As long as 40 years ago, at a time when pop and classical music were strictly separated from one another, Jacques Loussier's Swinging Bach thrilled both friends of Baroque music and jazz lovers alike. Other musicians have tried, and are still trying, to jump on this modern Bach band wagon, but not one of them has achieved anything like the international success of the French trio.
Play Bach is to be taken at its word. If Prelude, Fugue or Toccata is on the label then that's what one gets - the melodies and the harmonic structure of Johann Sebastian's original works, largely left untouched. You always know where counterpoint stops and groove sets in. Just as in Bach's day, the keyboard is at the fore, but the double bass also has a good share of the polyphony, and the finely nuanced percussion swings along as though it has no cares in the world.
What better way to bring the Bach Year to an end than with the re-release of the first Loussier album? The first of Bach's 48 Preludes and Fugues shows how it began - just as they show how Jacques Loussier began.
1. Präludium Nr. I C-Dr
2. Fuge Nr. I C-Dur
3. Präludium Nr. 2 C-Moll
4. Fgue Nr. 2 C-Moll
5. Toccata und Fuge D-Dur
6. Präludium Nr. 8 Es-Moll
7. Präludium Nr. 5 D-Dur
8. Fuge Nr. 5 D-Dur
| By Labels | Speakers Corner (Decca) |
|---|---|
| By Genre | Jazz |