Toccatas & Correnti

On this CD:

1. Toccata No. 7 (Toccate e correnti d'intavolatura d'organo e cimbalo (1640))
Composed by Michelangelo Rossi
Performed by Francesco Cera

2. Toccata No 2
Composed by Michelangelo Rossi
Performed by Francesco Cera

3. Corrente No 1
Composed by Michelangelo Rossi
Performed by Francesco Cera

4. Corrente No 2
Composed by Michelangelo Rossi
Performed by Francesco Cera

5. Toccata No 4
Composed by Michelangelo Rossi
Performed by Francesco Cera

6. Corrente terza, for harpsichord
Composed by Michelangelo Rossi
Performed by Francesco Cera

7. Corrente No 4
Composed by Michelangelo Rossi
Performed by Francesco Cera

8. Toccata No 5
Composed by Michelangelo Rossi
Performed by Francesco Cera

9. Corrente No 6
Composed by Michelangelo Rossi
Performed by Francesco Cera

10. Toccata for organ, No 6 in G major
Composed by Michelangelo Rossi
Performed by Francesco Cera

11. Corrente No 9
Composed by Michelangelo Rossi
Performed by Francesco Cera

12. Toccata No 8
Composed by Michelangelo Rossi
Performed by Francesco Cera

13. Corrente decima, for harpsichord
Composed by Michelangelo Rossi
Performed by Francesco Cera

14. Partite sopra la Romanesca
Composed by Michelangelo Rossi
Performed by Francesco Cera

15. Toccata a 3
Composed by Michelangelo Rossi
Performed by Francesco Cera

Customer Reviews:

txbjones.......2007-06-30

WOW - you have to listen to believe - my wife said she had not heard this music this good in some churches - channel separation is excellent - music is excellent - this is 1st SACD I have heard so I am in awe - all I can say is WOW

My Fav CD now.......2007-06-05

I have listened to this SACD several times in 2 days now, and it is my favorite now. On the Sony PS3, this SACD shows up as either a 2 channel or 8 channel from the XMB->Music->CD menu. I never listened to the 2 channel version, but listening the 8 channel version on my 7.1 Yamaha receiver just puts right there.

Absolutely incredible experience.......2007-05-22

Although I can't add much to the detailed reviews you'll read below, this ranks as the most amazing SACD I've had the pleasure of listening to. Sitting in the middle of my speakers, listening to the distinct sound of all four organs, was almost like a religious experience. Yes, it will indeed give your bass a workout, and should be a reference work for your system's bass performance. But I was equally amazed at the total musical range of these organs, and by the performer's dexterity in bringing out such a varied sound. Listen to the end of each piece as the last notes slowly fade away. The liner notes say that the hall's reverberation time is 6 seconds, but it seems even longer to me.

Bach: The Four Great Toccatas and Fugues.......2007-05-06

This CD is only worth junk to me as I do not have the advanced equipment on which to play it. I was ripped off by Amazon.

Beyond Fantastic.......2007-02-13

This is the most exciting and dramatic pipe organ recording I have ever heard. This recording has extremely low pedal tones that will rock the walls. My home theater system, which was primarily designed for music, has a Velodyne F 1500R sub-woofer, that is given a real workout by this marvelous recording. Guests who hear this recording in my home are astounded by the full range and drama of this truly unique pipe organ recording. (For that matter, I'm astounded by it.) Since I got this recording, I have become a fan of the Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C Major, BWV 564 which concludes the disc. One can see why Mr. Biggs saved this one for last.

This recording was originally made as a quadrophonic recording in October of 1973 at the Cathedral of Freiburg in Germany. With the advent of SACD, the full potential of the original master tapes can now be enjoyed in the home. This recording, however, has to be played on an SACD player.

The Cathedral has four pipe organs, that can be played from a central console. The recording gives each corner speaker it's own pipe organ, two in front, and two in the rear. The reverberation time of the Cathedral is six seconds which greatly enhances the feeling of spaciousness in this recording.

Those of you who are pipe organ fans should not miss out on this very special recording. If you do not have SACD yet, this recording alone is sufficient reason to make the move to SACD. If you are familiar with "Absolute Sound" magazine, then you know the name Harry Pearson. This recording was given Mr. Pearson's top rating, a "10", which is saying something.

Even if your not a pipe organ fan, and have a really great sub-woofer that needs a good workout, this is the way to go for an unequaled demonstration disc.

Average customer rating:

Excellent
E.Power Briggs Organ playing Bach's best
The benchmark of the four tocatta's and fugue's
Nothing can top this one!!!
A great recording by a great organist

Bach: The Four Great Toccatas & Fugues

Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Works for Organ - Essential Classics
The Biggs Bach Book
Bach: The Four Great Toccatas and Fugues [SACD]
Bach: Four Great Toccatas & Fugues
Bach: Great Organ Works

ASIN: B0000026HJ
Release Date: 1990-10-25

Tracks:

Toccata And Fugue In D Minor, BWV 565: Toccata
Toccata And Fugue In D Minor, BWV 565: Fugue
The Four Great Toccatas & Fugues: Toccata
The Four Great Toccatas & Fugues: Fugue
The Four Great Toccatas & Fugues: Toccata
The Four Great Toccatas & Fugues: Fugue
The Four Great Toccatas & Fugues: Toccata
The Four Great Toccatas & Fugues: Adagio
The Four Great Toccatas & Fugues: Fugue
The Four Great Toccatas & Fugues: We All Believe In One God
The Four Great Toccatas & Fugues: Jesus, My Joy
Fantasy In G Major, BWV 572

Customer Reviews:

Excellent.......2007-06-22

This is possibly the best recording made of classical music in history. The opening Toccata is backed by a number of excellent fugues, with the first track becoming extremely well known but usually not played in its entirety. What I really like is the futuristic gothic sound which is the look and feel I go for on a daily basis. The 1700s was right here right now but didn't date very bad at all. The sound is still modern and Bach is a lot better than Mozart. My social worker got me into some classical music, at least to the point where I wasn't shy to check it out at the library and rip it on my hard drive. Better than Handel's Messiah. I love it!

E.Power Briggs Organ playing Bach's best.......2007-03-16

This is simply the best recording of Bach's Toccata & Fugue D-minor on an organ; or, should I say organs, as this recording was made while Briggs played simualtaneously on the four antiphonal organs in the Cathedral of Freiburg Germany. The set-up was made possible by the ability of one organ keyboard to play all of the four organs in the cathedral at once. A totally unique organ system in all of the world I understand.
But this special set-up is just a great addition to the best recorded playing of this most famous (and best work in my view)of Bach's Toccata & Fugue in D- minor. I'm no expert...just a listener...but man, this guy Briggs could really play that thing.
Turn this up as high as the law will allow and engulf yourself in this best organ piece ever written, played by one of the best organ players ever and played on one of the best organ set-ups ever recorded.
You just won't find better.

The benchmark of the four tocatta's and fugue's.......2006-06-05

This has been, by far, my favorite album in my collection. This is the best way to experience Bach's true genius. By having available four instruments controlled by one console allowed Mr. Power-Biggs to let the listener hear what Bach wanted you to hear in his music. If he were alive today, I'm sure Bach would have been the greatest proponent of multi-channel recording. If only Michael Murray would go to Freiburg and re-create this great performance, perhaps adding the Passacaglia and Fugue in c, and the 'Great' Fantasia and Fugue in g, or the Prelude and Fugue in a (BWV543). What an awe inspiring album this would be, recorded in DTS!

