Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Prélude et Fugue en do majeur, BWV 545
Prélude en Fugue en la majeur, BWV 536
Prélude et Fugue en sol mineur, BWV 542
Prélude et Fugue en la mineur, BWV 543
Prélude et Fugue en si mineur, BWV 544
Prélude et Fugue en do majeur, BWV 547
Prélude et Fugue en fa mineur, BWV 534
Prélude et Fugue en sol majeur, BWV 541
Prélude et Fugue en do mineur, BWV 546
Prélude et Fugue en mi mineur, BWV 548

Dean Billmeyer, orgue

Orgue Sauer, 1904, Leipzig, Allemagne
Orgue Sauer, 1909, Bad Salzungen, Allemagne

In 1913, Karl Straube published his edition of ten Preludes and Fugues by Johann Sebastian Bach, who had been his illustrious predecessor as cantor as St Thomas’s Church in Leipzig. The late Romantic edition’s detailed performance instructions — including fingering, dynamics, phrasing, articulation, and registration — make it a seminal milestone in the performance history of Bach’s organ works. Dean Billmeyer breathes new life into this significant edition, performing the pieces at historic organs built by Wilhelm Sauer. The two instruments heard on this disc were completed shortly after the turn of the century: they have retained their original condition and boast an impressively beautiful sound. With great technical skill and sensibility, Dean Billmeyer masterfully transports his audience into the early years of the twentieth century and gives insight into the period’s understanding of Bach’s music. The organist gives listeners an impression of what Bach sounded like when the Romantic era was still the present and had only just begun to become history. Billmeyer is appointed professor at the University of Minnesota. At this university he is the successor of Heinrich Fleischer, a disciple of Karl Straube.