Bach Adagio Bwv 974

Like all great composers, Bach wrote lively dynamic pieces for keyboard as well as in his cantatas etc. But he also produced many wonderful gentle and peaceful works and many of these are collected by pianist Jonathan Phillips in his new album 'Tranquillity'. This CD contains music for anyone hoping to gain an overriding sense of stillness, calm, contemplation and reverence. Bach’s music has radiance, luminosity, divinity, serenity, and timeless beauty. Jonathan has broadcast for the BBC, Russian and Italian and Swedish TV and radio, and given recitals all over the UK, Europe and former Soviet Union. Jonathan was interviewed by John Humphries and played live on Radio Four’s Today programme following a full-page feature article in the Guardian Arts Section about the preparation and performance of the Rachmaninoff 3rd Piano Concerto he gave in London in 2003.

Following the 2017 complete edition released for the 10th anniversary of Rostropovich’s death, the greatest cellist of his time is now part of the 100 Best Series. These new compilations take the best of his recordings for Warner Classics as a cellist in the 2017 Remastering and also as a conductor.

For fanciers of the trumpet and brilliant trumpeting, this is a wonderful disc. Bach, as far as we know, and unlike Telemann, Stölzel, and many other Baroque composers, not to mention Haydn and Hummel who followed them, did not write any concerted works specifically for the trumpet. Nonetheless, his assignment of important obbligato parts to it in a number of his cantatas, orchestral suites, and of course the Brandenburg No. 2, attests both to his appreciation of the instrument and to the high expectations he had for its technical mastery.

Luc Beauséjour, a highly sought-after musician for his virtuosity and the subtlety of his playing on the harpsichord and organ, is never short of ideas when it comes to offering concert programs imbued with refinement. The repertoire heard on this recording, originally written for the harpsichord during the Baroque period, is being played here on piano. If many pianists have played Bach, Scarlatti, Handel, Rameau, and even Couperin and Froberger, few harpsichordists have come to the defense of the harpsichord repertoire on the modern piano with such conviction and audacity. Fascinating!