This CD is the first by pianist Nelson Freire to be devoted entirely to the keyboard music of Johann Sebastian Bach. The program offers a beautiful cross-section of Bach's keyboard work in combination with Bach arrangements by , and . In the case of Myra Hess, it is of course her popular adaptation of Jesu, joy, or man's desiring (Jesus bleibet meine Freude) from Bach's Cantata No. 147. The pianist
… first heard this work in 1920 during a rehearsal of the Bach Choir of London. She did not separate from the music. At home she played it over and over for herself from the complete choral and orchestral score. So initially this piano reduction was only in her own head. Which didn't stop her from playing it in public, namely as an encore during her recitals. Only in 1926 did she develop the arrangement in writing for publication. (HJ)more
