Anna Magdalena

This recording is an invitation to immerse ourselves in the musical inner circle of the Bach family. We are familiar with Johann Sebastian Bach as a composer of genius, but we know little about his family life, with the exception of the famous Clavierbüchlein (Little keyboard book) that the forty-year-old composer gave as a present in 1725 to his second wife Anna Magdalena, his junior by sixteen years. This manuscript is a unique document of the music the family played together. It provides us with a point of reference for the 'programmes' of these domestic concerts: it contains short keyboard pieces and songs alongside extended arias taken from the church cantatas, as well as chamber music. Bach and his two eldest sons were not only virtuoso harpsichordists but also excellent violinists, while the composer's son-in-law Bach, J. C. Altnickol, played the cello and was an outstanding double bass player. Anna Magdalena Bach and her oldest stepdaughter both contributed as singers. And the still young children of the second marriage participated by playing easy pieces on their father's various keyboard instruments. The musicians and singers on this recording, all eminent exponents of Bach and of Baroque music in general, have come together here to bring these exceptional moments back to life.

Japanese Symphonic scene is pretty fertile but not in the classic style we are used to, instead they have a more eclectic approach that blends our beloved sub-genre with Fusion and Neo Prog influences, it's very common to find female vocalist as in two of their most representative bands like TERU'S SYMPHONIA and MAGDALENA, both leaded by the fabulous Megumi Tokuhisa, the perfect balance between the operatic sound of Annie Haslam and the beautiful but less elaborate vocals of Kate Bush…

Hailed by the international music press and highly praised by music connoisseurs, the recordings of Bach’s entire body of vocal music made by the Bach Collegium Japan (BCJ), its conductor Masaaki Suzuki and numerous prestigious soloists, many of whom have remained remarkably loyal to the undertaking from the outset, are here brought together to form the only complete set of these works in high-resolution format.

One of the finest guitarists of his generation, Alexandre Lagoya was famous not only for his amazing abilities but also thanks to his numerous transcriptions for the instrument, which greatly contributed to the extension of the repertoire. In this album recorded for Erato in 1990, he performs major baroque pieces he arranged himself, notably Bach’s Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring and excerpts from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena and a selection of Scarlatti’s keyboard sonatas.