A Year of Bach

As much as I love modern and contemporary music, I always go back to the basics, and for it is the music of Bach. Many "top 10" lists of classical music include his B minor Mass at the top of the list, and having listened to it last week in a concert in Jordan Hall (with the Cantata Singers), I would concur. After the concert I went to the web to take another look at that complete Bach edition I always coveted, a $2,400 172 CD box from Hanssler. Good performances by well known artists, but a bit pricey. And then, I found another complete edition, with lesser known performers but good reviews. At $107 it was too tempting to pass on, and 2 days later I got it in the mail.

And I've been listening to Bach ever since. 5 CDs a week, or one CD every day on the way to work and back (and a bit over the weekend) - it should just be a year before I finish listening to all of it. I'm so excited! It is an amazing deal, and I never expected to be able to listen to all of Bach's music, but it's going to happen this year.

The performances are pretty good so far. The box is sorted by genre: orchestral music, harpsichord, chamber music, cantatas, organ music, etc. I decided not to listen to them in order - I don't think I would be able to survive 60 CD's or religious cantatas. Instead, I've started with every 10th disk (1, 11, 21, etc.), and when I finish these I'll move to 2, 12, 22, etc. Surprisingly, the first batch of 5 CDs included some of the most amazing music ever written (IMHO): the Well-Tempered Klavier, Goldberg Variations, Brandenburg Concertos, "Ich Habe Genug" cantata, Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin... and this is just a random sample! I can't wait to see what surprises I'll find along the way.



And when I'm done, there's always the $110 complete Mozart edition!