Bach: The Keyboard Works (Black Dog Music Librry) - Hardcover

It is next to impossible to cover the mighty legacy of Johann Sebastian Bach's keyboard works adequately with one compact disc and 30-odd pages of text. Because of this limitation, this entry in the Black Dog Music Library's collection of classical music can't offer much more than a perfunctory introduction to the work. Still, it includes some of Bach's most deservedly famous works for organ and harpsichord and introduces the beginner to the great composer's life, music, and family, as well as to five well-known performers. One might fault EMI and Black Dog for some of the recordings here (evidently, EMI's back catalog is somewhat thinner in this repertoire than in some of the other classical music basics). Maria Tipo is a fine pianist, but a modern grand piano does not really present Bach's music as it ought to be heard; Albert Schweitzer was a great humanitarian and helped boost the presentation of Bach earlier in this century, but he was not a full-time musician and not as precise in his playing as one might have hoped; Wanda Landowska was a truly phenomenal artist, but this recording was made in 1936, and the technology was, by today's standards, decidedly primitive. Nonetheless, this book and CD provide a good overview and sample of works from which to proceed on to further exploration. The time line in the back, tracing the Bach family tree--heavily laden with musicians--from the 16th century through Bach's sons, is a nice touch. --Sarah Bryan Miller

Johann Sebastian Bach (31 March 1685–28 July 1750) was a German composer and organist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity. Although he introduced no new forms, he enriched the prevailing German style with a robust contrapuntal technique, an unrivaled control of harmonic and motivic organization in composition for diverse musical forces, and the adaptation of rhythms and textures from abroad, particularly Italy and France. Revered for their intellectual depth, technical command and artistic beauty, Bach's works include the Brandenburg concertos, the Goldberg Variations, the English Suites, the French Suites, the Partitas, the Well-Tempered Clavier, the Mass in B Minor, the St. Matthew Passion, the St. John Passion, the Magnificat, The Musical Offering, The Art of Fugue, the Sonatas and Partitas for violin solo, the Cello Suites, more than 200 surviving cantatas, and a similar number of organ works, including the celebrated Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. While Bach's fame as an organist was great during his lifetime, he was not particularly well-known as a composer. His adherence to Baroque forms and contrapuntal style was considered "'old-fashioned"' by his contemporaries, especially late in his career when the musical fashion tended towards Rococo and later Classical styles. A revival of interest and performances of his music began early in the 19th century, and he is now widely considered to be one of the greatest composers in the Western tradition, being included with Ludwig van Beethoven and Johannes Brahms as one of the "'three Bs"'.