Bach Recommendations


Bach is my favorite composer. Please recommend his best recordings. I'm making a Christmas list!

TIA

klimt

Michael Murray did make several Bach organ CDs for Telarc, which are good.  On vinyl, the Philips complete Bach organ recordings by Peter Hurford are well regarded, but lack the strong bass of the Telarc CDs and other digital versions.  There is also a series by Masaaki Suzuki, most of which are available as high-res on Qobuz, that I think are the best-sounding.

I prefer modern instruments by a chamber orchestra for Bach's orchestral works.  Anything by the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields is good, especially on vinyl.  The Brandenburg Concertos are especially popular, for good reason.

There are numerous keyboard works.  My favorites are the French suites.  You can choose authentic harpsichord recordings or modern piano, as you prefer.

The cello suites are fundamental to the cello repertoire.  Yo-yo Ma has recorded them three times and can be recommended, especially the last two recordings.

Let’s go deep into eclectic Bach, a piece showing deep genius that is far from mainstream acoustic flavors of Goldberg Variations. Some may consider it an acquired taste, but to me it is equivalent fine caviar and champagne. It is an excellent, emotional performance and interpretation of the composition.  The recording also excellent but not equivalent to some of Linn Recordings best efforts.  

Bach:  Ich habe genug

Cantatas BWV 32, 82 & 106

The Dunedin Consort, John Butt    Matthew Brook Bass 

  • Release date: 8th Oct 2021
  • Label: Linn
  • Catalogue number: CKD672
  • Length: 66 minutes
  • Genre: 

Streams on Qobuz.  

I'm not audiophile but Bach lover^^
Please don't overinterpret it. Just accept this recording of this performer as is. At least that's how I hear it. There are so many, but I just uploaded a few that came to mind.
And I prefer piano pieces over hunger or other things, so no one can surpass Glenn Gould for me and Karl Richter but I recommend this because I think some far superior in this piece. I'll just link to YouTube, but some piece aren't available all , so it would be best to look for the album yourself. 

https://youtu.be/_DYUWUxA_jQ?si=SnWQN6dUaDmI41lO

https://youtu.be/Ewpn9rgsjgg?si=Etw1Nyr7HVECxgrP

https://youtu.be/q19nMO4Ah-A?si=y6LFD7jvOonUN1vG

https://youtu.be/OrCclFH5Mkw?si=uPa0EoIdtWwTj-5P

https://youtu.be/BLElZaqQxE4?si=TzHW6rZWPVDsuMko

https://youtu.be/6ejbdQcBmE4?si=vAdnIto_Y73UQsMw

https://youtu.be/CLRtN1KNCQk?si=PFsdCuOFJMmQqTX0

https://youtu.be/Ol4oje1B8dk?si=gnwoAUmt66W0GLE7

https://youtu.be/ixxI7qKrh3o?si=zshDNjGDNNYHN0vh

https://youtu.be/1XoAJ98PbDM?si=cbNkCyufaV7TsWW9

https://youtu.be/t0zd8_ZiEic?si=y6rJvw2Mah26k2ay

Violin concerto BWV1042 Sigiswald Kuijken & La Petite Bande

                                                                  Merry CHRISTmas!

 

 

A few favorites of mine:

  • Cello Suites - Starker or Rostropovich recordings
  • Goldberg Variations - Gould
  • Art of the Fugure (arr. for string quartet) - Emerson String Quartet
  • Violin Partitas - Hahn (1997)