The album opens with the famous Toccata And Fugue In D Minor, originally a work for the organ. It was later re-made into a work for full orchestra. The conductor Leopold Stokowski popularized the music in Disney's Fantasia 1940. The "evil" sound of the ominous organ, particularily the opening toccata, was featured in the original 1930's "Dracula". It is still regarded as a sort of Halloween anthem. The toccata, strongly accented, is followed by a lyrical fugue which he builds on later to a dramatic crescendo and finale. This was Bach's specialty- counterpoint; many melodies being played at once. Also worth noticing is that Baroque music always ended in a decidely dramatic major chord because it was thought to really be the right way to end a piece of music. Bach could never imagine closing his music in pianissimo or a minor chord because it would seem unfinished. The rest of this album features Bach's Brandenburg concerti excerpts, Organ Prelude, Well-Tempered Clavier keyboard music, works for chorus Magnificat and Mass in B, Violin Concertos 1 and 2 and Harpsichord concertos. The Mainz Chamber Orchestra, which is mostly featured on here, may not be the most talented or perfect Baroque performers, but they do deliver a splendid job. If anything, this cd should get you hooked into Bach.
