Christopher Herrick’s ongoing cycle of the complete Bach organ music has been very enjoyable: the Trio Sonatas and the Orgelbüchlein are especially distinguished, and given his success with the earlier book of small chorale preludes, I expected much from this latest disc. Herrick doesn’t disappoint. The so-called “Neumeister Chorales” take their name from the manuscript housed at Yale University, where they were discovered to great fanfare a few years ago. Although they are early works, the music has great charm, especially as performed here. Herrick has selected a particularly appealing single manual instrument in the Stadtkirche of Zofingen, Switzerland, which renders Bach’s polyphony with singular clarity and intimacy. I very much like Herrick’s registration changes from one piece to the next (check out tracks 5 and 6 for a particularly characterful example), which permits extended listening without aural fatigue. A couple of my organ fanatic friends have pointed out that Herrick’s approach to ornamentation is not always in keeping with the latest Bach research, but my criteria are somewhat different: I don’t want to be bored out of my mind. In this respect, I find these spirited, well recorded performances to be just the ticket.
