Track Listing

1. Fantasy
2. Fugue
3. Fugue [reprise]
4. Sheep May Safely Graze
5. Toccata
6. Adagio
7. Fugue
8. Finale
9. Prelude
10. Fugue
11. Air on a G String
12. Prelude
13. Fugue

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #197977 in Music
• Released on: 2006-07-11
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
"The whole audience sat silent and attentive, transfixed by Virgil’s dynamic and musical approach to the transcendent counterpoint of Sebastian Bach … these ‘Bach Gamut’ concerts were tours de force, and I marvelled at Virgil’s stamina and prodigious technique." – Richard Torrence and Marshall Yaeger, Virgil Fox: The Dish

"He tossed off one after another of the monumental preludes, toccatas, fantasies and fugues with comparative ease, permeating them all with pure joy. The audience erupted with spontaneous praise after each of the mighty blockbusters" – Ted Alan Worth, Virgil Fox: The Dish

A household name among organ fans, Virgil Fox (1912-1980) was one of the most loved organists of the twentieth century. Fox made more than sixty best-selling albums over the years on Columbia, RCA Victor, Command, and other labels. This original release, engineered by Reference Recordings’ own Keith O. Johnson, is from a live recording of a landmark sold-out San Francisco concert in 1976, in which Fox performs on the grand Ruffatti pipe organ in St. Mary’s Cathedral. A thrilling program of Bach blockbusters for the organ! Virgil Fox was the featured performer at many of the national conventions of the American Guild of Organists, he performed three times at the White House, and was selected by the State Department to represent the U.S. at 1952’s first International Conference of Sacred Music in Switzerland. In his long and brilliant career, Virgil Fox gave recitals on practically every important organ in the world. He was the first non-German artist to perform the works of J. S. Bach at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig. In 1977, to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of his concert debut, he played a sold-out concert ("The Bach Gamut") at Kennedy Center, at Tokyo’s NHK Hall, and in San Francisco, where the present recording was made.

Customer Reviews

Disappointing Sound
This CD was a disappointment to me. Yes, Fox was an unusually gifted organist, and he has interesting performances here. But I was hoping to hear Fox in the sterling sound for which Reference Recordings is known. This is a live recording with audience noises. More importantly, to my ears the sound of the organ is lost on this recording in a distant, highly rounded off sound. There is even a disclaimer on the package that the CD is not up to RR standards. I wish I had known that before buying it. If you want to hear Fox, that won't matter to you. If the sound is important, I would pass on this one.

No one is qualified.......
......to review Johann Sebastian Bach. In another review, I made a flippant remark about pretty redheads being proof of God's creative genius. That's true, but here's a quite serious opinion: God created Bach so He could delegate the writing of Heaven's music to a mortal man. I know what Bach sounds like here; what he sounds like Up Yonder, I can't begin to imagine.

And then there's Virgil, the one and only...Call Virgil Fox what you will; showman, entertainer, Liberace of the pipe organ, the man knew how to make music. Yes, Virgil always put on a show. BUT, he NEVER let the show detract from great performance of great music.

Professor Keith Johnson, and Reference Recordings meet their usual very high standard. This is a live recording, with plenty of audience noise, so be advised. Some fans like that; some don't. All in all, a wonderful, and highly recommended, recording.