What is the greatest challenge in Bach's Piece d'Orgue

By Vidas Pinkevicius (get free updates of new posts here)​​​​​​

This week I've been practicing Bach's Piece d'Orgue, BWV 572 also known as Fantasia in G Major as a preparation for Ausra's and my joint recital "Laudate Dominum" which will be the 18th part of our cycle "7 Centuries of Organ Music".

I discovered that the most difficult part in this beautiful piece is the Gravement section with it's imposing 5 part texture.

The intricate polyphony, constant syncopations and suspensions create a problem:

It's so easy to play everything legato and not to hear the separate melodic lines.

The way to overcome these difficulties is by practicing each part separately and in combinations.

However, it's also possible to control the releases by playing everything together at extremely slow tempo and stopping at every beat, resting, looking ahead one beat, preparing and then playing again until the next beat for starters.

Here's an article I wrote earlier about how to learn to play this masterpiece.

I have created BWV 572 Video Training which will help you master Bach's Piece d'Orgue (50 % discount is valid until February 15).