To compile a complete edition of JS Bach’s music to mark the 333rd anniversary of his birth seems at once both a whimsical and a monumental undertaking. Why the 333rd anniversary? Leaving aside the contested subject of numerical underpinning in Bach’s work (with the number three representing the Trinity), it would seem it merely presented a fortuitous, playful opportunity to reveal both a wealth of serious modern research and to curate some of the best recordings ever made to further enhance our appreciation of one of western art’s most profound creators.
And, yes, the 333rd anniversary fell last year, but to fully appreciate the depth and quality of Bach 333 (Deutsche Grammophon/Decca) and its 222 CDs, 50-plus performers and ensembles, 280 hours of music and three hardback books takes months of careful listening and reading, so perhaps we can be forgiven our tardy recognition of this magnificent achievement.
Conductor John Eliot Gardiner describes the project as a “Bachian banquet”. He’s right, but it’s a banquet served in easily digestible courses, starting with the sacred cantatas carefully subdivided into delicious portions, each with its own explanatory booklet and introduced on DVD. Gardiner’s supreme recordings with his Monteverdi Choir lie alongside those by today’s other leading interpreters, including Masaaki Suzuki and his Bach Collegium Japan, Paul McCreesh and the Gabrieli Consort and Ton Koopman and his Amsterdam Baroque.
And there are fascinating insights into Bach’s other sacred works, offering the opportunity to compare, say, Karl Richter’s stately approach to the St Matthew Passion with Gardiner’s and McCreesh’s sprightly, historically informed performances, Lars Ulrik Mortensen’s interpretation of the Mass in B minor with Frans Brüggen’s, or even Gardiner’s 1724 St John Passion with Suzuki’s 1749 version.
The instrumental music sections are so lavishly peopled with the world’s greatest soloists and ensembles, it’s hard to know where to begin, but highlights include the Goldberg Variations from both pianist András Schiff and harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani, the complete Cello Suites played so magisterially by Pierre Fournier, Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin from Giuliano Carmignola (one of a set of new recordings for this edition), the Brandenburg Concertos from both Reinhard Goebel and Musica Antiqua Köln and Trevor Pinnock and the English Concert, and Murray Perahia’s exquisite set of French Suites.
Piled on top of all this are recordings that set Bach in his own musical context, and Bach reimagined, extending into jazz and contemporary music. Such riches. But the crowning glory is the accompanying scholarly literature, which includes a revised BWV catalogue, essays on Bach’s life and times, and a wonderfully readable complete guide to the music heard on each of the 222 CDs by our colleague Nicholas Kenyon. If you think the £399 price tag is steep, remember that this is listening and learning that will last a lifetime.
