Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

In this supplementary volume to Margaret Philips' well-received recordings of Bach's organ works are found pieces which for a variety of reasons were not included in the original set recorded between 2005 and 2009. There are alternative versions of pieces that are found in the main corpus and/or may not have been arranged by Bach (BWV 545b, BWV 584 and BWV 653b), others may not be intended for the organ (BWV 917 and the two Ricercars from the Musical Offering), and some are almost certainly not by Bach. The latter applies particularly to the Eight Short Preludes & Fugues which are included as they are still widely used as teaching material. One piece (BWV 1128) was yet to be rediscovered when this series of Bach recordings commenced. All of which sounds terribly technical and somewhat off putting but writing as someone who reveres Bach's vocal music without being particularly fond of his organ music I enjoyed hearing this collection (all of which sounded like Bach to me) and the booklet notes give much more of the background than I can include in a brief review.. Clearly it would be better to start your collection of Bach's organ music with the undisputed compositions but this supplementary volume is not without interest and Margaret Phillips is a great player. The featured instrument is the Drapps 1997 / Flentrop 2008 organ in historic style in Sint-Niklasskerk, Sint-Niklass, Belgium and organ spotters will appreciate the spec and photos in the CD booklet. So while this is a specialist release there is much to interest the general listener.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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