In celebration of master organist Jean Guillou’s 80th birthday Dorian Sono Luminus is proud to announce the re-issue and remastering of Guillou’s Bach Organ recordings for Dorian Recordings as a six CD box set and part of the “Best of Dorian” Series. 

Jean Guillou is unique in our time. He is the last in a distinguished line of composer-organists, a virtuoso who creates, a Frescobaldi, a Sebastian Bach, a Liszt, a Widor. This rare blend of creator and interpreter imbues his traversal of Bach’s œuvre for organ with a special vision, a unique spirit. Sebastian Bach, who owned a copy of Frescobaldi’s Fiori Musicali, approached the music of his great Roman predecessor as though it were contemporary, the creation of a
peer, the handiwork of an esteemed colleague. To Bach, the keyboard works of Frescobaldi were as “new” as his own, as new as the Organ Masses of Couperin-le-Grand and de Grigny. To Guillou, the organ works of Bach are as “new” as those of Dupré, Messiaen, or Guillou. In these innovative, iconoclastic performances, virtuoso-composer meets virtuoso-composer, creator meets creator, and re-creator meets re-creator, all on an equal footing; together Bach and Guillou span the centuries like the Shakespearean colossus. Those who seek an “authentic,” “scholarly” approach to the Bach organ works “will,” to quote Sir Adrian Boult, “have no difficulty in finding many excellent recordings in this vein.” 

Recorded on the The Kleuker-Steinmeyer Organ of the Tonhalle, Zürich and The Kleuker Organ of Église Notre Dame des Neiges, Alpe d’Huez, France this box set contains 5 discs that were volumes 1-5 of Bach’s organ works as recorded by Guillou as well as his transcription of the Goldberg Variations on disc 6. All of the albums have been newly remastered and packaged in this handsome 6 disc set. With eight additional discs available in the catalog, Guillou’s legacy as a master of his instrument is well represented and alive in the Sono Luminus Catalog. 

Track List

Disc 1
1. Prelude and Fugue in A Minor, BWV 543
2-4. Chorale Preludes, BWV 599-601
5-7. Trio Sonata No. 1 in E-Flat Major, BWV 525
8-12. Chorale Preludes, BWV 602-606
13. Prelude and Fugue in E Minor, BWV 533
14. Chorale Partita, "O Gott, du frommer, Gott", BWV 767
15. Fuge on a Theme by Corelli, BWV 579
16. Fantasia and Fugue in G Minor, BWV 542

Disc 2
1-2. Toccata and Fugue in D Minor "Dorian", BWV 538
3-6. Chorale Preludes, BWV 607-610
7-8. Chorale Preludes, BWV 651 and 653
9. Allabreve in D Major, BWV 589
10. Chorale Preludes, BWV 654
11-12. Chorale Preludes, BWV 702 and 703
13. Prelude in A Minor, BWV 569
14-25. Partita on "Sei gegrüßet, Jesu gutig", BWV 768

Disc 3
1. Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565
2-3. Chorale Preludes, BWV 611 and 612
4-6. Chorale Preludes, BWV 652, 655, and 656
7-9. Trio Sonata No. 2 in C Minor
10-14. Chorale Preludes, BWV 690-693
15. Prelude in G Major, BWV 568
16-17. Chorale Preludes, BWV 695 and 701
18-19. Prelude and Fugue in B Minor, BWV 544

Disc 4 
1-2. Toccata and Fugue in F Major, BWV 540
3-4. Chorale Preludes, BWV 657 and 658a
5-6. Chorale Preludes, BWV 704 and 705
7. Fantasia in C Minor, BWV 562
8-10. Chorale Preludes, BWV 710-712
11-12. Prelude and Fugue in C Minor, BWV 549
13-16. Chorale Preludes, BWV 706, 708, 709 and 713
17-18. Prelude and Fugue in E Minor, BWV 548

Disc 5 
1-2. Prelude and Fugue in C Major, BWV 547
3-4. Chorale Preludes, BWV 659 and 660
5-7. Chorale Settings, BWV 714-716
8. Fugue in C Minor "Legrenzi", BWV 574
9. Chorale Setting, BWV 653b
11-14. Pastorella in F Major, BWV 539
15-16. Prelude and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 539
17. Fantasia in C Major, BWV 570
18-20. Chorale Preludes, BWV 645-647
21-22. Prelude and Fugue in E Major, BWV 566

Disc 6
1-32. The Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 (Transcribed by Jean Guillou)

Total time: disc 1—73:20, 2—62:55, 3—71:03, 4—67:49, 5—77:08, 6—53:56
Release date: May 2010
UPC: 053479210425

Also Available From

Spotify

Amazon

ArkivMusic

More from Sono Luminus