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The ten best Bach works – a beginner’s list

Bach's St Matthew Passion (Harnoncourt)

Bach's St Matthew Passion (Harnoncourt)

If music has a holy trinity the three names would probably be Bach, Mozart and Beethoven, but if that already shortest of short lists is reduced to just one, the answer, in the words of Dylan Thomas’s Organ Morgan, is ‘Bach is best’. Throughout Bach’s long life, his achievement was staggering and is astounding in its size and ambition, and it is replete with masterpieces – works that stand like the peaks of a huge mountain range. Here are ten works by Bach that are essential listening; and once bitten the Bach Bug will take you on a journey of almost limitless reward.

Orchestral Suites – Boston Baroque / Martin Pearlman (Telarc) CD from Amazon

Brandenburg Concertos – European Brandenburg Ensemble / Trevor Pinnock (Avie) CD
from Amazon / Download from Amazon

Violin Concertos (period instruments) – Ryo Terakado; Bach Collegium Japan / Masaaki Suzuki (BIS) Download from Amazon

Violin Concertos (modern instruments) – Daniel Hope; COE (DG) CD from Amazon / Download from Amazon

Goldberg Variations (piano) – Murray Perahia (Sony Classical) – piano CD from Amazon

Goldberg Variations (harpsichord) – Andreas Staier (Harmonia Mundi) – harpsichord CD from Amazon / Download
from Amazon

Partitas (harpsichord) – Trevor Pinnock (Hänssler Classic) – harpsichord CD from Amazon

Partitas (piano) – Murray Perahia (Sony Classical) CD from Amazon

Cello Suites – Steven Isserlis (Hyperion) CD from Amazon

Well-tempered Clavier (48 Preludes and Fugues, or The 48) – Angela Hewitt (Hyperion) CD from Amazon

Solo Violin Sonatas and Partitas – Rachel Podger (Channel Classics) CD from Amazon

Mass in B minor – Soloists; Dunedin Consort and Players / John Butt (Linn) CD
from Amazon

St Matthew Passion – Soloists; Arnold Schoenberg Choir; Concentus Musicus Wien /
Nikolaus Harnoncourt (Warner Classics) CD from Amazon 

What recordings would appear in your Top 10? Why not add to our list by posting a comment below. (You need to be registered –  which is free – and logged in).