Since the 19th-century Bach Revival he has been generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of … Two bars, not even 20 notes – but here elevated to the pinnacle of the whole work. They are, all gratitude and nostalgia aside, merely of historical interest. My bent is libertarian, my background European, my passion classical music and its economics. Best of Bach Theo Adam (bass), Eva Hassbecker (soprano), Thomanerchor Leipzig, Hans Pischner (piano), RIAS-Kammerchor Berlin, E. Power Biggs (organ), Peter Schreier (tenor), Berliner Solisten, Adele Stolte (soprano), Günther Leib (baritone), Herbert Collum (piano), Robert Köbler (organ), Arthur Eger (organ), Igor... Release Date:1st Mar 2015 But this is nearly a dud. It was an 1829 performance of the St Matthew Passion organised by musicians including a young Felix Mendelssohn that helped revive interest in Bach's music. Artist: Oistrakh / Richter / Walcha / Goossens. Still, I’ve no hesitations when it comes to a “best”, which is to say favorite, version: Jos van Veldhoven and the Netherlands Bach Society on Channel Classics! Re-listening to these and many others, I found the Freiburg recording the most delicate, vividly phrased, with perfect intonation and a light and lively understatement and Amandine Beyer’s the most exciting. In some ways, Queyras, without copying the old master, could be thought of as a modern Fournier. Add to Bag. He offered them ‘to music lovers in order to refresh their spirits’. Send to email(s): To send to more than one person, separate addresses with a comma. I also love the Herreweghe recordings, both the 1984 and even more so the one from 1999 (both Harmonia Mundi), which catches counter-tenor Andreas Scholl at his ethereal best. Label: Naxos - 8.552103-04 • Series: The Very Best Of (6) • Format: 2x, CD Compilation • Country: Europe • Genre: Classical • Style: Baroque The best recordings of JS Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier; Six Partitas. Bach*, E. Power Biggs ‎– Best Of Bach Label: Columbia Masterworks ‎– M 31840 Series: The Sound Of Genius Masterworks Library – Format: Vinyl, LP Country: US Released: 1973 Genre: Classical . The Best Of Bach. Qty. : Orchestral Suite No. Gramophone Magazine is the only English language magazine that combines serious CD-reviewing with the glossy, popular magazine approach. That’s perhaps the one reason I choose him over the more extrovert but excellent recording of Gavriel Lipkind (a comparative review can be read here), or the surprise contender Arnau Tomàs (Aglae, in almost artificially great sound) that swept the board in a recent blind-listening exercise I participated in. Their “Historically Most Informed” St. John Passion is a favorite. Curiously, these works are the ones of Bach where I care least about which performance I am listening to, so long as it is one of the many good ones. What she has brought to that field, which can smell a bit of musty corduroys on occasion, is unusual spunk and an aggressive edge which makes her recording on Onyx very special, indeed. Piano Solo * = required. $9.95. Orchestral Suites. 1, Bach had been composing for 20 years. Amazon mp3: $22 | Amazon 2 CDs: ~$20 | ArkivMusic: $30 | Qobuz download £16-24 | iTunes mp3: NA, Gramophone’s Choice: Trevor Pinnock (English, Hänssler), My Choice: András Schiff (Hungarian, ECM). It’s speedy, lean, without much audible interpretive weight, and recorded with a thin sound in a very dry acoustic, despite the luxurious sound that his Stradivarius (Suites 1-4, 6) and Guadagnini (Suite 5) cellos usually produce in concert or on other recordings. Description . In my time as a clerk at Tower Records, we would sometimes make fun of Gramophone Magazine’s rather obvious pro-English biases. The category of violin concertos is tricky with Bach, as there are only two (BWV 1041 & 1042) that are straightforward surviving concertos for one solo violin. Series: Instrumental Play-Along Format: Softcover Audio Online Trombone Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach 15 selections of some of J.S. Like a lot of Bach's work, it includes music from some of his earlier compositions, including three secular cantatas. have not made meaningful contributions to the genre of Bach recordings at all. Listen to Best Of Bach by Various Artists on Deezer. Fortunately, studies of the dance-forms on which these “suites of ‘mixed style’” are based, their origins and tempos, are increasingly taken into account by today’s performers, whether part of