Nicholas Kenyon 

Bach: Organ Trio Sonatas BWV 525-530 arranged for multiple instruments – review

Florilegium's ensemble versions of these sonatas for organ are a hit-and-miss affair, writes Nicholas Kenyon
  
  


The trio sonatas that Bach wrote, probably for his son Wilhelm Friedemann to master his skills at the organ, are so perfect that you can understand why others have plundered them for different instruments. I love the old Julian Bream/George Malcolm versions for lute and harpsichord; success depends on a perfect balance between three lines (two hands and pedals on the organ) which makes some of Florilegium's rescorings sound odd. The most successful are BWV 525 and 526, nicely done with flute and violin duetting equally over continuo. In others, octave transpositions and an underbalanced harpsichord take the edge off the equal music of Bach's originals.

 

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