“Growing up in England, it was a revelation when I discovered the rich sounds of the organs Bach knew in his own lifetime.”

Daniel Moult

“There is so much to express in Bach’s music, especially the complicated relationship between his Lutheran culture and our own deeply personal response to his harmony and counterpoint.”

Martin Schmeding

“Daniel Moult and Martin Schmeding are not just two of the best organists in the world, but also two of the best and most knowledgeable communicators, who can unlock not just their own expressive potential, but ours too.”

Will Fraser, director

These films bring to life the expressivity of Bach’s greatest organ music.

How should we ideally express both ourselves and the music of Bach while playing his organ works? How do we move beyond the weight of various traditions of performance practice and other cultural baggage? How do we reach the deepest meaning in our interpretations?

Daniel Moult and Martin Schmeding give richly detailed presentations about the nature, history and performance practice of a broad selection of Bach’s organ works, and then perform the pieces themselves on four individual but complementary central German organs – two Silbermanns in Rötha, the big Trost in Waltershausen and the Hildebrandt in Sangerhausen. The centrepiece of the set of films is a 3 1/2 hour seven-part documentary in which the two organists explore how to bring these pieces to life, with reference to score, instrument and coming to terms with tradition. 2 1/2 hours of music is performed on film, recorded to the highest quality in stereo. The third film includes demonstrations of the four organs.

Music performed on film by Daniel Moult and Martin Schmeding includes: Prelude and Fugue in A minor BWV 551; Prelude and Fugue in G minor BWV 535; Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor BWV 582; Toccata and Fugue in F major BWV 540; Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C major BWV 564; Concerto after Ernst BWV 595; Canzona BWV 588; Trio BWV 1027a; Chorale Preludes BWV 654, 659, 660, 661, 662, 676, 688, 691, 698, 715, 730, 1092, 1093, 1115.

After purchasing this product you will be emailed a link and password that allows you to watch all these films for unlimited time on one device.

For this set of documentaries and performances we filmed at fabulous organs in Central Germany by organbuilders Bach knew. Instruments include the two Silbermanns in Rötha; the Trost in Waltershausen and the Hildebrandt in Sangerhausen.