When we talk of magnificent organ works, we’re talking in the range of Reger, Boëllmann, Widor, and of course... the master himself, Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach was way ahead of his time, especially in terms of his harmony, even though his style might be old-fashioned.

Bach wrote 2 toccatas and fugues in D minor—BWV 565, which you all know, and BWV 538, the so called “Dorische”. The two pieces are quite different musically. Like the Fantasia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 562, it is monothematic. It opens with a sixteenth-note motif that continues almost uninterrupted to the end of the piece, and includes elaborate concertato effects. Bach even notates manual changes for the organist, an unusual practice in the day as well as in Bach's organ output. The fugue contains an unusually old-sounding subject and constantly features leaps of a perfect 4th, an unusual fugal interval. The polyphony is only interrupted in the last 4 bars, with huge chords leading into a picardy third to close it off.

0:00 I. Toccata
5:33 II. Fugue

Performer: Leo van Doeselaar [From the Netherlands Bach Society]
Score: IMSLP

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