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EAN: 0639842570428 Format: Box set, Limited Edition Label: Teldec Manufacturer: Teldec MPN: C-A35-A35-25 Number Of Discs: 153 Publisher: Teldec Release Date: September 14, 1999 Studio: Teldec Editorial Review: Amazon.com: The Bach renaissance--which began in earnest in the early 19th century thanks to the efforts of Felix Mendelssohn and others--inspired an endeavor of far-reaching significance. It led to the founding of the Bach Society in 1850, with the goal of gathering and publishing the composer's complete works, and thus set into motion one of the great projects of musical scholarship. That effort has continued and been refined throughout the 20th century, ultimately influencing not only our perception of how to perform early music but fundamental ideas of musical history, evolution, and reception as well. Teldec's mammoth Bach 2000 box set represents a kind of culmination of that original attempt to come to terms with Johann Sebastian Bach's unparalleled legacy. This set brings together performances recorded over the last several decades--a small percentage of the recordings are previously unreleased--of all the extant works determined by modern scholarship to be authentic. There are also some pieces the authorship of which is still in question and a few now deemed "inauthentic" but familiarly associated with the composer. Bach was a prodigious reviser of his compositions, and alternate versions of a particular work have been included "where the changes seemed sufficiently important," such as the glorious Magnificat. No doubt manuscripts will continue to be unearthed here and there in various archives (Bach 2000 contains, for example, the "Neumeister chorales," which were rediscovered in 1984), but the set does not represent the many fragments of music that consist of just a few bars; however, there are some reconstructions of lost concertos (such as one for three violins reconstructed by Christopher Hogwood from an extant concerto for harpsichords). Of course a truly comprehensive recorded edition of every note Bach wrote remains a utopian impossibility--about one-third of his cantatas, for example, have not survived. Even so, the dimensions of Bach 2000 are staggering. With its 12 boxes comprising 153 CDs, the set can be compressed into fewer boxes to save shelf space yet is still about ten times as long as the Ring cycle. (It should be noted that the packaging--using thin cardboard sleeves for the CDs--is distinctively unattractive.) That adds up to just under 160 hours of music--but a lifetime of discovery. Each box (grouped according to genre) contains a booklet with excellent notes on individual works and--for all the choral works--texts and translations. Tracking indexes are useful and thorough. Also included is a profusely illustrated hardbound volume of 24 Inventions, in which journalist Wolfgang Sandberger uses the composer's biography as a peg for some enigmatic and fascinating musings on the meaning of Bach today. The presiding philosophy behind this project and its approach to musical interpretation can be largely ascribed to Nikolaus Harnoncourt, a true musical pioneer and galvanizing force of the "period performance" movement. Harnoncourt's epoch-making recordings of the sacred cantatas (using, for instance, boy sopranos and choristers according to the practice in Bach's time) with the Concentus musicus Wien and colleague Gustav Leonhardt comprise the first four volumes here (those who already own them can turn to the Bach 2000 Light edition, which contains everything sans the cantatas). These recordings--which were not remastered for this set--have long been controversial and are notably uneven, embracing some magnificent accounts as well as others that lack fire and seem clearly underrehearsed. But Harnoncourt is one of the most fascinating conductors of our era, and his interpretations amply bear out his assertion: "I have never felt that Bach worked in a routine manner, that he repeated himself in his works." Harnoncourt--who has articulated many of his ideas in his book The Musical Dialogue--displays his gifts as a cellist in a remarkably probing performance of the Cello Suites (originally recorded in 1965) and in his concertizing for a number of chamber works. For the St. Matthew Passion, you get Harnoncourt's groundbreaking earlier account from 1970, while his 1986 recording of the sublime B Minor Mass is also represented here (the St. John Passion included is Harnoncourt's 1995 acount). Other artists included are colleague Gustav Leonhardt, whose thoughtful if occasionally dry harpsichord artistry is heard in the Goldberg Variations as well as in the concertos and chamber music. The harpsichord is in fact used throughout in preference to piano for the keyboard works. Ton Koopman (himself the conductor of an ongoing complete cantata series and of the Easter Oratorio included here) performs the organ works, including some newly recorded offerings, while Il Giardino Armonico's well-known high-energy account represents the Brandenburg Concertos. Violinist Thomas Zehetmair is exceptionally compelling in