Johann Sebastian Bach:
Fantasia super ‘Komm, Heiliger Geist’, BWV 651
‘Komm, Heiliger Geist’, BWV 652
Sonata No. 3 in D minor, BWV 527
Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565
Fantasia in G major ('Piece d’Orgue'), BWV 572
Passacaglia in C minor, BWV 582

Johann Adam Reincken:
Fugue in G minor

Ann-Helena Schlüter:
Rapture
Shades

Heinrich Scheidemann:
‘Komm, Heiliger Geist, Herre Gott’

The Trost organ of the Waltershausen Stadtkirche in Thuringia is considered a reference instrument of the baroque period and thus offers an ideal and authentic opportunity to rediscover the organ music of Johann Sebastian Bach and his predecessors.

The organ in the Waltershausen Stadtkirche, designed by Tobias Heinrich Gottfried Trost and built between 1724 and 1755, is not only the largest baroque organ in Thuringia, but – with its three manuals, 47 stops and approximately 7,000 pipes, of which 70 % are still original – it is also a reference instrument for the interpretation of German baroque works, and especially those of Johann Sebastian Bach. (As an organ expert and outstanding organist himself, Bach was very familiar with Trost’s instruments.) This programme presents the virtues of this instrument via famous organ works by Bach from various of his creative phases: the Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565, the Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582, and the Fantasia in G major, BWV 572, were composed between 1707 and 1712 in Arnstadt, Mühlhausen and Weimar respectively, whilst the Sonata No. 3 in D minor, BWV 527, as well as the chorale arrangements represent Bach’s Leipzig period from 1725 onwards.

The organist Ann-Helena Schlüter presents the fascinating sonorities of the Trost organ in all its facets, allowing us to rediscover Bach’s famous compositions as well as works by Johann Adam Reincken and Heinrich Scheidemann in their authentic soundscape.

---

Recording: Stadtkirche Waltershausen, April 15 - 16, 2021.