'St Anne' Fugue in Eb (BWV 552 ii)

Here it is at last the second part of the St. Anne Prelude & Fugue BWV 552 by the Thuringian master, this time played hopefully at a satisfactory tempo on the organ of the Bovenkerk Kampen. Once again the piece represents the Trinity the grand 'Stilo Antico' Alla Breve for the Father section, moving with martial rhythm to a grand cadence, where the majestic Pleno dies away and the Son section is introduced like a sudden calm, the hushed, whispering voices of which carry, and build and multiply till they rush like a torrent to a C minor cadence. From thence, the Holy Spirit theme is introduced: a wonderful Gigue fugue that sweeps the listener along in grand gestures through virtuosic pedal sections to a dominant chord where all the bass drops out the upper voices are left soaring above the empty rests till one by one the remaining voices come in and a mighty pedal entry on the A flat heralds the beginning of the 'finest ending to any fugue in music' that resolves on a highly satisfactory Perfect Cadence.

Well, here it is for better or for worse, I tried to make it as grand and dramatic as possible, but whether I succeeded is for the listeners to judge.

Good listening!