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Kimberly Marshall, Bach's 325th birthday, Early Music, Volume 39, Issue 3, August 2011, Pages 451–454, https://doi.org/10.1093/em/car062
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2010 marked the 325th anniversary of the birth of J. S. Bach. The many recordings of Bach's organ music that have appeared in the past few years demonstrate the high degree to which the Cantor's music is prized centuries later. These feature historical instruments and fine new organs inspired by historical models, played by veterans of historical performance as well as by young emerging artists. The plethora of Bach recordings of such high artistic and sonic quality results from the combination of Bach scholarship, highly trained organists, organ restorations and the construction of new instruments based on historical models.
The only recording here that identifies the 325th anniversary as its catalyst is Gail Archer's J. S. Bach—‘The Transcendent Genius’: The Great 18 Chorale Preludes BWV651–668 (Meyer Media MM10014, rec 2010, 80′), performed on the 2002 Fritts organ at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. This instrument is the perfect vehicle for the varied textures in Bach's Leipzig collection, and Archer adroitly allies her tempos and articulations to the registrations to reflect the Affekt of each chorale setting. Especially beautiful are her interpretations of ‘Von Gott will ich nicht lassen’ BWV658 and the first ‘Allein Gott’ prelude BWV662. As a personal appendix to her informative programme notes, Archer relates that she grew up singing these chorales in church with her family and that she considers them part of her cultural heritage. Similarly, the American organ-builder Paul Fritts has continued the legacy of European historical organs by creating a corpus of instruments in the United States. Archer's recording of the ‘Leipzig 18’ on the Fritts organ reflects the impact of Bach's music well outside the culture for which it was originally conceived.
