This Volume 3 of the Complete Organ Works of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) rounds out organist Peter Kofler's momentous traversal of all of Bach's music for the pipe organ, a project that was launched back in 2017. Many, many organists have achieved this gruelling undertaking over the years, from Marie-Claire Alain, to Simon Preston, to Kevin Bowyer, etc ... all with uneven results. Some still stand out as brilliant and cohesive achievements whilst others will fade away as maladroit attempts of misjudged interpretations. Despite missing the opportunity to obtain and hear Volumes 1 & 2, I wouldn't hesitate adding this recording to the first group.

The main mistake most organists fall prey to is that they either perceive Bach's music as being totally stoic and scholarly, and therefore deliver an overly erudite interpretation or, at the other end of the spectrum, render everything to sound creepy and overly bloated as in the original black and white 'Phantom of the Opera' from 1925. The allure of Peter Kofler's overview is that it's cerebral as well as informal and relaxed simultaneously. A perfect example of this is in the first short audio clip below of the Fantasie and Fugue in A minor, BWV 561.

Some pipe organ music enthusiasts will bemoan the fact that this complete 16-Disc collection was performed on one single instrument, as opposed to a variety of either baroque or modern pipe organs to curtail ear fatigue. They miss the point that by using a single instrument, in this case the wonderful Rieger Organ of the Jesuit Church St. Michael in Munich, the organist's familiarity with it allows for a deeper focus on the music itself. Plus, in this case, Kofler's judicious and varied use of stops and registrations, not only demonstrates this organ's multiple facets, but enhances the sonic impact of each and every piece as well. Notice for example the warmth and beauty of this organ's Flute stops in the second audio clip below of Erbarm Dich mein, o Herre Gott, BWV 721. In the booklet notes Kofler himself states: "When I am working on the registrations, I am always looking for new suitable variations and try to avoid repetitions wherever possible. We have repeatedly changed registrations to underline the character and emotional substance of a composition - which automatically also changed my style of playing." And this four-manual instrument, with 75 stops ranging from a 1' Sifflet to a 32' Bombarde, has plenty of sonic combinations to offer.

For those of you into technical details, the recording process itself was produced in AURO 3D (10.1) format with a sampling rate of 192 kHz. AURO 3D works with 10 discrete channels. So the spatial effect is not created synthetically, but purely by delay differences between the microphones. And one thing that I instantly noticed about the sonics of this recording project is that, compared to others where the sound sits you at the organ's console as if you were the organist, this naturally sits the listener on a pew somewhere in the middle of the church, reproducing the spatial effects of the building itself as well as the pipes. I should also point out that throughout the set, alternations from complex Preludes and Fugues to simple Chorales are constant, which also aleviates ear fatigue. It's without a doubt a pleasure to listen to from start to finish.

Just a simple anecdote to close this review. The first complete set of Bach's organ music that I purchased many, many years ago was the Erato, 25-LP box-set on vinyl by Marie-Claire Alain. I was too young back then to drive a car, so I walked all the way home from the record shop with this huge, and heavy, box under my arm. It felt like carrying around a case of 24 beer. My how technology has changed, although it's debatable whether for the best or not.