Johann Sebastian Bach - Conductors' Transcriptions (Leonard Slatkin)

Information

Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

1. Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 (arr. Stanislaw Skrowaczewski): Toccata
2. Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 (arr. Stanislaw Skrowaczewski): Fugue
3. Jesus bleibet meine Freude (from "Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben", cantata, BWV 147) (arr. Eugene Ormandy)
4. Herzlich tut mich verlangen, chorale prelude, BWV 727 (arr. Erich Leinsdorf)
5. Suite No. 6 for Full Orchestra (arr. Henry Wood): 1. Prelude (Prelude in C sharp major, BWV 848)
6. Suite No. 6 for Full Orchestra (arr. Henry Wood): 2. Lament (Adagio from Capriccio on the Departure of His Most Beloved Brother, BWV 992)
7. Suite No. 6 for Full Orchestra (arr. Henry Wood): 3. Scherzo (Scherzo from Partita No. 3 in A minor, BWV 827)
8. Suite No. 6 for Full Orchestra (arr. Henry Wood): 4. Gavotte and Musette (Gavottes I-II from English Suite No. 6 in D minor, BWV 811)
9. Suite No. 6 for Full Orchestra (arr. Henry Wood): 5. Andante mistico (Prelude in B flat minor, BWV 867)
10. Suite No. 6 for Full Orchestra (arr. Henry Wood): 6. Finale (Prelude from Partita No. 3 in D major, BWV 1006)
11. Air on the G String (Air from Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068) (arr. Malcolm Sargent)
12. Schafe können sicher Weiden (from "Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd!", cantata, BWV 208) (arr.  John Barbirolli)
13. Fantasia and Fuge in G Minor, BWV 542 (arr. Dimitri Mitropoulos): Fantasia
14. Fantasia and Fuge in G Minor, BWV 542 (arr. Dimitri Mitropoulos): Fugue
15. Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, cantata, BWV 177 (arr. Vittorio Gui)
16. Bist du bei mir?, aria, BWV 508 (arr. Otto Klemperer)
17. Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott, chorale prelude, BWV 720 (arr. Walter Damrosch)

BBC Symphony Orchestra
Leonard Slatkin, conductor

Date: 2004
Label: Chandos
https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHAN%205030

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Review

Bach poached from the organ loft, or ferried away from the recital stage and magnified to cinematic proportions

Even when confronted with a repertoire full of imposing and magisterial music, conductors still apparently hear non-orchestral repertoire in orchestral terms and want to claim it for themselves. None more famous than Stokowski in Bach, of course, but none of that appears on this superb collection from Leonard Slatkin and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. 

Dimitri Mitropoulos’s epic version of the Fantasia and Fugue in G minor BWV542 is a sure highlight. Whether in the anguished opening, the solemn descent at the centre of the prelude or in the jaunty fugue, Mitropoulos knew how this elevated music might best sound for orchestra and his hunches paid off, both on his own, harder-hitting 1942 recording and this regal, nicely detailed statement under Slatkin. 

I was fascinated by Sir Henry Wood’s ‘Suite No 6 for Full Orchestra’ (No 5 is for strings, apparently), especially the quietly rippling version of the C sharp minor Prelude from Book One of the Well-Tempered Clavier that opens it. The central sequence unexpectedly includes a warm but solemn Adagio from Bach’s Capriccio, whereas more predictably the finale calls on the E major violin Partita’s Prelude. More primary-coloured than Mitropoulos, less lavish than Stoky, Wood’s aromatic Bach should henceforth enter the repertory’s sidelines. 

The programme opens with good old BWV565 of Fantasia fame. And while Stanislaw Skrowaczewski’s orchestration levels with Stokowski’s (and Wood’s of the same piece), a more strident use of percussion brings it in further into the 20th century. 

Then there are the slower pieces, mostly chorales and chorale preludes, plush and heavily draped in the case of Eugene Ormandy, Sir John Barbirolli, and Walter Damrosch (a little overbearing in A Mighty Fortress is our God). I’m not too sure about Otto Klemperer’s ‘Bist du bei mir’ which seems keen on a Schoenbergian route but doesn’t quite get that far, or Malcolm Sargent’s sugar-coated Air. Erich Leinsdorf gets the balance about right for Herzlich tut mich verlangen but in any case everything here is worth sampling at least once, and most of it more often than that. It’s a real treat and the sound is excellent. Need I say more?

-- Rob Cowan, Gramophone

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2004/Aug04/Bach_conductors.htm
http://www.amazon.com/Bach-Conductors-Transcriptions-J-S/dp/B0002AAPC6

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Johann Sebastian Bach (31 March [O.S. 21 March] 1685 – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. Bach enriched established German styles through his mastery of counterpoint, harmonic and motivic organisation, and his adaptation of rhythms, forms, and textures from Italy and France. He is known for instrumental compositions such as the Brandenburg Concertos and the Goldberg Variations, and vocal music such as the St Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor. Since the 19th-century Bach Revival he has been generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Sebastian_Bach

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Leonard Slatkin (born September 1, 1944 in Los Angeles) is an American conductor and composer. Slatkin attended the Juilliard School where he studied conducting under Jean Morel. He also studied with Walter Susskind at the Aspen Music Festival and School. Slatkin worked as principal conductor and music director of the St. Louis Symphony, National Symphony, BBC Symphony and Orchestre National de Lyon, as well as principal guest conductor of the Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic and Pittsburg Symphony. He has been the music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra since 2007.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Slatkin

http://www.leonardslatkin.com/

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