Nothing can top this one!!!.......2005-04-27

This recording has a long history for me. It is the first album I ever ordered. I was 12 years old at the time (1977).
I had the stereo pressing and wore it out. I was thrilled when this album was finally issued on CD. Even though I don't have the Super Audio CD version, the original CD release can hold its own against any disc. The Chorale Preludes ("We all believe in one God" and "Jesus, my joy") and the Fantasy in G major - none of which appeared on the original LP release - are also quite enjoyable.

My only complaint is that the original 1974 album cover for "The Four Great Toccatas and Fugues" was not reproduced for the CD release. It does, however, appear on the Super Audio CD.

This is the CD by which I measure all other performances of these works, including earlier recordings made of them by E. Power Biggs. In some instances, I believe that once you're accustomed to hearing a piece performed a certain way, then you will use that approach as your yardstick to measure other performances of that same work. That hasn't applied to me in all cases. I replaced my first recording of Brahms' "Haydn Variations" with a version I heard by a different conductor and orchestra. I made the same switch with Haydn's "Surprise Symphony" a few years later.

Happily, I feel I have the definitive rendition of Bach's Four Great Toccatas and Fugues. Buy it, crank it up and enjoy it!!!

A great recording by a great organist.......2003-08-12

This recording of Bach's four great Toccata & Fugues is noteworthy for two reasons. First, Biggs' performance in all four is exceptional, leading me quickly from indifference to the two least-known to being a great fan of all of them. Second, this recording, heard in a good pair of headphones, gives you not only left and right stereo but an astonishing sense of forward and back. The way the engineers managed to create this effect, in a way that's easily reproduced without expensive audiophile equipment, is simply amazing.

At the time of this recording, the Freiburg Muenster boasted two large organs in the crossing, a choir organ, and a supplemental set of pipes (mainly trumpets and other ornamental stops) near the main entrance on the nave, all of which could be operated from one console. Biggs handles this awesome array of organ power superbly, choosing his stops for maximum musical -- and spatial -- effect. While the rare effect of playing four organs at once is apparent with speakers, the front/back effect is best heard through headphones.

Despite its age, this recording holds up well to comparison. If you want to split hairs, some recordings of individual Toccatas may be more faithful to a live experience in the lowest bass and harmonics. And if you have been raised on (spoiled by?) subwoofers, there are probably more floor-thumping renditions captured by newer recording equipment. But I have yet to encounter one recording of all four Toccatas which is so much fun to listen to. If you only buy one recording of these pieces, this is the one to get!

Bach: The Toccatas
Average customer rating:

Bach Would be Smiling

Did not like it at all

Hewitt tames the Toccatas

Good, average...

A.H. is among the very bests

Bach: The Toccatas
Johann Sebastian Bach , and Angela Hewitt
Manufacturer: Hyperion UK
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Bach: Fantasia in C minor; Two-Part Inventions; Three-Part Inventions; Chromatic Fantasia & Fugue

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Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier (book 1)

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Bach: Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2

ASIN: B000069CVA
Release Date: 2002-08-13

Tracks:

Toccata in C minor
Toccata in G major
Toccata in F sharm minor
Toccata in E minor
Toccata in D minor
Toccata in G minor
Toccata in D major

Amazon.com

A toccata--from the Italian word meaning "to touch"--was originally a glorified keyboard warm-up, in which scales and arpeggios were tossed off with improvisatory abandon. But as Angela Hewitt shows, Bach's youthful forays into this genre were finely wrought gems, masterpieces in miniature. This dazzling CD matches the extraordinarily high standards she has set herself in the complete keyboard Bach she is building up year by year. Her touch is springy and muscular, her pulse rock-steady; the more anarchic Bach's fancy becomes, the more rigorously she controls its expression. Taking her cue from the absence of autograph manuscripts, she puts these works into a satisfying running order, so we can savor them as we would at a recital. The liner notes are--as usual with this coruscating communicator--a performance in themselves. Musical commentary is seldom so fresh, or so illuminating for those who want to follow in her footsteps. And yes, she makes a brilliant case for the piano in Bach: in these 65 glorious minutes, there's not one dull moment. --Michael Church

Customer Reviews:

Bach Would be Smiling.......2006-12-22

Listen to the Fugue from BWV 915 (No 6 on this Album) and try not to smile. It is pleasant and bouncy and irresistable. I keep playing this part over and over. Angela Hewitt plays it freely and boldly like a child skipping in the park.

She plays cleanly and accutrately, but what adds to the beauty is how improvisational she sounds; and we know the Baroque masters excelled at improvisation.

Did not like it at all.......2006-09-12

I really did not like it at all. It looks like all the magic that Gould did put in those pieces is gone. Gould's interpretation is an introspective journey in a music that seems to be just born under his fingers.
A total dispointment after reading other reviews.

Hewitt tames the Toccatas.......2005-08-17

Many know the famous story of how an eager, young Bach journeyed 10 days by foot to a distant village to hear the great organist Buxtehude, staying many months longer than he was given permission. It is fortunate probably that he stayed so long to learn from this master - for such early yet luminous works like the toccatas here clearly show the influence of this virtuositic organist and his free, improvisatorial manner of composing (termed "stylus fantasticus"). In her abundant and well-written liner notes, Hewitt quotes one authority on this style: "It is the most free and unrestrained method of composing; it is bound to nothing, neither to words nor to a melodic subject; it was instituted to display genius and to teach hidden design of harmony and the ingenious composition of harmonic phrases and fugues." While not purposely written as a grouping or teaching tool, these seven so-called Toccatas were assembled together based on these characteristics. They are free displays of virtuosity with daring runs of scales, arpeggios and the like - music full of vitality yet free of form for the most part.

The 2005 Gramophone Guide gave this CD the top "Gold Star" rating (3/3 stars) and concluded: "Her performances could hardly be more stylish or impeccable, more vital or refined. Hewitt's playing is personal and characterful without resorting to self-serving or distorting idiosyncracy." Moreover, the Penguin Guide summarized this recording this way: "We have no hesitation in declaring this the most stimulating and rewarding CD of these complex and episodic works on any instrument, consistently showing Bach's youthful explorations at their most stimulating."

Indeed, there is much variety, inventiveness and drama in this music that Angela Hewitt brings out to the fullest - from the songful and even contemplative slower interludes to rippling demisemiquaver scales that open some pieces to the powerful, complex fugues. Perhaps the richest aspect of Hewitt's playing here is her ability to skillfully and subtly shape the repeating episodes within the fugues by her nuances of color and dynamics. Many of these fugues have short themes that Bach incessently repeats throughout the piece (a famous trait of Bach that he is able to pull off to great effect). With most composers or playing, such repeated motiffs would quickly become monotonous or grating to the ear - as some Toccatas can be on the harpsichord as Hewitt points out. But, with Bach's skillful contrapunctal writing and Hewitt's imaginative playing, she transforms these repetative fugal sections into music of wonderous appeal and fascination - building an unfolding drama within the piece to great effect. The G-minor and D-minor Tocattas are fine examples of how Hewitt's subtle touches transforms these incessent fugues into lumanscent wonders.

One recording of the Toccata in C-minor that is quite interesting by comparison is that of Martha Argerich. While not noted for her playing of Bach, Miss Argerich in the early 80's put to disc a dynamic performance of this Toccata (along with a Partita and English suite on DG). Where Ms. Argerich's bold performance reminds one of Bach's legendary powerful tone and command, Hewitt's touch is worlds apart in its subtltry, charm, inflection and nuance. Hearing Argerich's version along side Angela Hewitt's performance helps to illuminate Miss Hewitt's style more clearly - which is one of longer, more-lyrical flow with a notably beautiful tone and something intangible that might be best called a "heartfelt quality." Hewitt's C-minor Toccata exudes a more songful flow and subtle artistry compared to Argerich's more punchy and "intellectual" reading. Actually, Hewitt's reading can easily be described as "pretty" by comparison (perhaps too pretty for some). She is always a pianist and utilizes the greater expressive range of her Steinway to achieve maximum emotional qualities and tonal beauty.

