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.
He served Lutheran churches in Arnstadt and Mühlhausen, the courts at Weimar and Köthen, and from 1723 as Thomaskantor in Leipzig, where weekly cantatas and large Passion settings belonged to the work.
German counterpoint meets Italian and French rhythm, form and texture. The surviving catalogue includes the Brandenburg Concertos, the Goldberg Variations, The Well-Tempered Clavier, the Mass in B minor, the St Matthew Passion and St John Passion, the solo violin and cello works, more than two hundred cantatas, and a large organ repertory.
Admired in his lifetime above all as an organist, he was recognised in the nineteenth century as one of the central composers of the Baroque.
Johann Sebastian Bach is featured on the following titles
Bach Cello
Debate still rages over the origins and purpose of Bach’s cello suites. Were they written for court cellists Christian Ferdinand Abel and Christian Bernhard Linke, for the unusual violoncello da spalla, or as progressive exercises for Bach himself?
Bach's Tonal Soundscape
Ian Holtham’s distinctive approach to Bach’s monumental Well-Tempered Clavier lets listeners hear the preludes and fugues organised by key, rather than the traditional and more artificial order by book.
JS Bach Sonatas for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord
Considering the fame of Bach’s solo violin partitas and cello suites, it is remarkable that his sonatas for viola da gamba and keyboard still sit in the shadows for many listeners. That some of their material appears elsewhere in his output hardly explains the neglect.
Geoffrey Tozer in Concert: Takapuna 1996
A live 1996 concert from Takapuna captures Geoffrey Tozer with the Auckland Sinfonietta in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 27, framed by Chopin, Medtner, Schnabel, Gluck, Liszt and Bach.
Orgelbüchlein
Calvin Bowman gives an expert reading of J.S. Bach's Little Organ Book – a microcosm of the composer's inventive and improvisational genius – on the Ahrend organ at Robert Blackwood Hall.
Goldberg Variations
A rare chance to hear Bach’s complete Goldberg Variations with every repeat, the fourteen canons on the Goldberg bass, and the Italian Concerto, played by Elizabeth Anderson on harpsichord. Two CDs for the price of one.
Complete Bach Flute Sonatas, Vol. 2
Acclaimed artists present superb performances of the complete Bach flute sonatas.
Complete Bach Flute Sonatas, Vol. 1
Acclaimed artists present superb performances of the complete Bach flute sonatas.
Mostly Bach
Flautist David Bloom and guitarist Peter Lynch present Bach's D minor suite arranged for solo flute, the C major flute sonata, and Mauro Giuliani's Grande Sonata in A major for flute and guitar.
Life and Love
Cameron Roberts plays Johann Sebastian Bach at the piano, joining original keyboard works with his own arrangements and those of Busoni and Lipatti.
The Well-Tempered Clavier: Books 1 and 2
Distinguished Australian pianist and harpsichordist Judith Lambden presents J.S. Bach’s complete Well-Tempered Clavier, Books I and II (BWV 846–893), recorded across nine years as a five-CD set.
Bach Piano 2
More Bach keyboard works on piano from Judith Lambden. Of her first volume, Toby Wong praised ‘[Lambden’s] exceptional artistry … creates a compelling and vibrant musical narrative.’
Bach Piano 1
Pianist Judith Lambden continues her long-running survey of Bach’s keyboard works. This programme gathers four early toccatas with the Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue and the Italian Concerto.
Six French Suites
Judith Lambden plays Bach’s six French Suites on piano across two discs, offered for the price of one. The set presents the complete dance cycles BWV 812–817 in a clear, balanced reading.
Six English Suites
Judith Lambden performs Johann Sebastian Bach’s six English Suites, BWV 806–811, complete on piano across two discs.
Bach: Goldberg Variations, Original Transcriptions
Cameron Roberts, already marked out as one of Australia’s finest young artists, makes his recording debut with an all-Bach piano recital centred on the Goldberg Variations.
Compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach also appear on
