Bach - Prelude and Fugue, BWV 532 - arr. Woodwind Quartet

“Among the big Bach organ fugues, BWV 532 is unusually well suited to woodwind quartet.  Written during Bach's early, carefree Weimar period (only four children to support), it is high-spirited and can even be read as witty.  It benefits from having a separate sonority for each voice, especially when the countersubject interjects a perky comment in the subject's empty space.  It has rapid passage work throughout, almost suggesting Mendelssohn—but his chamber music, not his organ music!  It makes almost no significant use of the sheer power of the mighty “king of instruments”; the way the voices are brought in and deployed in itself provides the excitement and variations in volume.  Woodwinds have ample piano and forte capabilities for the purpose.  The Prelude is also readily adapted to woodwind quartet, consisting mainly of a straightforward four-part Alla breve. The Prelude’s brief introductory and concluding material includes pedal scales and other flourishes that are no less effective for being easy to play on winds. // The arrangement here preserves Bach's four voices almost exactly.” — from J. W. Pratt’s foreword to the edition