This programme offers the set of Six Trio Sonatas, and takes the listener on a tour which includes four different Silbermann organs, all built by Bach's friend and contemporary, the Master Organ-builder Gottfried Silbermann (1683-1753). We hear four different village organs, and if they all sound and even look very similar this is no coincidence. Working out of his Freiberg workshops, centrally situated to serve his home state of Saxony, Silbermann confined his projects to the borders of Saxony, thus minimizing transportation costs.
He formulated a standard village organ - for it was mostly the villages which he served - of 2 manuals and 20 to 23 stops, aiming for mass-production, or as near as was possible. This provided him with considerable savings on pipe and woodwork construction, savings which he passed on to his customers in the form of the very best materials available and immaculate workmanship - qualities which draw admiration from researchers and restorers even today. In addition he frequently added a free extra stop over and above the contracted specification. Silbermann was a dedicated craftsman - and a good businessman!
