Gode Del Ester Bach

After a recording of Book II of The Well-Tempered Clavier that earned unanimous acclaim from the press, Andreas Staier now gives us an equally poetic and flamboyant interpretation of the first book. At once architect and colourist, he constantly varies the atmospheres, unfolding an infinite palette of musical landscapes. Under his fingers, this immense cathedral in sound is revealed in all its thrilling diversity. An exhilarating experience!

Two things distinguished Thomas Hengelbrock's 1996 recording of Bach's B minor Mass from the many other historically informed performances of the work released in the early digital era. Where many other conductors used small mixed choirs, Hengelbrock not only used the 26-voice Bathasar-Neumann-Chor, he drew his soloists from it. And where most other conductors tended exclusively toward quick tempos, Hengelbrock mixed things up, favoring fast tempos in joyful movements and slow tempos for painful movements.

Céline Moinet is often asked why she decided to become an oboe player. She was adamant: she did not want to play a brass or stringed instrument or even a piano – it had to be woodwind. After having begun, as most children do, with the recorder, she turned at age 7 to the oboe, which had captivated her from the word go. On her new album she takes a look at Johann Sebastian Bach: "Here, the oboe becomes the narrator."

Die zweichörige Matthäus-Passion, die bereits im posthumen Andenken der Bach-Familie als die «Grosse Bassion» bezeichnet wurde, gehört nicht nur zu Bachs umfangreichsten und gewichtigsten Kirchenkompositionen. Sie hat auch seit den spektakulären Wiederaufführungen Mendelssohns und Zelters im Jahre 1829 die neuzeitliche Wahrnehmung des Komponisten wesentlich geprägt.

German composer Hans Werner Henze’s (1926–2012) admiration for the great masters of the Baroque and musical Classicism manifested in compositions born from a desire to transcribe, rework and transform 17th- and 18th-century masterpieces into new orchestral textures. The project Travestimenti (Disguises), managed by conductor Marco Angius and the Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, from which this CD was created, makes reference to Henze’s ‘reinventions’ of masterpieces by Mozart, C.P.E. Bach and Vitali, clothed in new, modern fashion.

This fascinating set provides a refreshing window onto a much studied, much idolized, and oft performed master of composition, allowing many of his familiar works to appear in a new light, recognizable and yet transformed. Bach's music is often described as indestructible, in the sense that no matter how it is performed, or in whichever arrangement, it's essential spirit survives. Many of the transcriptions included here represent the work of contemporary, world-class performers bringing Bach's masterpieces into the repertoire of their own instruments or ensembles, thereby giving new timbres to the genius of Bach's contrapuntal lines.