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Like Joanna, I'd be a bit chary of a gang purchase like this. Ugh to Klemperer -- I have his reading of the opening to St Matthew somewhere and it is very dignified, and quite powerful, but hopelessly distant from any sense of authenticity. I managed to get a complete organ works done by Michel Chapuis, who's a contemporary of Gustav Leonhardt. Quite old recordings unfortunately (cars in the background sometimes); I see that new recordings, made by John Scott Whiteley on appropriate instruments, is just out on DVD. We've seen some of them on TV here in the UK, and they've been quite absorbing. My favourite Bach joke, said of Glenn Gould: his Bach is worse than his Bitehoven. P > -----Original Message----- > From: Poetryetc: poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On > Behalf Of Mark Weiss > Sent: 19 August 2007 20:30 > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Bach > > Yesterday the Bach Edition--Complete Works, which I had ordered from > Amazon for $125 (86 euros on French Amazon), arrived. It's 155 CDs. I > immediately went to pieces I know well--the Toccatta and Fuge in D > Minor for organ (very fine), Wachet Auf (superb interpretation, > soloists adequate), the Goldberg Variations excellent), the > 6th Cello Suite (respectable and a bit more), the first solo violin > partita (likewise), the B Minor Mass. I also dipped my toe into the > Saint Matthew's Passion--difficult to turn that one off, but not > enough time. It seemed very good indeed. Most of the work is on > period instruments, but there's no preciosity. The Goldbergs on > harpsichord produce nuances that the piano can't. Interesting > mistake--the B Minor is listed on the sleeve as by a small, unknown > to me ensemble, but it's in fact Klemoperer and the Philharmonia with > Baker and Gedda, and I'm not complaining. > > All of these I alreasdy own performances off, sometimes several. The > real fun is going to be all those pieces I've never heard. Of the > cantatas, for instance, I know maybe 20. > > The first citizen reviewer at the Amazon site is Kamau Brathwaite, by the way. > > There's a CD at the end of bio, notes, and the libretti (vo, french > and english) of all the vocal works. > > I can't think of a better way to spend $125. Bach's was one of the > great minds --up there with Shakespeare, Michelangelo,Newton, and > maybe Montaigne and not a whole lot of others. What the hell could > the burgers of Leipzig do with the rest of Sunday after leaving > church? Art, sex or ice cream it had to be. Me, after those hours of > listening I hiked through my forest on one of the summer's loveliest days. > > Mark