Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland in G Minor

Popularised through piano transcriptions (by Busoni among others), the expressive profundity of BWV 659 is by no means confined to the organ loft. It is, moreover, the first of three treatments of the Advent chorale anticipating Christ’s coming to be found in The Eighteen. (Its successor, BWV 660, cultivates close imitation in the accompaniment, while the grandiose BWV 661 lets rip with the chorale tune in long notes in the pedals.) Everything about BWV 659 is calculated to evoke a sense of expectation. The restless, forward-moving bass underpins a masterfully free reimagining of the chorale melody in the right hand, supple and with an eye to what might be around the corner—a corner variously suspended for contemplative interludes that allow the ear to ready itself for the next poignant instalment. The middle texture, meanwhile, forges a duet for the left hand in which the chorale contours can be discerned among the plangent harmonic in-filling. And when the bass is finally stilled, the last three bars hover, full of yearning and wonderment. About J.S. Bach’s 18 Chorale Preludes Towards the end of his life Bach became preoccupied with notions of legacy and in the 18 Leipzig Chorales he collected and revised a clutch of chorale preludes composed during his time as organist in Weimar, Arnstadt and Mühlhausen. Starting with an imposing fantasia, the scheme sets out to demonstrate an encyclopaedic variety of large-scale chorale prelude possibilities—a “last will and testament” companion to the early (and incomplete) Orgelbüchlein BWV 599-644. Two chorales are each included in three different guises; and the collection—which profoundly influenced Schumann and Mendelssohn—ends on a note of utmost simplicity with a prelude Bach is supposed to have dictated from his deathbed, a touching anecdote that is likely apocryphal.