Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor

I decided to keep things more up to date and upload some recordings every now and then.
To start off nicely I just recorded a great little organ piece which is also probably one of the most well known. It is the Toccata and Fugue by Johann Sebastian Bach, BWV 565.

I rearranged the piece for violin solo but stayed very close to the organ version. The work is transposed to A-minor to make best use of the violin’s range and it works surprisingly well despite the polyphonic limitations of the violin.
In fact in the 1980s Bach’s authorship was challenged (mostly because of stylistic problems) by Peter Williams and as a possible explanation it was suggested that the Toccata and Fugue may have been written for violin originally. He transcribed the piece for the violin. It (I am talking about classical
versions of course) has been recorded among others in slightly differing versions by Maxim Vengerov, Andrew Manze and I have seen live videos by Sergej Krylov who I am a big fan of.

There seem to be a couple of versions out there that are possibly obtainable somewhere but I decided to write my own edition although I was obviously inspired by the above recordings.

 

Anyway, have a listen, I hope you enjoy it.

J.S. Bach – Toccata and Fugue BWV 565 – violin solo – Richter by keeptruemusic

 

Also, here is slightly more in depth information about the Toccata and Fugue.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toccata_and_Fugue_in_D_minor,_BWV_565

 

 

© Hartmut Richter 2024