Koopman and Lisiecki play Bach.

Some music for a November afternoon: J. S. Bach's choral prelude Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 645, which Bach adapted from the fourth movement of his own sacred cantata of the same title (BWV 140, featured in an earlier post on this blog). The fleet-fingered account heard above is performed by Ton Koopman.



For a very different approach to the same work, consider the above performance of Ferruccio Busoni's piano trancription of BWV 645 by Jan Lisiecki. Others may disagree, but I like both versions equally; the first may be more reflective of the composer's intentions (even though some may contest Koopman's choice of tempo), but I'd like to think that Bach would have approved of Busoni's transcription as well. I hope that you enjoy the music. AMDG.