RUDOLF SERKIN PLAYS BACH (3 CDS)

Rudolf Serkin is rightly revered for his powerful interpretations of the Austro-German Classical and Romantic piano repertoire, but he was also an outstanding Bach player. In the 1920s he began a decades-long partnership with the great German violinist-conductor Adolf Busch (his future father-in-law) that led to, among countless treasures, a classic set of the Brandenburg Concertos, recorded in London in 1935, and many performances of the Bach Violin Sonatas, including a live recording of No. 3 in E major, BWV 1016, made in Washington in 1943. That performance is now being reissued in a new Sony Classical release containing all of Serkin's Bach for American Columbia. The new collection contains another famous recording of the Brandenburgs featuring Rudolf Serkin's magnificent continuo playing on piano (and his son Peter playing harpsichord continuo in No. 6), made in 1965 at the Marlboro Festival in Vermont (founded by Adolf Busch), led by Alexander Schneider and conducted by Pablo Casals. There are also performances of Bach's two Concertos for 3 Keyboards that Serkin recorded at Marlboro and Casals's Prades Festival with pianist-colleagues Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Peter Serkin and Ruth Laredo; Serkin père playing solo works including the Chromatic Fantasy and Italian Concerto; and the 14 canons based on the Aria from the Goldberg Variations that was discovered in 1974 in Bach's own copy of the printed works, with Serkin's "concentrated, reflective, crystal-clear, and beautifully balanced performance" (Andrew Porter, writing in High Fidelity) of the Aria.

CD 1
Concerto for 3 Harpsichords, Strings and Continuo in D minor BWV 1063
 Ruth Laredo · Mieczysław Horszowski Pianos

Concerto for 3 Harpsichords, Strings and Continuo in C Major BWV 1064
 Peter Serkin · Mieczysław Horszowski Pianos
Marlboro Festival Orchestra · Alexander Schneider Conductor

14 Canons on the First 8 Notes of the Aria from the Goldberg Variations BWV 1087
--Felix Galimir · Eugene Drucker · Isidore Cohen · Naoko Tanaka
--Yukiko Kamei · Lynn Horner · Roland Greutter · Gregory Fulkerson Violins
--Philipp Naegele · Steven Ansell · Irene Serkin · Caroline Levine Violas
--Johannes Goritzki · Timothy Eddy · Peter Rejto Cellos
--Marc Marder Double Bass · Julia Bogorad Flute

--Rudolph Vrbsky Oboe · Michael Rosenberg English Horn
--Alexander Heller · Christopher Millard Bassoons

- Disc 2 -

 Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F Major BWV 1046
 Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G Major BWV 1049
 Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D Major BWV 1050
--Marlboro Festival Orchestra · Pablo Casals Conductor

- Disc 3 -
Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D minor BWV 903
Italian Concerto in F Major BWV 971
Capriccio in B-Flat Major BWV 992
Toccata in E minor BWV 914
Sonata for Harpsichord and Violin No. 3 in E Major BWV 1016
--Adolf Busch Violin