Johann Sebastian Bach(1685-1750) Selected Organ Works Prelude & Fugue in B minor, BWV 544 Fantasia & Fugue(fragment) in C minor, BWV 562 Prelude & Fugue in E minor, BWV 548 Ricercar a 6 from Musical Offering, BWV 1979,5 Canonic Variations on "Vom Himmel hoch da komm' ich her, BWV 769 Organ Chorale "Vor deinen Thron tret ich hiermit, BWV 668 Hanssler 92.100 Recorded 1998 Rieger Organ of St. Katharinenkirche, Franfurt am Main(1990) Matin Lucker, Organ TT 79:12 Summary: Overbearing and Turgid - Not Recommended I had great expectations from this Martin Lucker disc. Lucker is a very strong and muscular Bach performing artist who gave us a fantastic Hanssler/Bach disc titled "Scales from Weimar". Unfortunately, the "Late Works from Leipzig" recording is burdened with problems, and the emphasis is on 'burden'. By the time I was finished listening to the recording, I felt as if a ton of bricks had caved in on me and no one was available to relieve the pressure. Lucker certainly maintains his strong and muscular approach, but this time it is heavy, turgid, somber, and slow. The Preludes & Fugues on the program, works he is best suited for, are only partially successful at best. Lucker seems to wring all the life out of these works with his slow pacing and extremely heavy and bass-laden registrations. In BWV 668, the last organ work composed by Bach on his deathbed, Lucker is so slow and somber; I much prefer this piece to represent Bach's glorious 'calling-card' into Heaven. With Lucker, it sounds like the dreaded last rites. Although Lucker does well with the Canonic Variations, there's nothing special in the interpretation; further, the work does not play into Lucker's strengths as a Bach performer. The six-part Ricercar from the Musical Offering is not often recorded on the organ likely because of the potential problems which can result from thick and smooth organ textures. Those problems are center-stage in readings such as from the quick paced Christopher Herrick on Hyperion. He's too much into legato with insufficient lift to the performance; the details which are so important in this piece are murky with Herrick. Although on piano, Nikolayeva invests the music with great detail so the listener can savor every musical strand. Martin Lucker provides all the muscle, intensity, and angularity lacking in Herrick's reading. Lucker is also quite slow with every phrase being examined and conveyed to the listener in as strong a manner as I've ever heard. As good as Lucker may be, I still prefer this ricercar played on piano or harpsichord; the work is so heavy on its own without the added weight of the organ. But if you want the strongest performance on organ, Lucker delivers the goods. Don's Conclusions: Two major reservations stop me from giving the Lucker recording a positive recommendation. First, it is questionable whether the Ricercar is a worthy item to program on organ, and Lucker extends it to the eighteen minute range. Second, the most powerful works on the disc are performed in an overbearing manner. I didn't anticipate these miscalculations from Lucker. He evidently was not in top interpretive form while planning and recording the program, and I advise readers to go with his "Scales from Weimar" disc. As for me, I'll just wait for his next disc on the horizon. I certainly have not given up on Lucker, but this present disc is not highly rewarding. Don Satz [log in to unmask]