The symbol indicates that there is an extract from the piece available . Click the symbol to hear the extract. The recordings on this site are sampled at 96kbps. The original recordings are sampled at 128kbps.

Note for Internet Explorer 7 users

IE7 usually blocks ActiveX in an attempt to protect your computer. This needs to activated in order to hear the extracts. To do this -

• Click on the yellow band which appears at the top of the web page.
• Click “Allow blocked content” and confirm your choice. The extract will then play.

Johann Sebastian Bach wrote a collection of music which is probably the most instantly recognisable in the world. His work covered orchestral. choral, chamber and solo instruments. He wrote “mathematical” music, in that it is possible to break a piece down into progressions which are both predictable and pleasing. That said, he was a phenomenal at improvisation, especially at the keyboard. 

The scores he wrote would almost certainly have been embellished in the playing. For example, the second movement of the Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 consists of only two chords in the score. The harpsichordist would have been expected to improvise a complete movement which ended with the two chords written.

The Recordings

I have grouped the pieces into the following collections -

The Brandenburg Concertos

Other Orchestral Works

Works for Keyboard

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© Michael Wright - 2007 - 2008