Musical Offering BWV 1079

[Mandryka]

This is what I have and surprisingly my only BWV 1079!  At least I like it a lot.

The sound and mood of a more authentic performance is so different -  like the one with Arita and Terakado or the one with Mateo Messori - that it may well be worth your while checking one of them out just to see whether you prefer it. I know I do, and for some reason which is more a comment on me than them I suppose, I can't really listen with any pleasure to Capella Istropolitana, even though I can see that it's a polished and  professional performance which is nicely recorded and not at all offensive.

[NJ Joe]

Hi,

For many years, this



has been a desert island disc for me, among my favorite classical recordings by anyone.

I own two other recordings of BWV 1079: 



and



however, despite repeated listening, I've never been able to embrace either.  I don't dislike them, they just don't speak to me the way the Ensemble Sonnerie recording does and I listen to them less frequently.

Any thoughts on these two?

I previewed the Messori on iTunes and like it. Thanks for posting it Mandryka.

[71 dB]

I'm listening to this on Spotify and it sounds very very good!  0:)

[asin]B00Q3FVVM2[/asin]

[Mandryka]

I'm listening to this on Spotify and it sounds very very good!  0:)

[asin]B00Q3FVVM2[/asin]

The duos are very nice with Pierlot and Gratton, and the sonata's largo is unbelievably luxurious and voluptuous. Very French.

[Mandryka]

What is the best set to pick up that has A Musical Offering AND The organ version of Art Of fugue? (my favorite)

Thanks 

I don't think there is one.

[Que]

The harpsichordist is Chiyoko Arita, Masahiro's wife.

Excellent recording, top-3 in my book, indeed.

BTW, Masahiro Arita recorded an excellent 2-CD set with the flute sonatas, also a top recording.

Which are the other two? 

I'm still stuck in the past with Harnoncourt et al, Linde-Consort....

Q

[prémont]

What is the best set to pick up that has A Musical Offering AND The organ version of Art Of fugue? (my favorite)

Thanks 

The Teldec Bach 2000 Chamber music box contains Tachezi's Art of Fugue and Harnoncourt's Opfer. And some other things (violin/harpsichord sonatas et.c.).

https://www.amazon.de/Bach-2000-Vol-11-Kammermusik/dp/B00002DF3H/ref=sr_1_5?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1481280928&sr=1-5&keywords=bach+tachezi

There are two sets containing AoF on keyboard and the Opfer, but in these the AoF is played on harpsichord:

1) Messori on Brilliant and 2)Becker-Foss/Wurm on a private edition. Messori is excellent, but
I can not recommend Becker-Foss/Wurm). And if you prefer Aof on organ... , but the harpsichord version is at least equally valid.

https://www.amazon.de/J-S-Bach-Kunst-Fuge-Matteo-Messori/dp/B004W5MNAO/ref=sr_1_3?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1481281097&sr=1-3&keywords=bach+messori

https://www.amazon.de/Zahlen-Duderstadts-Sparkassen-Sp%C3%A4twerk-Musikalisches/dp/B004XTR62Y/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1481280975&sr=1-2&keywords=bach+wurm

[Wakefield]

Which are the other two? 

I'm still stuck in the past with Harnoncourt et al, Linde-Consort....

Q

Kuijken bros. (& R. Kohnen) on DHM, and the very recent recording by the Ricercar Consort.

I recognize a soft point on il Gardelino, too. Listening the ricercar a 3 on fortepiano, immediately after the king's theme, has a strong impact on me. 

[Mandryka]

Kuijken bros. (& R. Kohnen) on DHM,

I agree this is good, but I'm curious about why you've singled that one out rather than the one with GL. Maybe I would prefer it too, I'm not sure.

[prémont]

I agree this is good, but I'm curious about why you've singled that one out rather than the one with GL. Maybe I would prefer it too, I'm not sure.

I prefer the one with Leonhardt. A crucial point is the ricercare a 6, which seems to be a keyboard piece.

[Wakefield]

I agree this is good, but I'm curious about why you've singled that one out rather than the one with GL. Maybe I would prefer it too, I'm not sure.

