LDV201

ANDRÉ ISOIR 19 TOCCATA, ADAGIO AND FUGUE IN C MAJOR BWV 564 Once again, this is an early work, dating from the Weimar period (1708-1717), when Bach composed most of his organ pieces. The toccata is in two large sections of unequal length: first of all, a recitative full of surprises, in which the composer’s imagination races along like the fingers on the keyboard; then comes the very long pedal solo, one of the longest, and certainly the most original, in the whole of Bach’s œuvre: nineteen bars, during which units echo one another, are embellished with demisemiquaver turns and trills with an abundance of semiquaver triplets. The adagio is in complete contrast: in just a few bars, it presents one of finest melodies Bach ever wrote, performed by the soprano in strict four-part polyphony, while the bass provides regular punctuation, like the pizzicati from a string ensemble. The subject of the fugue has a certain analogy with the incipit of the toccata, its relationship being that of response to question. But its development shows how Bach learned tomaster his natural impetuosity by subjecting it to an elaborate formal plan: in order to highlight his subject, the composer sets it against a very different countersubject with its ornamental scrolls. More and more brilliant, the divertimento leads into a toccata finale.