Bernard Foccroulle here continues his exploration of the north German organist composers with a recording of the works of Georg Böhm, a composer with whom J S Bach had come into contact at the end of his adolescence. At the foot of a manuscript dated around 1700 in which he had copied out pieces by Buxtehude, Reinken and Pachelbel that served as models for his own compositions, the young Johannes Sebastian Bach wrote that he was a pupil of Georg Böhm in Lüneburg.

The organ works of this north German master foreshadow the young J S Bach’s first compositions in many respects. It was also clearly thanks to Böhm that Bach came into contact with the various genres of French music of the period.

The Schnitger organ of the Grote Kerk in Alkmaar lends itself particularly well to this repertoire, thanks to the power and the quality of its solo registers.

"The organ of the Laurenskerk in Alkmaar in the Netherlands has also known a fascinating history that is not without similarities to that of the Lüneburg instrument. It was built in 1646 by the van Hagebeer family, who incorporated several stops from a choir organ dated 1545 into the new instrument. It was from this point onwards that the instrument gained widespread renown in the Netherlands. Franz Caspar Schnitger carried out a large-scale revision of the organ between 1722-25, although he preserved twelve of the old stops, these including a good number of the Principals with their particularly rich sound. This instrument possesses gravity, poetry and depth: I find that these qualities harmonise particularly well with Böhm’s surviving works." - Bernard Foccroulle