So, overall, Angela Hewitt's Toccatas are at the top of the class as Penguin Guide and Gramophone notes. With repeated listening, it has become a favorite of her entire discography - part for Bach's fascinating composing and part from Hewitt's sparkling and full-of-life pianism. Compositions - 5 stars; Performance - 5 stars; Sound quality - 4.5 stars.

Good, average..........2005-07-07

All things considered, this performance is far less impressive and interesting than Gould's. Counterpoint lacks, very quiet and smooth playing, no flagrant and uprising dynamics shifting. No take offs, no surprise. Ideal as muzak, in elevator or restaurant.

A.H. is among the very bests.......2005-04-15

First I sent my opinion to my friend, a man of erudition -he was who bid me to publish it here. Maybe this is premature a bit.

To form a better opinion of these recordings I had to listen several times with maximum attention. So now I can write more about the two Hewitt discs, the Bach Toccatas (comparison: Glenn Gould) and the Italian Concerto etc. disc.
The latest development in Bach pianism (and also in playing Beethoven Quartets) is that perfect technique is not an unreachable goal but an obvious point of origin. Looking at today's greatest Bach master, Koroljev, he reached , we believe, unsurpassable perfection exactly this way. To achieve this, several months of seclusion and monastic concentration is required.
Hewitt is also among the giants. Different from Koroliev, she doesn't worry about one-hundredth of seconds, but instead we are rewarded with an increased joy of life. This is Bach we dream about, we know about but couldn't attain. Koroliev's Bach is heavenly, but Glenn Gould's Toccatas are examples of a deeply involved and serious savage subjectivity.
Hewitt knows that seriousness is not the voice of passion. Homage, but not worship. The piano toccatas lead us into a different world than the organ toccatas. The organ toccatas in spite of all their grandeur are still just organ pieces. The piano toccatas, however, are stylized; they are like suites and serious tests of endurance. This CD is the opposite side of the Capriccios, but Hewitt's both sides are wonderful. She understands the Bach spirit completely. She is not hammering, but not too light hearted either. Has weight, but not heavy like of the previous generation, say Brendel. Just as much as needed. Maybe this is her real strength.

Horowitz Live and Unedited [includes Bonus DVD]

Average customer rating:

A historical legacy!
Masterpieces played by the great Horowitz
Insert Here Any Superlative You Can Think Of
WHAT IS GOING ON?
Just the Facts...

Horowitz Live and Unedited [includes Bonus DVD]

Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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The Magic of Horowitz
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ASIN: B0000CF314
Release Date: 2003-09-30

Tracks:

Organ Toccata, Adagio And Fugue In C Major, BWV 564 I. - J.S. Bach
Organ Toccata, Adagio And Fugue In C Major, BWV 564 II. - J.S. Bach
Organ Toccata, Adagio And Fugue In C Major, BWV 564 III. - J.S. Bach
Fantasy In C Major, Op.17 (I)
Fantasy In C Major, Op.17 (II)
Fantasy In C Major, Op.17 (III)
Piano Sonata No. 9 In F Major, Op. 68 'Black Mass' - Scriabin
Poeme In F-Sharp Major, Op. 32, No. 1 - Scriabin

Tracks:

Mazurka In C-Sharp Minor, Op. 30, No.4 - Chopin
Etude No. 8 In F Major, Op. 10 - Chopin
Ballade in G Minor, Op. 23, No.1 - Chopin
Serenade For The Doll No.3 - DeBussy
Etude In C-Sharp Minor, Op.2, No.1 - Scriabin
Etude No. 11 In A-Flat Major, Op.72 - Moszkowski
Traumerei
Kinderszenen, Op. 15 (1)
Kinderszenen, Op. 15 (2)
Kinderszenen, Op. 15 (3)
Kinderszenen, Op. 15 (4)
Kinderszenen, Op. 15 (5)
Kinderszenen, Op. 15 (6)
Kinderszenen, Op. 15 (7)
Kinderszenen, Op. 15 (8)
Kinderszenen, Op. 15 (9)
Kinderszenen, Op. 15 (10)
Kinderszenen, Op. 15 (11)
Kinderszenen, Op. 15 (12)
Kinderszenen, Op. 15 (13)

Customer Reviews:

A historical legacy!.......2006-03-28

Despite I am not a Horowitz admirer, it 's worthy to underline and emphasize the colossal pianism and thunderous fingering around every one of its different performances.

The special distinction around this album is the fresh inspiration and notable musicality emanated in this Recital, that deserves to be catalogued as a cult recording among the impressive and even excellent live recordings in the Sixties.

A bravura performance and a genuine expression make of this album a very special recommendation.

Masterpieces played by the great Horowitz.......2004-12-12

This Carnegie Hall return recital is one of the greatest recordings by Horowitz. With a huge audience, Horowitz did not disappoint. He plays the Bach/Busoni as only he can play; it is eternally beautiful. Schumann has some mistakes, but those mistakes make the playing even more fascinating. The Scriabin is also excellent.

I am confident in saying that Horowitz's mazurka here is the best recording of op. 30 no. 4. Horowitz takes his time and does not rush the tempo, which is soooo easy to do with this piece. The etude is played awesomely, but the real treat is the Ballade no. 1. Horowitz played this piece all his life and played it very different many times, but this ballade is the best, most musical he ever played, mistakes and all.

The encores are also a treat, and the complete Kinderszenen bonus is another reason to buy this cd. The bonus dvd contains Liszt's Au Bord D'une Source, Chopin's Black key etude, and Moszkowski's etude in f major, op. 72, no.6.

This cd is my favorite, and I have a lot...

Insert Here Any Superlative You Can Think Of.......2004-06-10

For those of you who don't enjoy reading long drawn-out reviews: This is the best CD set I could possibly imagine buying before I bought it. After I bought it, I wept twice in the first listening of just the second disc. The Chopin recordings on this disc are simply legendary, definitive, and indescribably beautiful.

Horowitz out-did even himself at this concert. Sure, wow, wrong notes, even in the first couple measures. Who cares. You had better not. I noticed two exposed wrong notes in my first listen of this disc. It is by far the best CD set I own.

Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C Major: Sure, wrong note. Grand. I'm not too large a fan of this piece, but, regardless, if you like Bach, you like Horowitz for this recording.

Fantasy in C Major: True to its title, this performance was indeed fantastic. Horowitz is acclaimed most for his different tones on the piano. Let me tell you, that is for a reason.

Scriaban: I, personally, do not like Scriaban. An acquired taste. If you do like him, however, you will by all means enjoy these two recordings of the Black Mass Sonata and the Poeme in F-sharp Major.

The Chopin: The Mazurka is the greatest mazurka recording I have ever heard, period. The Etude is technically flawless and musically flawless. The Ballade. One of my favorite pieces of all time. This is my favorite recording, simply. It is quite, quite unbelievable. I wept. Every theme Chopin includes, Horowitz includes with care. This piece is one that takes a long long long time to figure out. Musically, it is one of the hardest. Horowitz seems to finally understand it after having played it for almost forty years undoubtedly. I have heard roughly 10 or 12 recordings of this piece, and Horowitz's trumps all.

The encores: Debussy, Scriaban, Moszkowski are all wonderful in their own right, but Traumerei is practically Horowitz's child. People in the audience were weeping when they heard this piece. I went in with the intention of not weeping, and failed miserably. It is the singly most beautiful performance I have ever heard.

Buy this set. You will absolutely not regret it.