I prefer the one with Leonhardt. A crucial point is the ricercare a 6, which seems to be a keyboard piece.

No doubt, it's hard to choose between those two versions; but, I think, exclusively because of Leonhardt.

Nobody has played better than him the keyboard part of the Musical Offering. There he even allowed himself to be a bit "disheveled" and virtuoso, and the ricercar a 6 mentioned by Premont is a superb example.

But I prefer all the other elements of the version recorded on DHM: the recorded sound, specially the harpsichord; some interpretations (Barthold, for instance, is quite more inspired) and the interplay among the soloists, and flexibility of the interpretation. I even greatly enjoy a sort of "pedagogical" feature in Kohnen's interpretation. For instance, when the ricercar a 3 starts, his playing says something like: "Is Your Majesty talking about THIS?

[Que]

Kuijken bros. (& R. Kohnen) on DHM, and the very recent recording by the Ricercar Consort.

I recognize a soft point on il Gardelino, too. Listening the ricercar a 3 on fortepiano, immediately after the king's theme, has a strong impact on me. 

Much obliged, my friend! 

Q

[Mandryka]

Nobody has played better than him [GL] the keyboard part of the Musical Offering.

Are you forgetting Pierre Hantaï?

[Wakefield]

Much obliged, my friend! 

Q

That version by the Ricercar Consort has your name on it, I think... It's voluptuously serious. 

[Wakefield]

Are you forgetting Pierre Hantaï?

He  did a vey good job with Savall, but I prefer Leonhardt.

BTW, his brother Marc does a splendid job with the Ricercar, IMO better than with Savall.

[Kontrapunctus]

I like this for a modern instrument version:


and this for period instruments:

[NJ Joe]

^^^Excellent, thanks for posting.^^^

[Mandryka]

This is Harnoncourt's first recording of Opfer, given a new lease of life by Bibliothèque Nationale de France. It is occasionally "deeply felt", intense, and touchingly valedictory in feeling. Isolde Ahlgrimm on some sort of revival instrument I think, the harpsichord's just listenable, and really she's not bad in the ricercar à 3. The ricercar à 6 is another story, I thought it was torture. It's in the grand manner, which made me think of Schweitzer's organ recordings!  I like the cello - I guess that's N. Harnoncourt. Where the metronomic style is for me most unbearable is in the trio sonata, which is I think grim, lifeless and charmless.  The whole thing gets across very well the feeling of a small group of musicians collaborating.

[Turner]

A comprehensive discography of the work:
http://www.bach-cantatas.com/NVD/BWV1079-Rec1.htm

Among those I´ve got (Scherchen 1950, Münchinger/Supraphon, Münchinger/Decca), I´d normally reach out for the last one mentioned, but it´s been a while since I heard the piece. However there is no doubt room for improvement, in the way of more tense and/or very different ones, out there.

[Mandryka]

This recording seems to have been completely ignored by the online musical review world, but I think it's not completely without interest.

Wikipedia lists the performers as follows

Lena Weman, Flute and Viola da Gamba (I suspect just flute!)
Anna Lindal, Violin
Mikko Perkola, Viola da Gamba
Hans-Ola Ericsson, Harpsichord and Organ

But that can't be the whole story because sometimes we hear organ and harpsichord together, and sometimes a piano gets in on the act. Maybe he's playing some sort of electronic keyboard. Whatever it is it sounds rather good and is I think not tuned equally.

He doesn't shrink from using anachronistic registers, the results in combination with violin and gamba are beautiful.  The recording is unusual, sometimes you feel as though you've got your ear right next to the violin, the timbres are really memorable, the sort of thing I expect to hear in contemporary music. Ericsson is a serious composer and it shows. The general feel is introspective, lyrical, poetic and noble apart from the sonata which comes off as rather racy and jaunty.

The 6 part ricercar is given the ensemble treatment, I don't like it much, but the 3 part ricercar is taken on organ very nicely. This and a 10 minute long sequence of canons was the high point for me.