Bach's early keyboard toccatas, unique for their time, blend North and Central German, free and strict, and traditional and experimental styles, redefining the toccata genre.
Compositional Technique
The Fugue in C minor BWV 574b, a pivotal work from Bach's Arnstadt period, uses a theme by Giovanni Maria Bononcini, not Giovanni Legrenzi as previously thought.
Composer Biography
At age 20, Johann Sebastian Bach undertook a four-month journey on foot to Lübeck to hear the famous organist Dietrich Buxtehude.
Recording & Production
This album features Benjamin Alard performing on two different instruments: an organ by Freytag-Tricoteaux (2001) after Arp Schnitger, and a Blumenroeder claviorganum (2009-2010).
Composer's Artistic Vision
Bach's early works were heavily influenced by the 'stylus fantasticus' — a free, rhapsodic style of playing developed by North German organ masters like Buxtehude and Reinken.
Composition History
The 'Weimar Tablature,' discovered recently, contains Bach's earliest surviving handwriting: a copy of Dietrich Buxtehude's chorale fantasia 'Nun freut euch, lieben Christen g'mein' from around 1698.
Composer Biography
Georg Böhm, an organist in Lüneburg, was a significant teacher and mentor to the young Bach, introducing him to the demanding North German organ repertoire and French styles.
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