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Bach: Trio Sonatas / Purcell Quartet


Release Date: 07/25/2000 
Label:  Chandos   Catalog #: 654   Spars Code: DDD 
Composer:  Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer:  Robert Woolley,  Catherine Weiss,  Catherine Mackintosh,  Richard Boothby
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Purcell Quartet
Number of Discs: 1 
Recorded in: Stereo 
Length: 1 Hours 13 Mins. 

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Notes and Editorial Reviews


Rarely do we feel the presence of Bach so vividly on a recording as we do here with this set of Trio Sonata arrangements, performed by violins, viola da gamba, and harpsichord. What a perfect combination, thanks to Richard Boothby's settings and to the wonderfully synergistic interaction among these very experienced early music players--violinists Catherine Mackintosh (in her best recorded performance in a while) and Catherine Weiss, gambist Boothby, and harpsichordist Robert Woolley. There's certainly nothing wrong with arranging Bach's music like this--and indeed, Boothby does "mix things up" by transposing keys and instrumental lines--as Bach himself reused, rearranged, and transposed his own and Read more others' music. In these string versions of pieces normally performed on the organ we hear occasional enticing hints of the violin concertos and, because of the instruments' different registers and colors, the lines emerge in new and surprising ways. This disc makes a nice companion to Bernard Labadie's arrangement of the Goldberg Variations for strings and continuo, recorded with Les Violons du Roy on Dorian (see reviews and features): both are distinguished for their learned, totally faithful, yet refreshingly entertaining and enlightening recastings of music that's not only timeless but seemingly limitless in its revelatory capacity. The sound is demonstration quality--this is one of those recordings that when you turn it up to just the right level, the instruments come to stunningly real, three-dimensional life, no fancy surround-sound or other high end equipment needed.

--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com Read less

Works on This Recording

1.
Trio Sonata for Organ no 1 in E flat major, BWV 525 by Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer:  Robert Woolley (Harpsichord), Catherine Weiss (Violin), Catherine Mackintosh (Violin),
Richard Boothby (Bass Viola da gamba)
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Purcell Quartet
Period: Baroque 
Written: circa 1727; Leipzig, Germany 
 Date of Recording: 12/1997 
Venue:  Church, Orford, Suffolk, England 
Length: 13 Minutes 5 Secs. 
Notes: Arranged: Richard Boothby 
2.
Trio Sonata for Organ no 3 in D minor, BWV 527 by Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer:  Catherine Mackintosh (Violin), Richard Boothby (Bass Viola da gamba), Robert Woolley (Harpsichord),
Catherine Weiss (Violin)
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Purcell Quartet
Period: Baroque 
Written: circa 1727; Leipzig, Germany 
 Date of Recording: 12/1997 
Venue:  Church, Orford, Suffolk, England 
Length: 13 Minutes 14 Secs. 
Notes: Arranged: Richard Boothby 
3.
Trio Sonata for Organ no 4 in E minor, BWV 528 by Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer:  Richard Boothby (Bass Viola da gamba), Catherine Mackintosh (Violin), Robert Woolley (Harpsichord),
Catherine Weiss (Violin)
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Purcell Quartet
Period: Baroque 
Written: circa 1727; Leipzig, Germany 
 Date of Recording: 12/1997 
Venue:  Church, Orford, Suffolk, England 
Length: 8 Minutes 53 Secs. 
Notes: Arranged: Richard Boothby 
4.
Trio Sonata for Organ no 5 in C major, BWV 529 by Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer:  Robert Woolley (Harpsichord), Catherine Weiss (Violin), Richard Boothby (Bass Viola da gamba),
Catherine Mackintosh (Violin)
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Purcell Quartet
Period: Baroque 
Written: circa 1727; Leipzig, Germany 
 Date of Recording: 12/1997 
Venue:  Church, Orford, Suffolk, England 
Length: 13 Minutes 8 Secs. 
Notes: Arranged: Richard Boothby 
5.
Trio Sonata for Organ no 6 in G major, BWV 530 by Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer:  Catherine Weiss (Violin), Catherine Mackintosh (Violin), Richard Boothby (Bass Viola da gamba),
Robert Woolley (Harpsichord)
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Purcell Quartet
Period: Baroque 
Written: circa 1727; Leipzig, Germany 
 Date of Recording: 12/1997 
Venue:  Church, Orford, Suffolk, England 
Length: 13 Minutes 27 Secs. 
Notes: Arranged: Richard Boothby 
6.
Trio Sonata for Organ no 2 in C minor, BWV 526 by Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer:  Catherine Mackintosh (Violin), Catherine Weiss (Violin), Robert Woolley (Harpsichord),
Richard Boothby (Bass Viola da gamba)
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Purcell Quartet
Period: Baroque 
Written: circa 1727; Leipzig, Germany 
 Date of Recording: 12/1997 
Venue:  Church, Orford, Suffolk, England 
Length: 10 Minutes 16 Secs. 
Notes: Arranged: Richard Boothby 

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review:  ( 1 Customer Review )
 A Must Have for Bach Fans September 13, 2017 By Lance W. (COLORADO SPGS, CO) See All My Reviews "I love transcriptions of Bach; his music works well on every instrument I've ever heard it transcribed to, even the banjo. This is no exception (but it IS better than the banjo). I almost like the versions on this disc BETTER than the original (organ) versions. For me, the organ is the best instrument for Bach's preludes and toccatas, but for the fugues and trios I always get a little frustrated at the lack of clarity of the voices; these trio sonatas sound sort of mushy to me when played on an organ. But the voices are VERY clear and clean on THIS recording. Listening to it the first time was like a breath of fresh air. My only small complaint was an occasional liberty the artists took with some of their arrangements, passages where I ask myself -- would Bach have done it that way? Would any of his contemporaries done it thIS way? -- But I still love this recording, and if you love Bach the way I do, it's a must have!" Report Abuse
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