Scott Dettra plays Bach, Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C, BWV 564

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C, BWV 564 Scott Dettra, organ Recorded live in the Cathedral of the Madeleine Salt Lake City, Utah, USA Eccles Organ Festival, 29th Season 8 January 2023 Watch the entire recital here: @ecclesorganfestival Bach’s Toccata, Adagio, and Fugue in C Major, BWV 564, dates from his Weimar years (1708-1717). Known for his extraordinary improvisations, Bach was often hired to publicly demonstrate new organs. The character of this piece suggests it may have been used in such “organ trials.” The improvisatory introduction to the Toccata brings to mind the North German praeludium style with a hesitant opening gesture erupting into dazzling scale passages and a joyful pedal solo—a test of the entire compass of the keyboards, even reaching high D on the pedalboard. A snappy polyphonic concerto follows with two-bar motifs echoing from one hand to the other. The ensuing Adagio in A minor is styled after a slow concerto movement with a hauntingly expressive melody accompanied by simple manual chords and pizzicato pedal octaves. An enigmatic bridge marked Grave concludes the movement with suffocating seven-part harmony—a test of the organ’s wind supply (and the stamina of the bellows pumpers!). The spirited Fugue is a 6/8 dance with a melodically simple subject and dramatic rests—a test of the acoustics in the church. Rather than amassing fugal density, the fugue freely evolves with brilliant two- and three-voice counterpoint ending on a brief C major chord. (From the concert program notes, by Dr. Kenneth Udy)