the officially HIP crowd or not. In six parts, Bach's Christmas Oratorio tells the story of the birth of Jesus. And speaking of Isserlis: Of all the Gramophone Bach-choices, I find this (and Hope) the most obviously biased one. Well, that’s silly, so here is – acknowledging the still inherently subjective nature of such lists – a “Top Ten” that tries to avoid that bias and (probably) substitute it with some other, perhaps more subtle bias. Discover more music, concerts, videos, and pictures with the largest catalogue online at Last.fm. I contribute to Listen Magazine and Auditorium and mostly live in Vienna, Austria. Bach, J.S. The coup of Guttenberg’s interpretation of the Matthew Passion is that he elevates—or rather: uncovers and restores—the climax of Matthew’s gospel as the highpoint of Bach’s work. No.4 Goldberg Variations Duo Tal and Groethuysen (Sony), Amazon mp3: NA | Amazon CDs ~$9 | ArkivMusic: NA | Qobuz download £10 | iTunes mp3: NA, Gramophone’s Choice: Glenn Gould (Canadian, Sony), My Choice: Duo Tal and Groethuysen (Israeli-German, Sony). Daniel Hope is a decent violinist who is good at playing his instrument and better still at playing audiences. As with Richard Egarr’s Brandenburg Concertos (mentioned below), this gives a relaxed, flexible buoyancy to the music, especially in the Third and Fourth Suites that use trumpets. Jonathan Freeman-Attwood Wednesday, December 10, 2014 Jonathan Freeman-Attwood listens to 65 years’ worth of recordings. Bach's Mass in B minor is made up of some of the best music he composed in the preceding decades. Catalogue No: 4611592. Product Code: 00028946115923. Find album reviews, stream songs, credits and award information for The Best of Bach - John Eliot Gardiner on AllMusic - 2013 I occasionally work with musicians, orchestras, and record labels on questions of repertoire and I am particularly interested in how to retain classical music as a living art form, not mere museum art. 2104. et al. Share. A compilation that offers unbeatable value-for-money, in great performances from the Deutsche Grammophon and Archiv catalogues of Bach favourites - orchestral, … To make the lists comparable, I’ve kept the same choice of works that Gramophone opted for, even if this means skipping over recordings of cantatas and organ works, two of the most important genres in Bach’s output, although they used to be deemed less popular; even arcane. According to an early biography of Bach, the Goldberg Variations were composed to help ease the nights of an insomniac Count and were named after harpsichord virtuoso Johann Gottlieb Goldberg who played outside the Count's bedroom at night. He is the only composer on whom I cannot overdose, and while his music seemed dated to his own, slightly embarrassed sons, it strikes us as perfectly timeless now. Known for her ice-cold precision and focused tone, she moved into historically informed territory some time the last decade. Your name: Your email: Personal message: Tell a friend (or remind yourself) about this product. View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the 2005 CD release of The Very Best Of Bach on Discogs. Bach's most treasured compositions in accessible arrangements for budding instrumentalists with online demo and backing tracks for download or streaming with our popular Playback + features allowing the player to adjust pitch, change keys, slow down audio, and more. But that doesn’t make her very solid Well-Tempered Clavier the top choice for me. Yes, “Great!”, but neither playing nor the recorded sound are anywhere remotely what we are used to and should expect. Italian Concerto . For sheer rhythm and pluck, I would go with Friedrich Gulda’s recording (Decca / MPS), for wallowing in beauty and a hint of nostalgia with Tatyana Nikolayeva’s 1984 live, but out-of-print recordings from Japan (Victor). Much of it purls along with gentle ease while Egarr’s finely spun harpsichord interjections make Pinnock sound comparatively earthbound. Karl Richter I & II (Archiv, both) and Helmut Rilling (Hänssler) would be far up my list, as would be a recent recording with Riccardo Chailly and the brawny Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (Decca). There is something about the music of Johann Sebastian Bach that puts it in a category of its own. Title: Best Of Bach. Sticking among interpretations on the piano, I’ll go with Zhu Xiao-Mei, a pianist’s pianist (as the cliché goes), whose understated and deeply felt Bach fascinates me to no end. None