Johann Sebastian Bach “Underappreciated?”

When it comes to reading the latest news, The New York Times has been one of my primary sources pretty much for as long as I have been adding articles to this site. However, when the Times ventures away from “hard news,” I often find myself raising my left eyebrow (as I was originally influenced by Star Trek). This is the way I felt this morning when I encountered the following Times headline: “Is This Bach’s Most Underrated Music?” There is then a “follow-up” sub-headline: “The sprawling organ collection ‘Clavier-Übung III’ is not as widely known as it should be. An excellent new recording could change that.”

I should begin by explaining to (or reminding) readers that my CD collection includes two “complete works” collections of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. I did not waste time in purchasing the Bach 2000 collection (compiled jointly by Das Alte Werk and Teldec) when it was released. Several years later, my wife added the Brilliant Classics Bach Edition, which was given to her by one of her teaching colleagues. Over the years, both of these collections have provided me with many hours of informative listening, thus reinforcing my favorite Leonard Slatkin quote (“You can never conduct enough Haydn or Schubert.”) but applying it to listening to Bach!

English organist James McVinnie on the cover of his Clavier-Übung III album (from the Amazon.com Web page for this album)

In such a context, I would dare to say that anyone that appreciates Bach has no trouble applying that appreciation to the full canon. As a result, I would dare to say that David Allen, the author of the Times article, is not one of those “appreciators!” More likely, he was responding to the new release of a Pentatone recording on which English organist James McVinnie performs the Clavier-Übung III collection in its entirety. My guess is that both Allen and McVinnie are unfamiliar with the old advertising slogan of the Times Sunday edition: “You don’t have to read it all, but it’s good to know it’s all there!”

More relevant, however, is probably my favorite old joke about Mount Fuji. For those that did not encounter it when I wrote about Franz Liszt’s “Faust Symphony” a little over three years ago, the joke goes as follows: “The Japanese believe that there are two kinds of fool in the world. The first applies to anyone that has never climbed Fuji. The second is anyone that has climbed Fuji twice!” Allen may have likened comparing Clavier-Übung III to Mount Fuji, but for me the music provides no end of opportunities for discovery every time I return to it!