# What Bach to get next?



## Ephemerid (Nov 30, 2007)

I'm wanting to get a fairly comprehensive collection of Bach going, just as I did for Debussy last year (I've got a recording of almost every major work by Debussy and a quite a few lesser known works as well). 

I'm getting into less familiar waters with Bach, so I want to know: what should I get next?

Here's what I have already:

The Orchestral Suites
The Brandenburg Concerti
Mass in B minor (wow! I just got this and its amazing)
Partita for solo flute
Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin
Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin (performed on cello!)
The Cello Suites (my fave - Casals', Starker's & Yo-Yo Ma's recordings)
The Goldberg Variations (Glenn Gould 1955 & 1981 recordings)
The Goldberg Variations (arranged for woodwind ensemble)
The Musical Offering
The Art of Fugue (Emerson Quartet recording)
The French Suites (Gould)

And then some other odds & ends, excerpts from cantatas, arrangements, etc.

What other notable Bach compositions am I missing? I mean am I missing something like: "OMG!  I can't believe you haven't heard ________?!" I know there will always be more (he was the Energizer Bunny of music after all LOL) but I mean something I ought not miss out on...

I know one thing conspicuously missing are the violin concerti, so I guess that will be my next purchase. I just like setting up some goals for myself for the next month or so...

~josh


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## 4/4player (Nov 17, 2006)

Fool on the hill,

Do you have a recording of Bach's " Toccata and Fugue in D Minor BWV 565" ? 

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toccata_and_Fugue_in_D_minor( I know, I know, it's not a reliable site, but, I had to start somewhere... )

Keeping Beat,
4/4player


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## Ephemerid (Nov 30, 2007)

Oh, yeah, that's one obviously missing. That's probably because I unfortunately have a bit of a prejudice against pipe organs, though I could still get a good orchestration perhaps (not Stokowski's)-- the solo violin transcription sounds interesting too... 

~josh


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

I've heard really good things about Bach's works for harpsichord, etc. I don't particularly know any of them, I've just heard great things about them.

That would be interesting, though, to find out how a cellist could play the Bach Chaconne... It seems almost impossible on the viola!


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## Ephemerid (Nov 30, 2007)

World Violist said:


> I've heard really good things about Bach's works for harpsichord, etc. I don't particularly know any of them, I've just heard great things about them.
> 
> That would be interesting, though, to find out how a cellist could play the Bach Chaconne... It seems almost impossible on the viola!


Vito Paternoster's cello transcription of the chaconne from the D minor partita is awesome-- I got it off iTtunes...

I understand there is a viola transcription of the cello suites as well, which I have yet to hear...

~josh


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## messiaenfanatic (Dec 21, 2007)

Have you listened to Bach's Saint Matthew Passion? That is one excellent work!


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## BuddhaBandit (Dec 31, 2007)

You've got to get a recording of the _Well-tempered Clavier_. Some of the greatest preludes and fugues ever put down- it would definitely fall into your category of "OMG-I can't believe you don't have_____"!


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## Ephemerid (Nov 30, 2007)

BuddhaBandit said:


> You've got to get a recording of the _Well-tempered Claveir_. Some of the greatest preludes and fugues ever put down- it would definitely fall into your category of "OMG-I can't believe you don't have_____"!


Right, Buddhabandit! I forgot about that -- I did USED to own Gould's recordings on that but er... lost them not long after I got the discs... You are right, I think that would be in the OMG category LOL ***

MessiaenFanatic, yes, I am obviously short on all the cantatas (I have few excerpts here & there and thats all) and other choral works. I love the Mass in B minor (a recent purchase) and the two passions I will put high on my "to get" list (it is only TWO passions he did, right? Matthew and John I think).

World Violist, its odd that I like the harpsichord in ensemble work, but solo, I have a hard time with for some reason. I tend to prefer piano transcriptions to harpsichord, so that's a whole new area for me to delve in further! 

~josh

*** perhaps that should be "O mein Gott?"


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## BuddhaBandit (Dec 31, 2007)

Gould does a great job with Bach- in addition to your Emerson Quartet recording of the _Art of the Fugue_, you might try and get his piano/organ rendition, which is very Romanticized.


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## Erik Helm (Dec 31, 2007)

Another thought for you.
I noticed that you have the piano works of Bach performed by Glen Gould. You may want to pick up the Goldberg variations performed by Andras Schiff as a comparison. I don't want to start a pro or anti Gould argument as I believe one man's meat is another man's poison, but It might be nice as a comparison, as they are completely different interpretations. Schiff uses much less counterpoint and plays with feeling.


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## Handel (Apr 18, 2007)

fool on the hill said:


> Here's what I have already:
> 
> The Orchestral Suites
> The Brandenburg Concerti
> ...


It's time to see around Bach...

I did the same thing with Handel but I realized there was other good composers too.


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## Krummhorn (Feb 18, 2007)

4/4player said:


> Fool on the hill,
> 
> Do you have a recording of Bach's " Toccata and Fugue in D Minor BWV 565" ?
> 
> ...


Hi 4/4player,

Here's a reliable source for the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565. Performed by Frederik Magle at Riga Cathedral.


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## Ephemerid (Nov 30, 2007)

Handel said:


> It's time to see around Bach...
> 
> I did the same thing with Handel but I realized there was other good composers too.


LOL I tend to go in these sorts of cycles... in 2006 I bought up more Debussy than you can shake a stick at, and over the years I've gone on similar binges with Stravinsky, Beethoven (particularly the string quartets), Satie and Takemitsu.

I think Shostakovich will be my next one to gorge myself on.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Ephemerid said:


> I'm wanting to get a fairly comprehensive collection of Bach going, just as I did for Debussy last year (I've got a recording of almost every major work by Debussy and a quite a few lesser known works as well).
> 
> I'm getting into less familiar waters with Bach, so I want to know: what should I get next?
> 
> ...


Hope you are still around.

That's a fine list! 

All I would add are the complete Well Tempered Clavier & the solo Keyboard Partitas, both preferably perfomed on harpsichord, as originally intended.


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