of that makes this the go-to recording of the Bach Violin concertos. Gain deeper insights into the world of classical music. His touch on the harpsichord is soft and ever-deft. Pooping Less Frequently To Save The Planet? The whole discography with alternative picks is also presented on ionarts. Forty (!) For that, I would choose either Jordi Savall’s recording (Alia Vox) or that of harpsichordist-conductor Richard Egarr. (Telarc and re-issued on Warner; both add the whole autograph score on an enhanced CD for perusal on a PC or MAC.) No.10 St. Matthew Passion Klangverwaltung Orchester / Enoch zu Guttenberg (Farao), Amazon mp3: NA | Amazon 3 CDs: ~$27-30 | ArkivMusic: NA | Qobuz download NA | iTunes mp3: $25, Gramophone’s Choice: Concentus Musicus, Arnold Schoenberg Choir / Nikolaus Harnoncourt (Austrian, Teldec/Warner), My Choice: Klangverwaltung Orchester / Enoch zu Guttenberg (German, Farao). Listen to The Best of Bach by Various Artists on Apple Music. All Rights Reserved, This is a BETA experience. Their list, 90% Anglocentric, reads almost as if the Italians, the French, the Dutch, the Germans, Czech, or Japanese etc. Johann Sebastian Bach is considered one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music. My enjoyment isn’t confined to the most recent in recording technology and performance ideology. Johann Sebastian Bach composed over 1000 pieces of music. Bach's most treasured compositions in accessible arrangements for budding instrumentalists with online demo and backing tracks for download or streaming with our popular Playback + features allowing the player to adjust pitch, change keys, slow down audio, and more. It was my favorite recording of 2009… and apart from Tzimon Barto’s new disc (Capriccio, riffing liberally off the Busoni adaptation), there’s no other recording, conventional or oddball, that brings me quite as much easy joy. Possibly one of the most famous pieces of classical music, Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor has made an appearance in some interesting formats, including car alarms and Walt Disney's Fantasia. You may opt-out by. You may also enter a personal message. Many in his family were composers and musicians. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. My pool of potential choices includes Giuliano Carmignola and Concerto Köln (Archiv), Amandine Beyer and Gli Incogniti (Zig Zag), the Freiburg Barockorchester with Petra Müllejans and Gottfried von der Goltz, Andrew Manze with the Academy of Ancient Music (Harmonia Mundi) among the historically informed performance (HIP) crowd; Julia Fischer or Janine Jansen (both Decca) or Thomas Zehetmair with the Amsterdam Bach Soloists (Berlin Classics, holding up very nicely against otherwise all new recordings) with modern instruments. Tracklist . Find top songs and albums by Best of Bach including Bach: Invention 1 (Inventio I), Bach: Invention 13 (Inventio XIII) and more. Steven Isserlis is a very charming, gregarious man, a fine cellist, and a savvy artist. 3 in G Major, BWV 1048: I. ], No.1 Orchestral Suites Concerto Köln (Berlin Classics), Amazon mp3: $16 | Amazon 2 CDs: ~$30 | ArkivMusic: $30 | Qobuz download £11 | iTunes mp3: $14, Gramophone’s Choice: Ensemble Sonnerie / Monica Huggett (English, Avie), My Choice: Concerto Köln (German, Berlin Classics). Style: Baroque. 3 in G Major, BWV 1048: I. Best of Bach By Brilliant Classics "When the Angels sing for themselves they play Mozart, but when they sing for God, they play Bach." seconds so intense, so heartfelt, so earnestly passionate, that absolutely without fail I tear up every time I hear it. On harpsichord, I would probably be least willing to part with Richard Egarr (Harmonia Mundi). Another Commonwealth-non-deviation from the pro-British bias, Angela Hewitt has long been a favorite in the Gramophone Magazine pages. LABEL: Eloquence. Glenn Gould is admittedly Canadian, not English (or even British), but for one he is the can’t-get-around-figure when it comes to the Goldberg Variations (at least where a conventional recommendation is concerned) and at least Canada is a member of the Commonwealth. GENRE: Classical. It’s often missed because it is so short, but it’s unmissable in the story. Style: Baroque. Listen to Bach's best arias and choruses read about their place in music history. It’s very HIP and consequently employs a small chorus (with three ripienists to a part on the large size for HIP, if you are into that sort of arcane detail), but the choral parts that we