# Favorite Bach - Art of Fugue recordings......



## Itullian

What are your favorite recordings please?
Thank you :tiphat:









I have this one and love it.


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## Bulldog

Kenneth Gilbert on harpsichord


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## joen_cph

I don't really collect it, but am pretty satisfied with these varied versions I own:

Ensemble:
- Marriner,AcStM /Decca
- Pommer,BachColl /Capriccio
- Barshai,MosChO /Melodiya
- Münchinger,StuttgartChO /Decca
- Scherchen,BeromünsterChO (excerpts only)/Tim

Strings:
- Winograd,ChO /Heliodor

Piano:
- Kocsis

So no harpsichord or organ version yet. Marriner was the first version I heard, so I´ve grown accustomed to hearing the work as an ensemble piece.


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## Mandryka

The two things I've really enjoyed recently are Vartolo's recording and this rehearsal video of music by Finnissy inspired by the unfinished fugue


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## DavidA

Try the one by Canadian Brass in memory of Glenn Gould. Really superb.

A pity Gould never recorded them on the piano only excerpts. His playing of the Art of Fugue was really something. Sadly he had the bizarre idea of recording the first part on a squeaky chamber organ.

Of course we have to realise it was written on open stave with no particular instrument(s) in mind. So what works goes!


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## Bulldog

Other great versions:

Davitt Moroney
Robert Hill
Gustav Leonhardt


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## Blancrocher

My favorite 2: 
Leonhardt's 1969 recording, harpsichord 
Charles Rosen, piano


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## DarkAngel

I prefer chamber ensemble for AoF vs keyboard versions......
Lots of undercurrents and colors a single instrument just can't render as well

















Podger gives personal description of playing the work.......


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## Krummhorn

Helmut Walcha, The Art of the Fugue (Organ).

I have the set of Deutsche Grammophone LP recordings with him playing.


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## Mandryka

Krummhorn said:


> Helmut Walcha, The Art of the Fugue (Organ).
> 
> I have the set of Deutsche Grammophone LP recordings with him playing.


It's strange, I've come to much prefer harpsichord in this. With harpsichord, at least as some people handle it, you can make the music leap about more wildly and change texture and affekt more violently. This seems to really work well in some of the cpts.

Basically, what I really want to say is that I'm very impressed by Vartolo's recording at the moment! I don't think you could produce this effect with an organ.


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## Josquin13

I. On harpsichord, Christian Rieger, Fabio Bonizzoni, and Gustav Leonhardt are excellent choices, in my view (though Leonhardt's late 1960s recording can show its age). Rieger really understands how to play a fugue, with musical lines seemingly coming out of no where, very unexpectedly, and yet somehow, miraculously working organically within the whole. I've also read favorable comments about Martha Cook's recent recording, but haven't heard it. However, the big news in the harpsichord world is that Bob van Asperen has newly recorded The Art of the Fugue, on hybrid SACD, playing an original Christian Zell harpsichord, 1741. I haven't heard it yet, but intend to, as he's one of my favorite harpsichordists. It's due out for release around the middle of the month--November 16th, here in the States, and I'm looking forward to hearing it!!





https://www.allmusic.com/album/js-bach-the-art-of-fugue-mw0001429127





II. On piano, I've liked recordings by Ivo Janssen (in one of the best performances from his complete Bach keyboard survey), Edward Aldwell (incomplete--I--XI, on Biddulph), and Tatiana Nikolayeva (live on Doremi, Meloydiya from 1967, & Hyperion--digital), as well as Charles Rosen, Hans Petermandl, and Zoltan Kocsis. I've yet to hear Angela Hewitt's, but have read glowing reviews for it--so I'll probably try to hear her at some point. I'm not always the biggest fan of her Bach playing, but will admit that it's well done. I did like her Bach Toccatas very much, however.

https://www.amazon.com/Ivo-Janssen-...rr&keywords=ivo+janssen+bach+art+of+the+fugue






https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/aldwell-plays-bach










https://www.amazon.com/Bach-J-S-Fug...keywords=tatiana+nikolayeva+bach+art+of+fugue
https://www.amazon.com/Bach-Art-Fug...keywords=tatiana+nikolayeva+bach+art+of+fugue

III. Among period ensembles, I keep returning to Musica Antiqua Koln's Archiv recording, maybe partly due to not finding a better alternative--but I do like their performance: https://www.amazon.com/J-S-Bach-Fug...1883577&sr=1-9&keywords=bach+art+of+the+fugue.






