The Bach Family Circle
Music for oboe and harpsichord. Acclaimed historical oboist Geoffrey Burgess and harpsichordist Ann Murphy explore the hypothetical voice of the lost Bach oboe through realisations and rescorings.
The oboe was intimately linked with the Bach family in several ways. This innovative programme draws a musical line between Bach, his contemporaries and relatives, through arrangements and compositions for solo oboe and harpsichord.
No purely instrumental music for solo oboe by J. S. Bach survives, yet the instrument was bound up with the family: his brother Johann Jacob served as an oboist, and C. P. E. Bach wrote for it. Taking the Capriccio on the Departure of a Beloved Brother as a starting point, Burgess and Murphy offer realisations and rescorings that explore that lost voice.
Reviews
Burgess, an acknowledged master of the baroque oboe, does not disappoint. The 'quacking duck' sound of the badly played instrument is here transformed into a swan in flight.
delights with crisp, articulate and impeccably-phrased baroque oboe music.
Burgess and Ann Murphy are scintillating
perhaps Bach simply never met an oboist to meet the intellectual challenges of the mature chamber idiom. Had he heard Geoffrey Burgess he would surely have changed his mind.
Artists

Geoffrey Burgess
Geoffrey Burgess is a baroque oboist known for crisp, articulate and expressive period-instrument playing. He is a member of the Melbourne-based Elysium Ensemble.

Ann Murphy
Ann Murphy teaches harpsichord and thorough bass at the University of Melbourne. She has given numerous recitals in Australia as a soloist and in ensemble, and has recorded for the ABC.
Audio preview
Tracks
- [Opening] 7:31
- Siciliano 3:07
- Presto 1:31
- Gigue 4:11
- Arioso: Adagio. Ist eine Schmeichelung der Freunde, um denselben von seiner Reise abzuhalten. 1:55
- Ist eine Vorstellung unterschiedlicher Casuum, die ihm in Fremde könnten vorfallen 1:34
- Adagissimo. Ist ein allgemeines Lamento der Freunde 2:37
- Allhier kommen die Freunde, weil sie doch sehen, dass es anders nicht sein kann, und nehmen Abschied. :37
- Aria d Postiglione. Allegro poco. :59
- Fuga all'imitazione delle cornetta di postiglione. 2:41
- [Allegro] 4:05
- Adagio 2:31
- Allegro 5:15
- Andante 2:10
- Allegro 2:16
- Tempo guisto 1:54
- Vivace 2:09
- Allegro :48
- Adagio 1:42
- Allegro 3:35
- Vivace 5:07
Sonata in G minor, BWV 1035 Johann Sebastian Bach
Capriccio sopra la lontananza del suo fratello dilettissimo, BWV 992 Johann Sebastian Bach
Sonata in G minor, BWV 1020 Johann Sebastian Bach
Continuation des Sonates Methodiques: Methodische Sonata No. 4 Georg Philipp Telemann
"Hobo Solo" in G minor, H 549 Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Performers
- Geoffrey Burgess · baroque oboe
- Ann Murphy
Composers

Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) was a German composer and organist of the late Baroque. His sacred and secular music for choir, orchestra, organ and solo instruments remains among the foundations of the Western concert and church repertory.

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714–1788) was a German composer and keyboard musician of the late Baroque and early Classical eras. A principal voice of the empfindsamer Stil, he helped found the expressive Classical style.

Georg Philipp Telemann
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught, he became a composer against his family's wishes and ranked among the leading German musicians of his age.
Where to listen
The Bach Family Circle is available for streaming through Spotify and Apple Music. It can also be purchased through the iTunes Music Store.
The Bach Family Circle is available as a CD. It can be purchased online through Buywell Music or the Australian Music Centre which both offer online ordering.
Product details
- Catalogue number
- MD 3202
- List price
- $25.00 AUD
- Total playing time
- 58 minutes 15 seconds
- Contributor
- Christian Gundermann
Frederick Morgan
Geoffrey Burgess
Martin Wright
Toshi Hasegawa
William Bright - Recording Engineer
- Vaughan McAlley
- Mastering Engineer
- Martin Wright
- Venue
- Move Records Studio
- Release date
- 1998
- Musical work
copyright - © 1998 Move Records
- Sound recording
copyright - ℗ 1998 Move Records
- Categories
- Baroque, Classical
- Genre
- Baroque
- Barcode
- EAN 9314574320220
Related recordings

Via Frescobaldi
Seventeenth-century Italian composer Girolamo Frescobaldi was at once conservative and innovative. La Romanesca presents improvisatory toccatas, imitative polyphonic instrumental works, and songs from his arie musicali of 1630.

Bright Tracks
Winner of the 1998 ABC Classic FM Listeners’ Choice Award, this double CD gathers chamber music by Brenton Broadstock, one of Australia’s most established and respected composers.

Phoenix Songs
Like the phoenix rising from the ashes, the recorder is enjoying something of a renaissance. Six well-known Australian contemporary composers pair it with piano, harpsichord, voice and live electronics.