It's not British, but...Bach's A Musical Offering for organ

At the back of my mind, I have always thought of Bach’s Musikalisches Opfer (A Musical Offering) BWV 1079 (1747) as being an academic work that may be an “Everest” in technique but lacked a sense of enjoyment and pleasure, and dare I say, cohesion. In fact, I would have agreed with Hubert Parry that it “is not of very great musical interest, but its general interest in connection with the personality of the composer is supreme.” This CD has allowed me to see this masterpiece in a different light that has given me a new enthusiasm for it. Up until this release my “go-to” edition was the Karl Richter 1963 recording on the Archiv Label (reissued as a part of the magnificent 1975 “complete” edition).

The story of the creation, performance, and interpretation of J.S. Bach’s A Musical Offering is a little convoluted to say the least. Essentially, it is a series of canons and ricercares (an early type of fugue) based on a single theme. Whilst JSB was visiting his son Carl Philip Emanuel, Kapellmeister at the court of Frederick the Great, the monarch invited Bach père to his palace in Potsdam, where he showed him a theme that he had devised. Bach was asked to improvise a six-part fugue on this subject and declined. But he did immediately invent a three-part fugue instead. On returning home, he decided to revisit the theme and created a large-scale work which did indeed include a six-part ricercare or fugue. It also contained a Trio Sonata originally scored for flute, violin, and continuo. The score was duly engraved by Schübler and was presented to Frederick. There have been several attempts at producing a definitive interpretation.

The advertising for the current CD explains that although scholars have solved the problem of instrumentation, there have been other “realisations” including Anton Webern’s orchestration of the Ricercar a 6 and Leslie Howard’s orchestral version of the entire work produced in 1990. What is heard on this disc is Cindy Castillo’s ‘take’ on A Musical Offering, which she has realized for the organ. She has reimagined the work to mark the completion of the Dominique Thomas instrument in Eglise Saint-Loup, Namur. This organ has been rebuilt in the Baroque style prevalent in Saxony and Thuringia in Bach’s day.

The most important feature of this new recording is the order of the movements. There have been various re-orderings, but it has been common for the canons to be played one after the other. This is what has always put me off this composition.

The record producer, Jérôme Lejeune, explains that they adopted “a very daring formula” which he suggests “will no doubt provoke a great number of reactions.”  They created a “flow that integrates what appears to be irreconcilable elements. This includes the Italian Sonata, the two ricercares, and the canons. To this end they open the recital with the Ricercar s 3 and close it with the monumental Ricercar a 6. And then they split up the Sonata into its four discreet movements, interspersed with the canons acting as a “commentary” on the proceedings.

The sound quality is perfect, with remarkable clarity throughout. The progress of the extraordinary counterpoint is crystal clear. The registrations are often magical. Even the “Canons” which I have always regarded as dry and dusty, find their valued place in this restructuring.

Cindy Castillo is a distinguished organist, known for her innovative cross-genre performances combining organ music with dance, video, and electronic music. She has won numerous awards, including first prize at the National Axion Classics competition and has been an artist-in-residence at the Sapporo Concert Hall in Japan. Castillo teaches at the Higher Institute of Music and Pedagogy in Namur and is the titular organist at the National Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Brussels.

The liner notes are in three parts, with a general introduction by Cindy Castillo and a discussion of the playing order by Jérôme Lejeune. There is a note on the instrument as well as the organ specification. No details of the organist are given. They are printed in English, German and French.

A Musical Offering remains a testament to Bach's ingenuity and his ability to transform a relatively simple musical idea into a profound and elaborate work. The present edition is set fair to make this “Offering” a more approachable and satisfying experience.

Track Listing:
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Musikalisches Opfer BWV 1079 (1747)
Cindy Castillo (organ)
rec. April 2024, Église Saint-Loup, Namur, France
Ricercar RIC472