As for other period recordings, I wasn't entirely won over by Rachel Podger's recent account with Brecon Baroque, on hybrid SACD, although it received strong reviews, so what do I know... it seemed a little too 'middle of the road', staid, and boring to me, on first impression. I'll have to give it another try. I also wasn't overly enthusiastic about Jordi Savall's strange 'brass & viol' version, with Hesperion XX. Fretwork also performs Art of the Fugue on viols too, but I haven't heard that one. Whatever instrument or instruments Bach had in mind for this work, I doubt it was viols.

Among others, I've not heard Akademie für Alte Musik's recording on Harmonia Mundi, but would expect them to be more adventurous than Podger & co.:






https://www.amazon.com/Bach-J-S-Fug...&keywords=akademie+fur+alte+musik+bach+art+of

Nor have I heard the recent recording from Accademia Bizantina & Ottavio Dantone either:




https://www.amazon.com/Bach-Accadem...pell&keywords=accademia+bizantin+dantone+bach

IV. On modern instruments, after many years, I still like Sir Neville Marriner & the Academy of St. Martin's in the Fields version--which was my first recording on LP: 



. It is very well played. Whatever you may think of Sir Neville Marriner as a conductor, he always hired very good musicians. On first listening to the LPs, I remember when the music suddenly ended on the 4th side of the 2nd LP I thought the record must be defective--that is, until I read the liner notes, which explained why the music had stopped in mid-phrase. After that, I began to like side 4. Here was a super genius, whose time on earth had come to an end. Hopefully, Bach went somewhere where his genius was more appreciated than it was during his time in miserly Leipzig.

I also like the minimal vibrato HIP version from the Keller Quartett on ECM too: 



. & I know others who swear by Karl Munchinger's 'romanticized' old Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra recording, but I haven't heard it in ages: 



. Another recording that is well regarded is a 1984 Capriccio recording by the New Leipzig Collegium, led by Max Pommer: 



.

I've also read favorable reviews for the Amsterdam Bach Soloists 1985 recording on Ottavo, but haven't gotten to it yet: https://www.allmusic.com/album/js-bach-the-art-of-the-fugue-mw0001940570/similar. I see that it's on You Tube, and am listening to it right now. Interesting that they take the opening on a fairly brisk pace, like MAK: 




My two cents.


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## Heliogabo

Dantone’s recent recording is awesome. I recommend it highly.


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## Mandryka

DarkAngel said:


> I prefer chamber ensemble for AoF vs keyboard versions......
> Lots of undercurrents and colors a single instrument just can't render as well
> 
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> Podger gives personal description of playing the work.......


But if you want to bring out all the voices separately with colours why a quartet -- where they're all string instruments with a similar timbre? Wouldn't it be better to use an organ and give each voice a contrasting registration, or an ensemble with different types of instrument -- a flute, a violin, a little organ etc?


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## DarkAngel

Mandryka said:


> But if you want to bring out all the voices separately with colours why a quartet -- where they're all string instruments with a similar timbre? Wouldn't it be better to use an organ and give each voice a contrasting registration, or an ensemble with different types of instrument -- a flute, a violin, a little organ etc?


Possibly some may like that more, it all comes down to actual performance and each persons preference. The Dantone mentioned above does add keyboard to chamber ensemble.........

I just hear more of the structure of the work and interplay between the lines or voices when performed with chamber ensemble......


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## elgar's ghost

Without wanting to side-track Itullian's thread I would like some _AoF_ on organ suggestions. I was thinking about Walcha but would like to know if there are other contenders. Suggestions by PM would be gratefully received if that's not too inconvenient.


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## Guest

Walcha on organ is great. Even if you get others, it is one to get.

For something different, try the New Century Saxophone Quartet on Channel Classics.

Finally, I'm quite partial to Fretwork's recording.


