Bach: Preludes & Fugues, Vol.2

I would like to watch Mr. Newman at the console. His feet and fingers must truly fly. It is a shame that such a technique doesn't result in a satisfying musical experience. I've owned both volumes of his survey of Bach's free organ compositions (as opposed to the chorale based works) for years and always listen to his interpretations with fascination but no affection. It is all simply too fast - you may think your digital player is stuck in 2x mode from the hopped up speeds and the robotic nature of the playing. The interspersed chorale based compositions provide a welcome relief from the hyperkenetic activity that on the main menu - and a sense of longing that some of the sensitivity carried over to the preludes, fantasies, and fugues.

Bach's organ writing places demands on both the performer and the listener in its polyphonic complexity. Mr. Newman's smeary romps don't allow time for the music to register, so structure and grandeur suffer. When he employs a device like notes inegales in the prelude of S. 539 (in the companion Volume 1) the effect is jerky and unattractive.

He also has a preference for reed stops that he carries to excess. The result is often downright ugly. I've also purchased Mr. Newman's Newport Classics recordings of much of the same repertory, and the results are fast and garish there too. If you have a hankering to hear Bach played on a steam calliope or rendered on massed kazoos, this is for you. Otherwise, stick with Alain, Faguis, Walcha, etc.

Of course there will always be negative reviews of Anthony Newman's Bach; there have been since his debut album of Bach pedal harpsichord and organ music in the late 1960s. Since the Bach revival, 100 years after the master's death, his music has been played with a slow, even reverence that is appropriate for dusty musical museums. But as Newman has pointed out, one can revere Shakespeare but one wouldn't perform Shakespeare with reference but with passion. The same is true of Bach. Newman makes Bach exciting; it's that simple. Fast movements are often faster the commonly heard, he improvises ornamentation and he takes some of the same rhythmic liberties that were taken in Bach's time but the result is living music - musical - not ponderously intellectual. While you may not be used to this style it is likely that Bach was.

Anthony Newman makes Bach exciting.He may not satify the purest but I never get bored listing to Anthony playing Bach.I love the use of lots of reed pipes.I think I probably have every Bach cd and record that Anthony Newman has made.I have over 1000 organ cds and records and Newman is definitely my favorite Bach player.