love in the Kyrie, the Sanctus, or the Gloria come through with real opulence and splendor, in audiophile sound. Today they are considered among the best music from the Baroque era. (pxhere) Johann Sebastian Bach came from a distinguished musical lineage in Germany. Eschewing scandal, sleaze-appeal, or underwear-modeling, additionally handicapped by not being a pretty young woman and worse: insisting on doing things – more or less – the high-brow way, he deserves admiration and respect. Bach* The Very Best of Bach ‎ (CD, Comp) VOX (6) FCA1014: Australia: 1993: Sell This Version: Reviews Add Review [r6824525] Release. Johann Sebastian Bach came from a distinguished musical lineage in Germany. But there are other recordings possessing other qualities that are every bit as good, and the most exciting of those might well be that of Russian (London-living) Victoria Mullova. Register now to continue reading Thank you for visiting Gramophone and making use of our archive of more than 50,000 expert reviews, features, awards and blog articles. EY & Citi On The Importance Of Resilience And Innovation, Impact 50: Investors Seeking Profit — And Pushing For Change, Michigan Economic Development Corporation With Forbes Insights. Here are some of his best. Series: Instrumental Play-Along Format: Softcover Audio Online Cello Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach 15 selections of some of J.S. Marketplace 0 2 For Sale from $9.99. FireFox NVDA users - To access the following content, press 'M' to enter the iFrame. Really? Bach's music fell mostly into obscurity following his death. He’s had a long recording career and benefits from his association with the excellent Hyperion label, which oozes quality on sheer reputation. 1. For an essay on the late-romantic composer Hans Rott in Listen Magazine I won a 2012 ASCAP Deems Taylor Award. Blood Type May Have Minimal Effect On Covid-19 Health Risk, Delayed Cancer Care Due To Covid-19 Could Cost Thousands Of Lives, 9 More Bizarre Consequences Of The Covid-19 Coronavirus Pandemic. Six Cello Suites. It is an extended, surprisingly slow and devastatingly disturbing cry that tears through the fabric of the music. Category: Classical Witnessing the gruesome death of Jesus and the ensuing earthquake, the heathen Roman executioners and their captain (of all people) are the first non-disciples to grasp the meaning of what has happened before them, and thus the beginning of Christendom. For years this was the recording (or one of them) I recommended as a top choice and it will remain one of several magnificent bequeathals by the 87-year old Harnoncourt, who is in ill health. Look! If 18-Year-Olds Can Fight For Their Country, They Should Be Able To Smoke A Cigarette, Spotify List: Top Ten Bach Recordings, Forbes, “Historically Most Informed” St. John Passion, “Almost List” of Best Recordings in 2008, the ultimate in historically informed orchestras. “Proximity bias” or “mere exposure effect” might be the appropriate euphemism for them being unabashed homers. Within a totally unruffled outwardly demeanor, she manages to evoke a wildly playful feeling in the music. He doesn’t set out to shock (not even peripherally), or primarily excite, but to delight. For its Ninth-out-of-Nine Anglo-centric recordings, Gramophone nods to the Scots and the Edinburgh-based HIP Dunedin Consort led by Englishman John Butt. Recordings of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos are ample; deducting for duplications and compilations, ArkivMusic lists about 50 available complete versions… and “Pinnock II” is among a bunch of favorites, but it wouldn’t quite be my top choice. But their Mass in B minor is the least convincing of the bunch amid extreme competition. Bach's Concerto for Two Violins is one of his most famous works. 1 CD . For jazzed-up Brandenburgs, Jacques Loussier (Telarc) is the foot-tappin’ choice. © 2020 Forbes Media LLC. Just three examples: The cry “Barabas” – when the crowd opts to free the murderer over Jesus – is not a short punctuated staccato interruption. By emotional coin-toss, I will go with the former, perhaps slightly safer choice for the recommendation. No.7 Well Tempered Clavier Zhu Xiao-Mei (Mirare), Amazon mp3: $28 | Amazon 4 CDs: ~$42 | ArkivMusic: $59 | Qobuz download £28 | iTunes mp3: $28, Gramophone’s Choice: Angela Hewitt (Canadian, Hyperion), My Choice: Zhu Xiao-Mei (Chinese-French, Mirare). If I went conventional-yet-non-Gould, Perahia’s very good, very pianistic, romantic recording