J. S. Bach. Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, Dorian, BWV 538
C. P. E. Bach. Sonata in D Major, Wq 70/7
Fugue on the name of Bach. (transcription for organ by Thomas Trotter)
J. C. Bach. Concerto for keyboard and strings in G Magor, оp. 1, № 4. (transcription for organ by Thomas Trotter)
W. A. Mozart. Adagio and Allegro, in F Minor, K. 594; Gigue in G Major, K. 574; Andante in F Major for mechanical organ, K. 616; Adagio for Glassharmonica in С Major, K. 617a; Fantasia in F Minor, K. 608

Performed by Thomas Trotter (Great Britain)

In their time, Johann Sebastian Bach’s sons became outstanding musicians in almost every capital city in Europe. Among them were Carl Philipp Emanuel, who won great acclaim in Berlin and Hamburg, and Johann Christian, famed as the “London Bach”. But they wrote completely different music to what their illustrious father had composed. Following society’s secularisation, organ music of the period inevitably lost its primary purpose, it ceased to be a means of expression for the heavenly and the invisible in the world of art and it gradually took second place, ceding its authority to refined, uniquely perfect and no less harmonious but now already deeply secular works – sonatas, concerti and symphonies. It was the end of an entire era, when the great achievements in art were inextricably connected with the Church and the finest works by major composers were invariably pieces of organ music.
Through their art the Viennese classics, starting with Haydn, Mozart and their contemporaries, “drew a line”, and, for a time, the music of their predecessors came to be considered, although doubtlessly significant, already defunct and having lost currency. Even in the vast legacy of the brilliant Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who performed brilliantly on the organ from his childhood (and who was, apropos, familiar with Johann Christian Bach, who exerted a great deal of influence over him), there are just a few works for solo organ, and even these do not have the traditional connection with religious themes.
Konstantin Greshnevikov