In the last issue I predicted at the close of a review of Sweelinck's organ works performed by Serge Schoonbroodt that we would hear from him again. This is rather sooner than I expected, but it is a delight, nonetheless.

Here he plays all of the extant keyboard works of Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer on the 1-manual, 13-stop organ built in 1714 by Balthasar Konig for the abbey church of the Premonstratensian Order in Niederehe near Aachen in Germany. Fischer was the court musician to generations of Margraves of Baden. His work was closely studied by Bach, particularly the seven suites in Blumen-Strauss (Flower Bouquet) and Ariadne Musica, a collection of 20 preludes and fugues in different keys. Both are thought to be models for the Bach keyboard suites and Well-Tempered Clavier.

Schoonbroodt plays this music with the same elegance and animation he brought to the Sweelinck. The organ is well suited to the music and he registers it well. I enjoy this as much as the earlier release.

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