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## MJongo

This is probably my favorite work of music ever. For a long time I didn’t have an absolute favorite, just different recordings that I liked different things about. Helmut Walcha on organ and Fretwork on viol consort were the ones I returned to the most, but for over a year now my favorite without any reservations is the 2007 Dentler with the Ensemble L’Arte Della Fuga, for violin, viola, cello, bassoon, and double bass. It’s such a perfect blend of instruments and voices to my ears, and the performance is wonderful.


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## JB Henson

Another vote for Walcha's 1955 recording. Just as pure and no nonsense as any of his Bach organ recordings.


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## flamencosketches

Only heard a few. Love Bob van Asperen's on harpsichord. And then I like Emerson's string quartet rendition, but feel something is missing, I think. 

I've also heard on youtube a recording of the Art of Fuge on saxophone quartet. It was awesome.


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## Mandryka

MJongo said:


> Dentler with the Ensemble L'Arte Della Fuga, for violin, viola, cello, bassoon, and double bass. It's such a perfect blend of instruments and voices to my ears, and the performance is wonderful.


I think it's frustrating that Dentler can assert something like this without backing it up



> Due to historical circumstances, the organ is out of the question as an instrument suitable for performance of the work. There are strong reasons why the harpsichord is also unsuitable; its principle of attack renders it physically incapable of executing the pre-scribed pedal points and the varied funda-mental theme of The Art of the Fugue and its inversion in augmented form.


He seems to think that more colour than you can get from a harpsichord is necessary to do the work justice, identifying instrumental colour and "majesty"



> Far more serious, however, is the will (which appar-ently cannot be corrected, despite all argu-ments against it) to force this work into the comparatively narrow format of the harpsi-chord: this work, above all others, which ideally represents the majesty of Early Music due to its link with the stylus antiquus and belongs to the most magnificent polyphonic music ever created in the Western world.


He thinks the four part contrapuncti support his choice of string instruments because they are in the



> stylus sympho-niacus described by Athanasius Kircher


but no more seems to be said to explain the idea.

It's a bad English translation, maybe just google translate.


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## MJongo

Don’t get me wrong, Dentler’s theories about the piece are pretty out there, but the quality of the performance and recording is all that matters to me. Also, I typo’d with 2007--it was released in 2017.


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## Mandryka

MJongo said:


> Don't get me wrong, Dentler's theories about the piece are pretty out there, but the quality of the performance and recording is all that matters to me. Also, I typo'd with 2007--it was released in 2017.


Something tells me that you'll like this recording too, not Art of Fugue but nice music nevertheless









Re the Dentler performance, I thought it's strength was in making the voices clear, they're all given a different colour and so it's easy to follow them and to notice when each voice comes in. Where it's not so strong I think is in expressiveness.

When a fugue is played on a relatively monochromatic instrument, like a keyboard instrument, it forces the musician to think about using attack, voice alignment, portato, phrasing, suspensions and ornaments to make the counterpoint evident and interesting to hear. Especially if the keyboard has limited registration possibilities like a harpsichord, clavichord or piano.

I suppose this is why I think that, on the whole, keyboard players have explored the expressive possibilities of the music more imaginatively.

I hope you'll explore the versions you've found for saxophone ensemble, and report back your impressions.


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## Mandryka

flamencosketches said:


> Love Bob van Asperen's on harpsichord.


Some of the fugues are so lavishly peppered with trills that I forget I'm listening to a fugue!


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## flamencosketches

I really want to hear a piano version of this huge work. Does anyone have any recommended recordings? I'm curious about the Charles Rosen.


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## Guest

Emerson Quartet. Also Amsterdam Bach Soloists (Claves).


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## Bulldog

flamencosketches said:


> I really want to hear a piano version of this huge work. Does anyone have any recommended recordings? I'm curious about the Charles Rosen.


I'm partial to the Nikolayeva on Hyperion.


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## Guest

Bulldog said:


> I'm partial to the Nikolayeva on Hyperion.


I have her Goldbergs, but not BWV1080. Grrr!


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## Bulldog

Baron Scarpia said:


> I have her Goldbergs, but not BWV1080. Grrr!


Buy it up!! If I remember right, it's a 2-cd set that also has part of the Musical Offering and the Four Duets.


