Contrapunctus

Compare performersJohann Sebastian Bach

Toccata and Fugue in D minor: Stokowski and Schenk

Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 — opening

Stokowski’s orchestra and Schenk’s organ play Bach’s opening flourish and the toccata passages that follow.

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Recordings in
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1927Reference recording

Leopold Stokowski

Philadelphia Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski (Stokowski’s own orchestration)

Stokowski conducts the Philadelphia Orchestra in his own transcription, which enlarges the organ’s flourishes with a large brass section.

4:24
2017Performance 02

Norbert Schenk

Schenk plays the Protestant church organ in Solms-⁠Albshausen; hands and feet supply the running notes and the bass beneath them.

7:43
Selected recordingLeopold Stokowski, 1927
0:00 / 4:24

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The comparison

At Philadelphia’s Academy of Music on 6 April 1927, Stokowski recorded his orchestral version of Bach’s D minor Toccata and Fugue. He gave the organist’s flourishes to a large orchestra that included six horns, four trumpets and four trombones. Ninety years later, Norbert Schenk recorded the work on the church organ in Solms-⁠Albshausen, with one player at the instrument.

Tempo

Tempo map

Time taken compared with Leopold Stokowski, 1927: above 1×, the performer takes longer over the same music; below it, less time.

Time taken compared with the reference recordingEach gold line follows a performer. Above 1×, the recording takes longer over the same music. Numbered lines mark the passages below.0.25×0.5×0.75×1×1.25×1.5×0:001:002:003:004:001. Opening flourish in octaves · 0:0812. Held chord under fast line · 0:2423. Runs alternating with held chords · 0:583Leopold Stokowski, 1927 (reference)Norbert Schenk, 2017
The reference recording’s clock runs left to right. Each line is smoothed over about eight seconds; pauses can create peaks. Numbers mark the passages below.
  • Leopold Stokowski, 1927 · reference
  • Norbert Schenk, 2017
Passages

Passages compared

Each version plays in card order, for up to 12 seconds of reference music or until the next marked passage, whichever comes first.

  1. 01

    Opening flourish in octaves

    0:08 in the reference

    The opening flourish descends in octaves, then stops, and a rest follows.

  2. 02

    Held chord under fast line

    0:24 in the reference

    Notes accumulate into a held chord, and the fast line now runs over it.

  3. 03

    Runs alternating with held chords

    0:58 in the reference

    The toccata alternates rapid runs with passages that stop on sustained chords.

Durations

Length of each recording

  1. Leopold Stokowski, 19274:24
  2. Norbert Schenk, 20177:43

These times include the lead-in and final fade. Cuts, repeats and disc-side breaks also affect a recording’s length.

Performers and sessions

Recording notes

Sources & method

Further reading

How the recordings are matched

The matching follows sequences of pitches, using a method called dynamic time warping. Every recording is mapped to the reference, so switching between two versions goes through that shared clock. Where several reference times match one point, the middle time is used.

  • Norbert Schenk, 2017: match score 0.890. Matched passages available.

Switching stays within the matched span, and trimmed recordings keep their original clock times. Match scores describe similarity in the sound.