Just when you think you've heard Bach played every way Bach can be played, along comes a disc that finds a new -- or nearly new -- way to play Bach. In the case of this 2008 Alpha disc, that means playing transcriptions and parodies of the German master's works. Thus the disc opens and closes with
Marcel Dupré's organ transcriptions of Sinfonias from a pair of Bach's cantatas and includes Bach's parody of a concerto by Vivaldi. In addition, there are works for solo violin and solo organ plus the first version of the G major Violin Sonata, BWV 1019a, scored for violin and organ. The performances are brilliantly played, but utterly natural. Playing on the never-before-recorded organ at the parish church of Guignicourt in Picardie, organist Vincent Dubois delivers richly colorful but strongly rhythmic readings of the organ solos, especially the
Dupré transcriptions. Playing a modern instrument in a modern style, violinist
Raphael Oleg pours on the lyrical intensity in his accounts of the Prélude from the E major Partita, BWV 1006, and the Siciliano from the G major Sonata, BWV 1001. Recorded in wonderfully evocative digital sound, this disc may not be for every Bach aficionado, but those looking for something new may find it here.