Volume 7
Keyboard Magic

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACHThe greatest Baroque Composers:

Johann Sebastian Bach
- Chromatic fantasia and Fugue, BWV 903
- Fantasia and Fugue, BWV 904
- "Ich ruf' zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ", BWV 639
- Italian Concerto, BWV 971
- "Nun komm' der Heiden Heiland, BWV 659
- Prelude (Fantasia), BWV 922

ALFRED BRENDEL, piano

CD 454 409-2 ADD
PHILIPS

- In 1717 Bach travelled to Dresden. Volumier, the concertmaster in that city, had arranged one of those popular meetings at which recognised keyboard virtuosos displayed their powers before invited specialists. Bach's "opponent" was the Frenchman Louis Marchand, famous not only for his phenomenal playing but also for beating his wife. Both parties had previously agreed to play a few of the other's works from sight. But at the appointed hour Bach waited in vain for his opponent. A messenger sent to his hotel could only discover that Marchand had left the city post-haste on the express coach. Had he listened in secret to Bach's playing the night before, taken fright and saved himself from certain defeat by fleeing? At any rate, only Bach displayed his brilliant keyboard skills - and had to content himself with the dubious compliment that his playing had furnished the proof of the superiority of German musicianship over that of France...