Bach - Toccata in D major BWV 912 - Cuiller | Netherlands Bach Society

This Toccata in D major, performed by Bertrand Cuiller for All of Bach, is the most popular of Bach’s seven toccatas. Cuiller, too, has played it very often in the past. “The piece is very theatrical”, he says. “It is extremely ‘electric’”. The powerful opening, which feels very improvised, is followed by a more well-thought-out section, in which various themes enter into dialogue. An expressive recitative forms the transition to an adagio in the unusual key of F-sharp minor. The adagio is conceived as a fugue, but according to Cuiller it is also a bit like a lamento. Bertrand Cuiller, harpsichordist Harpsichord: Bruce Kennedy, 1989 after Michael Mietke