Customer Reviews

J. S. Bach: The Musical Offering

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The Musical Offering is one of the latest and most mature works from the biggest genious from the barroque, but also one of the most misterious and challenging to play. The composer himself wrote "Seek and you shall find!" in one of the canons, refering to the puzzle he has written... And with all this, every diferent recording of this work is unique. Ensemble Sonnerie has chosen to use a violin, viola da gamba, harpsichord, flute, oboe/oboe d'amore/oboe da caccia, viola and a basson to put the work together. And the result was astounding.....I had never expected to listen to a richer and more inspiring Ricercar a 6 than the one here ( with 6 instruments ). And to be completely strict to the tradition, the "original" version with harpsichord solo is executed ( most gracefull too ) in the end of the cd..... All the canons and fugues are played with great mastery and care. The sound of the recording is warm and live too... With no doubt Ensemble Sonnerie produced one of the greatest recordings of this eternal Masterpiece so far ! ( and will stay as so, for a long time, for sure ! 71 minutes of pure exitement ! Buy it now !

This is a lovely piece, very exciting and spellbinding. The choice of instruments for this recording is quite good and the overall sound is very warm. I cannot at all capture what the experience of listening to this work was like, it was simply amazing.

I used to own and love this CD but lost it a several years ago, and had forgotten the name of the ensemble. When I decided to add the musical offering to my iTunes collection, I went searching for a good recording -- and there certainly are some -- but none satisfied me the way this one does. The use of woodwinds in the arrangements makes for uniquely colorful and interesting performances. Heterogeneous ensembles like these are well suited for Bach, because the different timbres highlight the different contrapuntal lines. One of my favorite recordings of Bach ever (and I have many). It appears to be out of print, and it's not in iTunes, but it's well worth the effort to buy a physical CD and rip it to your music library.