J.s. Bach Orchestral Works & Chamber Music

John Eliot Gardiner, The English Baroque Soloists - Johann Sebastian Bach: Overtures / Suites BWV 1066-1069 (1995)

John Eliot Gardiner, The English Baroque Soloists - Johann Sebastian Bach: Overtures / Suites BWV 1066-1069 (1995)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 474 Mb | Total time: 1h 36 min | Scans included
Classical | Label: Erato | # 4509-99615-2 | Recorded: 1983

In this recording of Bach’s Suite No. 1, John Eliot Gardiner follows Passepieds I and II with Bach’s own setting of the chorale Dir, dir, Jehova, will ich singen BWV 299. The joyous text celebrates praise and discipleship, prolonging the suite’s exuberant mood. No other recorded version features a vocal tailpiece, but if you don’t like it, simply program your player to skip track 8. It’s good to find both parts of the Overtures to these works repeated (Frans Brüggen omits second-section repeats), but at times Gardiner can seem too rugged and unyielding for what is, after all, ceremonial or occasional music.
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin - J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, Concerto for 2 Keyboards, Overture (2005)

Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin - J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, Concerto for 2 Keyboards, Bwv 1061, Overture (Suite) No. 2 (2005)
WEB | FLAC (tracks) - 338 MB | 56:59
Genre: Classical | Label: Capriccio

Many fine recordings over the years have taught me that they know Bach in Leipzig, so I expected a lot from this recording, and wasn’t disappointed. These are possibly the best, or at least equal to the best, performances of these frequently performed works I’ve ever heard. They are very fast, but there is no sense of the music being rushed; it simply erupts at this tempo as if it couldn’t help itself, as if this were the only way it could possibly be played. Having just finished reading and reviewing a book on the origins of our ideas of original performance practice, this recording is a perfect example of what it was all about, Bach’s music pretty much the way he played it and heard it himself.
Orchestre de Chambre de la Sarre, Karl Ristenpart - J.S. Bach: Oeuvres pour orchestre (6CD) (2000)

Orchestre de Chambre de la Sarre, Karl Ristenpart - J.S. Bach: Oeuvres pour orchestre (6CD) (2000)
EAC | FLAC (image+.cue, log) | Covers Included | 06:21:25 | 2.3 Gb
Genre: Classical | Label: Accord | Catalog: 465 977-2

This German conductor was heavily involved in creating three orchestras in his lifetime, most notably the Chamber Orchestra of the Saar. With this group he is often considered to have created one of the definitive recorded collections of Bach's orchestral music. These recordings originally saw the light of day in the early '60s as a Nonesuch release on both LP and cassette. Following an out of print period, it was cause for celebration among Bach lovers when the French Accord label released a six-CD set comprising the entire set of Ristenpart recordings of Bach orchestral works.
Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki - J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concertos, Orchestral Suites (2009)

Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki - J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concertos, Orchestral Suites (2009)
EAC | APE (image+.cue, log) | Digital Booklet | 03:20:39 | 1,01 Gb
Genre: Classical | Label: BIS | Catalog: 1721/22

Listening to this irresistibly joyful and magnificently musical set of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos and Orchestral Suites, one is immediately struck by two thoughts. First, Masaaki Suzuki and the Bach Collegium Japan have been wasting their time concentrating on Bach's dour cantatas, and second, Bach himself was wasting his time writing his melancholy church music when he could have been composing infinitely more cheerful secular music. While Suzuki and his crew have turned in superlatively performed, if spectacularly severe recording of the cantatas, they sound just as virtuosic and vastly more comfortable here.
Siegbert Rampe, Nova Stravaganza - Johann Sebastian Bach: The Early Overtures (2002)

Siegbert Rampe, Nova Stravaganza - Johann Sebastian Bach: The Early Overtures (2002)
dBpoweramp | FLAC | Track (Cue & Log) ~ 586 Mb | Total time: 101:40 | Scans included
Classical | Label: MDG | 341 1131-2 | Recorded: 2001

While this cannot be a first-choice recording of the Bach Overtures (Suites), it's certainly a worthy addition to any collector's Bach shelf. Citing numerous examples of recent research, including conductor Siegbert Rampe's own, along with articles by Dirst, Rifkin, and Wolff, Rampe and his excellent period-instrument ensemble Nova Stravaganza strive to show what may have been the original forms of these four famous works. That means we get to hear suites Nos. 3 and 4 without trumpets and timpani; suite No. 2 played in A minor instead of the usual B minor–and with a solo violin rather than flute; and suite No. 1 as "a simple septet"–two oboes, two solo violins, solo viola, bassoon, and harpsichord (reinforced "in accordance with period practice" by 16' violone).
Mischa Maisky & Martha Argerich - Johann Sebastian Bach: Three Sonatas for Violoncello and Piano, BWV 1027-1029 (1985)

