Search - Bach, See, Holloway :: Musical Offering

One of the best

jmgf77 | New Haven, CT | 03/23/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The question in any performance of the Musical Offering is how the canons-- music as much for the eye as for the ear-- should be played. There are some indications in the score, as in the canon "violino in unisono," but only one of the ten comes down with a fully specified instrumentation. Here Moroney opts for the starkest arrangement possible, presenting the canons on one or two harpsichords, a viable alternative to the usual distribution among members of a chamber ensemble. And it works-- sometimes it is slightly more difficult to follow individual lines, but the texture is both transparent and untaxing. Another plus: two possible realizations of the canon "Quaerendo invenientis" ("Seen and you shall find") are included, adding a fresh perspective to even the tiniest of Bach's contrapuntal gems.For the rest, the performance is excellent, both Moroney's playing in the two Ricercars, and in the trio sonata. The last movement of the latter is especially lively, and the same forces in the "Canon perpetuus" offer a reading that is at once austere and hauntingly sensuous. This, along with Moroney's performance of Die Kunst der Fuge, belongs on every Bach-lover's shelf."