J.S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier: Desenclos at Four OrgansFrédéric Desenclos, student of Litaize and Isoir and assistant organist at the Chapelle Royale in Versailles, performs the complete Well-Tempered Clavier using four organs in the Netherlands and France. The first book of preludes and fugues is played on the The Hague’s Oude Katholieke Kerk organ built by Garrels in 1726 and reunited/restored by Flentrop in 1994 with two manuals, pedal and 18 stops. Also heard is the organ at the Church of St. Vincent in Lyon, built by Richard Freytag in 1994 with a case by Bernard Aubertin. It has two manuals and pedal with 31 stops. The second book is played on two organs also. The first is at the Church of St. Étienne in Baïgorry in the Basque country of France. It was built in 1999 by the Alsatian firm Rémy Mahler and has 27 stops on two manuals and pedal. The second is an organ built in 1723 by Verhofstad with further work done by Wolfferts in 1786, Heijneman in 1796, Naber in 1860 and Blank in 1986. It is of three manuals and pedal with 39 stops and is located in Zaltbommel, The Netherlands. Stoplists and photos for each of the organs and registrations for each of the works are listed in the CD booklet. Henri de Rohan-Csermak contributes a well-reasoned essay on the works and their historical importance. |