J. S. Bach: Three Sonatas for Violoncello and Piano, BWV 1027-1029 (1985)
Mischa Maisky, cello; Martha Argerich, piano

EAC | FLAC | Tracks (Cue&Log) ~ 183 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 111 Mb | Scans included
Classical | Label: Deutsche Grammophon | # 415 471-2 | Time: 00:43:26

These three sonatas - composed originally for the viola da gamba and harpsichord - are very musically-appealing compositions. And unlike previous Baroque cahmber-music tradition, the harpsichord is not relegated to mere continuo but projected into the spotlight as co-soloist - perhaps to showcase some of Bach's keyboard virtuosity. There are several fine period recordings of these works on viola da gamba and harpsichord (Savall, Peri, Crum, Wispelwey) or modern cello with harpsichord (Ma, Tortelier). But if your taste favors all modern instuments (cello, piano), then this circa-80's CD by the legendary Martha Argerich and Misha Maisky is the ticket.
Aleksandra Bryla & Maria Banaszkiewicz-Bryla - J.S. Bach: Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord, BWV 1017-1019 (2022)

Aleksandra Bryla & Maria Banaszkiewicz-Bryla - J.S. Bach: Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord, BWV 1017-1019 (2022)
FLAC (tracks), Lossless | 51:03 | 322 Mb
Genre: Classical / Label: Prelude Classics

Maria Banaszkiewicz-Bryla In addition to her teaching activities, she cooperates permanently with the Poznań Philharmonic, performing basso continuo parts in orchestral and vocal-instrumental works (thanks to which she had the opportunity to collaborate with S. stuligrosz, J. Kurczewski, S. Harth, N. petri, H. szeryng, I. ojstrach, D. hope and CH. Hogwood). She performs with many Polish orchestral ensembles (Collegium Viridimontanum, Collegium F, the Wroclaw Chamber Orchestra, The Leopoldinum Chamber Orchestra, The Świętokrzyskie Philharmonic, the Sudetenland Philharmonic, the Lubusz Philharmonic, the Gorzow Philharmonic), and as a chamber musician she cooperates with outstanding soloists – instrumentalists and vocalists performing music the old one. As a soloist and chamber musician she has performed in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, the United States, Mexico, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Café Zimmermann - J.S. Bach: Concerts avec plusieurs instruments, Vol. 2 (2004) (Repost)

Café Zimmermann - J.S. Bach: Concerts avec plusieurs instruments, Vol. 2 (2004)
EAC | FLAC (image+.cue, log) | Covers Included | 58:20 | 359 MB
Genre: Classical | Label: Alpha Productions | Catalog: 048

The best thing about this release by Café Zimmerman – better than the stupendous performances, better than the glorious sound, better than the brilliant programming, better than the intelligent liner notes, and better even than the gorgeous reproduction of André Bouys' Servant Polishing the Silver on the cover – is the fact that it's the second release in a cycle of the complete concertos for diverse instruments by Bach. Led by violinist Pablo Valetti, Café Zimmerman is a lean and lovely period instrument chamber orchestra with impeccable ensemble, amazing virtuosity, incredible sensitivity, and endless nuances of tone and color.
Ton Koopman, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra - J.S. Bach: Sinfonia - Instrumentale Delen Uit De Cantates (2010)

Ton Koopman, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra - J.S. Bach: Sinfonia - Instrumentale Delen Uit De Cantates (2010)
WEB | FLAC (tracks) - 931 MB | 02:58:42
Genre: Classical | Label: Challenge Classics

Bach composed in Leipzig the biggest part of his cantatas. A cantata is a composition in several parts for one or more voices and instruments, where arias, recitatives and chorusses alternate. Often these were preceded by an instrumental introduction, a sinfonia. In Bach's earliest cantatas these were also called concerto, sonata or sonatina. These instrumental works are collected on this album.
Joel Gisiger - J. S. Bach: Sonatas, BWV 1020 - 1030b & Partita in A Minor, BWV 1013 (2024)

Joel Gisiger - J. S. Bach: Sonatas, BWV 1020 - 1030b & Partita in A Minor, BWV 1013 (2024)
WEB FLAC (Tracks) 170 MB | Cover | 42:04 | MP3 CBR 320 kbps | 99 MB
Classical | Label: Azul Music

Bach was a German composer of the Baroque period. He regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time. He was orphaned at the age of 10 and lived with his brother for five years.