VIRGIL FOX - THE BACH GAMUT (CD)

VIRGIL FOX/THE BACH GAMUT (CD)

Our Highest Recommendation! This is a Sonic Spectacular!

It was serendipity, indeed. In September, 1976, America’s most renowned organist, Virgil Fox, was to play a series of concerts at St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco. RR’s own “Prof.” Keith Johnson was invited to record everything, and he did, using his legendary hand-built three-channel analogue tape machine. Now, after years of complex negotiations, RR is releasing highlights from these concerts, featuring the mighty music of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Virgil Fox was always controversial. Like Vladimir Horowitz, Fox always gave highly personal interpretations of everything he played, and purists frequently railed at the liberties he took. But unlike many musicians found on organ benches, Fox was never dull. Invariably, he made one hear the music in a new way, and audiences roared their approval—as you’ll hear at these live performances.

Ted Alan Worth, a respected organist and producer of “The Bach Gamut” concerts, had this to say: “The audience was composed of people from every age, class, musical taste, and lifestyle; but hordes of young people, whom Virgil had captured as his fans from ‘Heavy Organ’ concerts, dominated. The whole audience sat silent and attentive, transfixed by Virgil’s dynamic approach to the transcendent counterpoint of Sebastian Bach. These concerts were tours de force, and I marveled at Virgil’s stamina and prodigious technique—and memory!—as he tossed off one after another of the monumental preludes, toccatas, fantasies and fugues with ease, permeating them all with pure joy. The audience erupted with spontaneous praise after each of the mighty blockbusters.” —from Virgil Fox (The Dish) by Richard Torrence and Marshall Yaeger.

Now, these memorable performances can be heard by today’s music lovers. “Prof.” Keith Johnson has lovingly restored and remixed the original three-channel analogue masters and transferred them with HDCD® technology to compact disc. Although the age of the tapes and the circumstances of the live performances make the sonics unlike RR’s current work, the importance of these historic Fox performances weighed heavily in our decision to release them.

TRACK LISTING
1–2 Fantasy and Fugue in G minor, BWV 542 (10:43)
3 Fugue Reprise (:36)
4 Sheep May Safely Graze, BWV 208 (5:56)
5–7 Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C, BWV 564 (15:58)
8 St. Matthew Passion – Finale, BWV 244 (6:07)
9–10 Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV 543 (8:03)
11 Air on a G String, BWV 1068 (5:24)
12–13 Prelude and Fugue in D, BWV 532 (8:02)
14 I Call to Thee, Lord Jesus Christ, BWV 639 (5:02)