WHAT IS GOING ON?.......2003-12-27

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE? WHY CANT YOU JUST LEAVE THE POOR MAN ALONE? I AM A PIANO STUDENT WHO JUST FINISHED A CONCERT SERIES OUTSIDE OF MY OWN COUNTRY AND I HAVE JUST READ SOME OF THE OTHER REIEWS ABOUT HOROWITZ HERE AND I AM FRANKLY DIGUSTED.
ARE WRONG NOTES ALL YOU PEOPLE LISTEN TO?
HOROWITZ WAS BRILLIANT, YES, BUT HE WAS ALSO HUMAN LIKE ALL OF US. I MAKE MY FAIR SHARE OF WRONG NOTES AND WOULD HATE TO THINK THAT THEY WOULD BE THE ONLY THING THAT AN AUDIENCE WOULD REMEMBER AFTER A CONCERT. WRONG NOTES ARE A PART OF LIFE AND SOMETIMES ITS MORE IMPORTANT TO TAKE RISKS, EVEN IF IT RESULTS IN FAILIURE. ITS WHAT BREATHES LIFE INTO A PERSONS PLAYING, KNOWING THAT ONE SPLIT NOTE OR TWO IS NOT THE END OF THE WORLD. GIVEN THE CHOICE BETWEEN BEING MORE MUSICAL OR MORE TECHNICAL, I WOULD RATHER BE A MUSICIAN AND NOT A ROBOT.
IN HOROWITZ'S PLAYING, THERE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THINGS TO LISTEN TO. SO NEXT TIME YOU SWITCH ON ONE OF HIS RECORDINGS, WHY NOT TRY TO FORGET EVERYTHING YOU HAVE HAD BRAINWASHED INTO YOU ABOUT PERFECTION AND JUST LISTEN WITH YOUR HEART INSTEAD OF YOUR HEAD.

HOROWITZ WOULD HAVE BEEN THE FIRST PERSON TO TELL YOU THAT A PERFECT TECHNIQUE IS A COMPLETE MYTH. EVERYONE MAKES MISTAKES, WE CANT BE PERFECT FOR YOU ALL THE TIME, SO JUST GIVE US A BREAK.

Just the Facts..........2003-11-29

This is not a review per se. My review is elsewhere on this page. But I wanted to follow-up and correct a few errors, which have been circulated in regard to this recording.

First, the corrections used on the original version of Horowitz at Carnegie Hall were not made at a "patch session at Carnegie a few days" after the concert. Columbia's engineers had already recorded Horowitz's rehearsals and used that material for the editing.

Second, the editing in the album was neither as extensive as some have suggested, nor as insignificant as the anonymous reviewer from Baltimore states.

Here is a (mostly) complete list of the patches on the original album, which have been removed from this new edition:

Bach-Busoni: Preludio: Measures 2-12 and parts of the coda (Horowitz, by the way, does not play the ossias at bars 8, 10, and 12); Intermezzo: Small patches at bars 7 and 11; Fugue: Several edits between bars 97 and 110, and again in the coda.

Schumann Fantasy: 1st Movement: patches at 7:32 and 10:21; 2nd Movement: small patches at 2:44 and 4:32, and a series of patches in the coda 6:58-7:39; 3rd Movement: No edits.

Scriabin: Sonata No 9: No Edits. Poem in F-sharp: Patch from 2:16-2:26

Chopin: Mazurka: Small edit at 2:02; Etude: Patched sections from 1:27-1:33 and 2:15-2:20; Ballade: Small edits at 2:04 and 4:52, at least four patches in the coda.

None of the encores were edited.

Tracks:

Toccata BWV 565: Toccata And Fugue In D Minor
Toccata De La Symphonie No. 5 In F Major, Op. 42
Toccata For Organ In G Major
Toccata For Organ In B Minor
Suite Gothique: I. Introduction - Choral
Suite Gothique: II. Menuet Gothique
Suite Gothique: III. Priere A Notre-Dame
Suite Gothique: IV. Toccata
Sonate No. 1 In D Minor, Op. 42: Final
Pieces De Fantaisie: Carillon De Westminster (3rd Suite Op. 54)
Pieces De Fantaisie: Toccata (2nd Suite Op. 53) In B Flat Minor
Toccata Sur L'Antienne: 'Cantemus Domino'
Litanies

Customer Reviews:

Also disappointed.......2007-06-18

Let me add my voice to those who are disappointed with the pieces. Ms. Alain is, as has been pointed out before, technically brilliant, but the feeling I got was "let's get this over with", not "I can't wait to play this!". There are a couple of what I call "mad scientist" pieces that are good introductions to those new to organ music, and this CD is great for that purpose. But the Bach and the Widor are way too rushed; these fantastic pieces are much to...well...fantastic, to be rushed. Every hemisemidemiquaver, every pedal tone, every flourish needs to be played, with the reverence that you give music of this stature. Here, while Ms. Alain obviously knows the music, she doesn't convince that she loves it. Three stars is sufficient, sadly...

too fast.......2006-07-01

I bought this CD for the Widor and Bach. Both are played too fast. In each case, either the artist was trying to finish as quickly as possible or the technician accelerated the recording to get another peice included. In either case, there was no music, only speed. I was very dissapointed, because those are truely outstanding pieces when played at a reasonable pace. I am still looking for an excellent recording of the Widor piece.

On the fence.......2005-09-06

I received this disc from a French visitor and have listened to it several times. I still have the uncomfortable feeling that Ms. Alain is playing these pieces for the umpteenth time, and while they are technically brilliant, they seem a bit soul-less to me. I have an old vinyl recording by E. Power Biggs (who seems to have been at the opposite end of the spectrum from the Romantic school of organ music), and those recordings of French organ music, many of which are on the CD in question, had real feeling behind them. Still, there is no denying the power of this music.

Magisterial.......2003-03-02

To properly appreciate this record one should (of course) hear it live, preferably in a church with excellent acoustics. It must be admitted, though, that this CD is the next best thing.
The depth and sonority of sound is difficult to match and it goes without saying that the artistry in both interpretation and handling the sheer difficulty of the pieces is unmatched.

The Romantic Era organ was the Golden Age for keyboard music - whether organ or piano. Yes, Bach will always be first in the pantheon of Pipe Gods (I count his Prelude in B Minor as the first Romantic Organ work). But the evolution of the physical instrument brought forth somthing new -the French organ with all the magnificent sonorities. With composers writing for that instrument, organ music reached an apotheosis before being dragged down by various "modern" works that must be explained to listeners in case they thought the sounds from the stage were noise or a malfunctioning keyboard.

This is a great CD that all lovers of organ music should own. The Toccatas heard here are some of the best and one is constantly aware of the great men who wrote them.

Masterful performance of great works.......2000-07-25

Alain performs some of the best toccatas written for organ in her typical, near-perfect style. This CD is far better in musical and recording quality than comparable compilations of popular organ music. You will also enjoy her CD, "Les Bis Pour Orgue" or "Organ Encores".

