With volumes 6 to 10 Peter Kofler continues his complete recording of Johann Sebastian Bach’s organ works that he started in 2017. Unlike earlier complete recordings that rely on historical instruments, this ambitious project emerges from working with a ‘modern’ instrument. For not only was Johann Sebastian Bach the perfector of a great polyphonic era; he also acted as an innovator and a catalyst, particularly in the realm of organ music.

In March 2017 organist and harpsichordist Peter Kofler launched his ongoing Bach project: a complete recording of Johann Sebastian Bachs organ works. Unlike performers of earlier complete recordings, Kofler opted for a modern instrument for this enterprise. For not only was J. S. Bach the perfecter of a great polyphonic era, he was an innovator and stimulator as well, particularly in the field of organ music.

The genre accompanied him for almost his entire creative career: the sacred choral song op. 30 was written by the 23-year-old Johannes Brahms in 1856, the Fünf Gesänge for mixed choir a cappella are his late legacy in the field of secular choral song, composed between 1886 and 1888. In between lie the Drei Gesänge, composed at a time when Brahms was also very practically involved with choral singing as a choirmaster, then the Sieben Lieder for four to eight-part choir and finally his large-scale Mottete op. 74, No. 1 Warum ist das Licht gegeben from 1877 and the sister work O Heiland, reiß die Himmel auf op. 74 No. 2.