The virtually limitless well of music by J.S. Bach has always had a prominent place on radio airwaves in Boston. Whether it’s an iconic work like the Toccata and Fugue in D minor or a rarely heard but emotionally riveting church cantata, Bach’s music is a touchstone, returning listeners to a foundation on which so much subsequent music has been built.
Hear The Bach Hour each Sunday at 6am on 99.5 WCRB, as well as Mondays, midnight-2am. And listen on demand for two weeks after broadcast.
Resources consulted for production of The Bach Hour include many sites, books, and other media, but in particular, the following:
- program booklets of featured recordings, including those written by John Eliot Gardiner
- Emmanuel Music and Pamela Dellal
- The Cantatas of J.S. Bach, by Alfred Dürr
- Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician and Bach's Musical Universe, by Christoph Wolff
- Bach Cantatas Website
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On The Bach Hour, the English pastoral tradition of Vaughan Williams, Walton, Bax, and others meets Bach's music through the interpretations of pianist Jonathan Plowright, and Ton Koopman leads the Cantata 116. -
On The Bach Hour, destruction on a Biblical scale is the foundation of music that grapples with mysteries and uncertainties as relevant today as in the composer's time. -
On The Bach Hour, Ton Koopman leads Amsterdam Baroque in a work that broke new ground for the composer, expressing a path from “anxious conscience” to an embrace of self-assurance. -
In a performance at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Germany, Iranian-born pianist Ramin Bahrami is the soloist in Bach's emotionally probing D minor concerto. -
On The Bach Hour, a masterpiece, ignored when it was new, reveals a revolutionary spirit in a vivid performance by harpsichordist John Butt and the Dunedin Consort in Scotland. -
On The Bach Hour, the renowned harpsichordist and conductor draws on decades of interpretive experience to conduct Bach's Partita No. 5, re-imagined for chamber orchestra. -
On The Bach Hour, a simple tune is continually transformed, creating the foundations of multiple themes in the composer's Cantata No. 93, conducted by Ton Koopman. -
On The Bach Hour, organist Olivier Latry harnesses the astonishing sonic resources of a remarkable instrument for the composer's music, and John Eliot Gardiner leads the Cantata No. 185. -
On The Bach Hour, Richard Egarr leads the Academy of Ancient Music in a vibrant account of one of Bach's most iconic works, and Boston's Emmanuel Music traverses the earthly and the divine in the composer's Cantata No. 2. -
On The Bach Hour, Masaaki Suzuki leads Bach Collegium Japan in the cantata that includes "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring," and Lucas and Arthur Jussen are the soloists in an exuberant work for two pianos.
