CHANGSTAR: Audiophile Headphone Reviews and Early 90s Style BBS
Lobby => Music and Recordings => Topic started by: Claritas on November 10, 2014, 10:25:16 PM
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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 (http://www.changstar.com/index.php/topic,705.0.html).
These are just my favorites and unfavorites. What are some of yours?
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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)?
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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.
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Sounds like it's better to stick to your list.
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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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Glad you like it. Everyone has a favorite and one they just find boring and never listen to. Two and four are the most popular.
My favorite moment is the two violins playing off each other in the Adagio of no. 1. It's reminiscent of Bach's moving double violin concerto.
Here's a fun piece:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=659PBM3Xq2A
Though I wish someone make a version with cats and dogs like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iClHpepBY1I
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B-Minor Mass. Karl Richter, Munich Bach Orchestra. Deeply moving—and long.
That's what she said.
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That's what she said.
That's why it's less immediately accessible. (Is that a Mass in your pocket?)
So Mozartean, which Bach records do you like?
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One of my favorites is one of your unfavorites: Gould Partitas No. 1-6 BWV-825-830. I don't know how you can like Gould Goldberg Variations and not the Partitas.
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One of my favorites is one of your unfavorites: Gould Partitas No. 1-6 BWV-825-830. I don't know how you can like Gould Goldberg Variations and not the Partitas.
An unfavorite just means that I don't have an affinity for the piece. The Goldbergs have a sense of continuity from one variation to the next; I've never been able to make sense of the partitas and suites. Maybe I need to learn the gavotte.
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Got it. LOL. Goldberg is supposed to be Themes and Variations.
I tend to listen to the Partitas movements individually, rarely as entire sets. I know to how to play a few of them on the piano (but really really slow), so I guess that's why I like them.
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What do you guys think about Glenn Gould's humming while he plays? I love him as a performer, but sometimes his humming just bleeds through the recording.
Great pianist, and probably has some of the best interpretations of Bach in my opinion.
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I like the humming: it increases the sense of his presence.
A friend called me up and said, "You know those Bach discs you recommended? Let me ask you something: Does this guy hum or something? I'm hearing some sort of noise, and I think it might be coming from the speakers. I've looked all around the house--"
"Yeah, he hums."
"Oh, thank God! I thought might be going crazy."
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i like it. it's like his ghost.
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The best Chromatic fantasy/fugue AND French Overture I've heard is by pianist Andrew Rangell, but it is quite a bit different than Gould, it's a much different approach.
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This month I have started listening to more Bach. I love this thread. There is so much to discover.
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Sorry for double posting, but damn this version of the 1st mvt of the Chromatic fantasy is just phenomenal, as well as the Overture to the French Overture. Unfortunately the sample on Amazon isn't the best part, the best part is the recitative in the Chromatic fantasy. Luckily the album is on youtube (it says fugue but it is the fantasy), the recitative begins around 2:58.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRPGa-nQpWE
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I love the way he brings the piano, the tones and the melodies to life. Thank you for inspiring me ahoy
(http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_400/MI0001/149/MI0001149632.jpg?partner=allrovi.com)
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I've been looking for a good piano version of the complete Art of Fugue for quite some time. I'm pretty impressed with Evgeni Koroliov.
His other Bach records tend to be either too fast or too slow. This one has the right mix of tempi and works quite well. I think the recording's mic'd a little bright but, other than that, the pacing and playing are the best I've been able to find.
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For a couple of interesting changes of pace:
(1) the violin sonatas and partitas played on mandolin by Chris Thile. Not exactly my cup of tea, but the technical quality of the playing is ridiculous.
(2) the cello suites played on viola by Maxim Rysanov. Awesome in every way.
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For a couple of interesting changes of pace:
(1) the violin sonatas and partitas played on mandolin by Chris Thile. Not exactly my cup of tea, but the technical quality of the playing is ridiculous.
(2) the cello suites played on viola by Maxim Rysanov. Awesome in every way.
I've been looking for a good piano version of the complete Art of Fugue for quite some time. I'm pretty impressed with Evgeni Koroliov.
His other Bach records tend to be either too fast or too slow. This one has the right mix of tempi and works quite well. I think the recording's mic'd a little bright but, other than that, the pacing and playing are the best I've been able to find.
Aimard. Just buy it. You can thank me later. The performance is so good, you won't even care about the typically lousy DG sound.
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I'll try to add just a bit to this great thread by adding a few cantatas and oratorios to check out.
First up are the Easter and Ascension oratorios. I'm more familiar with the Easter one, good rousing stuff.
