Dave Lampson writes:

>I'm rather amazed to see two ongoing surveys of his organ music, in
>addition to a few individual discs.  Dorian's set has reach volume 11,
>and Centaur is close behind with ten volumes so far.  Wow.

"Wow" is just how I felt when learning of all the organ music Pachelbel
wrote.  He's a great example of the hazards of thinking that some composers
were essentially one-work wonders.  Pachelbel's organ music is great stuff
and would likely be treasured by those who love Bach's organ music.

Bouchard, the organist for the Dorian series, has a catalog of all of
Pachelbel's organ music and comes up with 286 organ works highlighted by
almost 100 chorales and over 100 fugues.  I've already started taking the
Pachelbel organ plunge and have one of the Bouchard discs, one of the Payne
discs for Centaur, the volume 1 of Rubsam for Naxos, and a single disc from
John Butt on Harmonia Mundi.  Over the coming months, my intent is to buy
them all and then do a little review project.

What most impresses me at this point is how wonderful this organ music
sounds to me.  I could go the rest of my life without ever hearing the
Canon again, but I think that the organ music is where Pachelbel's real
strengths reside.  Also, the recordings by each of the artists I mention
above are very enjoyable.  I have heard some complaining about Bouchard
not being sufficiently vibrant, but I consider his performances to have
much stature and depth.

Don Satz
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