I had to go back to the guidelines to make sure it was all right to post
on the performance of a specific piece, because it never seems to come up
here.

I have now heard (online, I must report) two performances of the
Passacaglia and Fugue in which the piece is played with full organ and no
registration change from beginning to end.

Now, before you reply, I am aware of the following:

The manuscript contains a trivial frill between the passacaglia and fugue,
which can only be performed on the (pedal) harpsichord.  Anthony Newman
once recorded this work on the pedal harpsichord (I once owned the
recording).

Most of organ performance history in the 20th century, at least as
reflected in recordings, involves registration changes inappropriate for
Bach, who employed by and large terrace dynamics.

To change the registration between each variation of the Passacaglia would
be beyond the abilities of even Bach on the organs of his time, assuming
he was working alone.

OK, having I hope deflected several possible unhelpful comments, am I
still wrong to think that it is bonkers to play the P&F straight through
on full organ?  Am I wrong to think that it does not in fact invite a
thorough working out of the registers of the most complicated
baroque-style organ?  Am I wrong to think that Bach did not simply imagine
someone (maybe more than one person) standing there changing stops between
variations?

BTW my favorite recording of this work is an old LP with Daniel Chorzempa
(it's back in the States so I forget the organ).  He "improvises" a
marvelous cadenza at the end of the fugue, as was apparently intended.
Once you hear it that way, it is hard to take it "straight" ever again.

John Brosseau
Bamberg, Germany

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