Average customer rating:

Bliss
Giovanni Gabrieli: Music For San Rocco
Gabrieli, the original surround sound performer
This is how you perform the music of Gabrieli!
Uneven in effect but tremendous performances noentheless

Giovanni Gabrieli: Music For San Rocco

Manufacturer: Archiv Produktion
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Toccatas | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Magnificats | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Motets | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
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A Venetian Coronation 1595
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Gabrieli · Monteverdi · Vivaldi - Venetian Church Music / Taverner Consort, Choir & Players · Andrew Parrott
Gabrieli in San Marco
The Antiphonal Music of Gabrieli

ASIN: B0000057FO
Release Date: 1996-11-19

Tracks:

Music For San Rocco: Toccata a 4
Music For San Rocco: In ecclesiis a 14
Music For San Rocco: Sonata No. 19 a 15
Music For San Rocco: Suscipe, clementissime Deus a 12
Music For San Rocco: Canzona No. 14 a 10
Music For San Rocco: Buccinate In neomenia tuba a 19
Music For San Rocco: Intonazione del nono tono
Music For San Rocco: Domine Dues meus a 6
Music For San Rocco: Audi, dulcis amica mea
Music For San Rocco: Sonata No. 21 con tre violini
Music For San Rocco: Ardens est cor meum
Music For San Rocco: Timor et tremor a 6
Music For San Rocco: Intonazione duodecimo tono
Music For San Rocco: Jubilate Deo a 10
Music For San Rocco: Sonata No. 18 a 14
Music For San Rocco: Misericordia tua, Domine a 12
Music For San Rocco: Sonata No. 20 a 22
Music For San Rocco: Magnificat a 33

Amazon.com essential recording

The polychoral and antiphonal works of Giovanni Gabrieli sound best performed in the acoustics for which they were conceived, such as the Scuola Grande di San Rocco in Venice, where this splendid collection was recorded. Whether in extroverted pieces like the Sonatas 18 and 20, or the introspective and harmonically rich Domine, Deus meus, the sounds that resonate between the notes are crucial to this composer's expression. Time and again one's ears perk up at Gabrieli's genius for blending the most unlikely sonorities imaginable, such as six low voices and six sackbuts (early relatives of the trombone) in the extraordinary Suscipe clementissime. Although Gabrieli may have been the first "spatial" composer, or perhaps the first sound designer, he never indulges in fanciful effects for their own sake. The sonics manage to convey the music's spatial requirements without sacrificing clarity. --Jed Distler

Customer Reviews:

Bliss.......2006-10-23

This CDs sound quality is superb and highlights the antiphonal quality of the works.

This CD displays the range of Gabrieli, who is, in my opinion, one of the most underrated composers. There are pieces for every mood. From the triumphal "Jubilate Deo," to the dynamic "Magnificat," this collection does not disappoint. My favorite track has to be "Suscipe, Clementissime Deus." It starts off as very prayerful, introspective and pleading and blossoms into an outpouring of fervor toward the end when the singers exclaim, "Tu solus sanctus, tu solus Dominus, to solus altissimus, Jesu Christe."

Giovanni Gabrieli: Music For San Rocco.......2005-08-02

I am huge fan of music from this time period and I have listened to countless composers that are able to create and compose stupendous and astounding music. Gabrieli is one those geniuses. Music for San Rocco is a splendid piece and I agree with Thomas Coryat whom wrote an amazing review at the time of when the piece was performed. Being a deeply devout Lutheran I love the lyrics and I love the message of the San Rocco celebrations. Listening to it reminds one of being in Sunday mass and I love this since Sunday is my favorite day of the week. The book-let is well done with a short piece that scans the history of this splendid work and has the lyrics in several languages. I am huge fan of renaisance art and the cover art is absolutely gorgeous. I can not say enough good things or give it enough accolades. This is simply put it sublime.

Gabrieli, the original surround sound performer.......2005-07-04

Being only marginally acquainted with the music of Gabrieli and his period, I have little to add to comments already made. I must confess that two discs worth of 16th century liturgical music runs a little long for me. I'll focus instead on the sound of the SACD version.

This was one of my first SACD purchases, and I chose it because I knew that Gabrieli wrote for multiple choirs situated in different sections of the church, and figured that, if the engineers did their jobs right, this could be a stunning demonstration disc.

It is.

Gabrieli's music is a natural of mutichannel reproduction. In Timothy Roberts' opening organ toccata, the sense of space in this recording is uncanny. "In ecclesiis" envelops the listener with front and back chorus and soloists whose voices soar with a fullness that we can usually only experience in a real basilica. The only thing missing is the upper reverberation that you get in a real church. If your rear speakers are elevated like mine are (I had to work within the limitations of my room--doors and such!), you may get some of that sense.

If you are at all interested in the music of Gabrieli, this is the recording to get. If you are set up for multichannel sound with an SACD player, be sure to get it in that format. To hear it with the separation and sonic detail of San Rocco, brings this very old music alive. The music was reportedly composed for the larger Saint Mark's Cathedral, but for recording purposes San Rocco was deemed preferable. The church itself is a beautiful instrument and is hard to capture faithfully in just two channels.

This is how you perform the music of Gabrieli!.......2003-11-05

There is little I can add to what the other reviewers have said about this tremendous recording. The performances are very good, the tempi are well chosen and the instruments are the rights ones.

There are many excellent contributions from individuals - Robin Blaze is positively heroic in Buccinate in neomenia tuba. The three violins in Sonata XXI con tre violini play this music with great sensuality. The cornettists are all first rate and so are the sackbut players.

It all sounds very good and the music is wonderful.

Let's just hope that the video of this recording is issued on DVD soon! (Let DGG know you wan them to do this!)

Uneven in effect but tremendous performances noentheless.......2003-01-23

In contrast with the previous reviewer, I find this group to be at their absolute best when presenting a reconstructed service. When a selection of "pure music" such as this CD is presented, I find myself getting bored with the evenness of sound.

The acoustic of the Scuola di San Rocco is much drier than that of a church - wooden flooring and all - and I find that the very large scale pieces (such as the closing Magnificat) lose much of their magnificence performed in this acoustic. I don't mean to say that it is not magnificent, only that it could be so much more so. The smaller, chamber-style pieces on the other hand sound superb here.

Tracks:

Toccata, Adagio And Fugue In C Major, BWV 564: I. Preludio, quasi improvvisando. Tempo moderato
Toccata, Adagio And Fugue In C Major, BWV 564: II. Intermezzo. Adagio
Toccata, Adagio And Fugue In C Major, BWV 564: III. Fuga. Moderamente sherzando, un poco umoristico
Fantasie In C Major, Op.17: I. Durchaus phantastisch und ....
Fantasie In C Major, Op.17: II. Mag. Durchaus energisch
Fantasie In C Major, Op.17: III Langsam getragen. Durchweg leise zu halten
Piano Sonata No. 9, Op. 68 'Black Mass': Moderato quasi andante - Molto meno vivo - A llegro - Piu vivo - Allegro...
Poeme In F Sharp Major, Op. 32 No. 1: Andante cantibile

Tracks:

Mazurka In C Sharp Minor, Op. 30. No. 4: Allegretto
Etude In F major, Op. 10 No. 8: Allegro
Ballade No. 1 In G Minor, Op. 23: Largo - Moderato - Menno mosso - Presto con fuoco
Serenade For The Doll: Andante
Etude In C Sharp Minor, Op. 2 No. 1: Andante
Etude In A Flat Major, Op. 72 No. 11: Presto e con leggierezza
Traumerei
Sonata No. 11 In A Major, K. 331: I. Tema. Andante grazioso e variazioni
Sonata No. 11 In A Major, K. 331: II. Menuetto - Trio
Sonata No. 11 In A Major, K. 331: III. (Rondo) alla Turca. Allegretto
Polonaise - Fantaisie In A Flat Major, Op. 61: Allegro maestoso

Tracks:

Mazurka In B minor, Op. 33 No. 4: Mesto
Nocturne In E Minor, Op. 72 No. 1: Andante
Sonata No. 10, Op. 70: Moderato - Allegro - Puissant, radieux - Allegro - Piu vivo - Presto - Moderato
Sonata In F Major, Hob. XVI : 23: I. Allegro
Sonata In F Major, Hob. XVI : 23: II. Adagio
Sonata In F Major, Hob. XVI : 23: III. Finale
Blumenstuck In D Flat Major, Op. 19: Leise bewegt
L'ISLE JOYEUSE: Quasi una cadenza - Tempo. Modere et tres souple
Vallee d'Obermann: Lento assai - Piu lento - Un poco piu di moto ma sempre lento - Presto - Lento

Amazon.com essential recording

Sony's series documenting Horowitz's mature career offers many indispensable items, including "live" (with studio touchups) recordings of his mid-1960s return to the concert stage after a prolonged hiatus. The Bach-Busoni is a dazzling opener, followed by a titanic Schumann Fantasy in C amply illustrating Horowitz's total identification with the composer. The performance abounds with tightly controlled nervous energy, precise articulation, and gorgeously shaded timbres. A crisp Haydn Sonata, a marvelously shaded Scriabin, a poetic Schumann Traumerei, and more are all indispensable. Not to be missed: the pregnant pauses and crackling tension of the Chopin G-minor Ballade. --Dan Davis

Customer Reviews:

How Live is Live?.......2003-11-29

This is not a review per se. My review is posted under the "Live and Unedited" version of the 1965 concert. But I wanted to correct a few errors which have been circulated in regard to this recording.

