J.s.bach 12 Clavier Concertos Bwv1052 1065 T.nikolayeva, M.petuchov, M.evseeva, S.senkov, S.sondeckis [lp1 of 4]

One of Germany’s best-loved classical performers joins forces with a legendary close- harmony group for a winter-themed album to bring warmth to the dark months of the year: Albrecht Mayer & The King’s Singers. The pairing of probably the world’s most famous and accomplished oboist, Albrecht Mayer with the UK’s celebrated vocal ensemble is a heavenly musical partnership, and the interplay of colours, melodies and harmonies between these performers enchant and delight with Baroque, classical and seasonal favourites. The album has a Yuletide theme with tracks such as ‘Let It Snow’, ‘Jingle Bells’ and ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’.

Brilliant Classics embarked on a daring project in the year 2000, the year of the 250th anniversary of Johann Sebastian Bach's death: this budget label decided to release a complete set of Bach's works. They were not the only label to do so - Teldec and Haenssler both did as well - but the Brilliant Classics set stands out for several reasons. First, they attempted (though did not fully succeed) to create a complete set entirely recorded on period instruments, using historically informed performances.

If you’re looking for an acceptable, low-cost cycle of Bach’s harpsichord concertos, this Brilliant Classics set may be of interest. Discs 1 and 2 contain all of the concertos for solo harpsichord and continuo, as well as the Concerto BWV 1060 for two harpsichords and Concerto BWV 1065 for four harpsichords, performed by the modern-instrument ensemble Neues Bachisches Collegium Musicum, with soloist Christine Schornsheim, joined by fellow harpsichordists Armin Thalheim, Mechtild Stark, and Violetta Liebsch in the multiple keyboard works. These performances were originally issued in the U.S. nearly 25 years ago on the now defunct Capriccio label.

This is a really great five-CD set. You get all of Bach's concertos except the Brandenburgs - which is a shame because Pinnock's Brandenburgs are terrific. Nonetheless, this remains an absolutely cracking collection of some of Bach's most enjoyable music in excellent performances. In the Harpsichord Concertos Pinnock is himself the soloist and shows why he is such a very well-liked and highly regarded musician. The music springs to life under his fingers (and under his direction) and many of these performances set new and enduring standards when first released in the early 1980s. They have informed much subsequent Bach playing and have worn extremely well themselves, sounding as fresh and involving as they did nearly 30 years ago. He is joined by other fine harpsichordists in the concerti for two, three and four harpsichords, (Kenneth Gilbert, Nicholas Kraemer and Lars Ulrich Mortensen) and the Concerto for Four Harpsichords in particular is an absolute joy.

Alexandre Tharaud follows his dazzling album of Scarlatti sonatas with another fusion of modern and historically informed performance styles. Joining him in this new collection of Bach keyboard concertos is the dynamic period-instrument ensemble Les Violons du Roy, under its director Bernard Labadie.

This collection was first compiled in 1970 or so from recordings dating as far back as 1961. The set, now remastered and issued on cd, includes performances by three generations of harpsichordists, with Gustav Leonhardt providing the central focus. Leonhardt includes (in BWV 1060, 1062 and 1065) his former teacher from the Schola Cantorum in Basle, Eduard Mueller (the student modestly playing second harpsichord to his mentor in 1060 and 1065) while his own first-generation students Anneke Uittenbosch and Alan Curtis join him for BWV 1061, 1063-1065.

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. He is known for instrumental compositions such as the Brandenburg Concertos and the Goldberg Variations, and for vocal music such as the St Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor. Since the 19th-century Bach Revival, he has been generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time.

The marvellous Ton Koopman plays Bach's complete works for organ in wonderful performances full of power, passion, and grace! These digital recordings were made in 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, and 1999.

Youthful Viennese pianist Till Fellner has performed J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier to critical acclaim across Europe, and has made it the backbone of his recital repertoire. For this recording of Book I, Fellner performs the 24 preludes and fugues with a rich and full sound, yet with the refinement and fastidious control required in these comprehensive studies of Baroque keyboard technique. Articulation and balanced phrasing are of paramount importance, and Fellner's energies are directed to the clean execution of lines and the careful shading of contrapuntal voicings. What emotion he communicates is subtle and somewhat constrained to the contrasting characters of each pairing – the preludes and fugues often play off each other – yet his interpretations are quite colorful and varied over the course of the set. Neither cerebral nor effusive, Fellner renders the music in an appealing middle area between schools of interpretation, and achieves imaginative results that should please both traditionalists and fans of period practice.

Le prestigieux Collegium Musicum créé par Telemann fut l'orchestre attitré de Bach lorsqu'il prit ses fonctions à Leipzig. Il put ainsi tester avec cette formation de nouvelles associations de timbres que l'on retrouve dans le Concerto pour clavecin BWV 1052, le Concerto pour piano forte en si bémol majeur et le Triple Concerto BWV 1044. Il s'agit parfois de transcriptions et d'adaptations, d'œuvres originellement pour violon, mais le résultat est étonnant de brio et de force expressive. Il faut écouter ce fameux Triple Concerto pour flûte, violon, clavecin et cordes porté par les couleurs de l'Akademie für Alte Musik : on y retrouve l'impulsion rythmique, la richesse de tempérament du Concerto Brandebourgeois n° 5, un esprit de danse et de fête qui privilégient sans conteste le clavier.