I was quite intrigued by some of the content of the thread at TOP on recordings of Bach's organ music, because so many members there expressed such divergent opinions on what's to be preferred and why. I really would like to get myself a complete recording at some point. Actually I have one, the Teldec one by Ton Koopman, but I don't find this satisfactory in a lot of ways: as usual his ornamentation goes a bit haywire sometimes, and (more annoyingly) he alternates the chorale preludes with his choir singing the chorales, which isn't the way I like to listen to this music at all. I've been wondering for a while about getting hold of the (not very complete, but I can do without the offcuts) second of Helmut Walcha's recordings, which is how I got to know the music back in the days of borrowing LPs from the Swansea public library. I would imagine that these show their age technically, while remaining quite remarkable for their linear clarity (which is all-important really). But there are plenty of recordings I don't know the first thing about. Are there any experts on the repertoire here present who can advise?

Thanks rauschwerk. I think I might be a bit HIPper than you... while not disapproving as such of Bach on modern instruments it isn't a thing I actually find myself wanting to hear, not so much because of the instruments but the way they tend to be played. On the other hand I'm still not entirely convinced about OVPP in Bach's vocal music, though this is more to do with such performances still being somewhat embryonic in style. I'd rather listen to JEG's assured performances of the cantatas than Kuijken's (at least those I've heard) which still seem to me less than the sum of their parts (but that's a whole other story with a thread of its own).

My problem is that I don't really have much idea of what's more or less HIP in organ playing. I don't like big modern instruments in Bach, and I think I like well-defined but not showy registrations, but beyond that ít's unknown territory for me. Then there's the question of how the music is recorded. Should this be more like how the music sounds in the organ loft or more like how it sounds to the congregation? The former would presumably be clearer but the latter would be the sound as designed into the instrument by its builder. I just don't know what my preference would be. I should say that in technical terms the finest organ recording I know is Olivier Latry's Messiaen.

The argument against using the heels is (as I understand it) largely one advanced by Ton Koopman. His thinking goes something like this: the use of the heel in Bach's day was unknown, as is proved by his organ music which is all capable of being played only with the toes.

Some of us regard this as utterly naive for the following reasons:

a) even if it were possible to play all Bach's pedal parts with the toes, it is also perfectly possible to play it with both toes and heels. This (I feel) seriously weakens Koopman's rather pedantic argument

b) I do not in fact agree that ALL Bach's pedal lines can be played merely with the toes! I challenge anybody to perform the subject of the D Major Fugue (BWV 532) with only the toes - and the same goes (in my view) for the opening of the accompanying Prelude (which begins with a rising D Major scale on the solo pedals covering a full octave). Also there are numerous pedal passages in the 6 organ Trio Sonatas that are well-nigh impossible to play without a judicious use of heels as well as toes.

Mr martle is of course quite right - using only toes impacts very markedly upon the smoothness and phrasing of Bach's bass lines. The oppressive and mechanical detached sound that comes from Koopman's pedalling (as well as that of others with similar views) is a source of great irritation to me since it deprives the bass lines of the melodic subtlety that nonetheless issues from the manuals. Certainly in earlier music - especially French organ music - where the pedal lines are mostly given over to cantus firmi melodies, toes alone can be used very effectively without any difficulties. But to impose this upon the more florid bass lines found in Bach and his northern contemporaries and immediate predecessors is (to me) the unacceptable face of cold-blooded HIP.

I cannot give Richard a clear answer to his main question, since it all depends upon taste. But the two performers who had the most formative influences upon me as a student were Helmut Walcha and Lionel Rogg (both of whom played upon fabulous instruments), and I can point out in saying this that I was at around the same time a pupil of Simon Preston!  Some of Rogg's early recordings are being re-released (I have just purchased a CD set of his Art of Fugue coupled with the Concerti transcriptions). They have not - I am pleased to say - lost any of their magic over time.

Baz

Peter Hurford is a good bargain choice, but I suppose the recording quality is not quite up to modern standards. (It's good, though.)  Otherwise Christopher Herrick on Hyperion is excellent and the CDs are available separately.

For a very recent set, I am enjoying Margaret Phillips on Regent; she's now reached Volume 4. Superb playing and recordings on some imaginatively chosen instruments! (And Gillian Weir, of course, who includes one volume recorded in the Thomaskirche, Leipzig!)

Richard, you might like to investigate the series of recordings by Gerhard Weinberger on CPO. I don't have the lot, but unlike many "old instrument" recordings which use organs roughly contemporary with Bach but out of the way geographically, all the instruments used by Weinberger are in the Saxon/Thuringia area, most of them very well restored. Some of the tempi will sound perhaps a bit on the safe side: but I reckon that might be as much because of the peculiarities of the action on some of the instrument.

Of the CDs I have from that series, vol. 7 is perhaps my favourite, recorded on the Trost organ in Altenburg Castle (one of the few surviving instruments Bach is known to have played), including a particularly imposing account of the Passacaglia, as well as a nice combination of chorale preludes and trio sonatas.

Some of these CDs seem to be a bit difficult to get hold of at the moment; but, as the series seems to have been recently completed, I'm hoping CPO might release the cycle in a single box. Well worth watching out for.