Stokowski's Symphonic Bach, Vol. 2

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Stokowski's Symphonic Bach, Vol. 2

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"Here, even more than in his first collection, Matthias Bamert makes one realise that Stokowski’s Bach orchestrations are far more than just transcriptions, and that in essence he created an entirely new composition…when one turns to the rich, indeed luscious scoring of the glorious ‘Arioso’ (the Largo from BWV1056) and the lovely Andante sostenuto from BWV1003, the music moves entirely out of the 18th century into the late 19th and early 20th, to become the epitome of ripe Romanticism. Yet the chorale preludes…are touchingly expressive in the way Stokowki’s performance of Dido’s Lament could be so moving on strings alone. The dashing Preludio in E from BWV1006 (so exciting on full strings) retains memories of the original, but with the incredibly free Chaconne from BWV1004, one enters an entirely new musical world…It is in the Fantasia and Fugue in G minor that we are thrilled by the fullest panoply of the Stokowski sound, the piece recorded here for the first time in the original scoring… Throughout these re-creations, Matthias Bamert knows just how to achieve the kind of spontaneous flexible rubato that was Stokowski’s personal style. With superb playing from the augmented BBC Philharmonic, and marvellous rich and spacious Chandos recording, the result is truly spectacular."

Ivan March, GRAMOPHONE