Trio Sonatas BWV525-530, The Brook Street Band, Avie AV2199 ***

Bach wrote six sonatas for organ, all conceived in three parts, and therefore readily arrangable as actual trio sonatas for performance as chamber music. In fact, there’s probably been many a listener at a less-than-inspiring organ performance who’s seen the appeal of such a solution glinting attractively in the corner of their eye.

The Brook Street Band’s rationale for appropriating the pieces is rather different – they’ve taken them over for the pleasure of playing them. Strange to relate that, for all the persuasiveness of the individual players, they don’t actually convey the sonatas with the lucidity of the best organists. This is partly a matter of the close-seeming recording, and the intrusion of the harpsichord continuo where Bach hadn’t allowed for any. But if this is the kind of thing you’ve been envisaging out of the corner of your own eye, don’t hesitate.

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