On Bach and the Romanticist, brilliant organist and scholar
Lorenzo Ghielmi draws direct parallels between the organ works of J.S. Bach and Johannes Brahms by dividing his program into equal, corresponding halves: both composers' chorale preludes -- 11 taken from the Orgelbüchlein and the Elf Choralvorspiele, Op. posth. 122 -- take up the lion's share of the CD; but to make the comparison even neater, Brahms' Prelude and Fugue in A minor, WoO9, is matched by Bach's Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV 543, and these pieces introduce their respective portions of the program. Where
Ghielmi makes the strongest distinctions is in his choice of instruments: Bach's music is appropriately performed on the brightly colored, Baroque-styled Ahrend organ (1991) of the church of San Simpliciano, Milan, Italy; and Brahms' works are played on the richer, Romantic Walcker organ (1887-1888, restored 1982-1984) of the Stadtkirche Winterthur, Switzerland. Their different registrations give a proper period flavor to each composer's works, and contribute more depth and interest than the CD's quid pro quo arrangement might suggest. Edel's digital reproduction is skillfully engineered and unprocessed, so the sound is wonderfully alive and clean, and apparently recorded at floor level to eliminate the noises of the organs' mechanisms.