Why We Love Bach – Listening Recommendations by Dr. Michael Linton

I. Orchestral Music

1.Bach Orchestral Suite no. 3 BWV 1068 (includes the “Air for G String”)

Musica Antiqua Köln

just the “air”
“Voices of Music”

Singapore Symphony playing the Stokowiski arrangement

2.Three performances of the 2nd Brandenburg Concerto

Brandenburg Concerto No 2 (filmed in Coethen where Bach composed the music)
Freiburger Barockorchestra (notice the “low” Baroque pitch when compared with the Abbado performance)

Brandenburg Concerto No 2
From the Teatro Municipale Romolo Valli, Reggio Emilia, 21 April 2007
Orchestra Mozart, conducted by Claudio Abbado

Brandenburg Concerto No 2
Karl Richter with the Munich Bach Orchestra at 20:51

II. Organ Music

Two performances of the Toccata and Fugue in d BWV 565
Karl Richter

From Disney’s “Fantasia”

Two performances of the Prelude and Fugue in E flat BWV 552 (“St Ann”)

David Szabo at the Palace of Arts in Budapest

arranged by Arnold Schoenberg for orchestra

Passacaglia and Fugue in c BWV 582
organist Hans-André Stamm on the Trost-Organ in Waltershausen, Germany.

III. Solo music

1. Cello Suites

A. Yo Yo Ma (complete)

#1 in G Major

#2 in d minor

3# in C Major

#4 in Eb Major

#5 in c minor

#6 in D Major

B. Rostropovich

complete

#1 in G Major

C. Casals
complete

IV. Klavier

A. “French” suites

Andras Schiff (piano), complete

Alan Curtis (harpsichord), complete

B. Well Tempered Klavier

Maurizio Pollini (complete vol I)

Kimiko Ishizaka (complete vol I)

Andras Schiff (complete vol I)

C. The Goldberg Variations

Glenn Gould

Kimiko Ishizaka

V. Cantatas, Passions

A. St. Matthew Passion

Karl Richter

Biller with the St Thomas choir (partial)

B. B minor Mass
St Thomas Kirche

C. Cantatas, etc.
A. Cantata #140

B. Canatata #82, “Ich habe genug”
Edwin Crossley-Mercer

C. Magnificat

D. Christmas Oratorio

St. Thomas Choir

Dresden Frauenkirche

John Elliot Gardiner

Norwegian Chamber Choir

VI. Documentaries

 

St. Thomas Choir in Leipzig (German with subtitles)

BBC Documentary on BACH

Bach: A Passionate Life (Elliot Gardiner’s companion to his book)

BBC “Sacred Music: Bach and the Lutheran Legacy”

Glaubenssachen – Vita Christi: Bach – Der fünfte Evangelist