In March 2017 organist and harpsichordist Peter Kofler launched his ongoing Bach project: a complete recording of Johann Sebastian Bach’s organ works. Unlike performers of earlier complete recordings, Kofler opted for a “modern” instrument for this enterprise. For not only was J.S. Bach the perfecter of a great polyphonic era, he was an innovator and stimulator as well, particularly in the field of organ music. Be it the introduction of the tempered tuning system, the virtuoso use of the organ pedal or the development of the fortepiano: Bach significantly contributed to each of them and was one of the first to employ the possibilities of these modern developments. The four-manual Rieger organ at the Jesuit church of St. Michael’s in Munich with its 75 stops offers many of the characteristics verifiably valued by Bach. It features an imposing fortissimo and a multitude of characteristic stop timbres that the cantor of Leipzig’s Thomaskirche partly could only dream of in his days.

This is the first ever organ recording using high-resolution Auro-3D technology, a consequent advancement from earlier surround formats like 5.1, 7.1 or 2+2+2. Thus the space of the church interior is authentically reproduced not only in its horizontal dimensions, but also in its vertical acoustics, its spatial height. A sound experience that provides fascinating transparency even on a conventional stereo CD. Various high-resolution multichannel formats are available for download on the website opusbach.de.

The organist and harpsichordist Peter Kofler, born in Bolzano in 1979, received his first musical training at the Claudio Monteverdi Conservatory in his hometown. In Munich he studied organ and church music with Harald Feller as well as harpsichord with Christine Schornsheim. Peter Kofler is regarded an established expert for the rhetoric of baroque music and regularly works as a chamber musician, teaming up with the likes of Dorothee Oberlinger and Dmitry Sinkovsky. In addition to teaching organ and choral conducting at Munich’s University of Music and Performing Arts, he has been the organist of the Jesuit church of St. Michael’s in Munich since 2008.

“Everybody who has enjoyed this sound experience even just once will share my enthusiasm. However, what I consider the center of this project is neither the modern organ nor the sound engineering, but purely and simply Johann Sebastian Bach’s music.” – Peter Kofler