Here's the recording I bought recently:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00O29YB64
A lesser known group, but they do very well.
For the Magnificat, which is also beautiful, I have a recording with Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. It's paired with Vivaldi's Gloria
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001ALYS8S
note the 1-star review on amazon is by someone who seems to have thought that 1-star is the highest rating and 5 the lowest.
For cantatas, I have most of Ton Koopman's complete cantata cycle. I think it's a pretty decent introduction which can lead you to search out other recording of favorite cantatas afterwards.
I would recommend Vol 1 and Vol 3 (each a 3-cd set) as having some particularly beautiful cantatas well worth hearing. In fact, just start with Vol. 3
http://www.amazon.com/Bach-Complete-Cantatas-Vol-Koopman/dp/B000005E4G
Pretty stuff. Even in German.
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Calaf turned me on to this record. (Thanks!) I usually dislike period instruments / HIP, as they tend to attract players who couldn't make it in the major leagues, but this very spirited account works.
The modern version he prefers by Julia Fischer adopts similarly quick tempi but sounds more homogenized. I still prefer Mutter amongst modern accounts.
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Give me a couple of days to get back to my place and I will throw down a personal list, which is pretty distant from what I've read so far (with some exceptions of course, Manze for example is not bad at all). Gould is a legend but none of his recordings are my fav (I have just about everything, including both Godlbergs on vinyl. His French suits aint bad).
For the "advanced" class, have you ever heard Mitropoulos playing the piano in the 5th Brandenburg concerto? That is quite something, romantic interpretation with a sense for space and time like no other.
Fernando Germani on organ (Vatican city organist, recorded for EMI) threw down some exquisite Bach. On par with Walcha!
Sofronitsky set amazing standards for the old testament, I am amazed noone mentioned him. Richter (despite a mediocre recording) had the touch of an angel on both books.
Will come back with more soon
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Give me a couple of days to get back to my place and I will throw down a personal list, which is pretty distant from what I've read so far.
Sofronitsky set amazing standards for the old testament, I am amazed noone mentioned him. Richter (despite a mediocre recording) had the touch of an angel on both books.
Will come back with more soon
I didn't know he had recorded it. Maybe you mean Feinberg?
Anyway, looking forward to your recommendations.
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Oops, my bad, yes it is Feinberg on mono, 5lps, very hard to find ... A friend owns it, extraordinary performance, trying to convince him to give it to me (won't happen...)
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OK, back in my place, here are some of my fav:
On harpsichord Zuzana Ruzickova (originals from Erato, reprinted also by MHS), or Ralph Kilpatrick, both prefered over Pinnock.
Die Kunst der Fuge: Colegium Aurum (Harmonia Mundi or BASF)
Concertos for 2-3-4 cembali: Koopman with Amst Bar Orch, Harlekijn (Philips will do)
Sonatas for violin and piano: Makarski-Jarett (yes that Jarett, tremendous interpretation, 24/44)
Must give some credit to Jordi Savall for his work, Orchestral suites will do (has done quite a lot more)
Angela Hewitt is noteworthy too, her live concerts deliver in spades. She has done most of the classics on her Fazioli piano. Schiff on the other hand is not doing it for me.
On a different note, Jacques Lousier plays Bach is a must. Paris Saxophone Quartet also very interesting.
We could discuss a single work at a time, bach-head here too ;-)
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We could discuss a single work at a time, bach-head here too ;-)
hello,
this would really help those of us who know nothing about WCM.
Das Wohltemperierte Klavier first?
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My favorite: Angela Hewitt playing the Well-Tempered Clavier headbang
My unfavorite: Glenn Gould playing anything :vomit:
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Heard Hewitt live on a few occasions, as I said she really delivers and among those currently active she is a must for all Bach heads. Gould is doing his thing, which is not bad but some times it is not Bach. A love-hate thing.
The all time classic remains Richter. A few years back had the chance to buy his Melodiya LP case factory sealed. Recording quality is always a problem but the way he plays is amazing. Samuil Feinberg (which I do not own a copy, yet..) is a great mono from a great Russian. Rosalyn Tureck's take is also noteworthy
Last year I had the chance to listen to Pierre Laurant Aimard live here in the Athens Megaron, he played a couple of preludes and fugues from the first book as encores, and he was really-really good. DGG released the complete recording last year, have not bought it yet but it is on the to do list. Edit Got it a couple of days back, very mature performance, highly recommended!
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Look up anything by Sigiswald Kuijken, probably the best Bach performer alive.