Evgeny Koroliovʼs Golberg variations have become a cult recording. Seldom has this monumental piece sounded so purely musical, with such natural rhetorics, in fact simply so beautiful as in his hands. This recording was showered with international prizes, such as Diapason dʼor and others. György Ligeti chose Koroliovʼs Bach as his desert island disc : “forsaken and dying of thirst, I would listen to it up ʻtil my last breath”. Koroliov was born in Russia in 1949, his teachers were Maria Yudina, Heinrich Neuhaus and Lev Oborin. He soon settled in Hamburg/Germany, from where he developed his international career as a soloist and much-in-demand teacher.

This is a superb recording of the Two-Part and Sinfonias (Three-Part Inventions) of Johann Sebastian Bach. Kenneth Gilbert is a wonderful interpreter of Bach's keyboard music and in this recording plays an instrument made in 1671 by Jan Couchet that was subsequently enlarged in 1778. The Two-Part Inventions and Sinfonias consist of 15 parts; they were written as technical exercises and as composition demonstration pieces originally for his son Wilhelm Friedemann. The various pieces were probably written separately and were gathered together by Bach in major/minor key sequence and published in 1723. The recording is clear and well balanced. Kenneth Gilbert plays beautifully; the music is lively without being ostentatious.

The Art of Fugue or 'complete practical fugal work', as C. P. E. Bach described his father's giant contrapuntal achievement, is well represented in the current recording catalogue. The approaches to it vary considerably with performances on solo keyboard—harpsichord and organ—and mixed ensembles with markedly different shades of instrument colour. Varied too, is the sequence in which the performers play the fugal parts which comprise the whole. Some complete the final fugue, some do not; some find a place for all the pieces included in the posthumous original edition of 1751, others have given reasons for omitting those which seem not to play a directly relevant part in Bach's scheme. Kenneth Gilbert leads us down another fascinating path his performance on a solo harpsichord follows not the 1751 printed edition but Bach's own autograph material differing from the other both in content and layout.

This live recording of the concert of 31st March 1985 document the performances of the Passion which have been given annually by Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the Concertgebouw Orchestra for ten years now.

Mahan Esfahani veröffentlicht sein Debütalbum “Time Present and Time Past”, und damit erscheint auch die erste Cembalo Veröffentlichung bei Deutsche Grammophon seit über 30 Jahren! Sein Album, das maßgeblich durch Gedichte von T.S. Elliot inspiriert wurde, vereint Barockmusik von Bach und Corelli mit minimalistischen Klängen von Komponisten wie Reich und Gorecki. Mit seinen eingängigen Interpretationen begeistert Esfahani nicht nur seine Zuhörer für das historische Tasteninstrument, durch die Begleitung des “Concerto Köln”, einem auf historische Aufführungspraxis spezialisierten Orchester, gelingt es ihm, die Musik besonders authentisch wirken zu lassen.

Chiara Massini has been a star of concerts and musical festivals throughout the world for over a decade and wherever she goes she plays to both public and critical acclaim.
The press has written of her: “She has revealed herself as an exceptional artistic personality who brings selected works to life with ingenious liberties, her rubato is executed with stylistic certainty and sheer delight.”

Passion Jaroussky marks 20 years since Philippe Jaroussky made his professional debut and commenced his rapid ascent to stardom. As the French countertenor says, “Even after all these years, my passion for music is undimmed.” Ranging musically from the 16th to the 21st century, the triple album comprises both new recordings and highlights from recent albums, and it also showcases Jaroussky’s collaborations with a host of major singers – from the worlds of both classical music and pop – instrumentalists, conductors and orchestras.

The J.S. Bach Foundation has embarked on a remarkable undertaking: over a period of some 25 years, the Foundation will perform the complete vocal works by Johann Sebastian Bach (16851750). Each month, one of the over 200 Bach cantatas is performed in the idyllic town of Trogen in Appenzell, Switzerland. With a rhythm of 12 cantatas per year, the project is estimated to conclude in the year 2030. All introductory workshops, concerts and reflection lectures on the cantata texts are recorded; the texts of the lectures are published in a continually expanding Bach Anthology. The main aim of the J.S. Bach Foundation's ambitious project is to provide a living Bach experience for today's listeners and to deepen our understanding of the great composer's works. The artistic director of the foundation is Rudolf Lutz, who rehearses and conducts all performances with the choir, orchestra and solo vocalists.

Recent issues of the Bach partitas on the harpsichord have provoked reservations about the quality of the recordings: the set by Kenneth Gilbert so uncomfortably close to the microphone as to pick up distracting action noise from the instrument, Trevor Pinnock's somewhat fuzzy, Scott Ross's too reverberant to be ideal. So perhaps I may start by commending the admirably warm but clean and natural sound secured by the producer (Chris Sayers)—even in a church (not far from Toulouse)—of the very fine Hemsch harpsichord of 1751 that Rousset has used before.

Here is another of Gustav Leonhardt's mixed programmes but this one, unlike the earlier European grand tour ((CD) 426 352-2PH, 4/90), is confined to German repertory and is played not on the harpsichord but on the clavichord. The earliest music is by Christian Ritter, who was born in the mid seventeenth century and who was based mainly in Halle where he was employed as an organist. His Suite in F sharp minor is an appealing work somewhat in the manner of Froberger; the opening Allemande is beautifully written and well sustained and the poignant Sarabande an affecting piece built on a descending octave pattern which gives it the character of a lament.

Bach wrote these sonatas at Cothen between 1717 and 1723, probably to be played by the court virtuoso Carl Friedrich Abel or by Prince Leopold in person. While works for cello were invading Europe, Germany continued to give an important role to the viol throughout the eighteenth century, as can be seen in the works of such composers as Bach, Telemann, Abel, and Schaffrath (honoured by Guido Balestracci's most recent recording).

1723 marked the beginning of a new era: Johann Sebastian Bach was appointed Thomaskantor in Leipzig and was about to leave his mark on German music history like hardly any other composer. But first, Georg Philipp Telemann, the actual preferred candidate, needed to withdraw from his appointment in favor of Hamburg. Christoph Graupner, the jury's next choice, was unable to take up the post because he didn't receive approval from his employer in Darmstadt. It's hard to believe that Bach was only the third choice! Immerse yourself in the fascinating application process and slip into the role of the jury!

Named after the 18th-century dance-style movement 'Badinerie', this beautiful new album from flautist Julien Beaudiment and harpist Marie Pierre Langlamet offers a diverse span of repertoire, with a rich collection of works from across the centuries. At the heart of the album lies Francis Poulenc's Sonata FP 164, with it's three emotive movements, each painting a vivid musical picture. The wistful Allegro malinconico and the playful Presto giocoso show Poulenc's stylistic intricacies, while Mozart's soul-stirring Adagio from K 285 transports listeners to a realm of serene beauty. Johann Sebastian Bach's iconic Badinerie infuses the collection with Baroque charm.

In his ninth and tenth of a total of fourteen releases of Bach’s collected organ works, Kåre Nordstoga pulls together much of what was not collected from the composer’s side — preludes and fugues.

If you prefer Bach on the piano served up in heaping Romantic portions, accompanied by dollops of creamy tone, tapered phrases and languishing tenutos, Edna Stern's ravishing pianism will turn your ears to jelly. …a disc that will cause unrepentant pianophiles to jump for joy while historically informed performance mavens duck for cover.