LDV201

20 BACH_TOCCATAS & FUGUES TOCCATA AND FUGUE IN D MINOR BWV 565 This piece, composed by Bach at an early age (he was just turned twenty), is not only very popular but also very famous - perhaps even too famous, for the many second-rate performances that exist have helped to wipe out the bold assertiveness of the initial toccata and smooth down the stunning introduction in which the organ pierces the silence with all its force. The subject of the fugue is based on a style that is appropriate for string instruments. It is now believed that it may be the transcription of a piece originally intended for the violin. It is as smooth as the toccata were abrupt. The rhapsodic spirit soon appears, interrupting the fugue and imposing a frenzied and grandiose finale as a pendant to the first section. TRIO IN F MAJOR BWV 587 Amongst the works by Bach that have gradually turned up over the years, there are a few isolated pieces with no particular destination. This is the case with the few trios, whichmust have served as slowmovements for sonatas or concertos. This one also shows Bach’s admiration for his foreign colleagues: it is a transcription, almost in its entirety, of the fourth section of L’Impériale, the third Ordre from François Couperin’s Les Nations.