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## Guest

Bulldog said:


> Buy it up!! If I remember right, it's a 2-cd set that also has part of the Musical Offering and the Four Duets.


Yes, I just checked, Pricey!


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## Bulldog

Baron Scarpia said:


> Yes, I just checked, Pricey!


It sure is, but music and performances like this transcend a stiff price tag.


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## KenOC

I often listen to the brass arrangement since it sounds good and makes it easy to follow the lines.


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## Guest

flamencosketches said:


> Only heard a few. Love Bob van Asperen's on harpsichord. And then I like Emerson's string quartet rendition, but feel something is missing, I think.
> 
> I've also heard on youtube a recording of the Art of Fuge on saxophone quartet. It was awesome.


The saxophone quartet recording is a wonderful one.


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## Mandryka

flamencosketches said:


> I really want to hear a piano version of this huge work. Does anyone have any recommended recordings? I'm curious about the Charles Rosen.


There's a good free one by Thiery Mechler here


__
https://soundcloud.com/


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## Mandryka

flamencosketches said:


> Only heard a few. Love Bob van Asperen's on harpsichord. And then I like Emerson's string quartet rendition, but feel something is missing, I think.
> 
> I've also heard on youtube a recording of the Art of Fuge on saxophone quartet. It was awesome.


If you like Saxophone in this, you may like organ more.


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## Bulldog

Mandryka said:


> There's a good free one by Thiery Mechler here
> 
> 
> __
> https://soundcloud.com/


I found the Mechler version outstanding, especially for offering the full measure of mystery.


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## mikeh375

I'm with Itullian, Angela Hewitt for me too. A perfect blend of clarity and precision, letting the music do its thing to the listener. I also have St Martins doing varied arrangements on vinyl, which I must digitise or get on CD. Ineffable music.

https://www.gramophone.co.uk/feature/recording-bachs-the-art-of-fugue-with-angela-hewitt


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## howlingfantods

flamencosketches said:


> I really want to hear a piano version of this huge work. Does anyone have any recommended recordings? I'm curious about the Charles Rosen.


I'm a fan of Sokolov's recording on the Naïve/Opus 111 label. I haven't heard the Rosen but I've got the Nikolaeva, the Gould partials, and the Koroliov, and for me, the Sokolov is on a different level.

Can be previewed here. Double CD with an outstanding performance of the second Partita as filler.






My first and only recording for a couple of decades was the Musica Antiqua Koln with a small chamber ensemble and harpsichord. I did like that for bringing out the separate voices, but after listening to the Sokolov for awhile, I've been firmly converted to the solo piano camp for this work. I've always found the Nikolaeva and the Koroliov a little dull, the Gould extracts a little mechanical and unfeeling. The Sokolov hits exactly the right note for me--poetic and beautiful, but with phenomenal clarity and articulation--in fact, all of his Bach is just superb, it's like the best elements of Richter and Gould combined into a super Bach pianist.


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## flamencosketches

howlingfantods said:


> I'm a fan of Sokolov's recording on the Naïve/Opus 111 label. I haven't heard the Rosen but I've got the Nikolaeva, the Gould partials, and the Koroliov, and for me, the Sokolov is on a different level.
> 
> Can be previewed here. Double CD with an outstanding performance of the second Partita as filler.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My first and only recording for a couple of decades was the Musica Antiqua Koln with a small chamber ensemble and harpsichord. I did like that for bringing out the separate voices, but after listening to the Sokolov for awhile, I've been firmly converted to the solo piano camp for this work. I've always found the Nikolaeva and the Koroliov a little dull, the Gould extracts a little mechanical and unfeeling. The Sokolov hits exactly the right note for me--poetic and beautiful, but with phenomenal clarity and articulation--in fact, all of his Bach is just superb, it's like the best elements of Richter and Gould combined into a super Bach pianist.


Thanks for that. I've been hearing about this Sokolov and didn't know where to start. This should be good.


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## ECraigR

I’m a bit of a collector of renditions of the Art of Fugue, and my two personal favorites are the Emerson String Quartet recording previously mentioned, and the recording by Jordi Savall with Hesperion XX for AliaVox. I like the intimacy of Emerson’s playing and the more fleshed out sound of Savall’s version.


