Johann Sebastian Bach, Die Kunst Der Fuge, Academy of St. Martin-In-The-Fields, conducted by Neville Marriner (Philips 6747 172, 1975)
This record really kindled my love of Bach and inspired me to study music history. I remember the night my dad brought it home after work in 1975 and then the experience of listening to it for the first time. (You can read the whole story here.) My father was not a…
Johann Sebastian Bach, The Last Keyboard Works; Charles Rosen, Piano (Odyssey 32 36 0020, 1969)
A three-record boxed set is a time commitment, so I don’t often listen to this collection of Charles Rosen’s late Bach. That’s too bad, since there is a lot to recommend it, in fact, this record is a favourite of mine – something that I remember every time I listen to…
Johann Sebastian Bach, the Goldberg Variations (Deutsche Grammophon 4864556, 2023); Víkingur Ólafsson
I grew up with Glenn Gould’s Goldberg Variations. My father had his 1956 debut recording on Columbia Masterworks (ML 5060) that established the then-24-year-old pianist as a virtuoso of note, and he had it on our Sony Music System all the time. (Gould had recorded a…
Johann Sebastian Bach, The Well Tempered Clavier Book I (Columbia Masterworks D3L 333, 1965) and The Well Tempered Clavier Book 2 (Columbia Masterworks D3M 31525, 1972); Glenn Gould
I’m Canadian, and of a certain vintage, so Glenn Gould is kind of synonymous with Johann Sebastian Bach in my mind. This is what I grew up with, and it is how I expect Bach to sound on the piano. Make no mistake, I love so many other performances just as well –…
Tomaso Albinoni, Six Concertos Pour Hautbois (Erato, EFM 18024, 1975) – Pierre Pierlot, Oboe, I Solisti Veneti conducted by Claudio Scimone
This was one of my father’s favourite records. It has been in the family since the 70s – I am pretty sure that my father bought it at Sam the Record Man as soon as it came out in 1975 – and this record provides a tangible connection to my father, who died in 2012, and…