullness of sound in the Silbermann than was the case in the Bozeman-Gibson but I was not always convinced that Jacob's registration served the best interests of the music. He strikes me as being much more of a church organ ist than Joseph Payne. Jacob's treatment of chorale melody, his choice of colour and his more expansive view of the music all seem in accordance with good, and sometimes not so good, organ-loft tradition. Payne, as I remarked in my earlier review, is inclined towards understatement, but I did like his fresh, vigorous, chamber-music approach to the music. Jacob's textures can be a little muddy though I liked the authority which he brought to his performances. His tempos are almost invariably slower than those adopted by Payne. Indeed, he takes a full ten minutes or so longer to play the same music; by and large, that is in the interests of the cantus firmus on which Jacob places greater emphasis and achieves clearer definition than Payne. It may be, too that technically speaking Jacob is the more experienced organist; but there is no doubt in my mind that Payne's lucid understanding of the music, his clear textures and his lively spontaneity wholly uninfluenced, it seemed to me, by the drearier aspects of church-organ playing, provide a valuable insight to this music. In short I find that Jacob can be, on occasion, more imposing than Payne, but also dull. Payne is seldom imposing but his playing has a gentleness of approach as well as a stylish feeling for ornamentation which, in the end, gives me greater musical pleasure.
Both versions are well recorded and the pressings of this new release are immaculate. Over to you but, as I have strongly implied, there are two entirely different schools of thought at work here, each having its own strong and weak points.'