First, the corrections used on the original version of "Horowitz at Carnegie Hall" were not made at a "patch session at Carnegie a few days" after the concert. Columbia's engineers had already recorded Horowitz's rehearsals and used that material for the editing.

Second, the editing in the album was neither as extensive as some have suggested, nor as insignificant as others state.

Here is a (mostly) complete list of the patches on the original album, which have been removed from "Live and Unedited":

Schumann Fantasy: 1st Movement: patches at 7:32 and 10:21; 2nd Movement: small patches at 2:44 and 4:32, and a series of patches in the coda 6:58-7:39; 3rd Movement: No edits.

Scriabin: Sonata No 9: No Edits. Poem in F-sharp: Patch from 2:16-2:26

Chopin: Mazurka: Small edit at 2:02; Etude: Patched sections from 1:27-1:33 and 2:15-2:20; Ballade: Small edits at 2:04 and 4:52, at least four patches in the coda.

None of the encores were edited.

It should be pointed out that the editing of supposedly "live" recordings is more commonplace than the recording industry will admit. Although not generally aknowledged, Arthur Rubinstein's 1961 Carnegie Hall Highlights album was patched, and most live recordings today are actually compilations from several performances.

Whether you choose this patched version, or "Live and Unedited" the 1965 return concert contains some stunning piano playing. Can anyone imagine the pressure Horowitz was under on that day? To prove you have not just retained your original greatness, but have deepened and become even greater cannot have been easy. The new, unedited version of the concert is not a revelation, but serves as a reminder of Horowitz's all too human frailty.

A gigantic recording.......2001-02-21

There's an interesting debate going on in the reviews below about Horowitz's technical and musical ability in general. Do yourself a favor and read through these reviews. It'll show you that Horowitz's ability to engender strong positions and fairly heated exchanges continues undiminished, more than eleven years after his death. What this proves, of course, is his uniquely important position in 20th century piano playing. No other classical pianist was as influential, no one's style was copied as much, no one was as frequently and thoroughly misunderstood (mere technician, mere dazzler, mere showman). What you have to understand in listening to these recordings is that he was a complete professional, totally devoted to his craft to the exclusion of just about any other interests in his life - a tremendously one-sided person. But within the art of piano playing he reigned supreme. His oddly introverted, unmoveable, purely efficiency-oriented appearance during performance (he never moved anythying but his hands - no facial contortions, no head shakes, no swaying body, and even his hands were super-efficient) contrasted oddly with the extreme extrovertedness of his playing. He knew so much more about the sound possibilities of the instrument than anyone else that listening to him was downright frightening for other pianists. I remember a well-known pianist during intermission at a Horowitz recital in Hamburg in 1986 laughing and crying at the same time, shaking his head and saying over and over again, "it's impossible. That was impossible. That can't be done" (he was talking about Horowitz's rendition of a Schubert-Liszt transacription).

Anyway, his mastery of the instrument far beyond all other humans' capacity has persistently clouded people's perception of Horowitz and made an assessment of his artistic merits much more difficult. Undoubtedly he had clear limitations as an artist (Beethoven, for example, was just not part of his artistc world). But we have to keep in mind that, unlike practically all classical musicians today, who are trained to be universalists and to assemble a vast variety of styles, Horowitz came out of a strong and idiosyncratic musical tradition - that of Scriabin and Rachmaninov. That tradition was his world, his artistic home, and he always explored other musical traditions from the vantage point of his particular musical identity. In all of this he proved extremely flexible (playing, for example, Scarlatti, Clementi and Czerny to great critical acclaim), but since he never aspired to neutrality and objectivity (like, for example, Pollini or Arrau), it always was obvious when he played music that didn't fit with who he was.

So the debate about Horowitz's musical merits that goes on in the reviews below is as old as his career. What's curious, though, is that a couple of reviewers believe to have found TECHNICAL shortcomings in his playing. That is new in Horowitz criticism. All his career he reigned as the supreme master of piano technique, acknowledged as such first and foremost by most famous pianists (Rubinstein, Argerich, Pollini, Perahia, and many others have rhapsodized - or expressed their jealousy - about Horowitz's technique publicly and at length). When speed and power decreased due to old age, he transferred his technical accomplishments to polyphony, to shadings, colors, multi-layered pianissimi unimagined before or after. In the present recordings from the mid-60s, there was no noticeable decrease in speed and power yet, but his development toward more sophisticated sound effects was well underway. In other words, the questioning of Horowitz's technical abilities in some of the reviews below is utter and complete nonsense. I can only surmise that the authors of these reviews are people raised on the bland, impersonal mechanical functioning displayed by so many contemporary pianists that Horowitz's edginess, his constantly going to extremes (of speed, of clarity, of softness, of bel canto, etc.) irritates them somehow. One thing Horowitz was never after was a polished surface. If you want pleasant, comforting stuff that you can play happily in the background while doing the dishes, Horowitz is not the artist for you. He demands total concentration. But he'll reward that concentration tenfold. Even if you don't agree or don't like what he does in a particular piece, you'll learn a ton about music listening to him. He's a very musically opinionated guy, and some of his work may irritate you a great deal, but he will never, ever bore you.

Beautiful piano playing.......2000-11-17

I am writing in to disagree a bit with the previous reviewer who dismissed this recording and Horowitz's playing in general. I would agree that this is not Horowitz's greatest recital. It may be better remembered for its historical significance than as a representative sampling of Horowitz's art. For me, much of the repertoire in this recital could be called "ill-chosen." The pieces such as the Schumann Fantasie, the opening Bach piece, and Chopin's g minor Ballade do not really show Horowitz at his best -- and not just because they're "big" pieces that "require interpretation." Aside from the Chopin Ballade, these are not pieces that one would typically hear at a Horowitz recital, and I do wish that he had not insisted on repeatedly performing and recording the g minor Ballade. I agree that his bombastic, episodic approach never worked with that piece. I tend to favor the pieces on this album that were recorded in the 1966 recitals, including the Chopin Polonaise-Fantasie dismissed by the previous reviewer. Yes, the ending is too bombastic, but there is so much beautiful, gorgeous piano playing in this performance. The way Horowitz could layer the sound and produce such a beautiful, expressive, vocal melodic line can perhaps be fully appreciated only by real connoisseurs of piano playing. Horowitz was not just a pianist for the "masses." He was also a pianist for connoisseurs.

Is it possible to acknowledge the shortcomings in Horowitz's technique and interpretive ability pointed out by the previous reviewer and to still be a great fan and admirer of his playing? Yes, it is. I know that many listeners who hear the shortcomings in Horowitz's playing feel that Horowitz's admirers must lack discrimination, and I think that in some cases this is true. In fact, I sometimes think that critical reaction to Horowitz can be roughly divided into three categories:

The first category would be for unconditional admirers of Horowitz who feel that he could do no wrong. I would say that this represents the least perceptive evaluation of Horowitz's playing.

