JS BACH The Complete Works For Keyboard, Vol 5 (Benjamin Alard)

Record and Artist Details

Genre:

Instrumental

Label: Harmonia Mundi

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 184

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: HMM90 2463-65

HMM902463-65. JS BACH The Complete Works For Keyboard, Vol 5 (Benjamin Alard)

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Toccata and Fugue, Movement: Toccata Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Benjamin Alard, Historical keyboards
Fantasia super Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Benjamin Alard, Historical keyboards
Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Benjamin Alard, Historical keyboards
(6) Preludes and Fugue (Bach), Movement: C, BWV545 Franz Liszt, Composer
Benjamin Alard, Historical keyboards
Jesu, meine Freude Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Benjamin Alard, Historical keyboards
(3) Chorale Preludes, Movement: Christus, der uns selig macht (BWV747) Zoltán Kodály, Composer
Benjamin Alard, Historical keyboards
Chorale Preludes, Movement: Herzlich tut mich verlangen, BWV727 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Benjamin Alard, Historical keyboards
Choral Preludes from the Kirnberger Collection, Movement: Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier, BWV706 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Benjamin Alard, Historical keyboards
Preludes and Fugues, Movement: Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV543 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Benjamin Alard, Historical keyboards
Choral Preludes from the Kirnberger Collection, Movement: Christ lag in Todesbanden, BWV695 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Benjamin Alard, Historical keyboards
(6) Trio Sonatas, Movement: No. 4 in E minor, BWV528 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Benjamin Alard, Historical keyboards
Preludes and Fugues, Movement: Prelude (Toccata) and Fugue in F, BWV540 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Benjamin Alard, Historical keyboards
(7) Toccatas, Movement: C minor, BWV911 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Benjamin Alard, Historical keyboards
Fantasia and Fugue Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Benjamin Alard, Historical keyboards
(7) Toccatas, Movement: F sharp minor, BWV910 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Benjamin Alard, Historical keyboards
Chorale Variations, Movement: Partita diverse sopra Sei gegrüsset, Jesu gütig, BWV768 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Benjamin Alard, Historical keyboards
Toccata and Fugue Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Benjamin Alard, Historical keyboards
(7) Toccatas, Movement: G, BWV916 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Benjamin Alard, Historical keyboards
(16) Concertos, Movement: G minor, BWV985 (violin concerto by Telemann) Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Benjamin Alard, Historical keyboards
Nun komm der Heiden Heiland Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Benjamin Alard, Historical keyboards
Choral Preludes from the Kirnberger Collection, Movement: Vom Himmel hoch, da komm' ich her, BWV701 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Benjamin Alard, Historical keyboards
Choral Preludes from the Kirnberger Collection, Movement: Gelobet seist du, BWV697 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Benjamin Alard, Historical keyboards
Choral Preludes from the Kirnberger Collection, Movement: Das Jesulein soll doch mein Trost, BWV702 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Benjamin Alard, Historical keyboards
Choral Preludes from the Kirnberger Collection, Movement: Gottes Sohn ist kommen, BWV703 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Benjamin Alard, Historical keyboards
Choral Preludes from the Kirnberger Collection, Movement: Lob sei dem allmächtigen Gott, BWV704 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Benjamin Alard, Historical keyboards
Choral Preludes from the Kirnberger Collection, Movement: Christum wir sollen loben schon, BWV696 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Benjamin Alard, Historical keyboards
Choral Preludes from the Kirnberger Collection, Movement: Herr Christ, der einig Gottes Sohn, BWV698 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Benjamin Alard, Historical keyboards
(16) Concertos, Movement: B flat, BWV982 (concerto by Duke Johann Ernst of S) Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Benjamin Alard, Historical keyboards
(16) Concertos, Movement: D minor, BWV987 (concerto by Duke Johann Ernst ofr) Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Benjamin Alard, Historical keyboards
Chorale Preludes, Movement: Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ, BWV722 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Benjamin Alard, Historical keyboards
Chorale Preludes, Movement: Lobt Gott, ihr Christen gmein, BWV732 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Benjamin Alard, Historical keyboards
Chorale Preludes, Movement: In dulci Jubilo, BWV729 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Benjamin Alard, Historical keyboards
Chorale Preludes, Movement: Vom Himmel hoch, da komm' ich her, BWV738 Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Benjamin Alard, Historical keyboards
Prelude and Fugue Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Benjamin Alard, Historical keyboards
(16) Concertos, Movement: C minor, BWV981 (source unknown) Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Benjamin Alard, Historical keyboards

Benjamin Alard’s majestic progress through the keyboard music of Bach has reached Vol 5, subtitled ‘Toccata’ and encompassing works from Weimar, written roughly between 1708 and 1717. Alard, a 36-year-old native of Rouen, plays the 2009 Quentin Blumenroeder organ at the Temple du Foyer de l’Âme in Paris; a 1993 pedal harpsichord by Philippe Humeau after a 1720 instrument by Carl Conrad Fleisher, and by Quentin Blumenroeder (2017); and a 1998 clavichord by Émile Jobin, based on a 1773 Thuringian instrument by Christian Gottfried Frederici.

Audaciously enough, the collection opens with Bach’s best-known organ piece, the D minor Toccata, in a performance stripped of melodramatic accretion. This strictly factual, in-your-face approach yields a stylistically cutting-edge reading that is downright fierce. It’s soon clear, however, this is only a stepping stone to far greater things ahead.

There’s a radiant C major Prelude and Fugue (BWV545) along with a mysteriously incandescent A minor Prelude and Fugue (BWV543), both in early versions. Spacious and swirling, the F major Toccata and Fugue (BWV540) seems ready to burst with kinaesthetic joy. Common to all is a crystalline clarity borne of technical finesse, leaving the impression of a Baroque canvas recently restored, its contours and colours freshly vibrant and immediate.

In the seven Toccatas, here represented by BWV910 and 911 on harpsichord and BWV916 on clavichord, Alard sets a new standard. Bach’s unfettered imagination seizes the foreground before a backdrop of architectural logic and cohesion. Meanwhile, the mighty Fantasia and Fugue in A minor, BWV904, unfolds with passionate expressivity and uncommon authority.

It might seem unusual to consign ostensibly public pieces such as Bach’s transcriptions of concertos by Prince Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar, Marcello and Telemann to the intimacy of the clavichord. The decision seems more than justified listening to any of the various slow movements, replete with Alard’s strikingly expressive Bebung.

Difficult as it is to choose favourites among these thoughtful, heartfelt and beautifully realised performances, mine may be the chorale preludes peppered across the three discs. Alard’s simple and direct portrayal of Bach’s unshakeable faith achieves transcendent eloquence.

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