Many Baroque composers wrote dozens, or even hundreds, of concertos but Bach managed to sum up the entire genre with only six, each featuring a different line-up of soloists with a wide range of moods and even structures (shocking in an era when concertos were supposed to have three movements: fast-slow-fast). The choir are excellent, of course, with a solid but clear and intimate sound even in the larger choruses, no end of expressive means in the chorales, and a thrilling quickness in the crowd choruses. Lionel Salter (March 1989). We need look no further than the Prelude of the First Suite in G major to find the supreme artistry which characterizes each and every moment of these performances. And yet Perahia’s Bach has plenty going on: you attend to one layer of counterpoint, then return for another and so on, discovering something new each time. Damien Guillon is a commanding presence, with a quality of sound that carries both line and text with purpose and panache (listen to the opening of Part 2 as an exceptional example). This is followed by one of the most extraordinary readings of the Sarabande I’ve ever heard. To find out more about subscribing to this unique and endlessly fascinating resource, visit: gramophone.co.uk/subscribe. The majestic Sarabande of No 1 in B flat (disc 1, tr 4) gets a minimum of graces in its repeats – barely noticeable indeed. The massive Bachakademie edition (of which this is Volume 115) is not a project noticeably concerned with period instruments, yet here they have persuaded Trevor Pinnock, founder of one of the world’s first and finest baroque orchestras, the English Concert, to return to the recording studio as a solo harpsichordist for the first time in many years. The Fugue from the above-mentioned D minor is a case in point: the glistening parallel motion over the pedal at 3'20", often a bloated gesture, enticingly holds back to set up the rich-textured gravitas that follows. Suzuki’s performance will persuade you that Bach’s unsurpassed technique never obfuscates the essence of the chorale; its Christmas provenance is fragrantly atmospheric. The pensive violin improvisation which links the two movements of No 3 is surely a miscalculation, feeling like more of a hold-up than it need be; more lastingly refreshing to my ears were the subtle relaxations of tension in the first movement of No 6, these days so often given the hard-drive treatment. His approach to the Goldbergs is tremendously spirited and energetic but also disciplined. Theo’s bass is clear and firm throughout, providing a centre of gravity for violinists Rachel Harris and Farran Scott to really dance. Ah yes, ‘intellectual’ pianists, I hear you mutter. Elsewhere, I found Hantai's feeling for the fantasy and poetry of Bach's music effective and well placed (such as in Var 13). Chercher les emplois correspondant à Best bach choral works ou embaucher sur le plus grand marché de freelance au monde avec plus de 18 millions d'emplois. Listen to the gorgeous conversational quality in the F sharp major Prelude, as if Pobłocka’s hands were a pair of chamber music partners. The sound quality is right on the mark and it verily feels as if one is present as he recorded it. As Brook Street Band founder and cellist Tatty Theo says in her booklet-notes, the band’s reason for recording yet another arrangement of Bach’s six trio sonatas for organ has been for “the sheer pleasure of playing this wonderful music, and the wish to share it”. Never miss an issue of the world's leading classical music magazine – subscribe to Gramophone today! Johann Sebastian Bach (31 March 1685 – 28 July 1750) would probably be astounded at his reputation as one of the greatest composers – perhaps the greatest composer – of all time. In short, without being tempted to eccentricity, these performances reveal keen musical minds constantly at work. Variation 7 is crisp and tripping, 16 opens to firmly brushed arpeggios, and I loved Perahia’s pianistic gambolling in the snakes and ladders of Variation 23. Her C major Prelude unassumingly unfolds at a moderate pace, resonating less like a piano than a murmuring organ, while the C major Fugue sounds like a madrigal featuring four distinct yet unified voices with prodigious breath control. Johann Sebastian Bach: Chorales: Was mein Gott will, das g’scheh’ allzeit (Cantata, BWV 103) 30. They help to make each partita announce itself as something ambitious and a unity, not just a succession of dances. Phew, no he hasn’t.” It’s unusually large-scale and, among the best Bach works, demonstrates that no one expresses anguish more deliciously than Bach. It’s hardly surprising that great violinists throughout history have paired up for this irresistible double act. Curiously, perhaps, it is the baroque cellist, Anner Bylsma on RCA who often provides close parallels with Fournier. Indeed, the idea of the Mass as Bach’s ‘summa’ anthology (a work that may never even have been conceived as a single piece) has often inhibited that elusive golden ‘arc’ where the culminating ‘Dona nobis’ feels magnetised to all before it. The soloist, Pierre Hantai, is a member of a talented French musical family who studied first with Arthur Haas, then with Gustav Leonhardt. History has not judged kindly the revisiting of major Bach choral works by eminent conductors. 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