Bach, J S: Fantasia & Fugue in A minor, BWV904

As harpsichordist, conductor, and musical director of the ensemble Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset is one of the finest interpreters of Baroque music. His first recording for Aparté, devoted to Louis Couperin, was received most enthusiastically by public and critics alike, and collected many distinctions in the international press including BBC Music Magazine Instrumental Choice.

Now at the peak of his maturity, the artist presents an original programme, Bach Fantasy, in which he treats us to little-known works but also standards by the great J.S. Bach. Apart from the important sets of works, including the Goldberg Variations, the Well-Tempered Clavier, the keyboard Suites and Partitas, many miscellaneous pieces by Bach have come down to us in the hand of his pupils and admirers: early essays, pieces of a didactic nature, evocations of emotions, and sometimes all of the above. Christophe Rousset plays these pieces on the 1632 Ruckers harpsichord of Neuchâtel, one of the finest in the world.

Hyperion’s Record of the Month for July sees Angela Hewitt rounding off her acclaimed series of solo Bach recordings with this delightful miscellany. A range of genres are represented – fantasia and fugues, chorale preludes, suites, a sonata, a set of variations – from different periods of Bach’s life, and displaying a wide variety of form, style, influence and scope. This is music that has been neglected largely because it doesn’t sit within the famous Bach canons rather than because of its intrinsic quality. Angela Hewitt brings her customary style and elegance to these works, and her vivid, joyous music-making creates a fitting conclusion to this benchmark modern survey of Bach’s keyboard works

Written to entertain a certain Count Keyserlingk in his waking hours, Bach's Goldberg Variatioins is a tour de force of keyboard writing and this represents one of its greatest recordings. Also on the programme are two popular Fantasies plus the jolly Italian Concerto

The former German Democratic Republic took its role as guardian of the important German cultural traditions, especially in music, very seriously, and this can clearly be seen not only in the magnificent archives of music from central Germany and the court of Frederick the Great, but also in collections of early instruments. This 2-CD set features music performed on keyboards produced by some of the greatest instrument makers of their time, including

Gottfried Silbermann, Heinrich Harrass and Johann Jacob Donat. They are preserved in collections at the Händel-Haus at Halle/Saale, and in music instrument museums at Leipzig, Markneukirchen and Potsdam Sanssouci.

Sigfrid Karg-Elert (1877–1933) was Professor of Composition at the Leipzig Conservatory and best-known as Germany’s foremost champion of the Kunstharmonium, ‘art harmonium’, which at that time was a full concert instrument and for which he made over 400 transcriptions.

He began his musical career as a boy chorister and organist who deserted the seminary where he was enrolled to become an oboist in a wind band. Later, rejected from active service because of his age, he served as a military musician (oboe) during WWI. But it was his organ music that made him internationally famous as a composer, particularly in the USA and UK,

although he was unusual in having no professional proficiency himself; a recital tour of the USA in 1932 was so disastrous that it might even have precipitated his death a year later.

His own organ music is frequently recorded and heard in recitals, but his many organ transcriptions are less familiar. After Wagner, Bach was the composer whose music Karg-Elert transcribed most often, carefully choosing the pieces best suited to the dynamic and colouristic possibilities of the late Romantic organ.

Léon Berben gained his solo diploma in organ and harpsichord in Amsterdam and the Hague. He has played with Musica Antiqua Köln since 2000 and has recorded many CDs. After this ensemble was dissolved, he pursued a solo career and is considered to be a master in his field. His solo recordings on historic instruments have received great critical acclaim.