Abstract

Records

E. Power Biggs continues to record Johann Sebastian Bach on the organ in Symphony Hall, Boston--which means that most of the chorale-preludes of the Orgelbuchlein come off the three records of Columbia SL-227 as thick, coarse sounds fused by reverberation into a mass in which the strands of the contrapuntal texture are difficult to distinguish even with the help of the score that is provided with the records. The flowing accompaniment which Bach puts under the chorale melody Ick ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, and the changes he makes here and there in the melody itself, produce a marvelous piece; but in a dozen other instances the addition of such an accompaniment or figuration produces something the author find less impressive than the original chorale.