Released: 1993
Tracks: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3; The Well-Tempered Klavier, Book 1, Prelude and Fugue No. 1 in C; Air on a G String, from Suite No. 3; Toccata and Fugue in D Minor; Mass in B Minor, ‘Gloria: Cum Sancto Spirito”; Concerto for Two Violins, 2nd Movement; Peasant Cantata, Klein – Zschocher müsse so zart und süsse; Chaconne for Solo Violin in D Minor; St. Matthew Passion Final Chorus
Best track: St. Matthew Passion Final Chorus or possibly the 1st mvt. of the Brandenburg Cto. No. 3
Track to skip: Concerto for Two Violins didn’t do much for me tonight
I should listen to this more often. It is very beautiful music. It’s pretty easy to see by looking through all that I have listed in these pages that I don’t own too much “classical” music. Maybe 5 or so discs? Well, it all boils down to: I need more. I had a great time listening to this CD tonight (I think my cats loved it too!) and it’s a great experience to just sit down and concentrate on absolutely wonderful music for an hour.
You readers may not necessarily know these pieces by name, but most will be familiar. Probably the most recognizable is the Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor; this is frequently used for ‘midnight madness’ sales and other ‘serious’ (ha ha) things. The first movement of the Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 is also one that most everyone has heard many times in their life. I really enjoy this composition; it’s got a great ‘bounce’ to it and has some fantastic melodies.
I really did enjoy most everything on here, even Chaconne which I normally think is boring beyond belief. I guess the music struck me the right way tonight and the 13 minutes went by pretty quickly. Although way overplayed by aspiring musicians, it’s still an amazing piece of music. I even liked the Peasant Cantata, which is a vocal piece. Normally I don’t want to hear quasi-operatic singing, but this one wasn’t overdone at all and it sounded good. In addition to Brandenburg…, the piece that really worked with me was the final chorus of the St. Matthew Passion. My words to describe this are really useless, but this is such a massive work; beyond captivating. When it’s done right, it’s always a huge thrill to listen to ‘death’ and have it be the last track on a CD. Death is final. The death in this track (Jesus’, by the way) is monumental. The choir just surges and overtakes everything. I love it!
This CD is accompanied by a very nice book which has a good bio of Bach’s life, as well as a complete index of his works (um, how about 1,087 pieces of music written by him!). The CD/book is put out by Simon and Schuster and is a prefect introduction to the life and music of J.S. Bach. This is quite difficult to rate (and all these ratings are pretty useless anyway) since it’s only part of 8 compositions out of 1,087. I liked it, though, so I’ll give it a
Rating: 94
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