would be it, or those of Zhu Xiao-Mei (Mirare). Gratitude is due; suggesting it’s the only or even best choice in the 21st century is either bold or very timid. But there is rhyme and reason to all he does. Discover releases, reviews, credits, songs, and more about Bach* - Best Of Bach at Discogs. A Spotify playlist can be found Spotify List: Top Ten Bach Recordings, Forbes, but since Spotify lacks numerous labels and good meta-data, it has been padded with second and third choices. Their hearts change and they acknowledge (“Due chori in unisono”): “Truly… truly: this was the Son of God.” Notably, it’s the only time Bach lets both choirs sing unisono. JS Bach's immense catalogue of sacred music is among the greatest musical achievements of the baroque period. After his death, his work almost faded into obscurity, but thanks renewed interest during the 19th century, today we remember him as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music. Bach is the P.G. No quibbles here: Canterbury-born Trevor Pinnock’s second recording of the Brandenburg Concertos (Avie) is terrific: Historically informed playing (which has really become the standard in this repertoire) at a very high level. Most likely composed as pedagogical exercises for keyboard players, the two books of the Well-Tempered Clavier contain a prelude and fugue written in all 24 major and minor keys of the chromatic scale. No.6 The Cello Suites Jean-Guihen Queyras (Harmonia Mundi), Amazon mp3: $18 | Amazon 2 CDs: ~$30 | ArkivMusic: $29 | Qobuz download £14 | iTunes mp3: $20, Gramophone’s Choice: Steven Isserlis (English, Hyperion), My Choice: Jean-Guihen Queyras (French, Harmonia Mundi). In the best moments he shows élan and a refreshing, athletic stride – but all too often it just sounds wimpy. Sign up to our newsletter and receive updates and marketing messages from Warner Classics about artists, products and offers. Listen free to Johann Sebastian Bach – The Very Best of Bach (Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 645 "Sleepers Awake" and more). There’s a litany of recordings I love for different reasons, Gould included: For example Konstantin Konstantin Lifschitz (Denon), Murray Perahia (Sony Classical), and Evgeni Koroliov (Hänssler) when it comes to version on the piano; Richard Egarr for flexibility (HMU), Pierre Hantaï for vividness (naïve or Mirare), or Masaaki Suzuki for explosive fascination (BIS) on the harpsichord. Little performed until they were revived by Pablo Casals in the early 20th century, today Bach's Cello Suites are among the most well-known pieces of music for solo cello. I like Monica Huggett’s full, rich-sounding recording a lot, and also the reconstructions it features, and have reviewed it positively. No-nonsense, no-picture publications like the American Record Guide or Fanfare Magazine (both American), which exude the charm of telephone books, are total geek literature, arcane, loved by the few dedicated readers, and more or less published out of the basements of their respective, dedicated publishers… private ventures and labors of love that, like the lamented International Record Review, won’t likely survive their founders. Upon much-anticipated arrival, it won the 2007 Gramophone Award and the magazine is sticking to its guns. And the whiplash of the continuo string instruments and the frenzied violins in the recitative “Erbarm es Gott!” depicts the beating of Christ about as vividly as the Mel Gibson film. While it’s easy enough for the keyboard to stand alone, string instruments have a … Brandenburg Concerto No. Rightly so; her Bach is delightful, I have enjoyed her recitals over the years, been turned on by her Bach Concertos (Hyperion) and turned off by her lecturing. Since I’m not trying to deliberately make a list devoid of English performers (who have, after all, dominated the early music and historically informed scene for years and for good reason), I’ll go with Englishman Egarr directing the equally English Academy of Ancient Music: It’s a superb performance in a subtle way. Spunky and swift, it chooses the lower French baroque pitch (~392 Hz) common to Weimar and Cöthen of Bach’s time. At various times I have worked with the CATO Institute, written for the Washington Post, contributed to Washington's Public Radio Station, and sold classical music at…. Here are some of his best. The once dissonant chord which, to our ears no longer so shriekingly dissonant, is played out so harrowingly that the dissonance is again audible.