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Henry Wood's orchestration of Bach's Toccata & Fuge

earlofsodbury

earlofsodbury

Wastrel.
I was unaware this even existed (orchestral Casual reporting-in...), until R3's current Proms-themed programming brought it to my attention.

What's not to love about taking an already magnificent musical edifice and deconstructing/reconstructing it for an exceedingly-Full orchestra, right? Especially when Wood pulled-off an identity switcheroo on contemporary musical-snobs by posing as an unknown Russian composer and thereby swapping adulation for the opprobrium more-usually heaped upon his larger-than-life efforts...

The only recording I could find is Lyrita's early 1990s CD...

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Unfortunately this has a rather bright'n'brash 1980s-digital feel, with a limited sense of recorded-acoustic, weak bass etc. It's easy to blame CD as a medium, but that would be to talk reproductive-spheres, as I've shelf-fulls of CDs that lack for none of these things...

My google-fu is weak, or perhaps the musical-snobbery refuses to die, as I've not found any later/better recordings than this one - any experts know of anything better hiding out there?

Thanks.
 
Sir Henry Wood, posing as a Russian called Klonowski, is an example of subtle English humour ... which mostly will be missed outside this sceptre'red isle!

Wood worked hard to introduce the British audience to the great music then not in the repertoire ...

Mostly Bach's organ works were the preserved of a few dusty Victorian organist in Britain at the time, and so he should be commended for demystifying some [at the time] fairly elitist taste.

However, though Wood's [Klonowki's - sic.] orchestration is very clear and as dramatic as intended, a great performance on a Baroque organ [such as by Helmut Walcha] gives the true dramatic and elemental impression at the heart of the music.

When the Toccata and Fugue [BWV 565] is almost as famous as Beethoven's Fifth Symphony we no longer need to advocate its phenomenal significance [even if it was not actually by JS Bach - controversial point] by re-arranging it.

Just a thought from George

EDIT:


Slatkin conducts the Wood version, and mighty it is:


And here is Helmut Walcha show an organ made in Bach's lifetime, making even more or it:


Sorry for pointing to the inconvenient truth. Bach knew exactly why he wrote what he did for the instruments he knew existed in his time ... perhaps unlike Beethoven who actually wrote music with a view of future generations.
 
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