# The Bach you can't be without !



## Jaime77 (Jun 29, 2009)

Hi there, 

My collection needs more J.S. Bach. Recommend me a single CD, single only please, that you have of Bach that you think is exceptional, highly recommended, beautiful etc. 

Thanks! 

J


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

Angela Hewitt's most recent (though the old one is still very good) recording of the Well-Tempered Clavier. I realise that it isn't a single CD, but you wouldn't be able to fit all of the WTC on one CD, and I'm sure no one would want to buy just a quarter of the whole set, so I hope this suggestion counts


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## Taneyev (Jan 19, 2009)

Dmitri Sitkovetsky's Goldbergs transcription for string trio, on his own recording. Single CD


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## Jaime77 (Jun 29, 2009)

I think it aint easy to think of a single CD. I need a version of the Well-Tempered Clavier and Hewitt I'm sure would be great but cos it's a double it's over my little budget for the day  I will have a look for the Sitkovetsky - sounds interesting. 

Anyone else? Any period instrument must-haves?


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I used to have a great CD in the early 90's that is a little off the wall called _Bach With Pluck _featuring guitar and harpsichord transcriptions of the Trio Sonatas for organ. I have drifted away from harpsichord somewhat, but this recording has such a wonderful interplay between the guitar and keyboard and Dunsan Bogdanovic gets some nice tone colors out of the guitar by sometimes using a pizzicato or muting technique. Not standard repertoire but quite lovely and lively.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

A single Bach CD??!! Egad, man! That's almost an impossibility. I mean we're talking about Bach here! Hewitt's _Well Tempered Clavier_ would probably be my first pick as well. After that...? Perhaps this:










A great deal of Bach's greatest music is to be found in his cantatas: some of his most profound... some of the most moving... some of the most joyous... a great deal of the most innovative... especially in terms of his orchestration. This collection presents 6 of the best-known and best of these works (BWV 8, 51, 78, 80, 140 and 147). These are all performed in a historically informed and intimate manner... with stripped down choirs/vocalists... rather as Bach himself would have heard them.


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## Isola (Mar 26, 2008)

Bach: Concertos for Piano and Orchestra Nos. 1-5 & 7 (The Glenn Gould Edition)










Or:

A State of Wonder: The Complete Goldberg Variations (1955 & 1981)










Both are exceptional and beautiful!


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## Conor71 (Feb 19, 2009)

Its cheating, but I would recommend this set, which I own, for a generous serving of Bach's Orchestral Music!:










Contains all of the Brandenburg Concertos, Orchestral Suites and Violin Concertos too, all top music .


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

It might be noted that the single disc limitation may be somewhat unrealistic with Bach for the reason that a great many of his most important works cannot be so limited. You can get the Goldberg Variations on a single disc, but the Brandenburg Concertos, the Well Tempered Clavier, the Passions, etc... all demand at least 2 discs.

A few more essentials I would recommend:










...and this set is grossly inexpensive and one of the best (perhaps my personal favorite) of Bach's Cello Suites:


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## bdelykleon (May 21, 2009)

I'm really addicted on this CD:


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## haydnguy (Oct 13, 2008)

This is what I have. Peter Watchorn on harpsichord. It's very good with good sound.

WTC 1


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## Jaime77 (Jun 29, 2009)

These look great. It's so true - Bach and the double CD. I must get the Hewitt recording.

*bdelykleon* - thanks for the single CD  I love Argerich


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## cultchas (Sep 19, 2009)

I second Isola's choice for Gould's Goldberg variations plus:

Bach Preludes, Fughettas and Fugue (Sony LP) By Glenn Gould
and...
The Well-Tempered Clavier 1 & 2 (Deutsche Grammophon) by Rosalyn Tureck


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## Lukecash12 (Sep 21, 2009)

I do think David Helfgott has done some Bach (more than a little well, I might add), and he's made quite a few CD's, so that would be worth checking out. Some folks might say Helfgott is a bit of a sellout, but he makes some really good stuff a lot of the time. You have to make a dollar somehow. But Helfgott's Bach is diabolical.


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