Bach: BWV 831, 942, 936, 903, 902, 971

• Main performer: Andrew Rangell
• Booklet languages: English
• Time: 61:06
• Release Date: 2005

Review

Pianist Andrew Rangell really knows how to program a recital. Take, for example, this 2005 recording of keyboard works by J. S. Bach. First there's the tiny and adorable Little Prelude in A minor, then there's the gnarly and imponderable Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, the rare and sublime Praeludium in G major, the imposing and amusing French Overture, the slender and serene Little Prelude in D major, and, finally, as the piece de resistance, the immensely virtuostic and instantly memorable Italian Concerto. It's a program that's much more than the sum of its parts, a program with its own structural flow and its overarching rhythm. Rangell, in addition to having a first-class technique, has a keen intellect plus emotional focus and an almost unbearable interpretive intensity, and he creates wholly persuasive performances of pieces long familiar and pieces hardly ever heard. In the exquisite Little Preludes, Rangell floats ineffable lines through transparent harmonies in ineluctable rhythms at exactly the right tempo. In the enigmatic Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, Rangell begins the Fantasy lightly, almost lyrically, but he traces the work's barbed lines, spiked sonorities and relentless rhythms to the Fugue's shattering conclusion. In the imposing French Overture and the entertaining Italian Concerto, Rangell is at once technically brilliant, entirely engaging and wonderfully witty. Taken altogether, Rangell's recital becomes its own abstract musical narrative, creating a cogent world in a single program. Even those who already have their favorites among the great performances of the past -- Fischer or Rosen's Chromatic Fantasy, or Brendel or Backhaus's Concerto -- will find Rangell has something interesting, even compelling, to say about Bach's music.

Bridge's sound is close, open and very natural. ~ James Leonard, Rovi

Performances

Composer	Title	Time
Johann Sebastian Bach	Prelude for keyboard in A minor (Five Preludes No. 4; doubtful), BWV 942 (BC L73)	1:02
Johann Sebastian Bach	Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue, for keyboard in D minor, BWV 903 (BC L34)	11:17
Johann Sebastian Bach	Prelude and Fughetta, for keyboard in G major, BWV 902 (BC L79)	6:30
Johann Sebastian Bach	Overture in the French Manner, partita for keyboard in B minor (Clavier-Übung II/2), BWV 831	26:40
Johann Sebastian Bach	Prelude for keyboard in D major (Six Little Preludes No. 4), BWV 936 (BC L67)	2:34
Johann Sebastian Bach	Italian Concerto, for solo keyboard in F major (Clavier-Übung II/1), BWV 971 (BC L7)	13:03

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