Grown-ups encouraged to try the real thing
Eric Bergerud | Albany, CA USA | 07/25/2004
(2 out of 5 stars)
"OK: I admit it. I own Wagner orchestral recordings. I don't have the courage to face up to 140 hours of screeching to get the odd beautiful moment. But eliminating the human voice from a Bach cantata is like drinking beer in Church. I know a lot of good artists have done it. But there are folks out there that have never HEARD a real Bach Cantata, even if they are familiar with some of the extraordinary meodies that Bach spun out. They are cheating themselves. Maybe 18th Century Luthern pietism is hard to find now. However, religion has generated splendid art through the ages and Bach's cantatas are about at the top of an extraordinary category of human creation. Do yourself a favor: look up any cantata on this present collection and get a real live copy of it - choir, solists and all. A music lover would."
Nice Sampling of Bach's Orchestral Works . . .
Johnny Bard | Orlando, FL | 02/12/2002
(4 out of 5 stars)
"There's more to Bach's repertoire than solo organ and violin works, and this Sony release aptly demonstrates his versatility as a composer. Besides the Brandenburg Concertos, Bach wrote many concertos, cantatas, and sinfonias for orchestra. This disc, which offers but a sampling of Bach's orchestral works, includes both ADD/DDD recordings. True, as with other ADD recordings, I can hear the background hiss (not unusual with older rocordings) on certain pieces. Fortunately, this noise is not distracting (just slightly noticeable), and in no way detracts from the performance of these pieces. Overall, a fine recording that speaks to the greatness of Bach. After listening to this disc, I hope you will be inspired to seek out other recordings of orchestral works by Bach (many of which are also at bargain prices)."
Great performances of Bach's A-list
cmpst52 | Denton, NC United States | 02/13/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is a selection of the best instrumental music from Bach's religous works.The performances are excellent, especially the organ+orchestra tracks featuring the astounding organist E. Power Biggs (see my other reviews). The orchestras and especially the trumpets are also excellentTracks 1 and 11 are mind blowing, although all are good.Great CD!"