The second category would be for people who are aware of the shortcomings in Horowitz's technique and musicality and who feel justified in dismissing Horowitz because of these shortcomings. I think that this view represents a somewhat more perceptive evaluation of Horowitz, and I think that the previoius reviewer would fall into this category.

The third category would be for people who are aware of the shortcomings in Horowitz's technique and musicality and who still feel that he was one of the greatest pianists in history. In my opinion, this is the most perceptive evaluation of Horowitz's playing.

I, too have listened to all of Horowitz's recordings, and have come to a different conclusion about his playing than the previous reviewer. For me, this recording is certainly worth having, mostly for the 1966 recordings.

A MONUMENT.......2000-05-19

One of the best recordings to discover the Horowitz legend. As far as technique is concerned, the Carnegie Hall performances don't reflect all the artist's talents, but Horowitz's magic sonority and the unique atmosphere make it exceptional. My favourite pieces: Bach-Busoni's intermezzo and Chopin's G major ballade.

One of the great piano recordings of all time.......1999-12-09

In May 1965, Vladimir Horowitz, the greatest pianist of all time, ended a 13-year retirement and returned to Carnegie Hall. The audience contained many of the world's most famous musicians, and playing up to its frenzied expectations seemed impossible. Horowitz begins, tense to the breaking point. For a few seconds, his hands are out of control, and he hits more wrong notes than right ones. Then things settle a bit, and he starts to translate his tension into pure musical energy. In that first piece, the Bach-Busoni, Horowitz seems almost superhuman with his orchestral sound, his sharp rhythm, his alternatingly hard-edged attack and meltingly lyrical lines, his supreme intelligence. It must have been immensely frustrating for the pianists in the audience to be so rudely confronted with such hopeless pianistic superiority. The Bach is followed by a highly idiosyncratic Schumann Fantasy, where Horowitz shows a grasp of the work's structure and an analytic penetration of Schumann's neo-Bachian polyphony undreamt of by any interpreter before or after. The recital continues with musical and pianistic jaw-droppers. I single out the Chopin and Moszkovski Etudes, where the audience's incredulity at Horowitz's feats dissolves in laughter at the end of the pieces, the tenderness and intimacy of Debussy's Serenade for a Doll, and the truly moving Schumann Traeumerei. The remainder of this CD collection contains 1966 live recordings, many of which are as fascinating as the '65 concert. Particularly noteworthy are the Haydn Sonata for its dry wit, Chopin's Polonaise-Fantasie for the almost infinite range of expressions and emotions Horowitz creates, and Liszt's Vallee D'Obermann, which inspires Horowitz to the most atmospheric, most evocative music-making I have ever heard on a recording. In sum, if I knew I would lose my hearing in a few hours, I would spend them listening to these recordings.

Average customer rating:

Toccatas 2 - 70th Anniversary Edition
Glenn Gould , and Bach
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Classical Music | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music
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Toccatas 1 - 70th Anniversary Edition
Partitas 4 5 & 6 - 70th Anniversary Edition
English Suites 1 2 & 3 - 70th Anniversary Edition
Partitas 1 2 & 3 - 70th Anniversary Edition
English Suites 4 5 & 6 - 70th Anniversary Edition

ASIN: B00006FIA4
Release Date: 2002-09-03

Average customer rating:

Quirky as usual, but (at moments) transcendent
So where are the three and two part inventions?
When does 2+0=3? Answer below.
He waited too long
Early Bach, great Gould

Bach: 7 Toccatas BWV 910-916

Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Toccatas | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Classical Music | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music

Classical Instrumental Music | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Partitas 4 5 & 6 - 70th Anniversary Edition
Partitas 1 2 & 3 - 70th Anniversary Edition
The Glenn Gould Edition - Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I
Bach: English Suites, BWV 806-811
Glenn Gould Edition - Bach: French Suites, Overture

ASIN: B0000028NM
Release Date: 1994-04-19

Tracks:

Toccata In D Major, BWV 912
Toccata In F-Sharp Minor, BWV 910
Toccata In D Minor, BWV 913

Tracks:

Toccata In C Minor, BWV 911
Toccata In G Minor, BWV 915
Toccata In G Major, BWV 916
Toccata In E Minor, BWV 9147

Amazon.com

These pieces are all early works--the first evidence of Bach's great mastery as a composer for the keyboard. A toccata comes from the Italian (and French, and Spanish) verb meaning "to touch" or "to play an instrument." It's a type of written down improvisation, in which the player "tries out" his instrument with passages requiring great speed, extremes of dynamic both loud and soft, and finally a sustained chunk of music in several parts, generally a fugue. As Gould is the greatest (and most eccentric) Bach pianist in history, his performances are powerfully persuasive. Most importantly, they have a freely improvisational quality which makes the music sound fresh and always surprising. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews:

Quirky as usual, but (at moments) transcendent.......2006-09-09

Gould probably had his personal list of Bach pieces he didn't particularly care for (that is, as much as the GV or the Art of the Fugue) - Chromatic Fantasy, Italian Concerto, the keyboard concertos, and these toccatas. Yet, his recordings of these "disdained" pieces are often very interesting.

These toccatas are somewhat uneven - you don't know what surprises Gould's going to pull out of his oversized coat after the next fermata. In general, the fugal passages are brilliant, stunning, revelatory, and carry an almost religious sort of clarity. But the improvisational passages sound forced, pedantic, and over-analyzed.

One reviewer professes that he found the D minor toccata "boring." I disagree. I thought it was the highlight of the set. I don't like hyperbolizing, but the final allegro section of the D minor is probably my favorite 4-minute passage of Bach. Glenn Gould + Profuse Contrapuntalism = Life is Good.

Some of the other pieces are more problematic. The D major Vivace is put through the usual introspective analysis that leaves it dried and charred, sounding more like a dry dissertation than the Happy Music it's supposed to be. Reminds me of Gould's quite unlistenable late Beethoven sonatas. As an (inferior) pianist I also "disagree" with most of his extreme tempi and dynamics. I believe dynamical extremes (like the ppp-f contrasts that occur throughout) aren't appropriate for Bach. Nonetheless, I accept that as Gould's style. I'll take his boldness and provocation over textbook-correctness any day.

So where are the three and two part inventions?.......2001-10-19

Before the Glenn Gould Edition was created, most of the Glenn Gould discography was availible on CBS recordings. The toccatas and the two and three part inventions were coupled together on two CD's, but apparently Sony Classical thought it would be better to take away the two and three part inventions from the set and sell it separately. This is the same company that turned the talentless Charlotte Church into a star and didn't allow Philips Classics to allow the best works of Glenn Gould in their "Great Pianists of the 20th century" series.

ANyhow, the toccatas are a particular favorite of mine. These are relatively early keyboard works of Bach, yet they somehow are one of his most dramatic outputs. Glenn Gould certainly brings these works to light.

I would like to bring attention to three stunning toccatas in particular the c-minor, e-minor, and d-minor.

The c-minor is a stunning display of counterpoint at the highest speed possible. My goodness, the final two sections of this toccata just has to be heard. The last section in particular has two subjects that are completely different, yet Gould manages to play it with an incredible discipline and control.

The e-minor is a joy to listen to and the last section of it is outstanding. The d-minor is a complete tour de force. It is a powerful work and it certainly allows Gould to take his time and essentially build up the tension until the final section where his counterpuntal mastery takes over to a sheer outburst of passion.