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## Mandryka

flamencosketches said:


> Thanks for that. I've been hearing about this Sokolov and didn't know where to start. This should be good.


Sokolov uses dynamic variation to create climaxes, often mid fugue. The relief in the music as Sokolov plays it is largely a consequence of these dynamic changes.

He frequently employs a touch which seems to encapsulate, detach, the notes.

Expressively, I mean in terms of feelings evoked, he mostly does jaunty.

The tone he gets from his instrument is monochrome.

The approach he employs isn't founded on cantabile.

Sokolov tends to set a basic pulse at the start and mostly stick to it till the end.



flamencosketches said:


> . I've been hearing about this Sokolov and didn't know where to start.


I'd suggest Chopin op 25


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## Mandryka

Bulldog said:


> I found the Mechler version outstanding, especially for offering the full measure of mystery.


Mechler also recorded it on organ.

And (I'm imagining your face as you read this) he recorded the Goldberg Variations on organ.


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## Bulldog

Mandryka said:


> Mechler also recorded it on organ.
> 
> And (I'm imagining your face as you read this) he recorded the Goldberg Variations on organ.


That's not so bad since the organ is the king of instruments.


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## hoodjem

Ristenpart, Saar Chamber Orchestra, orchestral
Zhu Xiao-Mei, piano 
Rogg, organ


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## DavidA

KenOC said:


> I often listen to the brass arrangement since it sounds good and makes it easy to follow the lines.


This is a splendid recording.

Sadly Glenn Gould never recorded the whole thing on a piano. Charles Rosen did.


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## starthrower

Bulldog said:


> I'm partial to the Nikolayeva on Hyperion.


37 CD box set looks pretty amazing.
http://www.scribendumrecordings.com...37cd---the-art-of-tatiana-nikolayeva/11296544


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## Mandryka

It’s worth investigating a little further, some people think that her earlier recordings are much better, others think that both earlier and later are interesting in different ways, at least I think so. I’m in the first camp. It’s not clear to me what’s on that disc.


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## Mowgli

elgars ghost said:


> Without wanting to side-track Itullian's thread I would like some _AoF_ on organ suggestions. I was thinking about Walcha but would like to know if there are other contenders. Suggestions by PM would be gratefully received if that's not too inconvenient.


What did you come up with?

I have this one to rattle the windows and I like it but I have nothing to compare it with.


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## DavidA

Canadian Brass?


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## flamencosketches

I like Gustav Leonhardt on Harpsichord and Charles Rosen on Piano. I also have a recording by Reinhard Goebel and Musica Antiqua Köln. Haven't heard it yet, but it uses a full Baroque orchestra or at least an ensemble of some sort.


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## tdc

Lately I've been listening a lot to the recording done by Neville Marriner with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. The double disc on Decca that comes with the Musical Offering. Anyway its an interesting approach performed on various different instruments. I didn't take to this recording at first but its grown on me.


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## Rmathuln

Organ version I listen to most often these days is on Ricercar with Bernard Foccroulle










https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003MY55BK/


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## howlingfantods

flamencosketches said:


> I also have a recording by Reinhard Goebel and Musica Antiqua Köln. Haven't heard it yet, but it uses a full Baroque orchestra or at least an ensemble of some sort.


This is the recording I lived with for decades before I got any other Art of Fugue recordings. It's a small ensemble--a couple of violins, couple of violas, one cellist and a couple of harpsichords. The individual tracks feature different combinations--sometimes a solo harpsichord, sometimes both harpsichords, sometimes just strings, etc.

It's very good but it presents the music as a little dry and didactic.


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## premont

howlingfantods said:


> This is the recording I lived with for decades before I got any other Art of Fugue recordings. It's a small ensemble--a couple of violins, couple of violas, one cellist and a couple of harpsichords. The individual tracks feature different combinations--sometimes a solo harpsichord, sometimes both harpsichords, sometimes just strings, etc.
> 
> It's very good but it presents the music as a little dry and didactic.


If one wants a chamber ensemble recording I find the recordings of either Rinaldo Alessandrini or Jean-Claude Malgoire better, since they are not that didactic. They also both add a few wind instruments to the string ensemble.


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