Bach, abbriviated, 2025

Bach, abbriviated, 2025

This Week in Classical Music: March 17, 2025.  Bach, abbreviated.  Our trip is over, but we’re not ready to resume our musical journeys.   Of all the places we visited, only one was musically Johann Sebastian Bachnotable – Naples.  Next week we’ll write about some composers who lived and worked in the city and made it famous.

All that said, there is one anniversary that is impossible to miss: Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 21st of 1685 in Eisenach.  What music are we to present to celebrate this event?  Out of Bach’s vast and magnificent output, we’ll opt (almost at random) for one clavier piece and an excerpt from one of his grandest creations.  The former is French Suite no. 1, performed here by Murray Perahia.  The latter, the aria Erbarme dich (Have mercy), from Part 2 of the St. Matthew Passion, is hereThe alto is Anne Sofie von Otter, Georg Solti conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.