Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

What, dear reader, goes tap tap tap tap ker-onk? The tap, tap, tapping is the sound of your reviewer's right foot as he listens to the French pianist Alexandre Tharaud playing Johann Sebastian Bach's 'Adagio' from the Concerto for Keyboard in D minor (BWV 974) followed by a 'Bourree' from the Suite for Lute in E minor (BVW 996). Both are what we know and love about Bach's instrumental compositions: they are always tuneful to the extent that if my feet are not tapping, I feel compelled to beat time instead (and you do not want to sit next to me in a recital!). What, then, is the 'ker-onk' that follows the foot-tapping? That is the sound of a reviewer's jaw dropping when we reach the Chorus 'Herr, unser Herrascher' from the St John's Passion, the bass part of said work being something that an eavesdropper may on occasion hear being sung by your reviewer in the shower. Tharaud's transcription of this choral masterpiece into a piano solo is a joyous success and made this listener hear Bach's masterpiece in an entirely new way; still the same but yet different. The same thing occurred with the aria 'Aus Liebe will mein Heiland sterben' from the Matthew Passion. There is more than an hour of similar delights, mainly in Tharaud's own transcriptions although he does give us Jean Wiener's transcriptions of 'Erkenne mich, mein Huter' also from the Matthew Passion and Charles Gounod's 'Meditation (Ave Marie)' which is itself based on Bach's 'Prelude and Fugue in C' (BVW 846). As well as transcriptions for piano, Tharaud also gives us some Bach as written, such as the masterful 'Suite for Keyboard in A minor' (BVW 818a). If, like this reviewer, your experience of Bach is mainly through his choral music, this album from Alexandre Tharaud is a reminder that JSB was also a great composer for a variety of instruments and there is not a dull moment in more than an hour of uplifting music.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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