The Bach Hour

Sundays 6-7am, Mondays midnight-2am

Hosted by Brian McCreath

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.

Gratitude and Joy in Bach's Cantata 147

Bach Collegium Japan at Carnegie Hall — Steve Sherman / courtesy of the ensemble

Masaaki Suzuki leads Bach Collegium Japan in a work that includes some of the composer's most iconic music on The Bach Hour.

Blechacz on Bach

Pianist Rafał Blechacz reveals passion, drama, and crystalline spark in Bach's "Italian Concerto," and Rudolf Lutz conducts the composer's Cantata No. 30.

The Brilliance of Bach's Cantata No. 51

On The Bach Hour, soprano Malin Hartelius sings a work that expresses both unbridled exuberance and intimate soulfulness, and Alina Ibragimova is the soloist in the composer's Violin Concerto in A minor.

Bach's First Leipzig Cantata

On the program:

Chorale Prelude: Wir gläuben all an einen Gott, BWV 680 - Fretwork

Cantata BWV 75 Die Elenden sollen eßen (translation) - Roberta Anderson, soprano; Gloria Raymond, alto; Frank Kelly, tenor; Donald Wilkinson, bass; Emmanuel Music, Craig Smith conductor

Brandenburg Concerto No. 4, BWV 1049 - American Bach Soloists, Jeffrey Thomas, conductor

Bach's Music for a New Beginning

On the program:

Fantasy in C, BWV 570, and Fugue in C, BWV 946 - William Porter, organ (Zacharias Hildebrandt instrument at Störmthal, Germany)

Cantata BWV 194 Höchsterwuenschtes Freudenfest (translation) - Yukari Nonoshita, soprano; Makoto Sakurada, tenor; Jochen Kupfer, bass; Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki, conductor

Chorale Preludes: Erstanden ist der heilige Christ, BWV 628, and Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten, BWV 642 - William Porter, organ