When does 2+0=3? Answer below........2001-03-11

Sony Classical bought CBS Records a number of years ago, and they have wasted no time in repackaging Glenn Gould's recordings to effectively raise the cost to the consumer. These CDs illustrate the point. Before Sony entered the picture, CBS offered the complete Bach Toccatas, complete Two-Part Inventions, and complete Three-Part Inventions on 2 CDs. Sony removed the Inventions from the set, leaving you with the Toccatas alone at the same price! The Inventions are still available from Sony, but now on a separate CD. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that two CBS CDs (plus nothing more) = three Sony CDs, in effect a 50% price hike. Which is music to Sony's ears, no doubt.

Five stars for Glenn Gould, no stars for Sony.

He waited too long.......2001-02-15

I've been a committed Glenn Gould fan for more than 20 years, listening to almost everything he ever recorded and reading deeply into the Gould literature. Generally I find his performances engrossing and stimulating. And I like these pieces: I play them myself on harpsichord and organ. They're not Bach's best work, but they're still effective if played with dramatic flair, like the music of Bohm and Buxtehude.

Within that context, I think Gould's set of the Bach Toccatas is far below his own phenomenal standards. Some of his recordings really deserve five stars, such as his WTC or his 1955 Goldbergs or his Brahms intermezzi or his Schoenberg. But this set is far from those. Dramatic and improvisatory pieces such as these just weren't Gould's cup of tea (or bottle of Poland water). He didn't like them, and he tried to make them into something they're not.

Gould's way with the e minor is the best of the set. He did this one in 1963 when he was still playing Bach more naturally than cerebrally (or deconstructively, or whatever). He uses subtle rubato, natural dynamic gradation, and conveys easy musicality. There is no especially odd ornamentation or affected arpeggiation. The performance flows well. The sound is dimmer than in the other toccatas, but the playing is so much more alive. This terrific performance shows that Gould *was* aware of the drama in the toccatas...he just chose to stop playing them that way later.

I can pretty well tolerate his performances of the G major, g minor, and c minor, all from 1979, though I'm not particularly excited about them either. His clarity and momentum go a long way toward projecting these pieces (it's one way to play them...). The performances are one-dimensional overall: rhythmically stiff and hard-driven. Yes, even the slow sections are stiff, and the c minor's second section is unbelievably slow. On the surface, the fast parts sound lively with Gould's aggressive articulation, but there are some long stretches of unvaried touch that get monotonous.

Now, the bad news: the rest of them, from 1976. The d minor is a boring performance (by Gould standards). I have listened to it repeatedly and still keep wandering away every time. Somehow it seems like a "contractual obligation" performance, like some of his Mozart. Gould doesn't sound particularly involved with or committed to the music, but merely gets all the notes with little inflection or direction. So what?

His performance of the D major is frustratingly anti-physical, and this is Bach's most obviously exuberant toccata! It needs the flash, the flourish, the panache. This is the Gould of the experimental Beethoven "Appassionata" of ten years earlier: he slows it way down, dissects it motivically, drains the lifeblood out of it. The result is interesting, but it's not Bach. And as with the "Appassionata," Gould spends the last few minutes halfway redeeming himself by playing cleanly and normally. If he was going to deconstruct the piece anyway, why not finish the job?

The f# minor is a willful mess. Gould pulls out his eccentric tricks that also plague the English Suites 3-6 and the violin sonatas (all his Bach from 1974-6!): artificial staccatos, extreme tempos, arbitrarily mannered arpeggiations, very measured trills. It's a display of excessive control and clever idiosyncracy rather than going with the flow and bigger gestures of the music. Even his rubato is stiff: he places every note, rather than letting them happen in natural groupings. And he omits 14 bars, presumably in an attempt to improve the composition! Technically, some of the splice points in fast sections are too obvious and distracting. Yes, the performance holds the attention, but there's just too much that's weird about it to convince me. (His recording with Leonard Rose of the viola da gamba sonatas is even weirder, but redeemed by being more playful.) The tricks were plentiful in the D major, too, but that one was already lost with his anti-dramatic approach. What was he thinking?

If I sound rough on Gould in my disenchantment with these performances, at least it's consistent: I think all his solo Bach recorded before 1970 is marvelous, but then it dropped off quickly after that. His style went around the bend there in the 1970's. It changed from "Bach's music as played by Glenn Gould" to "Glenn Gould's didactic ideas about Bach." It seemed that he stopped trusting Bach's ability to make points on his own. He started coloring the music with heavy fluorescent markers rather than simply playing it. Cerebral dissection replaced straightforward joy and physical expression. Naturally dynamic phrasing and articulation went out the window. Artifice replaced art.

Recorded over a span of 16 years, this set of the Toccatas is a microcosm of those changes in Gould's approach to Bach. He sounds like four different people here: one with a naturally musical style and a sense of fun playing Bach, but the other three too concerned with being Glenn Gould.

To sum up, I wish Gould had gone ahead with all seven of the toccatas in the mid-1960's when he recorded the e minor. This set could have been great, but it's just too uneven and bizarre to earn more than two stars.

Early Bach, great Gould.......2001-01-17

Even while the keyboard Toccatas may not show Bach at his very best, some of them, e-minor + c-minor, certainly deserve the title masterwork. Gould may have uttered disdain about these works, but what he said, and what he really felt about some works may not always correspond. A study of the available Gould biographies will show that he kept on uttering his disgust for Bach's Chromatic Fantasy, but that he practiced it almost daily for a prolonged period of time. The performances here span some time in Gould's career: the e-minor is from the1960s, the rest is from 1979-80. The works don't get short-changed. As if to proof his statement that Bach was able to write ultra-passionate music from the very start of his career, some of the slow movements are played much slower (sometimes twice as slow) as usual. Bear in mind, no tempo-indications survive! While they certainly do not represent Bach's finest examples, Bach's Toccata Fugues are certainly among his most virtuosic. They allow Gould to show all the virtues of his unmatched counterpoint playing and to show that his fingers, in despite of his suffering from gout in the later years, were still able to outdo efforts by the likes of Argerich and Horowitz. A must, especially for those that consider the older Bach

Average customer rating:

Excellent playing
It's Glenn Gould, but

Toccatas 1 - 70th Anniversary Edition
Glenn Gould , and Bach
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

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Similar Items:

Toccatas 2 - 70th Anniversary Edition
Partitas 1 2 & 3 - 70th Anniversary Edition
English Suites 1 2 & 3 - 70th Anniversary Edition
Partitas 4 5 & 6 - 70th Anniversary Edition
Art of the Fugue - 70th Anniversary Edition

ASIN: B00006FIA6
Release Date: 2002-09-03

Customer Reviews:

Excellent playing.......2007-05-21

In response to the last reviewer's concerns about the piano's sound in this recording, the dry, sharp sound has always been Gould's intention--it's as present in all of his recordings as is his singing. "An x-ray of the music," was how he put it, and in order to achieve that trademark clarity, Gould miced his piano very closely, hence the lack of the usual "resonance and depth" we're used to from many other piano recordings. In my opinion, closely miced Bach is the best way to record it, since a great level of transparency is achieved--ideal for appreciating the music's tonic progressions and letting each note be heard. In many ways Gould was achieving a more harpsichord-like sound (remember the harpsipiano?) with his recording techniques. All in all, this recording, along with Vol. 2, presents Gould in his consistant excellence. Can't tell at all that he didn't care much for the Toccatas!

It's Glenn Gould, but.......2004-10-16

Pro: Glenn Gould

Con: Humming and strange piano color

I bought this recording because of Glenn Gould. I fully anticipated this CD is from old recording, yet, I can't help to notice the color of the piano does not sound like a grand. It lacks the resonance, and the depth.

I also noticed humming along the music. I understand that maybe the humming helps the performer focus on the piece. However, I find it fairly annoying.

Music Review:

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