Only on the Black Beauty can Virgil Fox play the variation @ 6:16 the way he did. To me...the variation sounds "right' on this instrument.

What a gift to be able to see and hear Virgil Fox as much as you want 44 years after he died. He was and still is my greatest inspiration!🎉

Does anyone know if there is a copy of this recording outside of this youtube video? It sounds like its been cleaned up and the background fuzz has been reduced massively from the actual 1964 recording.

I'm sure Bach would have loved to hear this piece on such a magnificent organ. The organ, a masterpiece in its own right, made any organ in Bach's time seem somewhat inferior in richness of tone and voices. The advantages of electricity and technology I guess.

Virgil Fox was just a showman for simple minds. There is little music in his performances, and even less culture

It's sort of one big long fanfare, yes? It's astonishing in its own way, of course, but it does grow a bit tiring because the themes are so trite.

Move over Dr. Phibes

Yes, yes

Virgil could dance, chew gum and play the pipe organ at the same time!

I saw and heard Virgil Fox, in person when I wax 12 years old: it was a sensation. He was an extraordinary performer & had an incredible magnetism and connection with the audience, both young and old from children to senior citizens. And one of the things that people don’t note about Virgil Fox, he was an extraordinary practicer. It is known that he spent somewhere around 15 to 20 hours of every day practicing.

I've been a fan of Virgil Fox since 1972 when I saw him play at the Civic Auditorium in Grand Rapids, MI. I think the lightshow was by Revelation Lights. The last few years, I've been a fan of Jonathan Scott...I would like to see him play this piece.

I was very fortunate to have see him live and he is the best solo performer I've ever seen! No need to say more!

If you consider the Psalms and one of them mandating that we make a joyous noise for the Lord, I think Virgil did it. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that he shared duties of playing the Heavenly pipes with Bach himself.

Not strict rythm

Saw him in concert many times. Pure joy!

One thing people don't appreciate here is the actual recording. The Wanamaker is extremely difficult to record, because of it's huge size, and the very strange acoustics of the store. Plus Fox's registrations here are incredibly wide. So a tip of the hat to the engineer that recorded this.

To anyone who complains about Virgil Fox, let’s see you play this!!!

Vulgar comes close to describing this awful show.

I saw him perform in 1974 while I was in college. I tried to go to every type of music concert available, rock, jazz, blues, folk, country, reggae, soul, pop, you name it. Virgil Fox educated us all about Bach, told incredible stories, made us laugh, and just blew the audience away with his performance. He was incredible.

A child prodigy, blessed with a warm outgoing personality. The courage never left him, even in clutches of cancer.

WE ARE MAKING IT TO THE WUTHERING HEIGHTS WITH THIS ONE!🗣🗣🗣🗣🗣🔥🔥🔥🔥

......now it's my turn to do a bit of extemporising on the keyboatds........what cuffs... a slight touch of dracula I feel expecting him to turn his head at any moment, grinning and bearing fangs!!!

This is truly a goated performance.

Extraordinary control over changing registration, manual and pedal technique, composition, and interpretation, all from memory and with multiple fractured phalanges! A monumental performance not only for Virgil Fox, but in the history of music.

The beauty of this song is in the hope Bach had in Christ and His perfect work on the cross

He was one of the only organists that was able to play the Wanamaker organ with its 5 keyboards and over 600 stops. He not only played most of the worlds most renown organs, he also played the worlds greatest experimental organs (Rogers Touring Organs). He was a wonderful human being! God speed, Dr Fox. God speed!

I must say that it was a commsumate pleasure to hear Dr Fox actually play this organ, as he was only one of a handful of organists who could actually play an organ with 5 keyboards. Magnificent! As he was! So glad he shared his time on earth! RIP, Dr. fox!

A genius. That's it.

Think of it. The only musician in this video not playing from a score in front of him. All from memory. This is the genius Virgil at the top of his game !! :-)

Alright, it’s a mr Rodgers neighborhood figital organ…

Virgil Fox entered the pantheon of immortal BACH interpretation when he recorded on the fabulous Wannamaker organ. In fact the entire Wannamaker recording is amazing. Also, LIFE magazine did an article showing an organ that Fox had built in his HOUSE in Pennsylvania. There were pipes throughout - in walls and beneath floors. WOW! Fox was a real character who could even charm a hard rock audience at the Fillmore.

Hopefully, this Bach piece played by Dr. Fox, on one of the premier worldwide organs will have a comeback. The entire album is magnificent! Many of us thought that Dr, Fox was actually Bach incarnate! Don't know how many times I cried when I heard this. Thank You, Dr. Fox, for sharing this with us!

I had the honor of meeting him and talking and listening to him at a concert at the Marshall University Artist Series in the 1970's. It changed my life.

One of my Heroes. Sadly I wasn't alive when he toured, but luckily, we have his videos to enjoy these godlike performances. Thank you for this upload...

I have listened to dozens of recordings of this piece over the years (those years have been many with many different organists).... In all my years of listening and playing the organ I have noticed one thing in particular.... Virgil NEVER rushes this piece.... So many organists make this piece like the finish line of a marathon.... they play as rapidly as they possible... Virgil must of felt something special about this piece and felt it had/has a quality of praise to Our All Mighty Lord... I thank Virgil for his wisdom and especially Thank him for leaving a trail / a testament of how to properly play this piece...

It seems to me, (I am not an organist) that the people who seem to delight in complaining that VF didn't follow their rules about not interpreting the music wouldn't be worthy of licking the dog shit off Virgil's shoes.

Shameful !!!

Greatest organist for sure!

What a magnificent musician. He was a great humanitarian, He was a great organist.... A great loss for me was in not meeting this great man...

I think Bach's Komm Süsser Tod would also fit well in Evangelion soundtrack, especially this Fox arrangement which is the best version of this piece ever made... in my humble opinion.

Bless him ❤

No matter what you think about Virgil, you cannot deny his incredible technique.

He was seriously in pain due to his cancer at this point. Hats off for still travelling all the way to Japan for this. Also he HATED this organ, and even had the builders make several changes to the organ before he would do the concert.

78" of a MASTERCLASS in top-level Organ performance... And you don't have to be an American, and I'm not, to be deeply moved by a rendering like this! VIRGIL FOX: The ONLY and BEST performer who has ever sat down at the champion of all instruments... Well, since the days of one, Johann Sebastian... Who would look as moved as I! Caps and hats off to both of them!!

I SAW HIM WHEN I WAS 17...A MASTER!

Look at how much fun he is having playing this piece! He gets the same kind of enjoyment and pleasure that Eddie Van Halen showed while playing the guitar, and his fans knew that he was having a great time and not being a stressed out rock star! 🙂

I SAW HIM

I'm 99% sure I want this to be played at my funeral. My only regret would be that i wasn't there to hear it myself.

This is not a technically flawless performance, nor would (m)any organ scholars argue that it is historically correct - but its sheer enthusiasm shines through and Mr. Fox is clearly enjoying himself. More than that, he is shouting out to the audience, “Hey, look at this!” and by so doing, he is enlivening, and communicating the joy of this wonderful, timeless music very exuberantly. I’m glad we have this recording of a very special moment in classical performance history.

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