Orgelbuchlein BWV 599-644

Bach: Complete Organ Works Vol. 7 Orgelbüchlein - with CD-ROM - ed. by Sven Hiemke Of great practical value ?This edition has everything it takes to replace the Griepenkerl edition for practical music-making,? opined Rainer Goede (in ?kirchmusik.de?) immediately after the release of Volumes 5 and 6. If such a high degree of practical value is attested to these two volumes, then Volume 7 can proudly claim to have the highest practical value of all, since it has the greatest scope of all the volumes. After all, no organist can do without the basic repertoire of the 45 chorale preludes. Edited by Sven Hiemke, the book offers the best possible prerequisites for everyday use. The musical text is as faithful to the sources as possible, and it preserves Bach?s graphic idiosyncrasies in the beaming of eighth notes and sixteenth notes. Furthermore, the chorales are reproduced on three staves, which is fully in keeping with the practice of the Bach era ? but not with the source, however, since the composer himself notated the pieces of the ?Orgelbüchlein? on two staves, either for reasons of economy or for lack of space. The enclosed CD-ROM contains early versions and anonymous arrangements which should encourage organists to explore this repertoire in greater depth.