Customer Reviews

Bach for Book Lovers: A Soothing Companion for Reading

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I didn't know a lick about classical music unti now. I came across this (a three cd set titled "Music for Book Lovers" while browsing a mail order flyer which came with a bookclub mailing. The whismical cover art and idea of soothing reading music attracted me. As with books, I immediately got on Amazon to locate and read reviews. I listened to the (very generous) samples and was impressed...it sounded like wonderful music! Amazon, of course, had a much better price so I ordered the cd set. I fell in love immediately upon placing in my cd player where it hasn't left since! This stuff is awesome and I've missed out all these years until now! The "Bach for Book Lovers" is my favorite and not just for reading - I bath, sleep, work, relax, read, wash dishes, watch the sunset, you name it! The piano pieces are so poetic and soothing, but never boring. The collection of pieces are thoughtfully and appropriately chosen. The other two cds in the set are even more relaxing and good for chasing away stress, tension, and even sleeplessnes. I have since ordered six more cds in this delightful series, as well as the book "Classical Music For Dummies." Can't wait for Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and more Bach to arrive! (The cds include an excellent liner catalog of other cds in the series). It doesn't take an expert to distinguish and enjoy great music - Thanks Amazon!

Combining two of my favorite things, Bach and Books, this is a great find for those who are in to these two!

A fine selection of Bach is displayed, from concerto to suite, from oboe to clavier to harpsichord to orchestra, the variety and peaceful that exude from this fine collection are soothing.

Certainly this delivers what it promised, relaxing, warm music to surround one when reading. I often combine the two and this will become a staple for just that.

This is a suberb compilation of delightful Bach piano and chamber music masterpieces. The "songs" were chosen from the vast and excellent Phillips classical music recordings. The sound, performances, and song selections are outstanding.

A lot of great classical music is not very good for listening at home. The crescendos can be loud and the themes too intense. I would rather listen to a breathtaking Mozart piano sonata (solo piano) at home than a grand Mozart symphony (large orchestra). The music on this CD was chosen for home listening, such as when reading a book.

This music is EXCELLENT for listening at home. It's both brilliant and mellow. When I listen to this music I marvel at the brilliance of Bach. I am very grateful for this music.

A fantastic compilation!

Especially to the average listener, certain types of classical music can seem ... well, actually disturbing to listen to with its sometimes frenzied tempos, dissonant tones or dramatic shifts in loudness - and all of that sometimes after a day of frenzied schedules, harsh people and constant noise. Fortunately, most all of 18th century classical music - like that of Bach or Mozart - was composed purposely to inspire contentment, cheerfulness and refreshment. Such is the music on this CD. Not only is this music calming to listen to when reading or meandering around the house but also is an inspiring introduction to the music of the great Baroque composer, Johann Sebastian Bach.

THis CD contains a fine selection of various types of instrumental music Bach wrote (solo piano, concerto for solo instrument and small orchestra) that all have a similar, more gentle tempo that makes for a delightful, non-intrusive background for entertaining, reading or conversation. But don't let the cute cover graphics mislead you that this is not serious quality music - most of the selections here are taken from several top Philips recordings with mostly good sound quality. About half the selections are gentle, lyrical piano solo works ("preludes") from Bach's keyboard masterpiece called "The Well-Tempered Clavier" and provide a wonderful repose in between the more lively orchestral works. If there is one complaint here, it would be the sound quality on the solo piano music which is a bit harsh. But it still makes a great place to start to explore the music of Bach or just to have some nice music on hand for reading.

Last, if you find you like the music of Bach here (especially the piano selections), you will might enjoy some higher-quality recordings of Bach's keyboard concertos or the "Well-Tempered Clavier" by Angela Hewitt - the premier Bach pianist of our time. Her two Bach Concerto recordings masterfully capture the lively spirit and graceful nuances of Bach and are wonderful music for a Sunday morning. A great "next step" for exploring the vast and rich musical world of Bach once you take in this CD.

I can't imagine a better CD to enjoy while reading a book. If you have a repeat feature on your CD player, turn it on, read your book, and doze off peacefully at the end of the evening.

I enjoy Bach, so I thought I'd check out this disc. It's a nice colleciton, and it would fit in very nicely at your local coffee shop or bookstore - but if you're a book lover it'll be too distracting, and if you're a music lover it'll be even worse.

My biggest complaint is a geeky one: The recordings aren't the greatest quality. They're all fairly low-level, requiring a boost on your CD player's volume. But worse, they're all plagued by noise - a faint but audible hiss below the music. This was highly distracting to me, and even more so because it was present at different intensities on different tracks.

The performance was nice, but too stoccatto to be enjoyable while reading. A little sustain pedal goes a long way! Further, several of the pieces selected (particularly toward the beginning of the disc) contained dissonant notes that - while perfectly acceptable musically - would probably be a distraction from all but the best of books.

All told, this disc gets 3 stars for the content - it's nice music, expertly performed, but poorly recorded. It only gets 1 star for living up to its title... There are plenty of better things to listen to when you're curling up with a book!

I think Bach was the musical equivalent of the big romance, his music tugs at the heart with waves that squeeze the listener to the core, after all the man brought Baroque into fashion. This is prefect on my iPod, I love to put this on and sit back while I take the bus, watch people go by, trees and clouds pass in a blur, feeling as if I was in a movie with the soundtrack to my life playing, especially when listening to the first track - Prelude and Fugue, for keyboard No. 1 in C major, I only wish it was longer since it's simply glorious!

My first memories of Bach aren't the fondest, I hated piano practice and it seemed that my teacher had in infinite supply of Bach minuets and bourrees that my fingers twisted ungracefully never hiding the lack of practice. I can play them now but listening to sweet Bach while reading is even better. The music is a mix of serene and articulate, for those who don't appreciate staccato (abrupt and short finger work) it will probably feel this as more unusual for reading but it's blended nicely with other instruments. There is some really beautiful oboe in here, hard instrument to learn gracefully without sounding like a duckling and charming harpsichord, blending together into ethereal sounds of coziness. And there is finally some flute in here, my main instrument that I must confess is not the coziest of sounds but here it shines beautifully, and I smirk sometimes remembering that I had to learn those pieces, now I just get to enjoy them; for once I'm the audience.

Perhaps best known to most for his accomplishment of the Kyrie and Gloria of the Mass in B Minor and the Brandenburg Concerto, Bach's smaller works are not to be missed and he has composed over a thousand of them, so plenty to go around for us bookworms. This is another nice album to have around for any kind of activity.

- Kasia S.

I'm guessing Bach would prefer that we hear his works in context, with all the glories that his pacing and structure reveal. Nonetheless, this is a very nicely assembled collection of quieter pieces that are indeed conducive to reading. Free of the crescendoes that might distract from the book at hand (not that Bach was Mahler), this is perfect background music for reading or eating or just staring out the window at clouds drifting by.

Rather prosaic to take perhaps history's greatest composer and cut him up into soundbites, but that said, I read for five hours last night with this on repeat and it was a fine experience. I wouldn't have bought this, but as a gift it was quite welcome.

There are of course hundreds of complete classical pieces that serve the same purpose beautifully (Satie, Handel and Debussy come immediately to mind), but this does its job well and leaves the mind soothed and relaxed by music of the highest order, and that can't be a bad thing.

The receiver does a lot of studing/reading and
considers this c.d. excellent.

Thank You

The first track on this CD is so beautiful and gentle, and from there on, one just melts in Bach's brilliance. You will not regret buying this CD.