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Bachanalia

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Claritas:
A fellow pyrate asked this Bachhead to make a list of the best Bach records, so I hope to make this a Changstar effort. :)p10  I included some notes for beginners.

My favorites—in approximate order of accessibility:
 
Brandenburg Concerti. Benjamin Britten, English Chamber Orchestra.
 
Violin Concerti. Anne-Sophie Mutter with Salvatore Accardo, English Chamber Orchestra.
 
Keyboard Concerti. Bach’s keyboard works can be played on any keyboard instrument, but are usually played on piano or harpsichord.
Piano Concerti. Glenn Gould, various orchestras. Distant runner up: Andras Schiff, Chamber Orchestra of Europe.
Harpsichord Concerti. Trevor Pinnock, The English Concert [emsemble].
 
Great Organ Favorites. E. Power Biggs. I listen to the “Little Fugue” on repeat every morning on the drive to work to help me wake up and concentrate. I’ve gone through phases of listening to some of these pieces on repeat; it becomes hypnotic.
 
Italian Concerto, French Overture, Chromatic Fantasy & Fugue. Christophe Rousset (harpsichord).
 
Goldberg Variations. Glenn Gould. 1954 & 1981. Gould made two studio recordings. I prefer the later one in the digital version, but try the early one to find out what all the fuss was about. Distant runner up: Andras Schiff. At least he’s doing his own thing.
 
Organ Concerti. Simon Preston. DG. These are solo organ works in three movements; not well-known but I think they’re fun. My favorite is the A minor concerto, which is actually a transcription of Vivaldi’s Op. 3/8. It’s interesting to compare Bach’s version to the original to see just how much greater a composer Bach was.
 
Inventions and Sinfonias a.k.a. Two- and Three-Part Inventions. Glenn Gould. Pedagogical devices in every key. Some are kind of boring, but they always clear my mind.
 
B-Minor Mass. Karl Richter, Munich Bach Orchestra. Deeply moving—and long.
 
Well-Tempered Clavier, Books I & II. Glenn Gould. 24 preludes and 24 fugues in every key. “The Old Testament” to Beethoven’s “New Testament.” Frequently academic, but contains several perfect and near perfect fugues. Considerably less accessible than the Inventions and Sinfonias. Distant runner up: Andras Schiff. Masaaki Suzuki (harpsichord version).
 
The Art of Fugue. Technical counterpoint. We don’t know what instrument(s) Bach had in mind. Probably Bach’s least accessible work, but also my favorite. Glenn Gould (organ this time, not piano), Julliard String Quartet (strings). Note: I prefer less integrated, more individualistic string ensembles such as Cleveland, Quartetto Italiano, and Julliard. For the other approach to the string version, try the Emerson Quartet.
 
My unfavorites or antifavorites—in approximate order of accessibility:
 
Orchestral Suites. Neville Mariner, Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields. All these short stylized period dances bore me as music. Popular though.
 
English Suites, French Suites, Partitas. Glenn Gould. Lots o’ dances.
 
Violin Sonatas & Partitas. Jascha Heifetz. Dances again. I don’t like solo violin but I can at least tolerate this version.
 
Cantatas. Karl Richter. I dislike them because they’re choral music in German.
 
Cello Suites. Effin’ dances. I dislike solo cello even more than solo violin. It makes me fall asleep so I can’t even say what’s good. The canonical version is Pablo Casals’, but go for a more modern version. See: http://www.changstar.com/index.php/topic,705.0.html.

These are just my favorites and unfavorites. What are some of yours?

Byrnie:
Thx again for the advice bud!  Are any of the ones off of HDTracks worthwhile (just in case I wanna grab an album tonight or tomorrow)?

Claritas:
They have Gould's Two- and Three-Part Inventions. It's an OK place to start, though you might like something more exciting like the Brandenburgs more. But stay away from that Zenph so-called Re-creation of his 1954 Goldbergs.

Hae-Wong Chang's versions on the Piano Concerti might be good. Her Hummel discs are very good and prove she has talent, but Hummel's a much lighter composer.

Vladimir Ashkenazy doing the Italian Concerto, &c. should be fine if somewhat boring.

The Orchestral Suites by Capella Istropolitana could be OK. They made some acceptable Haydn records.

Byrnie:
Sounds like it's better to stick to your list.

Byrnie:
Brandenburg Concerti. Benjamin Britten, English Chamber Orchestra.

The above is great!  I've been listening to it on Spotify today while I'm working.  I have the CD at home but haven't had the time to rip it to FLAC.  Thank you, Claritas for the suggestions/advice!

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