the unaccompanied sonatas and partitas, and the Concentus musicus Wien--again under Harnoncourt--perform a superb Musical Offering that richly repays frequent listening. The result of Bach 2000 as a whole is an aptly encyclopedic grappling with the infinite legacy of this most compendious of composers, whose works are on one level a summation of all the styles available to him. Bach was once thought to represent a "terminal point" (to use Albert Schweitzer's famous formulation), the end of an era; today he is at least equally recognized as a fertile source of inspiration for composers since. To be sure, individual recordings of particular works will be found to be preferable, and it would be misguided to consider Bach 2000 any kind of "final" or "definitive" word. Instead, it's an indispensable starting point that represents a monumental achievement for our own contemporary understanding of Bach. --Thomas May Album Description: Volume 1, 15 Discs Sacred Cantatas Nos. 1-14, 16-47; 15 CDs; Harnoncourt/Leonhardt Volume 2, 15 Discs Sacred Cantatas Nos. 48-52, 54-69, 69A, 70-99; 15 CDs; Harnoncourt/Leonhardt Volume 3, 15 Discs Sacred Cantatas Nos. 100-117, 119-140,143-149; 15 CDs; Harnoncourt/Leonhardt Volume 4, 15 Discs Sacred Cantatas BWV 150-159, 161-188, 192, 194-199; 15 CDs; Harnoncourt/Leonhardt Volume 5, 11 Discs Secular Cantatas App. Sacred Cantatas; 11 CDs; Koopman, Harnoncourt, Koopman, Goebel and others Volume 6, 14 Discs The Sacred Vocal Works Masses,Magnificat, Passions, Oratorios; 14 CDs; Harnoncourt, Koopman, Corboz and others Volume 7 , 7 Discs The Motets, Chorales & Songs Kirnberger Chorales,Schemelli Songs, Quodlibet Volume 8, 16 Discs The Organ Works; 16 CDs; Ton Koopman Volume 9, 11 Discs The Keyboard Works (I) The Well-Tempered Clavier, English & French Suites, Partitas etc; 11 CDs; Curtis, Ross, Wilson, Ruzickova Volume 10, 11 Discs The Keyboard Works (II) Goldberg Variations, Toccatas, Fugues, Italian Concerto, etc; 11 CDs; Staier, Barchi, Leonhardt, von Asperen, Baumont, and others Volume 11, 13 Discs The Chamber Music Violin Sonatas & Partitas, Flute Sonatas, Works for Lute, Art of Fugue, Musical Offering, etc; 13 CDs; Harnoncourt, Pianca, Tachezi, Brggen, Zehetmair, and others Volume 12, 10 Discs The Orchestral Works The Concertos & Orchestral Suite; 10 CDs; Il Giardino Armonico, Harnoncourt, Leonhardt Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Bach is pricelessI believe, as another reviewer has stated, Bach's music may be the best ever written. Also, I think the cantatas are not where Bach placed his heart and soul. He was, after all, employed as a canter and in a position he did not wish for, but was forced to take to feed his large family. (I recommend "Bach and the High Baroque" lecture series by TTC.) What really stands out on this collection are all works in volumes 8 and above. Some of these works are hard to find and having them all in this collection ... Read More Rating:  - Buy the works you like....If you love Bach, which you must if you are looking at this particular item, you probably own a couple of his works already. Perhaps some of them are on the Teldec label. There is nothing wrong with Teldec if you are just getting into "classical" music. You will probably enjoy the music thoroughly. I know I did, as one of the first "classical" releases I bought was on Teldec, and it was Bach. I was amazed how great Bach was. Then my brother showed me the same recording, performed by another group, on ... Read More Rating: - Poor BachIn Antony & Cleopatra, Shakespeare wrote: "I shall see some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness...." I am 99% in favor of original instrument performances, but there are limits. Just imagine if we had the same sort of thing going on with Shakespeare's plays -- men and boys playing all of the women's parts. And if we *really* wanted to be original, they would be squeaking boys "I' th' posture of a whore" (Shakespeare's words). Such performances would knock Monty Python right out of business. ... Read More Rating: - A Treasure TroveThis set is the culmination of several decades of work on the part of the West German record label Teldec (formerly known as Telefunken-Decca). With their early-music subdivision Das Alte Werk (similar to DG's Archiv or Decca's L'Oiseau-Lyre), Teldec have been in the forefront of exploring the world of period instruments and authentic performance practice, with special emphasis on the works of J.S.Bach. The lion's share of recordings here was originally made for Das Alte Werk, with the odd exception here and there ... Read More Rating: - 147 out of 153 ain't bad!Having listened to the complete set, I can confidently recommend it, if you would use a complete set of Bach's works. If you really like Bach, it is well worth getting. You will read disparaging reviews which will tell you that there are better performances of individual works. But this is a great opportunity for a Bach lover to get very good versions of his entire oeuvre. In the set of 60 CDs of sacred cantatas, there are about 6 duds, which feature out of tune boy sopranos! If you are not crazy ... Read More |
