the right kind of classical (actually, Baroque) greatest hits album

classical music:

	• Bach: Greatest Hits Johann Sebastian Bach, Christian Pezold, ... Sony, 1994 average customer review:based on 10 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Bach greatest hits

Good good CD with all Bach's greatest hits in good arrangements.
The different songs give a good impression of Bach's great works.

Good collection with one special piece

There are better recordings of all these pieces save one and that's the one I was looking for. It's very hard to find 'Bist du bei mir' ('If Thou Be Near', also called 'Art Thou With Me') sung in English and the Morman Tabernacle Choir does its usual wonderful job on this disk. This collection on LP was indeed my introduction to Bach many years ago. It is a great one and I still love all these pieces although I've long since found higher quality renditions of most. 'If Thou Be Near' however, struck such a chord with me even as a young person, I decided I wanted it sung at my funeral, and even all these years later, I still do (and am a lot closer to that eventuality :). Later efforts to find it on CD in English were fruitless. I couldn't even find this collection on CD when I was first looking.

This is an excellent selection of Bach pieces and shows his range and style well. It's a good place to start to determine which things you'd like to find great performances of for long term listening and, perhaps like me, you might come to love the song I always called 'I go with joy...' as a perfect parting gift to your loved ones.

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the right kind of classical (actually, Baroque) greatest hits album

There are two things you should know before buying a greatest hits album by one of the legendary composers whose music we often call 'classical'.

First, the purists hate them. Their ire is understandable. Art music is so enriched by an understanding of its historical moment, its place in a composer's career, the history of its performance, and the like that it seems almost barbaric to strip out a few listen-able tunes and flog them on an album that provides none of this context. These are portions of long pieces, not the four-and-a-half minute stand-alone tunes to which we've become familiar (and learned both to love and to consider normal) in pop music.

Second, the big box stores are full of 'greatest hits' albums performed by fourth-tier, no-name orchestral groups with little personality and unrecognizable roots. Don't buy them if your entree into, say, Bach is really an entrance to something larger rather than just a need to fill the house with a little background music (which is not a bad thing on its own terms and beats hearing the doors squeak on their hinges or the frozen pizza sizzle on its lard-ish pan).

The Sony Classical series of greatest hits album is not what I've just described. Bach: Greatest Hits is one album of a splendid series with an appealing common genre of artwork, entry-level time lines on the CD liner notes and--here's the Big Thing-selections from the very best performing ensembles in the world.

Not *that's* a greatest hits album. If your interest in classical music is at a beginner's stage, buy the whole series. If that's a stretch, you won't regret starting out by snagging Bach: Greatest Hits.

Rock on.

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Good Introduction to Bach.

I don't want to repeat what has been said already but this is a great indroduction to Bach. The variety on this release is good, but like has been said numerous times before, the amount of variety fails to set a single mood. But with a low price and a great deal of variety this is a great CD for those who want to start getting into Bach. Recommended.

Teeming with classics

I purchased this for track #10, which I'd happened to hear on the radio...it stayed in my head until I tracked down the CD. I have a relatively basic working knowledge of classical music, so this long playing collection was an excellent and surprising introduction to several of Bach's diverse works...both well known and more obscure. Certainly a worthwhile addition to your classical collection.

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Tracks
Cantata No. 147, 'Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben,' BWV 147 (BC A174): Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring | Minuet for keyboard No. 1 in G major (AMN II/1; by Christian Pezold, not JSB), BWV Anh. 114 | Toccata and Fugue, for organ in D minor, BWV 565 (BC J37): Toccata | Toccata and Fugue, for organ in D minor, BWV 565 (BC J37): Fugue | Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068: Air | Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B minor, BWV 1067: Badinerie | Cantata No. 208, 'Was mir behagt,' (Hunt Cantata), BWV 208 (BC G1, G3): Aria. Sheep May Safely Graze | Two-Part Invention, for keyboard No. 1 in C major, BWV 772 (BC L42) | Magnificat, for 5 voices, 5-part chorus, orchestra & continuo in D major, BWV 243 (BC E14): Magnificat | Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, chorale prelude for organ (Schübler Chorale No. 1), BWV 645 (BC K22) | Two-Part Invention, for keyboard No. 4 in D minor, BWV 775 (BC L45) | Two-Part Invention, for keyboard No. 8 in F major, BWV 779 (BC L49) | Concerto for 2 violins, strings & continuo in D minor ('Double'), BWV 1043: 1. Allegro | Prelude and Fugue, for keyboard No. 1 in C major (WTC I/1), BWV 846 (BC L80): Prelude | Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F major, BWV 1047: 3. Allegro assai | Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott (I), chorale setting for 4 voices, BWV 302 (BC F53.1) | Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major, BWV 1048: 2. Allegro | Fugue for organ in G minor ('Little'), BWV 578 (BC J66) | Partita for lute in E major, BWV 1006a (BC L171): Gavotte en Rondeau | Concerto for harpsichord, strings & continuo No. 5 in F minor, BWV 1056: 2. Largo | In dulci jubilo (IV), chorale prelude for organ (by Johann Micheal Bach, not J.S.), BWV 751 | Bist du bei mir, aria arranged for voice & continuo (after Gottfried Stölzel), BWV 508 | Italian Concerto, for solo keyboard in F major (Clavier-Übung II/1), BWV 971 (BC L7): 3. Presto | Cantata No. 29, 'Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir,' BWV 29 (BC B8): Sinfonia | Goldberg Variations, for keyboard (Clavier-Übung IV), BWV 988 (BC L9): Aria da capo

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