Reviewed by Ko Unoki in the United States on October 18, 2001 for Amazon
Of all the hundreds of recordings of the famous Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565, the 1954 Decca recording of Karl Richter playing this piece at the Victoria Hall organ in Geneva, Switzerland, is my undisputable favorite.
Although the sound quality cannot be considered top rate (the recording was one of the first stereo recordings by Decca), Richter conveys the full drama of the piece with his characteristic and heavy emphasis on the bass line of Bach’s music and builds up a climax that is absolutely astounding and seldom replicated by other organists.
The other pieces on this compact disc are also excellently played, although at times there seems to be a fluidity or liberty with the tempo in the Passacaglia in C minor (especially with the coda of the massive fugue that follows the Passacaglia). In the Fantasia in G minor, Richter ends the Fantasia with the final tonic chord in G minor stretched out for an astounding 13 seconds. No doubt that Richter was testing the lungs of the massive Victoria Hall organ! Aside from these minor idiosyncrasies, the choice of registration by Richter is inventive and colorful, and although he plays at a leisurely pace compared to more recent performers, the intricate and almost mathematically logical construction of Bach’s music is superlatively and straightforwardly conveyed without any monotony or hint of boredom.
Ko Unoki
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