J.S. BACH
Musikalisches Opfer

Reference: AV9817

• Jordi Savall
• Le Concert des Nations

Of all Bach’s late works, which stand as a synthesis of the composer’s art and technique, the Musical Offering is by far the best known. Its popularity among music-lovers has surpassed that of the Goldberg Variations and The Art of Fugue, closely followed by the second book of The Well-Tempered Clavier, the Canonical Variations and the Leipzig Chorales for organ.

There are several reasons for the work’s popularity, not least the charms of the admirable trio sonata which makes up a large part of it. Modern musicians have brought to it the passionate interest that the canons have inspired in Schoenberg and Stravinsky, and the searching analysis of Webern, who proposed a masterly orchestration of the Six-part Ricercar. The more or less legendary story surrounding its genesis may also have drawn the curiosity of audiences to a work which is still partially cloaked in mystery.

+ information in the CD booklet