Latest News: Classical, Bach, J S (composer)
Recording of the Week,
Bach's St Matthew Passion from Raphaël Pichon
Raphaël Pichon and his Pygmalion ensemble present a vision of Bach's masterwork that aims for clarity and immediacy over exhaustingly intense theatrics.
Interview,
Ana de la Vega on Bach Unbuttoned
The Australian flautist talks about her new album of new perspectives on Bach, inspired by an intriguing detail on one of the most famous statues erected to him.
Interview,
Emmanuel Despax on Spira, Spera
The pianist talks about his new album of Bach transcriptions, inspired in part by his personal reaction to the Notre-Dame de Paris fire of 2019.
Interview,
Parker Ramsay on Bach's Goldberg Variations
The harpist talks about his new album, on which he performs his own arrangement of Bach's Goldberg Variations.
Interview,
Lang Lang on Bach's Goldberg Variations
The superstar Chinese pianist talks about his new double recording of Bach's keyboard masterwork, and about his approach to preparing and performing Baroque repertoire.
Interview,
Sean Shibe on Bach
The eloquent young Scottish guitarist talks to Katherine about his third solo album on Delphian, Pour La Luth Ò Cembal, which was recently described by The Times as 'masterful, beautiful and convincing in every way'.
Recording of the Week,
Sean Shibe plays Bach Lute Suites
The award-winning young Scottish guitarist's third solo album on Delphian sees him turn to the music of JS Bach, with a highly varied triple-bill of suites for solo lute.
Interview,
The Well-Tempered Consort
Phantasm's founder, director and violist Laurence Dreyfus talks to David about the consort's new disc, exploring the polyphonic keyboard works of JS Bach in new arrangements for viols.
Interview,
Jonathan Sells on Christmas in Leipzig
Jonathan Sells, artistic director of the British early music ensemble Solomon's Knot, talks to David about their début recording, featuring three consecutive musical directors at the Leipzig Thomaskirche - Johann Schelle, Johann Kuhnau and, of course, Johann Sebastian Bach.
Interview,
Kati Debretzeni on Bach's Violin Concertos
Violinist Kati Debretzeni talks to David about her new recording of Bach violin concertos - originals and adaptations - with John Eliot Gardiner and the English Baroque Soloists.
Interview,
Antoine Tamestit on Bach
The viola-player talks to David about his recording of the three gamba sonatas on Stradivari’s ‘Gustav Mahler’ viola from 1672 - one of only thirteen extant violas by the legendary Cremonese luthier.
Recording of the Week,
Mahan Esfahani plays Bach Toccatas
David enjoys Mahan Esfahani's exhilarating recording of Bach's seven keyboard toccatas, BWV910-916.
Interview,
Mahan Esfahani on Bach's Toccatas
The Iranian-American harpsichordist talks to David about his new album, featuring lively accounts of the seven keyboard toccatas by JS Bach.
Interview,
Rachel Podger on Bach's Cello Suites
The violinist talks to David about her new album, which sees her perform JS Bach's popular cello suites on the violin.
Recording of the Week,
Rachel Podger plays the Bach Cello Suites
The baroque violinist's own transcriptions of one of the pinnacles of the cello repertoire have an integrity and intelligence that's entirely convincing on its own terms, and the music never stops dancing.
Recording of the Week,
Jordi Savall directs JS Bach's Markus Passion
David listens to a newly-reconstructed version of JS Bach's lost St Mark Passion, from Jordi Savall and the Capella Reial de Catalunya.
Recording of the Week,
Isabelle Faust plays Bach Concertos
The German violinist joins forces with oboist Xenia Löffler and Bernhard Forck's Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin for a tour of Bach's violin concertos, interspersed with alternate versions of sinfonias and sonatas that have been reconstructed for the first time.
Interview,
Hilary Hahn on Bach
The American violinist talks to Katherine about returning to Bach's solo sonatas and partitas two decades after her debut recording aged 16.
Video Interview,
Thibaut Garcia on Bach Inspirations
The French guitarist talks to Katherine about his new album of Bach-influenced works by Villa-Lobos, Tansman, Barrios Mangoré and Gounod - as well as transcriptions of the composer's own Chaconne and two of his best-known chorales.
Video Interview,
BACH 333 unboxed
Chris and Katherine explore Deutsche Grammophon's mammoth new Bach Edition, produced in collaboration with Decca Classics and the Leipzig Bach Archive and running to over 280 hours of music.
