Bach: Alio Modo

Johann Sebastian Bach (Composer), Fretwork (Performer)

Product Details

• Performer: Fretwork
• Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
• Audio CD (November 8, 2005)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Harmonia Mundi Fr.
• ASIN: B000AMQ00C
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #233,345 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dark, rich clarity. Intricate detail and very listenable!, December 24, 2005

By	Jerry L. Bobo II "06GSXR1000" (Moore, OK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I was somewhat apprehensive about buying this CD because of a previous Fretwork CD entitled "Art of the Fugue". I was not only very happy with this but CD, but very impressed. Instead of using modern instruments, the music is arranged using groups of Viols (instruments that were already long obsolete even by Bach's time). You might think that such a choice of instrumentation might make this CD more austere than rich, but you will be pleasantly suprised. I will concede that the viols grouped in the music here do produce a dark sound, they nonetheless lend a particuliar intricacy (especially in C Minor) that cannot be otherwise heard in Bach's original organ arrangements.

4 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Annoying!, November 28, 2007

By	Giordano Bruno (Wherever I am, I am.) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

With so much of the authentic and wonderful repertoire for gamba consort still unrecorded, I find it wrong-headed for Fretwork to offer us transcriptions of Bach's organ music. Besides, I don't like the results. The sound is false in my ears, almost as annoying as when Glenn Gould tortures Bach's harpsichord music on the modern piano.

5 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb!, March 19, 2006

By	John Crawford (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you like the complexities of melody and rythm, this recording of Bach using only viols will take you away. Beautifully recorded too. You can hear everything.