Please prebuy three separate multi-disc boxsets from Fugue State Films, all about J.S. Bach and his organ music, filmed on location in Germany and the Netherlands and featuring Daniel Moult, Martin Schmeding and Sietze de Vries. The three boxsets are bundled together for better value. Please prebuy now, to help us crowdfund. You will be the first to receive the DVDs when they are released in 2022/23.

Prebuy Bach and Expression, Orgelbuchlein Plus, and The Great Toccata Multi-DVD Boxsets.

Please generously support the production of all three projects as:

Gold Patron (£2,400)

Patron (£1,200)

Screener / Educational / Library (£1,600)

Recognised Subscriber (£275)

Recsub Upgrade (if you’ve already bought the Crowdfunding Prebuy) (£160)

Crowdfunding PreBuy – prebuy discount – reduced from £127.50 to £99.

You will receive the three multi-disc boxsets when they are released in 2022/23. You will receive the first, Bach and Expression, in October 2022. Your generosity will allow us to make these films. If you purchase at Recognised Subscriber or above, your name will be listed in the credits of the second and third productions. Please buy now!

Bach and Expression, with Daniel Moult and Martin Schmeding

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?

Martin Schmeding and Daniel Moult will play a broad selection of Bach’s organ works on four individual but complementary central German organs – two Silbermanns in Rötha, the big Trost in Waltershausen and the Hildebrandt in Sangerhausen. In the magnificent seven-part documentary and set of demonstrations of the four organs, the two organists will explore how to bring these pieces to life, with reference to score, instrument and coming to terms with tradition. They are joined by Dr Christine Blanken from the Bach Archiv Leipzig who opens up the manuscript wonders in the archive.

Bach, the Orgelbüchlein and Improvisation, with Sietze de Vries

Sietze de Vries will perform the complete Bach Orgelbüchlein on historic organs in Groningen, such as the Martinikerk, and other instruments around Groningen and beyond. It will be a joy to work with Sietze again; he was our organist on Martinikerk Rondeau and Pronkjuwelen, in which we explored the treasure trove of instruments in this northern part of the Netherlands. Thus far, in all our travels, I have never yet encountered an organ better than the Martinikerk in Groningen.

This project will go far beyond a normal performance of the Orgelbüchlein. If you look at the manuscript of the Orgelbüchlein, you can see that most of it is blank: Bach intended 164 chorales, and wrote in the titles and allocated a page for each one. However, he only completed the 46 that currently make up what we think of as the collection.

Therefore Sietze, perhaps the foremost improviser in historic styles in the world, will improvise all the 118 missing chorales. In a documentary and many extra films, Sietze will discuss his approach to improvisation and show how he managed to create, on the spot, new pieces in an authentic soundworld. Sietze has long taught improvisation, and these films promise both to elaborate and demystify the art of improvisation. Below is a short improvised pedal solo by Sietze to give a foretaste of what he can do!

Bach’s Great Toccata

Daniel Moult will again be the presenter, leading us through the parallels between Bach’s extraordinarily successful and popular Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565. This is one of the most popular pieces of music ever written, and yet it raises deep questions: was it for the organ, or perhaps violin, when and why was it written, and was it even by Bach? We relate the great toccata to other preludes, fugues, sonatas and concertos by Bach to find out how these works relate to each other. This film will again shed light on the question of Bach and Expression, showing how organists can draw on the experience of other instrumentalists. 

Bach is arguably the greatest of all composers, and certainly the greatest composer who wrote for the organ. His organ music is the heart and soul of the organ’s repertoire. Fugue State Films, together with leading organists Daniel Moult, Martin Schmeding, Sietze de Vries and others, explores this extraordinary canon, with the aim of greater appreciation and elucidation of how best to play it.

Over these three DVDs we will film at fabulous examples of the two dominant types of organ that Bach knew in his lifetime, the North German school including builders such as Arp Schnitger, and the Central German school of builders such as Silbermann, Hilderbrandt, Trost and others. Organs will include the Martinikerk in Groningen, which is the crown of the North German-Dutch style; the two Silbermanns in Rötha; the Trost in Waltershausen and the Hildebrandt in Sangerhausen. More instruments will be added.