Dean Billmeyer - Straube Plays Bach (2018) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

In 1913, Karl Straube published his edition of ten Preludes and Fugues by Johann Sebastian Bach, who had been his illustrious predecessor as cantor as St Thomas’s Church in Leipzig. The late Romantic edition’s detailed performance instructions — including fingering, dynamics, phrasing, articulation, and registration — make it a seminal milestone in the performance history of Bach’s organ works. Dean Billmeyer breathes new life into this significant edition, performing the pieces at historic organs built by Wilhelm Sauer. The two instruments heard on this album were completed shortly after the turn of the century: they have retained their original condition and boast an impressively beautiful sound. With great technical skill and sensibility, Dean Billmeyer masterfully transports his audience into the early years of the twentieth century and gives insight into the period’s understanding of Bach’s music. The organist gives listeners an impression of what Bach sounded like when the Romantic era was still the present and had only just begun to become history. Billmeyer is appointed professor at the University of Minnesota. At this university he is the successor of Heinrich Fleischer, a disciple of Karl Staube.

Tracklist:
1. Prelude & Fugue in C Major, BWV 545 : Prelude 02:30
2. Prelude & Fugue in C Major, BWV 545 : Fugue 04:36
3. Prelude & Fugue in A Major, BWV 536 : Prelude 02:32
4. Prelude & Fugue in A Major, BWV 536 : Fugue 05:46
5. Fantasie & Fugue in G Minor, BWV 542 : Fantasia 08:39
6. Fantasie & Fugue in G Minor, BWV 542 : Fugue 06:56
7. Prelude & Fugue in A Minor, BWV 543 : Prelude 05:46
8. Prelude & Fugue in A Minor, BWV 543 : Fuga 09:30
9. Prelude & Fugue in B Minor, BWV 544 : Prelude 09:07
10. Prelude & Fugue in B Minor, BWV 544 : Fugue 07:47
11. Prelude & Fugue in C Major, BWV 547 : Prelude 05:31
12. Prelude & Fugue in C Major, BWV 547 : Fugue 07:41
13. Prelude & Fugue in F minor, BWV 534 : Prelude 05:44
14. Prelude & Fugue in F minor, BWV 534 : Fugue 06:50
15. Prelude & Fugue in G Major, BWV 541 : Prelude 02:48
16. Prelude & Fugue in G Major, BWV 541 : Fugue 05:49
17. Prelude & Fugue in C Minor, BWV 546 : Prelude 08:24
18. Prelude & Fugue in C Minor, BWV 546 : Fugue 08:44
19. Prelude & Fugue in E Minor, BWV 548 : Prelude 07:51
20. Prelude & Fugue in E Minor, BWV 548 : Fugue 08:04

Personnel:
Dean Billmeyer, organ
Michaeliskirche in Leipzig