Classically Reminded
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Johann Sebastian Bach, Domenico Scarlatti
Genre:
Chamber
Label: Champs Hill
Magazine Review Date: 09/2017
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 71
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: CHRCD128
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Cantata No. 147, 'Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben', Movement: Choral: Jesu bleibet meine Freude (Jesu, joy of man's desiring) |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer The David Rees-Williams Trio |
(6) French Suites, Movement: No. 5 in G, BWV816 |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer The David Rees-Williams Trio |
(15) 2-Part Inventions, Movement: B flat |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer The David Rees-Williams Trio |
(15) 3-Part Inventions ,'Sinfonias', Movement: E |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer The David Rees-Williams Trio |
(15) 3-Part Inventions ,'Sinfonias', Movement: F minor |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer The David Rees-Williams Trio |
(15) 3-Part Inventions ,'Sinfonias', Movement: G minor |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer The David Rees-Williams Trio |
Toccata, Adagio and Fugue, Movement: Toccata |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer The David Rees-Williams Trio |
Toccata, Adagio and Fugue, Movement: Adagio |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer The David Rees-Williams Trio |
(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: B flat minor, BWV867 |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer The David Rees-Williams Trio |
(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: B minor, BWV869 |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer The David Rees-Williams Trio |
(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier, Movement: E, BWV878 |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer The David Rees-Williams Trio |
Sonatas for Keyboard Nos. 1-555, Movement: F minor (L281) |
Domenico Scarlatti, Composer
Domenico Scarlatti, Composer The David Rees-Williams Trio |
Sonatas for Keyboard Nos. 1-555, Movement: D (L14) |
Domenico Scarlatti, Composer
Domenico Scarlatti, Composer The David Rees-Williams Trio |
Author: Charlotte Gardner
David Rees-Williams’s ‘Classically Reminded’ Bach jazz trio arrangements are certainly unique, too: 13 Bach melodies subjected to a ‘light, jazz-inspired treatment’, his overall aim to ‘expose far more of the romantic nature of these great melodies’. To distinctiveness you can then add exemplary written communication, because flip through the booklet and you’ll find each Bach starter melody written out in staff notation, accompanied by Rees-Williams’s chatty and knowledgeable notes on what aspects of it he’s then chosen to develop. Still, his apparently perfectly earnest description of the Fifth French Suite’s Loure as ‘cloyingly romantic’ did make me chuckle, not least because by the time it appeared at track 3 I was already feeling very much as though I should be perched, Bellini in hand, at a suitably plush chain hotel piano bar; a feeling hammered home by the pedal-rich ‘Jesu, joy of man’s desiring’ at track 5, with its broken chords, easy-listening harmonies and organ (synthesised, methinks?) background cushion.
It’s not that there isn’t plenty of up tempo stuff on here, not least two peppy Scarlatti sonatas (in D major, Kk492, and F minor, Kk239) that have been added to set Bach in some contemporary context. You also can’t fault the skill on display: the wealth of jazz and classical expertise underpinning every arrangement, Rees-Williams’s own silky jazz touch and the lovingly oiled artistic synergy between him, Neil Francis on bass and Phil Laslett on drums. However, anyone who prefers their jazz to come with a touch of edge may find this a tad too soft-focus.
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