As a Bach interpreter, Richter was almost unrivalled worldwide for many years and his Bach interpretations set standards. Karl Richter and his choir became the formative interpreters of the internationally renowned Bach Festival in Ansbach, a meeting place for the musical elite from all over the world. For almost two decades, the Munich Bach Choir and Orchestra has had the musical world from New York to Leningrad, from Tokyo to Paris at its feet, and many of its highly decorated recordings are among the best-selling recordings.

"Astounding" doesn't even come close to describing these '60s recordings of Bach's organ works played by Karl Richter on the Jaegerborg-Kirche organ in Copenhagen. Richter's technique is more than astounding; it is stunning in its virtuosity. While there are a handful of organists that equal Richter, there are none who surpass him. From his incredibly independent hands to his unbelievably dexterous pedals, Richter is a marvel.

The opening with the opening choir "Kommt, ihr Töchter" immediately sets the tone; not a quick-played waltz, but imposing and wide-set, like the start of a great human drama. Richter exceeds 11 minutes with this tempo. Only the version by Otto Klemperer is even slower. But unlike Klemperer, here in the rest of the MP we are not dealing with a somewhat stately approach, but with a sharply profiled and dramatic one!

C.P.E. Bach eclipsed his legendary father s fame to become the mid-18th century s leading German composer. This wide-ranging collection of symphonies, concertos and vocal works by the great forerunner of Haydn and Mozart is performed by authoritative interpreters including Trevor Pinnock and The English Concert. The evident delight of the musicians in this music makes for rewarding listening … Impressive and fascinating.

Very few conductors have recorded as much Bach as Karl Richter and none can lay a stronger claim to a legacy based on championing the master. Richter's reverence for Bach is evinced by the simplicity, splendor, and grandeur with which he consistently imbued his performances exemplified here by these landmark recordings of the Brandenburg Concertos and Orchestral Suites. In Archiv's original-image bit-processing remastered transfers as well, the sound is better than ever. This is cornerstone Bach that should not be missed.

Very few conductors have recorded as much Bach as Karl Richter, and none can lay a stronger claim to a legacy based on championing the master… Richter's reverence for Bach is evinced by the simplicity, splendor, and grandeur with which he consistently imbued his performances. Richter understood that the profound underlying architecture of Bach's music was critical to its appreciation, enjoyment, and yes, power.

The evolving musical climate of the 1950s occasioned a profound shift of culture and attitude in the performance of Bach’s great choral works. By the close of the decade, it was one of Bach’s own successors in the post of Kantor at Leipzig’s Thomaskirche, Karl Richter (who’d become organist there at age 23 in 1947), who’d become torch-bearer for a new generation of Bach interpreters. Richter’s recordings with the Munich Bach Choir and Orchestra (ensembles he founded in 1951 and with which his name has become synonymous) heeded an unbroken Leipzig tradition that could be traced back to the time of Bach himself.

At times quite sprightly, at other times ponderous not least in its treatment of dotting and though played with the professional efficiency one expects of the ECO, this recording fell short of medal-ranking when it was first issued. During the intervening 16 years even middle-of-the-road performances of the Music for the Royal Fireworks have become more attentive to scholarship and there are now several excellent recordings of the kind available (not to mention others on period instruments) on CD.

It therefore seems appropriate to highlight recommend this present performance of Karl Richter's, which stands firmly in the Romantic Messiah tradition preserved through the last century. Unlike most modern recordings, this Messiah utilizes a full orchestra, large chorus, and operatic soloists who do no ornamentation.

Karl Richter's Bach performances, although they represented a departure from the over-romanticized treatments of Baroque music that had prevailed up to his time, were not the kind of trailblazing return-to-authenticity projects of Trevor Pinnock, Christopher Hogwood, and others, whose early-music-performance practices continue to be the standard today.

Karl Richter was regarded as one of the great Bach conductors of the twentieth century, noted for solid regularity in rhythms and a serious approach to the music, though he was not given to following the changing pronouncements of musicologists concerning historical accuracy in performance. He was brought up in the tradition of German Protestant religious music; his father was a minister in the central German regions near where Johann Sebastian Bach had lived. Richter learned piano and organ, and as he approached his 12th birthday entered the Kreuzschule school in Dresden.

These are carefully considered and precisely executed interprations. Nicolet has a warm tone, his excellent breathing technique creates wonderful phrasing.

Richter actually made a full set of recordings for Handel's Concerti Grossi. The Munich Bach Orchestra, who almost played exclusively for Richter, maintained its essential baroque flur throughout all the pieces, under the impeccable conducting of Richter. The different string sections played as if they were in a chorus, each minute part played in fully melodious and engaging manner, while the ensemble as a whole displayed all the required congeniality and harmoniousness essential of the baroque style. The rhythms are enlivened while contrasts striking, and you will seldom find Handel's works played in such grand style as did Richter and the Munich Bach Orchestra here.

This imaginatively-curated, generously-filled Christmas package is sure to find favor during this and future holiday seasons. Why? Because it packs in every conceivable carol, tune, choral work or song in timeless performances from the greatest artists in the world: singers of immense communicative gifts including Cecilia Bartoli, Bryn Terfel, Renee Fleming and Luciano Pavarotti to name but four. It truly offers something of every Christmas mind, spirit, and looks fantastic.

The Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, is a musical composition for keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach, consisting of an aria and a set of 30 variations. First published in 1741, it is named after Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, who may also have been the first performer of the work.