Customer Reviews

Bach: Clavier-Übung III (German Organ Mass)

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Other books in Bach's Clavierübung series have become well known and loved, such as Part IV - the Goldberg Variations. Yet somehow book III of the Clavierübung seems to languish somewhat in obscurity by comparison. I must admit I first became interested in it when Pierre Boulez of all people mentioned the Clavierübung III as the work by Bach he finds the most outstandingly brilliant. Boulez is surprisingly knowledgeable about early music (he is perfectly capable of discussing Machaut) and his knowledge about music is always immensely authoritative. However, it was a long while before I found a performance that was up to Bach's level of inspiration.

It comes as little surprise given the universal praise heaped upon Suzuki's Bach Collegium Japan cantata recordings that he should come up with a Clavierübung III as inspirational as this. If you ever did find this work dry then you really need to listen to this performance which really helps to set the work right up there with the finest compositions by Bach. As a work that belongs to Bach's encyclopedic compendiums of what it was possible to achieve in the art of keyboard playing, this recording must take pride of precedence in every Bach lover's collection.

If you love the Goldberg Variations, the Art of Fugue, a musical offering, or the two volumes of the Preludes and Fugues then you will definitely want to make sure you get this for they all represent essential volumes of the Bach encyclopedia of music.