BARBARA HARBACH

• J.S. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in E minor "Wedge"

"Barbara Harbach puts forth this program with authority, subtlety, and in a great variety of voicings which few organists can conceive, let alone manifest at the console."

Organ Historical Society [Online Catalog]

“Both [organs played] are outstanding instruments, and the differences between venues and instruments does not affect the superb quality of the performances or record engineering... The recording is a well done, digitally remastered version of an earlier recording. Throughout there is a fine quality of sound which is warm and reverberant, but without losing definition or clarity in articulation... Barbara Harbach presents [the music] with great technical precision and inspiring musicality. Her runs are performed brilliantly with crisp, clear articulation, and her use of the full range of colors available on these two outstanding instruments is impressive. Harbach is one of the most well-known and respected performers today, and this recording is sure to please.”

Panpipes [Fall 2016]

[ + + + + ] “...[Harbach's Bach is] relaxed, genial, and devotional... Harbach in fact reminds me of one of my favorites, E Power Biggs... The sound, as on so many MSR recordings, is warm and vibrant, analog-like... equally rich in tonal luster and true to the instrument. An easy recommendation.”

Steven Ritter, Audiophile Audition [July 2016]

“[Harbach has] formidable technique... hers is one of the most fluent performances I have heard of ‘An Wasserflüssen Babylon’... The tone [of the Fisk organ in Rochester] combines clarity with warmth and refinement—hallmarks of Fisk’s best work. Judging from the decay of final chords, the room is far from dry, but without sumptuous reverberation.”

Gaten, American Record Guide [July/August, 2016]

“[the recordings have been] expertly remastered here by the MSR engineers, the results having state-of-the-art sound quality... Harbach is a fine Bach player: every work on this CD comes across with spirit and a deft sense for the plentiful contrapuntal writing. She plays Bach with judicious tempos throughout, and never seems to inject a wayward personal touch or eccentricity into the music. Her interpretations are fairly straightforward, always sounding vital and intelligent, never calculated or cautious... This disc by Barbara Harbach is just as outstanding as those two and thus warrants a strong recommendation.”

Robert Cummings, ClassicalNet [March 2016]

“All of these works have, of course, been played to death by organists of every persuasion on organs of every period and design. But Barbara Harbach brings her own special artistry to this music, and on a couple of outstanding organs that are very exhilarating to hear—one of them, a Fisk by an all-American company established in Gloucester, Massachusetts only in 1961; and the other, a Schlicker, also an American company, but founded in 1930 by a third-generation builder who had studied organ building in Germany, France, and Denmark, and who combined in his instruments the characteristic properties of the great European organ building traditions... Harbach is a wonderful player—which I already knew from her The Art of Fugue—and this disc is easily recommended to anyone who loves Bach’s organ music performed with all the stops pulled out.”

Jerry Dubins, Fanfare [March/April 2016]

“...this 2015 reissue on MSR Classics is a digitally remastered CD that offers enhanced sound for Harbach's exquisite performances... the sound of the album overall is even and quite clear, and the change of venue makes little difference in the audio quality... Harbach's execution is meticulous and rhythmically alert, so the freshness of her interpretations is matched by her impeccable presentation, making this a superb Bach album by any standard.”

Blair Sanderson, All Music [February 2016]

Johann Sebastian Bach’s is a house-hold name, often spoken with reverence – in well deserved recognition of his lasting legacy as a defining composer of the Baroque era. Born in 1685, J.S. Bach was known during his lifetime as an organist, organ consultant, and composer of traditional German genres, including preludes, fugues, toccatas, fantasias, and chorale preludes. He was influenced by the great German composers of the time, such as Georg Böhm and Dieterich Buxtehude, but also incorporated French and Italian musical styles into his work. Bach was a prolific composer of keyboard works, chamber music, orchestral music, and vocal and choral works, including cantatas, motets, Passions,  oratorios and masses. His compositions often reflected where he had a position at the time, whether instrumental, keyboard or vocal music: Weimar, Arnstadt, Mühlhausen (1703-1708), return to Weimar (1707-1717), Köthen (1717-1723) and Leipzig (1723-1750).

Barbara Harbach, Curators’ Professor of Music at the University of Missouri−St. Louis, has a large catalog of works, including; symphonies, operas, string orchestra, musicals, works for chamber ensembles, film scores, modern ballets, pieces for organ, harpsichord and piano; choral anthems; and many arrangements for brass and organ of various Baroque works. She is also involved in the research, editing, publication and recording of manuscripts of 18th century keyboard composers, as well as historical and contemporary women composers. Her work is available in both recorded and published form through MSR Classics, Naxos Records, Gasparo Records, Kingdom Records, Albany Records, Northeastern Records, Hester Park, Robert King Music, Elkan-Vogel, Augsburg Fortress, Encore Music Publishers, Art of Sound Music, Agape Music and Vivace Press.  Harbach serves as editor of the WomenArts Quarterly Journal and has toured extensively as both concert organist and harpsichordist throughout the United States, Canada, Belgium, Bosnia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Korea, Romania, Serbia and Siberia. Her lively performances and recordings have captured the imagination of many American composers. The body of work written for and dedicated to Harbach is substantial. Musical America has called her “nothing short of brilliant,” and Gramophone has cited her as an “acknowledged interpreter – and, indeed, muse – of modern harpsichord music.” She was host of the weekly television music series Palouse Performance seen throughout the Inland Northwest. Harbach holds academic degrees from Pennsylvania State University (BA), Yale University (MMA), Musikhochschule (Konzertdiplom) in Frankfurt, Germany, and the Eastman School of Music (DMA). In 2002, she received an honorary doctorate in music, Honoris Causa, from Wilmington College, Ohio for her lifetime achievement as a composer, performer, editor and publisher. [ www.barbaraharbach.com ]
  JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750)
PRELUDE AND “ST. ANNE’S” FUGUE IN E-FLAT MAJOR, BWV 552
TOCCATA AND FUGUE IN F MAJOR, BWV 540
AN WASSERFLÜSSEN BABYLON, BWV 653
PRELUDE AND FUGUE IN C MINOR, BWV 546
CHORAL PRELUDE: “O MENSCH BEWEIN DEIN SÜNDE GROß”, BWV 622
FANTASY AND FUGUE IN G MINOR, BWV 542
PRELUDE AND FUGUE IN E MINOR, BWV 548 “WEDGE”
 



MSR Classics