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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In his Cantata No. 156, the composer infuses a particular sequence with the meaning of words of devotion to create a sonic symbol, part of a performance directed by Masaaki Suzuki on The Bach Hour. -
On The Bach Hour, Murray Perahia is the soloist in the composer's Concerto in D, and Ton Koopman leads a cantata inspired by the transformation of water into wine. -
On The Bach Hour, in the final chapter of the composer's narrative for the season, a clever deception heads off a potential disaster, laying the groundwork for a promising future. -
On The Bach Hour, the fifth of the composer's six-part narrative for the season reveals a fearsome terror and the calm radiance that counters that threat. -
On The Bach Hour, the simple act of naming unlocks a transformation in the fourth of the composer's six-part narrative for the season. -
On the Bach Hour, the unprecedented, world-changing events of the Christmas story are filtered through one central character in the third of the composer's six-part narrative for the season. -
On the Bach Hour, angels bring shepherds through the night to a scene of peaceful warmth in the second of Bach's six-part narrative for the season, in a concert performance led by Nikolaus Harnoncourt. -
On The Bach Hour, the first of the composer's six-part narrative for the season expresses joy, doubt, and wonder in a concert performance led by Nikolaus Harnoncourt. -
On The Bach Hour, Rana describes the origin of her passion for Bach's music as she grew up in southern Italy, and Philippe Herreweghe conducts the Cantata No. 29, "Wir danken dir, Gott." -
On The Bach Hour, conductor Rinaldo Alessandrini leads his Italian ensemble in unique re-imaginings of Bach's music, and Konrad Junghänel conducts the Missa Brevis in F.
